Impact of Diffuse Radiation Changes on the Land Carbon Sink over the Post Pinatubo Period

Mercado, L.M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4069-0838; Bellouin, N.; Sitch, Stephen; Boucher, O.; Huntingford, C.; Cox, P.M.. 2008 Impact of Diffuse Radiation Changes on the Land Carbon Sink over the Post Pinatubo Period. [Poster] In: American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting December 2008, San Francisco, USA, 15-19 December 2008. (Unpublished)

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Abstract/Summary

The amount of solar radiation reaching the earth surface is one of the major drivers of plant photosynthesis and therefore changes in radiation are likely to indirectly have an effect on the terrestrial carbon cycle. For example, changes in surface radiation that lead to increasing diffuse surface irradiance are reported to enhance plant photosynthesis (Gu et al., 2003, Niyogi et al., 2004, Oliveira et al., 2007, Roderick et al., 2001). Solar radiation reaching the land surface has changed over the industrial era due to aerosols emitted from volcanoes and various anthropogenic sources (Kvalevag and Myhre, 2007). Such changes in total surface radiation are accompanied by changes in direct and diffuse surface solar radiation. Recent major volcanic events include the eruptions of el Chichón in 1986 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991. In this study we estimate the impact of changes in surface radiation on photosynthetic carbon uptake during the Post Pinatubo period. We use an offline version of the Hadley Centre land surface scheme (Mercado et al., 2007) modified to account for variations in direct and diffuse radiation on sunlit and shaded canopy photosynthesis. We use meteorological forcing from the Climate Research Unit Data set. Additionally short wave and photosynthetic active radiation are reconstructed from the Hadley centre climate model, which accounts for the scattering and absorption of light by tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols. We describe the development of the land carbon cycle through the Pinatubo event and diagnose the impact of changes in diffuse radiation on the atmospheric [CO2] growth-rate.

Item Type:	Publication - Conference Item (Poster)
Programmes:	CEH Programmes pre-2009 publications > Biogeochemistry > CC01B Land-surface Feedbacks in the Climate System > CC01.6 Development of the Joint Unified Land Exchange Scheme (JULES) land-surface model CEH Programmes pre-2009 publications > Biogeochemistry > BG01 Measuring and modelling trace gas, aerosol and carbon > BG01.5 Aerosols CEH Programmes pre-2009 publications > Biogeochemistry > CC01B Land-surface Feedbacks in the Climate System > CC01.7 Land carbon cycle feedbacks on climate change
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Harding (to July 2011)
Additional Keywords:	Pinatubo, land carbon sink, photosynhtesis, aerosols
NORA Subject Terms:	Earth Sciences
Date made live:	19 Oct 2010 15:26 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/6774

Item Type:

Publication - Conference Item (Poster)

Programmes: