Articles | Volume 26, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2045-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2045-2022
Research article
 | 
27 Apr 2022
Research article |  | 27 Apr 2022

Investigating the response of leaf area index to droughts in southern African vegetation using observations and model simulations

Shakirudeen Lawal, Stephen Sitch, Danica Lombardozzi, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Hao-Wei Wey, Pierre Friedlingstein, Hanqin Tian, and Bruce Hewitson

Related authors

Indicators of Global Climate Change 2025: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence
Piers M. Forster, Tristram Walsh, Chris Smith, William F. Lamb, Robin Lamboll, Christophe Cassou, Mathias Hauser, Zeke Hausfather, June-Yi Lee, Matthew D. Palmer, Karina von Schuckmann, Aimée B. A. Slangen, Sophie Szopa, Blair Trewin, Jeongeun Yun, Nathan P. Gillett, Stuart Jenkins, H. Damon Matthews, Krishnan Raghavan, Aurélien Ribes, Joeri Rogelj, Debbie Rosen, Xuebin Zhang, Myles Allen, Robbie M. Andrew, Chris Atkinson, Richard A. Betts, Antonio Bombelli, Samantha N. Burgess, Lijing Cheng, Helen E. Claxton, Pierre Friedlingstein, Thomas L. Frölicher, Catia M. Domingues, Thomas Gasser, Catherine H. Gregory, Rachel M. Hoesly, Daniel Huppmann, Masayoshi Ishii, Christopher Kadow, Alexia Karwat, John Kennedy, Rachel E. Killick, Mahesh V. M. Kovilakam, Paul B. Krummel, Xin Lan, Jean-François Lamarque, Aurélien Liné, Belén Martín-Míguez, Didier P. Monselesan, Colin Morice, Jens Mühle, Pino Mussak, Glen P. Peters, Anna Pirani, Julia Pongratz, Matthew Rigby, Robert Rohde, Abhishek Savita, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Steven J. Smith, Ghassan Taha, Caterina Tassone, Peter Thorne, Christopher Wells, Luke M. Western, Guido R. van der Werf, Susan E. Wijffels, Marco Zecchetto, Junting Zhong, Xiao-ye Zhang, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, and Panmao Zhai
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-287,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-287, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Differences in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions estimates explained
William F. Lamb, Robbie M. Andrew, Matthew Jones, Zebedee Nicholls, Glen P. Peters, Chris Smith, Marielle Saunois, Giacomo Grassi, Julia Pongratz, Steven J. Smith, Francesco N. Tubiello, Monica Crippa, Matthew Gidden, Pierre Friedlingstein, Jan Minx, and Piers M. Forster
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 2549–2572, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2549-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-2549-2026, 2026
Short summary
The Scenario Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP7 (ScenarioMIP-CMIP7)
Detlef P. Van Vuuren, Brian C. O'Neill, Claudia Tebaldi, Benjamin M. Sanderson, Louise P. Chini, Pierre Friedlingstein, Tomoko Hasegawa, Keywan Riahi, Bala Govindasamy, Nico Bauer, Veronika Eyring, Cheikh M. N. Fall, Katja Frieler, Matthew J. Gidden, Laila K. Gohar, Annika Högner, Andrew D. Jones, Jarmo Kikstra, Andrew King, Reto Knutti, Elmar Kriegler, Peter Lawrence, Chris Lennard, Jason Lowe, Camilla Mathison, Shahbaz Mehmood, Zebedee Nicholls, Luciana F. Prado, Qiang Zhang, Steven K. Rose, Alex C. Ruane, Marit Sandstad, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Roland Seferian, Jana Sillmann, Chris Smith, Anna A. Sörensson, Swapna Panickal, Kaoru Tachiiri, Naomi Vaughan, Saritha S. Vishwanathan, Tokuta Yokohata, Marco Zecchetto, and Tilo Ziehn
Geosci. Model Dev., 19, 2627–2656, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-2627-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-2627-2026, 2026
Short summary
Impacts of Droughts on Biomass Burning Emissions, Air Quality, and Public Health in the Amazon
Leo T. H. Ng, Jia Mao, Xueying Liu, Shixian Zhai, Dominic Fawcett, Stephen Sitch, Luiz E. O. C. Aragao, and Amos P. K. Tai
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1614,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1614, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
The 2026 Starfish Barometer
Marina Lévy, Karina von Schuckmann, William Cheung, Joachim Claudet, Thomas L. Frölicher, Patrice Guillotreau, Peter Haugan, Janine Adams, Diva Amon, Tamatoa Bambridge, Cynthia Barzuna, Bruno Blanke, Lijing Cheng, Sanae Chiba, Jorge Cortés, Pierre Friedlingstein, Jean-Pierre Gattuso, Stefan Gelcich, Jessica Gephart, Deborah Greaves, Audrey Hasson, Claire Jolly, Daoji Li, Yunne-Jai Shin, Aimée Slangen, Mere Takoko, Olivier Thébaud, Adrien Vincent, and Patrick Vincent
State Planet Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-2026-1,https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-2026-1, 2026
Revised manuscript under review for SP
Short summary

Cited articles

Allen, C. D., Macalady, A. K., Chenchouni, H., Bachelet, D., McDowell, N., Vennetier, M., and Gonzalez, P.: A global overview of drought and heat-induced tree mortality reveals emerging climate change risks for forests, Forest Ecol. Manage., 259, 660–684, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2009.09.001, 2010. 
Andela, N., Liu, Y. Y., van Dijk, A. I. J. M., de Jeu, R. A. M., and McVicar, T. R.: Global changes in dryland vegetation dynamics (1988–2008) assessed by satellite remote sensing: Comparing a new passive microwave vegetation density record with reflective greenness data, Biogeosciences, 10, 6657–6676, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-6657-2013, 2013. 
Anyamba, A., Justice, C. O., Tucker, C. J., and Mahoney, R.: Seasonal to interannual variability of Vegetation and fires at SAFARI 2000 sites inferred from advanced very high resolution Radiometer time series data, J. Geophys. Res., 10, 8507, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002464, 2003. 
Beguería, S., Vicente-Serrano, S. M., Reig, F., and Latorre, B.: Standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) revisited: parameter fitting, evapotranspiration models, tools, datasets and drought monitoring, Int. J. Climatol., 34, 3001–3023, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.3887, 2014. 
Download
Short summary
To investigate the impacts of drought on vegetation, which few studies have done due to various limitations, we used the leaf area index as proxy and dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) to simulate drought impacts because the models use observationally derived climate. We found that the semi-desert biome responds strongly to drought in the summer season, while the tropical forest biome shows a weak response. This study could help target areas to improve drought monitoring and simulation.
Share