Stomatal response to decreased relative humidity constrains the acceleration of terrestrial evapotranspiration

Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) is thermodynamically expected to increase with increasing atmospheric temperature; however, the actual constraints on the intensification of ET remain uncertain due to a lack of direct observations. Based on the FLUXNET2015 Dataset, we found that relative humidity...

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Main Authors: Mingzhong Xiao, Zhongbo Yu, Dongdong Kong, Xihui Gu, Mammarella, I., Montagnani, L., Altaf Arain, M., Merbold, Lutz, Magliulo, V., Lohila, A., Buchmann, Nina, Wolf, S., Gharun, M., Hörtnagl, L., Beringer, L., Gioli, B.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: IOP Publishing 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109706
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author Mingzhong Xiao
Zhongbo Yu
Dongdong Kong
Xihui Gu
Mammarella, I.
Montagnani, L.
Altaf Arain, M.
Merbold, Lutz
Magliulo, V.
Lohila, A.
Buchmann, Nina
Wolf, S.
Gharun, M.
Hörtnagl, L.
Beringer, L.
Gioli, B.
author_browse Altaf Arain, M.
Beringer, L.
Buchmann, Nina
Dongdong Kong
Gharun, M.
Gioli, B.
Hörtnagl, L.
Lohila, A.
Magliulo, V.
Mammarella, I.
Merbold, Lutz
Mingzhong Xiao
Montagnani, L.
Wolf, S.
Xihui Gu
Zhongbo Yu
author_facet Mingzhong Xiao
Zhongbo Yu
Dongdong Kong
Xihui Gu
Mammarella, I.
Montagnani, L.
Altaf Arain, M.
Merbold, Lutz
Magliulo, V.
Lohila, A.
Buchmann, Nina
Wolf, S.
Gharun, M.
Hörtnagl, L.
Beringer, L.
Gioli, B.
author_sort Mingzhong Xiao
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) is thermodynamically expected to increase with increasing atmospheric temperature; however, the actual constraints on the intensification of ET remain uncertain due to a lack of direct observations. Based on the FLUXNET2015 Dataset, we found that relative humidity (RH) is a more important driver of ET than temperature. While actual ET decrease at reduced RH, potential ET increases, consistently with the complementary relationship (CR) framework stating that the fraction of energy not used for actual ET is dissipated as increased sensible heat flux that in turn increases potential ET. In this study, we proposed an improved CR formulation requiring no parameter calibration and assessed its reliability in estimating ET both at site-level with the FLUXNET2015 Dataset and at basin-level. Using the ERA-Interim meteorological dataset for 1979–2017 to calculate ET, we found that the global terrestrial ET showed an increasing trend until 1998, while the trend started to decline afterwards. Such decline was largely associated with a reduced RH, inducing water stress conditions that triggered stomatal closure to conserve water. For the first time, this study quantified the global-scale implications of changes in RH on terrestrial ET, indicating that the temperature-driven acceleration of the terrestrial water cycle will be likely constrained by terrestrial vegetation feedbacks.
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spelling CGSpace1097062025-12-08T09:54:28Z Stomatal response to decreased relative humidity constrains the acceleration of terrestrial evapotranspiration Mingzhong Xiao Zhongbo Yu Dongdong Kong Xihui Gu Mammarella, I. Montagnani, L. Altaf Arain, M. Merbold, Lutz Magliulo, V. Lohila, A. Buchmann, Nina Wolf, S. Gharun, M. Hörtnagl, L. Beringer, L. Gioli, B. evapotranspiration relative humidity climate change environment greenhouse gas emissions Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) is thermodynamically expected to increase with increasing atmospheric temperature; however, the actual constraints on the intensification of ET remain uncertain due to a lack of direct observations. Based on the FLUXNET2015 Dataset, we found that relative humidity (RH) is a more important driver of ET than temperature. While actual ET decrease at reduced RH, potential ET increases, consistently with the complementary relationship (CR) framework stating that the fraction of energy not used for actual ET is dissipated as increased sensible heat flux that in turn increases potential ET. In this study, we proposed an improved CR formulation requiring no parameter calibration and assessed its reliability in estimating ET both at site-level with the FLUXNET2015 Dataset and at basin-level. Using the ERA-Interim meteorological dataset for 1979–2017 to calculate ET, we found that the global terrestrial ET showed an increasing trend until 1998, while the trend started to decline afterwards. Such decline was largely associated with a reduced RH, inducing water stress conditions that triggered stomatal closure to conserve water. For the first time, this study quantified the global-scale implications of changes in RH on terrestrial ET, indicating that the temperature-driven acceleration of the terrestrial water cycle will be likely constrained by terrestrial vegetation feedbacks. 2020-09-01 2020-10-01T07:39:06Z 2020-10-01T07:39:06Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109706 en Open Access IOP Publishing Mingzhong Xiao, Zhongbo Yu, Dongdong Kong, Xihui Gu, Mammarella, I., Montagnani, L., Altaf Arain, M., Merbold, L., Magliulo, V., Lohila, A., Buchmann, N., Wolf, S., Gharun, M., Hörtnagl, L., Beringer, L. and Gioli, B. 2020. Stomatal response to decreased relative humidity constrains theacceleration of terrestrial evapotranspiration. Environmental Research Letters 15: 094066
spellingShingle evapotranspiration
relative humidity
climate change
environment
greenhouse gas emissions
Mingzhong Xiao
Zhongbo Yu
Dongdong Kong
Xihui Gu
Mammarella, I.
Montagnani, L.
Altaf Arain, M.
Merbold, Lutz
Magliulo, V.
Lohila, A.
Buchmann, Nina
Wolf, S.
Gharun, M.
Hörtnagl, L.
Beringer, L.
Gioli, B.
Stomatal response to decreased relative humidity constrains the acceleration of terrestrial evapotranspiration
title Stomatal response to decreased relative humidity constrains the acceleration of terrestrial evapotranspiration
title_full Stomatal response to decreased relative humidity constrains the acceleration of terrestrial evapotranspiration
title_fullStr Stomatal response to decreased relative humidity constrains the acceleration of terrestrial evapotranspiration
title_full_unstemmed Stomatal response to decreased relative humidity constrains the acceleration of terrestrial evapotranspiration
title_short Stomatal response to decreased relative humidity constrains the acceleration of terrestrial evapotranspiration
title_sort stomatal response to decreased relative humidity constrains the acceleration of terrestrial evapotranspiration
topic evapotranspiration
relative humidity
climate change
environment
greenhouse gas emissions
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109706
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