An evapotranspiration deficit-based drought index to detect variability of terrestrial carbon productivity in the Middle East
The primary driver of the land carbon sink is gross primary productivity (GPP), the gross absorption of carbon dioxide (CO _2 ) by plant photosynthesis, which currently accounts for about one-quarter of anthropogenic CO _2 emissions per year. This study aimed to detect the variability of carbon prod...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac4765 |
| _version_ | 1797747091762577408 |
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| author | Karam Alsafadi Nadhir Al-Ansari Ali Mokhtar Safwan Mohammed Ahmed Elbeltagi Saad Sh Sammen Shuoben Bi |
| author_facet | Karam Alsafadi Nadhir Al-Ansari Ali Mokhtar Safwan Mohammed Ahmed Elbeltagi Saad Sh Sammen Shuoben Bi |
| author_sort | Karam Alsafadi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The primary driver of the land carbon sink is gross primary productivity (GPP), the gross absorption of carbon dioxide (CO _2 ) by plant photosynthesis, which currently accounts for about one-quarter of anthropogenic CO _2 emissions per year. This study aimed to detect the variability of carbon productivity using the standardized evapotranspiration deficit index (SEDI). Sixteen countries in the Middle East (ME) were selected to investigate drought. To this end, the yearly GPP dataset for the study area, spanning the 35 years (1982–2017) was used. Additionally, the Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM, version 3.3a), which estimates the various components of terrestrial evapotranspiration (annual actual and potential evaporation), was used for the same period. The main findings indicated that productivity in croplands and grasslands was more sensitive to the SEDI in Syria, Iraq, and Turkey by 34%, 30.5%, and 29.6% of cropland area respectively, and 25%, 31.5%, and 30.5% of grass land area. A significant positive correlation against the long-term data of the SEDI was recorded. Notably, the GPP recorded a decline of >60% during the 2008 extreme drought in the north of Iraq and the northeast of Syria, which concentrated within the agrarian ecosystem and reached a total vegetation deficit with 100% negative anomalies. The reductions of the annual GPP and anomalies from 2009 to 2012 might have resulted from the decrease in the annual SEDI at the peak 2008 extreme drought event. Ultimately, this led to a long delay in restoring the ecosystem in terms of its vegetation cover. Thus, the proposed study reported that the SEDI is more capable of capturing the GPP variability and closely linked to drought than commonly used indices. Therefore, understanding the response of ecosystem productivity to drought can facilitate the simulation of ecosystem changes under climate change projections. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:46:14Z |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:46:14Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-a622f3157ffd431fb64f0ffeff241f7a2023-08-09T15:25:01ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262022-01-0117101405110.1088/1748-9326/ac4765An evapotranspiration deficit-based drought index to detect variability of terrestrial carbon productivity in the Middle EastKaram Alsafadi0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8925-7918Nadhir Al-Ansari1Ali Mokhtar2Safwan Mohammed3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2311-6789Ahmed Elbeltagi4Saad Sh Sammen5Shuoben Bi6School of Geographical Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology , Nanjing 210044, People’s Republic of ChinaCivil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Lulea University of Technology , 97187 Lulea, SwedenDepartment of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University , Giza 12613, Egypt; State of Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University; Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources , Yangling 712100, People’s Republic of ChinaInstitute of Land Use, Technology and Regional Development, University of Debrecen , Debrecen 4032, HungaryAgricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University , Mansoura 35516, Egypt; College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou 310058, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Diyala , Diyala Governorate 32001, IraqSchool of Geographical Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology , Nanjing 210044, People’s Republic of ChinaThe primary driver of the land carbon sink is gross primary productivity (GPP), the gross absorption of carbon dioxide (CO _2 ) by plant photosynthesis, which currently accounts for about one-quarter of anthropogenic CO _2 emissions per year. This study aimed to detect the variability of carbon productivity using the standardized evapotranspiration deficit index (SEDI). Sixteen countries in the Middle East (ME) were selected to investigate drought. To this end, the yearly GPP dataset for the study area, spanning the 35 years (1982–2017) was used. Additionally, the Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM, version 3.3a), which estimates the various components of terrestrial evapotranspiration (annual actual and potential evaporation), was used for the same period. The main findings indicated that productivity in croplands and grasslands was more sensitive to the SEDI in Syria, Iraq, and Turkey by 34%, 30.5%, and 29.6% of cropland area respectively, and 25%, 31.5%, and 30.5% of grass land area. A significant positive correlation against the long-term data of the SEDI was recorded. Notably, the GPP recorded a decline of >60% during the 2008 extreme drought in the north of Iraq and the northeast of Syria, which concentrated within the agrarian ecosystem and reached a total vegetation deficit with 100% negative anomalies. The reductions of the annual GPP and anomalies from 2009 to 2012 might have resulted from the decrease in the annual SEDI at the peak 2008 extreme drought event. Ultimately, this led to a long delay in restoring the ecosystem in terms of its vegetation cover. Thus, the proposed study reported that the SEDI is more capable of capturing the GPP variability and closely linked to drought than commonly used indices. Therefore, understanding the response of ecosystem productivity to drought can facilitate the simulation of ecosystem changes under climate change projections.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac4765gross primary productivitySEDIecosystem dynamicsterrestrial carbonGLEAM dataset |
| spellingShingle | Karam Alsafadi Nadhir Al-Ansari Ali Mokhtar Safwan Mohammed Ahmed Elbeltagi Saad Sh Sammen Shuoben Bi An evapotranspiration deficit-based drought index to detect variability of terrestrial carbon productivity in the Middle East Environmental Research Letters gross primary productivity SEDI ecosystem dynamics terrestrial carbon GLEAM dataset |
| title | An evapotranspiration deficit-based drought index to detect variability of terrestrial carbon productivity in the Middle East |
| title_full | An evapotranspiration deficit-based drought index to detect variability of terrestrial carbon productivity in the Middle East |
| title_fullStr | An evapotranspiration deficit-based drought index to detect variability of terrestrial carbon productivity in the Middle East |
| title_full_unstemmed | An evapotranspiration deficit-based drought index to detect variability of terrestrial carbon productivity in the Middle East |
| title_short | An evapotranspiration deficit-based drought index to detect variability of terrestrial carbon productivity in the Middle East |
| title_sort | evapotranspiration deficit based drought index to detect variability of terrestrial carbon productivity in the middle east |
| topic | gross primary productivity SEDI ecosystem dynamics terrestrial carbon GLEAM dataset |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac4765 |
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