1982–2010 Trends of light use efficiency and inherent water use efficiency in 
African vegetation: sensitivity to climate and atmospheric CO2 concentrations

Traore, Abdoul Khadre; Ciais, Philippe; Vuichard, Nicolas; MacBean, Natasha; Dardel, Cecile; Poulter, Benjamin; Piao, Shilong; Fisher, Joshua B.; Viovy, Nicolas; Jung, Martin; Myneni, Ranga

doi:10.3390/rs6098923

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1982–2010 Trends of light use efficiency and inherent water use efficiency in African vegetation: sensitivity to climate and atmospheric CO₂ concentrations

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Jung, Martin
Global Diagnostic Modelling, Dr. Martin Jung, Department Biogeochemical Integration, Dr. M. Reichstein, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Society;

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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs6098923
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Citation

Traore, A. K., Ciais, P., Vuichard, N., MacBean, N., Dardel, C., Poulter, B., et al. (2014). 1982–2010 Trends of light use efficiency and inherent water use efficiency in African vegetation: sensitivity to climate and atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Remote Sensing, 6, 8923-8944. doi:10.3390/rs6098923.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0024-3449-F

Abstract

Light and water use by vegetation at the ecosystem level, are key components for
understanding the carbon and water cycles particularly in regions with high climate
variability and dry climates such as Africa. The objective of this study is to examine recent trends over the last 30 years in Light Use Efficiency (LUE) and inherent Water Use Efficiency (iWUE*) for the major biomes of Africa, including their sensitivities to climate
and CO2. LUE and iWUE* trends are analyzed using a combination of NOAA-AVHRR
NDVI3g and fAPAR3g, and a data-driven model of monthly evapotranspiration and Gross
Primary Productivity (based on flux tower measurements and remote sensing fAPAR, yet
with no flux tower data in Africa) and the ORCHIDEE (ORganizing Carbon and Hydrology
In Dynamic EcosystEms) process-based land surface model driven by variable CO2 and two
different gridded climate fields. The iWUE* data product increases by
10%–20% per decade during the 1982–2010 period over the northern savannas (due to
positive trend of vegetation productivity) and the central African forest (due to positive trend
of vapor pressure deficit). In contrast to the iWUE*, the LUE trends are not statistically
significant. The process-based model simulations only show a positive linear trend in iWUE*
and LUE over the central African forest. Additionally, factorial model simulations were
conducted to attribute trends in iWUE and LUE to climate change and rising CO2
concentrations. We found that the increase of atmospheric CO2 by 52.8 ppm during the
period of study explains 30%–50% of the increase in iWUE* and >90% of the LUE trend
over the central African forest. The modeled iWUE* trend exhibits a high sensitivity to the
climate forcing and environmental conditions, whereas the LUE trend has a smaller sensitivity to the selected climate forcing.