Sea Surface Temperature Influence on Terrestrial Gross Primary Production along the Southern California Current

Some land and ocean processes are related through connections (and synoptic-scale teleconnections) to the atmosphere. Synoptic-scale atmospheric (El Niño/Southern Oscillation [ENSO], Pacific Decadal Oscillation [PDO], and North Atlantic Oscillation [NAO]) decadal cycles are known to influence the global terrestrial carbon cycle. Potentially, smaller scale land-ocean connections influenced by coastal upwelling (changes in sea surface temperature) may be important for local-to-regional water-limited ecosystems where plants may benefit from air moisture transported from the ocean to terrestrial ecosystems. Here we use satellite-derived observations to test potential connections between changes in sea surface temperature (SST) in regions with strong coastal upwelling and terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) across the Baja California Peninsula. This region is characterized by an arid/semiarid climate along the southern California Current. We found that SST was correlated with the fraction of photosynthetic active radiation (fPAR; as a proxy for GPP) with lags ranging from 0 to 5 months. In contrast ENSO was not as strongly related with fPAR as SST in these coastal ecosystems. Our results show the importance of local-scale changes in SST during upwelling events, to explain the variability in GPP in coastal, water-limited ecosystems. The response of GPP to SST was spatially-dependent: colder SST in the northern areas increased GPP (likely by influencing fog formation), while warmer SST at the southern areas was associated to higher GPP (as SST is in phase with precipitation patterns). Interannual trends in fPAR are also spatially variable along the Baja California Peninsula with increasing secular trends in subtropical regions, decreasing trends in the most arid region, and no trend in the semi-arid regions. These findings suggest that studies and ecosystem process based models should consider the lateral influence of local-scale ocean processes that could influence coastal ecosystem productivity.

[1]  J. Banner,et al.  Corrigendum to "Changing amounts and sources of moisture in the U.S. southwest since the Last Glacial Maximum in response to global climate change" [Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 401 (2014) 47-56] DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.05.046 , 2014 .

[2]  J. Banner,et al.  Changing amounts and sources of moisture in the U.S. southwest since the Last Glacial Maximum in response to global climate change , 2014 .

[3]  Jannes Muenchow,et al.  Predictive Mapping of Species Richness and Plant Species' Distributions of a Peruvian Fog Oasis Along an Altitudinal Gradient , 2013 .

[4]  P. Ciais,et al.  Drought Influences the Accuracy of Simulated Ecosystem Fluxes: A Model-Data Meta-analysis for Mediterranean Oak Woodlands , 2013, Ecosystems.

[5]  T. Dawson,et al.  Cloud shading and fog drip influence the metabolism of a coastal pine ecosystem , 2013, Global change biology.

[6]  Francina Dominguez,et al.  Oceanic and terrestrial sources of continental precipitation , 2012 .

[7]  Chad W. Higgins,et al.  Evapotranspiration: A process driving mass transport and energy exchange in the soil‐plant‐atmosphere‐climate system , 2012 .

[8]  V. Camacho-Ibar,et al.  Temporal variability of the physical and chemical water characteristics at a coastal monitoring observatory: Station ENSENADA , 2010 .

[9]  Andreas Stohl,et al.  On the origin of continental precipitation , 2010 .

[10]  Scarla J. Weeks,et al.  Greenhouse gas, upwelling‐favorable winds, and the future of coastal ocean upwelling ecosystems , 2010 .

[11]  L. Greer,et al.  The 13C Suess effect in scleractinian corals mirror changes in the anthropogenic CO2 inventory of the surface oceans , 2009 .

[12]  H. Wernli,et al.  A Lagrangian Climatology of Tropical Moisture Exports to the Northern Hemispheric Extratropics , 2009 .

[13]  K. Paw U,et al.  Strong links between teleconnections and ecosystem exchange found at a Pacific Northwest old‐growth forest from flux tower and MODIS EVI data , 2009 .

[14]  S. Xie,et al.  Ocean tidal cooling effect on summer sea fog over the Okhotsk Sea , 2009 .

[15]  A. P. Williams,et al.  Significance of summer fog and overcast for drought stress and ecological functioning of coastal California endemic plant species , 2009 .

[16]  J. Barichivich,et al.  Interannual variability of the coastal fog at Fray Jorge relict forests in semiarid Chile , 2008 .

[17]  J. M. Lewis,et al.  Formation, Evolution, and Dissipation of Coastal Sea Fog , 2005 .

[18]  R. Samelson,et al.  Atmospheric forcing of the Oregon coastal ocean during the 2001 upwelling season , 2005 .

[19]  Kevin E. Trenberth,et al.  Uncertainty in Hurricanes and Global Warming , 2005, Science.

[20]  James C. McWilliams,et al.  The Warming of the California Current System: Dynamics and Ecosystem Implications , 2005 .

[21]  Scarla J. Weeks,et al.  Greenhouse gas buildup, sardines, submarine eruptions and the possibility of abrupt degradation of intense marine upwelling ecosystems , 2004 .

[22]  R. Mendelssohn,et al.  Long-term and seasonal trends in stratification in the California Current, 1950--1993 , 2004 .

[23]  Maosheng Zhao,et al.  A Continuous Satellite-Derived Measure of Global Terrestrial Primary Production , 2004 .

[24]  Tereza Cavazos,et al.  Variability of Extreme Precipitation Events in Tijuana, Mexico During ENSO Years , 2004 .

[25]  J. M. Lewis,et al.  Sea fog off the California coast: Viewed in the context of transient weather systems , 2003 .

[26]  Artemio Gallegos-García,et al.  Coastal Upwelling Activity on the Pacific Shelf of the Baja California Peninsula , 2003 .

[27]  N. Diffenbaugh,et al.  Future climate change and upwelling in the California Current , 2003 .

[28]  S. Piao,et al.  Interannual variations of monthly and seasonal normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in China from 1982 to 1999 , 2003 .

[29]  Nora E. Martijena.  El Niño-Southern Oscillation and precipitation history in Baja California: reconstruction using tree ring records , 2003, Geofísica Internacional.

[30]  A. Badan.  The effects of El Niño in Mexico: A survey , 2003, Geofísica Internacional.

[31]  S. G. Marinone,et al.  Temporal and spatial variation of the surface winds in the Gulf of California , 2003 .

[32]  Reginaldo Durazo,et al.  Evolution of oceanographic conditions off Baja California: 1997–1999 , 2002 .

[33]  W. Scott Pegau,et al.  Ocean color observations of eddies during the summer in the Gulf of California , 2002 .

[34]  Peter Cornillon,et al.  Global and Regional Sea Surface Temperature Trends , 2001 .

[35]  J. Ehleringer,et al.  Water use trade‐offs and optimal adaptations to pulse‐driven arid ecosystems , 2001 .

[36]  R. Betts,et al.  Acceleration of global warming due to carbon-cycle feedbacks in a coupled climate model , 2000, Nature.

[37]  Ye Qi,et al.  Effects of climate variability on the carbon dioxide, water, and sensible heat fluxes above a ponderosa pine plantation in the Sierra Nevada (CA) , 2000 .

[38]  Yu Zhang,et al.  Prototyping of MODIS LAI and FPAR algorithm with LASUR and LANDSAT data , 2000, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[39]  E. Pavia,et al.  ENSO modulates rainfall in the Mediterranean Californias , 1998 .

[40]  William W. Hsieh,et al.  Global climate change and ocean upwelling , 1992 .

[41]  L. Galicia,et al.  Pattern of Rainfall Distribution in the Central Pacific Coast of Mexico , 1991 .

[42]  Raymond M. Turner,et al.  The Changing Mile: An Ecological Study of Vegetation Change with Time in the Lower Mile of An Arid and Semiarid Region , 1966 .

[43]  H. Nyquist,et al.  Certain Topics in Telegraph Transmission Theory , 1928, Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

[44]  R. Houghton,et al.  The Contemporary Carbon Cycle , 2014 .

[45]  Martyn P. Clark,et al.  DECLINING MOUNTAIN SNOWPACK IN WESTERN NORTH AMERICA , 2005 .

[46]  R. Houghton,et al.  8.10 – The Contemporary Carbon Cycle , 2003 .