Characteristics and scenarios projection of NEE change in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Fourteen years data of eddy covariance measurements at an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) were used to characterise the statistical features of NEE and its relationship with temperature variations. A statistical model was obtained by using the Michaelis-Menten equations of the light-response curve for predicting the NEE for future climate warming. The results show that less than 2 degrees increase of temperature would not have much influence on the CO2 absorption amount of the ecosystem, while over 2.6 degrees increase of temperature would change the CO2 absorption into CO2 release and 4.8 degree increase of temperature would induce a large amount of CO2 release from the alpine meadow ecosystem (about 166.8 gC/m2/year). This means that over a 2 degrees warming like RCP8.5 scenario in the future would jeopardise future carbon sink capacity at the alpine meadow ecosystem on the TP.