Abstract
Hydro-climatic resilience is an essential element of food security. The miombo ecosystem in Southern Africa supports varied land uses for a growing population. Albedo, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC), Solar-Induced chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF), and precipitation remote-sensing data for current climate were jointly analyzed to explore vegetation dynamics and water availability feedbacks. Changes in the surface energy balance tied to vegetation status were examined in the light of an hourly albedo product with improved atmospheric correction derived for this study. Phase-space analysis shows that the albedo’s seasonality tracks the landscape-scale functional stability of miombo and woody savanna with respect to precipitation variations. Miombo exhibits the best adaptive traits to water stress which highlights synergies among root-system water uptake capacity, vegetation architecture, and landscape hydro-geomorphology. This explains why efforts to conserve the spatial structure of the miombo forest in sustainable farming of seasonal wetlands have led to significant crop yield increases. Grass savanna’s high vulnerability to water stress is illustrative of potential run-away impacts of miombo deforestation. This study suggests that phase-space analysis of albedo, SIF, and FVC can be used as operational diagnostics of ecosystem health.
Highlights
Published: 27 July 2021Global warming due to anthropogenic causes such as greenhouse gas emissions impacts the interconnected climate, hydrological, environmental/ecological, and social systems, that is the Earth system [1,2]
The climate of this area is characterized by complex rainfall gradients driven by the movement of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), a narrow, clearly defined band of clouds that stretches around the globe parallel to the equator [54,55]
The use of an Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)-based fractional vegetation cover calculation appears to highlight the flush of grasses during the rainy season and their subsequent senescence during the dry season characteristic of semi-arid regions in Africa [88]
Summary
Global warming due to anthropogenic causes such as greenhouse gas emissions impacts the interconnected climate, hydrological, environmental/ecological, and social systems, that is the Earth system [1,2]. Land-use and land cover dynamics are crucial for modeling climate change impacts, in areas with intensive agricultural practices and population growth. Agricultural lands cover approximately 40% of the land surface of the Earth, and population increases worldwide present challenges for sustainable food production and water resource management [3,4]. One of the main issues hindering African development is drought, making up fewer than 20% of natural disasters in Sub-Saharan. Drought can intensify in dry areas resulting from increased evaporation and enhanced atmospheric moisture holding capacity caused by warming [1]. Projected increases in water scarcity in combination with restricted access to groundwater can in turn lead to increased risk of heat waves and wildfires with devastating impacts on African communities dependent on rainwater as a primary water source [1,2,7,8,9]
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