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Water and CO2 fluxes over semiarid alpine steppe and humid alpine meadow ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

Based on eddy covariance flux data from July 15, 2014, to December 31, 2015, the water and CO2 fluxes were compared over a semiarid alpine steppe (Bange, Tibetan Plateau) and a humid alpine meadow (Lijiang, Yunnan) on the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding region. During the wet season, the evaporative fraction (EF) was strongly and linearly correlated with the soil water content (SWC) at Bange because of its sparse green grass cover. In contrast, the correlation between the EF at Lijiang and the SWC and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was very low because the atmosphere was close to saturation and the EF was relatively constant. In the dry season, the EF at both sites decreased with the SWC. The net ecosystem exchange (NEE) at Bange was largely depressed at noon, while this phenomenon did not occur at Lijiang. The saturated NEE at Bange was 24% of that at Lijiang. The temperature sensitivity coefficient of ecosystem respiration at Bange (1.7) was also much lower than that at Lijiang (3.4). The annual total NEE in 2015 was 21.8 and −230.0 g C m−2 yr−1 at Bange and Lijiang, respectively, and the NEE was tightly controlled by the NDVI at the two sites. The distinct differences in the water and CO2 fluxes at Bange and Lijiang are attributed to the large SWC difference and its effect on vegetation growth.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 91537212 and 41275023), the Third Tibetan Plateau Scientific Experiment: Observations for Boundary Layer and Troposphere (GYHY201406001), and the NSFC project (41305012). The staffs from Bange and Lijiang Meteorological Administration are also greatly appreciated for their helps in the maintenance of the measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Lei Wang, Huizhi Liu & Yang Liu

  2. Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, 50937, Cologne, Germany

    Yaping Shao

  3. Yunnan Institute of Meteorological Sciences, Kunming, 650034, China

    Jihua Sun

Authors
  1. Lei Wang
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  2. Huizhi Liu
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  3. Yaping Shao
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  4. Yang Liu
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  5. Jihua Sun
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Correspondence to Huizhi Liu.

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Wang, L., Liu, H., Shao, Y. et al. Water and CO2 fluxes over semiarid alpine steppe and humid alpine meadow ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau. Theor Appl Climatol 131, 547–556 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-016-1997-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-016-1997-1

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