Widespread enhancement of ecosystem carbon fluxes during post moisture pulse

Rainfall pulses generate rapid increases and subsequent declines in soil moisture (SM), yet global ecosystem responses during SM dry-downs remain poorly quantified. Using 6502 soil dry-down events identified from global eddy-covariance observations, we compared carbon fluxes during dry-downs (treatment) to fluxes during the same periods without dry-downs in other years (control). During early dry-downs days, gross primary production (GPP) and respiration both exceeded controls, with stronger GPP gains enhancing net carbon uptake. This enhancement persisted for several days before diminishing as SM decreased and atmospheric dryness intensified. Latent and sensible heat fluxes also rose initially, but latent heat enhancement weakened over time, accompanied by enhanced sensible heat. Machine-learning analyses show that photosynthetic capacity and radiation drive positive GPP anomalies, while water limitations induce negative ones. Satellite data supported these patterns, whereas Earth system models underestimate their magnitude. These findings highlight transient pulse responses and support the broader applicability of the pulse-reserve paradigm. Ecosystems accumulate carbon for several days after moisture pulses, but this benefit fades as soil dries and heat stress intensifies, according to an analysis that uses carbon flux-tower observations, Earth system models, machine learning, and satellite images.

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Publication Details

Journal
Communications Earth & Environment
Published
2026-01-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03191-x
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
36.62

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article

Widespread enhancement of ecosystem carbon fluxes during post moisture pulse

Joel A. Biederman, Russell L. Scott, Fangyue Zhang, Dan Yakir et al.
1 citations
Communications Earth & Environment
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
36.62
article

Widespread enhancement of ecosystem carbon fluxes during post moisture pulse

Joel A. Biederman, Russell L. Scott, Fangyue Zhang, Dan Yakir, Armen R. Kemanian, Paul Stoy, Jean-Pierre Wigneron, Pierre Gentine, Andrew F. Feldman, Zheng Fu, Philippe Ciais, Chuixiang Yi, David Makowski, Yu Bai, William K. Smith
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Rainfall pulses generate rapid increases and subsequent declines in soil moisture (SM), yet global ecosystem responses during SM dry-downs remain poorly quantified. Using 6502 soil dry-down events identified from global eddy-covariance observations, we compared carbon fluxes during dry-downs (treatment) to fluxes during the same periods without dry-downs in other years (control). During early dry-downs days, gross primary production (GPP) and respiration both exceeded controls, with stronger GPP gains enhancing net carbon uptake. This enhancement persisted for several days before diminishing as SM decreased and atmospheric dryness intensified. Latent and sensible heat fluxes also rose initially, but latent heat enhancement weakened over time, accompanied by enhanced sensible heat. Machine-learning analyses show that photosynthetic capacity and radiation drive positive GPP anomalies, while water limitations induce negative ones. Satellite data supported these patterns, whereas Earth system models underestimate their magnitude. These findings highlight transient pulse responses and support the broader applicability of the pulse-reserve paradigm. Ecosystems accumulate carbon for several days after moisture pulses, but this benefit fades as soil dries and heat stress intensifies, according to an analysis that uses carbon flux-tower observations, Earth system models, machine learning, and satellite images.

Communications Earth & EnvironmentVol. 7(1)
Queens College, CUNY (US), The Graduate Center, CUNY (US), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Wisconsin System (US), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), Pennsylvania State University (US), Agricultural Research Service (US), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), University of Arizona (US), Université de Bordeaux (FR), City University of New York (US), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), AgroParisTech (FR), Beijing Normal University (CN), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Biologie du Fruit et Pathologie (FR), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (FR), CEA Paris-Saclay (FR), Unité mixte de recherche Œnologie (FR), Southwest Watershed Research Center (US), Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (US), Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (CN), Weizmann Institute of Science (IL), University of Maryland, College Park (US), Columbia University (US)
U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Young Scientists Fund, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
36.62
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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