Xie et al. (2025) The impact of compound droughts and heatwaves on ecosystem carbon-water dynamics in Eurasia

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-20
• Authors: Mingjuan Xie, Geping Luo, Amaury Frankl, Philippe De Maeyer, Olaf Hellwich, Kwinten Van Weverberg
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110936

Research Groups

• State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China
• Department of Geography, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
• College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
• Sino-Belgian Joint Laboratory for Geo-Information, Urumqi, China
• Sino-Belgian Joint Laboratory for Geo-Information, Ghent, Belgium
• Department of Computer Vision & Remote Sensing, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
• Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium

Short Summary

This study investigated the spatiotemporal patterns of compound droughts and heatwaves (CDHW) in Eurasia from 1984 to 2018 and their impacts on ecosystem carbon-water dynamics (Net Ecosystem Carbon Exchange and water fluxes) across different land cover types. It found an increasing CDHW frequency and a general negative impact on carbon uptake and water fluxes, with grasslands being most affected in terms of carbon uptake.

Objective

• To examine the spatiotemporal patterns of compound droughts and heatwaves (CDHW) in Eurasia during 1984−2018 and their effects on ecosystem carbon-water dynamics, specifically net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) and water fluxes (WF), across various land cover types.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Eurasia
• Temporal Scale: 1984−2018

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not explicitly mentioned.
• Data sources: High-precision carbon and water flux dataset from meteorological stations.

Main Results

• The frequency of compound droughts and heatwaves (CDHW) has shown a marked increase since 1984.
• Standardized anomalies for heatwaves appeared more severe than for droughts, but droughts exhibited greater spatial variability.
• CDHW generally demonstrated a negative impact on net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) and water fluxes (WF).
• The magnitude of net carbon uptake decreases has grown, and the magnitude of WF increases has diminished since 1984.
• Grassland experienced the largest reduction in net carbon uptake, with a mean standardized anomaly (SA) of 0.53 for NEE.
• Forest appeared to be the least affected in terms of NEE response to CDHW.
• Wetland indicated the most pronounced WF response to CDHW, with a mean SA of 0.93, followed by forest.
• Geographically, the effects of CDHW on NEE and WF varied along latitudes, with the strongest negative influences occurring in high-latitude regions.
• Average recovery times for most stations after CDHW ranged from three to ten days.
• Forest and shrubland illustrated the greatest resilience in NEE and WF, respectively.

Contributions

• Provides a detailed understanding of the spatiotemporal patterns and impacts of compound droughts and heatwaves (CDHW) on ecosystem carbon-water dynamics across various land cover types in Eurasia, addressing a gap in existing global studies that often overlook land cover-specific responses.
• Offers insights into the differential resilience and recovery times of various ecosystems to CDHW events.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Xie2025impact,
  author = {Xie, Mingjuan and Luo, Geping and Frankl, Amaury and Maeyer, Philippe De and Hellwich, Olaf and Weverberg, Kwinten Van},
  title = {The impact of compound droughts and heatwaves on ecosystem carbon-water dynamics in Eurasia},
  journal = {Agricultural and Forest Meteorology},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110936},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110936}
}