Impact of the Asian monsoon climate on ecosystem carbon and water exchanges: a wavelet analysis and its ecosystem modeling implications

Abstract

The monsoon system is an important natural driver of ecosystem carbon and water exchanges in Asia and is being altered by anthropogenic forcings. This system is accompanied by heavy rainfall and typhoons in the main growing season, thus causing alterations of environmental conditions such as rainfall, wind, and temperature; therefore, it acts as a natural disturbance to forests in Asia. Therefore, degradation of ecosystem service by monsoon activity reinforced by anthropogenic factors in a changing climate is of great concern. In this study, we presented observational evidences for the interplay of terrestrial carbon and water dynamics with the Asian monsoon and their implication in ecosystem modeling. We analyzed 3-year eddy-covariance data at a temperate deciduous forest in Korea. We used wavelet power and coherence spectra to investigate the Asian monsoon system and to determine its impact on the ecosystem. During the study period, our analysis showed strong coupling between ecosystem functioning and temporal variations of monsoon climate. Further scrutiny on the model outputs showed that the model did not accurately reproduce the observed plant phenology and thus ecosystem carbon and water exchanges disturbed by monsoon activities. Our findings suggest that under projected climate scenarios, terrestrial carbon sinks in monsoon Asia will decline if the monsoon disturbance will exceed its natural range of variation and if there is no enhancement in the robustness of the ecosystem in this region.