The response of Arctic vegetation to the summer climate: relation between shrub cover, NDVI, surface albedo and temperature

• Published in: Environmental research letters Vol. 6; no. 3; pp. 035502 - 9
• Main Authors: Blok, Daan, Schaepman-Strub, Gabriela, Bartholomeus, Harm, Heijmans, Monique M P D, Maximov, Trofim C, Berendse, Frank
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.07.2011
• Subjects: Albedo; Annual variations; Climate; Climate change; ecosystems; exchange; expansion; feedbacks; forest; Global warming; Growing season; Normalized difference vegetative index; northern alaska; siberian tundra; Summer; Taiga & tundra; trends; Tundra; tundra vegetation; Vegetation; Wetlands; Arctic region; INW, Russia, Siberia; PN, Arctic

Recently observed Arctic greening trends from normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data suggest that shrub growth is increasing in response to increasing summer temperature. An increase in shrub cover is expected to decrease summer albedo and thus positively feed back to climate warming. Ho...