The interactive climate and vegetation along the Pole-Equator belts simulated by a global coupled model

Abstract

The interaction between climate and vegetation along four Pole-Equator-Pole (PEP) belts were explored using a global two-way coupled model, AVIM-GOALS, which links the ecophysiological processes at the land surface with the general circulation model (GCM). The PEP belts are important in linking the climate change with the variation of sea and land, including terrestrial ecosystems. Previous PEP belts studies have mainly focused on the paleoclimate variation and its reconstruction. This study analyzes and discusses the interaction between modern climate and vegetation represented by leaf area index (LAI) and net primary production (NPP). The results show that the simulated LAI variation, corresponding to the observed LAI variation, agrees with the peak-valley variation of precipitation in these belts. The annual mean NPP simulated by the coupled model is also consistent with PIK NPP data in its overall variation trend along the four belts, which is a good example to promote global ecological studies by coupling the climate and vegetation models. A large discrepancy between the simulated and estimated LAI emerges to the south of 15°N along PEP 3 and to the south of 18°S in PEP 1S, and the discrepancy for the simulated NPP and PIK data in the two regions is relatively smaller in contrast to the LAI difference. Precipitation is a key factor affecting vegetation variation, and the overall trend of LAI and NPP corresponds more obviously to precipitation variation than temperature change along most parts of these PEP belts.