Gampe et al. (2026) The emergence of snow droughts as drivers of negative extremes in plant productivity over the past decades.

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Environmental Research Letters
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-04-01
• Authors: David Gampe, Eyal Sharon, Bano Mehdi, M.E.T. Varela, Michael Dominic O'Sullivan, Wolfgang Buermann, Marianela Fader, Franziska Koch
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ae5a4a

Research Groups

Not specified in the abstract.

Short Summary

This study quantifies the significant and increasing impact of snow droughts as drivers of negative gross primary production (GPP) anomalies across the Northern Hemisphere, revealing their prominent role in the global carbon cycle.

Objective

• To quantify the adverse impacts of snow droughts as drivers of negative GPP extreme events across the Northern Hemisphere.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Northern Hemisphere (30-60°N)
• Temporal Scale: 1982-2016

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not specified in the abstract.
• Data sources: GPP datasets (specific types not detailed).

Main Results

• Snow droughts are attributed to -4.48 PgC [-2.48|-7.09 PgC] (mean [min|max] across GPP datasets) of cumulative negative GPP anomalies.
• They drive 23.5 % [21.2|25.7 %] of the negative GPP anomalies in the study region.
• This corresponds to 9.6 % [8.9|10.8 %] of the global negative GPP anomalies.
• Attributable GPP anomalies show marked increases of +46.5 % [+34.2|+66.2 %] in the recent study period (2000-2016 compared to 1982-1998).
• More severe snow droughts lead to the most pronounced increases in anomalies between the two periods.
• Snow droughts act as isolated drivers for 15.9 % [9.0|20.8 %] of the cumulative negative GPP anomalies.
• Additionally, 30.7 % [26.5|35.3 %] of negative GPP anomalies attributed to later-season droughts also reveal preceding snow droughts.

Contributions

• This study demonstrates the prominent and previously largely unknown role of snow droughts as significant drivers of negative GPP anomalies and their subsequent impact on the carbon cycle.
• It quantifies the increasing trend of these impacts in recent decades, highlighting the growing importance of snow droughts in the context of climate change.

Funding

Not specified in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Gampe2026emergence,
  author = {Gampe, David and Sharon, Eyal and Mehdi, Bano and Varela, M.E.T. and O'Sullivan, Michael Dominic and Buermann, Wolfgang and Fader, Marianela and Koch, Franziska},
  title = {The emergence of snow droughts as drivers of negative extremes in plant productivity over the past decades.},
  journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/ae5a4a},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae5a4a}
}