Satellite-derived increases in net primary productivity across North America, 1982–1998

doi:doi:10.1029/2001GL013578

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 29, 1427, 4 PP., 2002
doi:10.1029/2001GL013578

Satellite-derived increases in net primary productivity across North America, 1982–1998

Jeffrey A. Hicke

University of Colorado at Boulder, USA

Gregory P. Asner

University of Colorado at Boulder, USA

James T. Randerson

California Institute of Technology, USA

Compton Tucker

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA

Sietse Los

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA

Richard Birdsey

USDA Forest Service, USA

Jennifer C. Jenkins

USDA Forest Service, USA

Christopher Field

Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA

Elisabeth Holland

National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA

We used a new 17-year, high spatial resolution satellite record and a carbon cycle model to explore how changing net primary productivity (NPP) contributed to a proposed carbon (C) sink in North America. We found a small but significant increase in NPP, 0.03 Pg C yr⁻² or 8% over 17 years, that could explain a substantial fraction of the C sink. The largest increases occurred in the central and southeastern United States, eastern Canada, and northwestern North America, and were consistent with NPP trends derived from forest inventories and crop yields. Interannual NPP variability was small, implying that the large interannual variability in the C sink found in previous studies were driven by changes in heterotrophic respiration.

Published 25 May 2002.

Citation: Hicke, J. A., G. P. Asner, J. T. Randerson, C. Tucker, S. Los, R. Birdsey, J. C. Jenkins, C. Field, and E. Holland (2002), Satellite-derived increases in net primary productivity across North America, 1982–1998, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(10), 1427, doi:10.1029/2001GL013578.

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