Inter-comparisons of mean, trend and interannual variability of global terrestrial gross primary production retrieved from remote sensing approach

Abstract

Many models were established to estimate gross primary production (GPP) of terrestrial ecosystems based on vegetation light use efficiency (LUE). Analysing the spatial-temporal variations of global terrestrial GPP became capable with the increasing length of satellite data. Previous studies mainly focused on evaluating the model performance or investigating the mean, the temporal trend or the interannual variability (IAV) of global terrestrial GPP based on one single or multiple models, which is difficult to identify common merits of a same cluster of GPP models. This study compared eight satellite-based LEU-type GPP models in capturing the mean, temporal trend and IAV of global GPP concurrently. Our results showed that current common-used models based on LUE methodology estimated global mean GPP ranging from 128.5 to 158.3 Pg C year−1, and global mean IAV ranging from 0.1 to 0.35, but the trends ranging from −0.22 to 0.51 Pg C year−1. In the context of plant functional types (PFTs) and climate classifications, no consistent feature for either of the mean, trend or IAV of GPP are identified among eight models. Future studies should integrate the latest advances on the mechanisms and associated environmental factors into models and consolidate performance of models to better understand the evolutions of terrestrial ecosystem functioning.