S J Goetz et al 2007 Environ. Res. Lett. 2 045031 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/2/4/045031
S J Goetz1, M C Mack2, K R Gurney3, J T Randerson4 and R A Houghton1
Show affiliationsPart of Focus on Northern Hemisphere High Latitude Climate and Environmental Change
Vegetation composition at high latitudes plays a critical role in the climate and, in turn, is strongly affected by the climate. The increased frequency of fires expected as a result of climate warming at high latitudes will feedback positively to further warming by releasing carbon to the atmosphere, but will also feedback negatively by increasing the surface albedo. The net effect is complex because the severity of fire affects the trajectory of both carbon stocks and albedo change following a fire, and these are likely to differ between high latitude ecosystems in North America and northern Eurasia. Here we use growth trajectories, productivity trends and regional carbon fluxes to characterize these fire- and climate-driven changes.
92.60.hv Pressure, density, and temperature
92.60.Fm Boundary layer structure and processes
92.60.hf Tropospheric composition and chemistry, constituent transport and chemistry
Issue 4 (October-December 2007)
Received 27 August 2007, accepted for publication 19 November 2007
Published 21 December 2007
S J Goetz et al 2007 Environ. Res. Lett. 2 045031