[1] Satellite gravimetric observations of monthly changes in continental water storage are compared with outputs from five climate models. All models qualitatively reproduce the global pattern of annual storage amplitude, and the seasonal cycle of global average storage is reproduced well, consistent with earlier studies. However, global average agreements mask systematic model biases in low la...

[1] The interannual variability of atmospheric CO2 growth rate shows remarkable correlation with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Here we present results from mechanistically based terrestrial carbon cycle model VEgetation-Global-Atmosphere-Soil (VEGAS), forced by observed climate fields such as precipitation and temperature. Land is found to explain most of the interannual CO2 variabil...

Pressure dipoles are important long distance climate phenomena (teleconnection) characterized by pressure anomalies of opposite polarity appearing at two different locations at the same time. Such dipoles have proven important for understanding and explaining the variability in climate in many regions of the world, e.g., the El Niño climate phenomenon is known to be responsible for precipitatio...

This research investigated the effects of climate and land cover change on variation in sagebrush ecosystems. We combined information of multi-year sagebrush distribution derived from multitemporal remote sensing imagery and climate data to study the variation patterns of sagebrush ecosystems under different potential disturbances. We found that less than 40% of sagebrush ecosystem changes invo...

Changes in global (ocean and land) precipitation are among the most important and least well-understood consequences of climate change. Increasing greenhouse gas concentrations are thought to affect the zonal-mean distribution of precipitation through two basic mechanisms. First, increasing temperatures will lead to an intensification of the hydrological cycle ("thermodynamic" changes). Second,...

[1] Aerosols are a critical factor in the atmospheric hydrological cycle and radiation budget. As a major agent for clouds to form and a significant attenuator of solar radiation, aerosols affect climate in several ways. Current research suggests that aerosol effects on clouds could further extend to precipitation, both through the formation of cloud particles and by exerting persistent radiati...

Leaf area index (LAI) is a key parameter to characterize vegetation dynamics and ecosystem structure that determines the ecosystem functions and services such as clean water supply and carbon sequestration in a watershed. However, linking LAI dynamics and environmental controls (i.e., coupling biosphere, atmosphere, and anthroposphere) remains challenging and such type of studies have rarely be...

0378-1127/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. A http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.02.033 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 976 716034; fax: E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Kouba). Long-term changes in climate and land use have significant effects on the forest dynamics in formerly managed landscapes. To quantify the relative importance of climatic and land-use factors on tree est...

Global environmental factors impact soil microbial communities and further affect organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling and vegetation dynamic. However, little is known about the relative contributions of climate factors, soil properties, vegetation types, land management practices and spatial structure (which serves as a proxy for underlying effects of temperature and precipitation fo...