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

Modelling impacts of ozone on gross primary production across European forest ecosystems using JULES
Inês Vieira, Félicien Meunier, Maria Carolina Duran Rojas, Stephen Sitch, Flossie Brown, Giacomo Gerosa, Silvano Fares, Pascal Boeckx, Marijn Bauters, and Hans Verbeeck
Biogeosciences, 22, 6205–6223, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6205-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6205-2025, 2025
Short summary
Representing extreme fires and their radiative effects in a global climate model via variable scaling of emissions: Case study of the 2020 California wildfires
Elizabeth Quaye, Ben T. Johnson, James M. Haywood, Guido R. van der Werf, Roland Vernooij, Stephen A. Sitch, and Tom Eames
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3936,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3936, 2025
Short summary
Importance of plant functional type, dynamic vegetation, and fire interactions for process-based modeling of gross carbon uptake across the drylands of western North America
Rubaya Pervin, Scott Robeson, Mallory Barnes, Stephen Sitch, Anthony Walker, Ben Poulter, Fabienne Maignan, Qing Sun, Thomas Colligan, Sönke Zaehle, Kashif Mahmud, Peter Anthoni, Almut Arneth, Vivek Arora, Vladislav Bastrikov, Liam Bogucki, Bertrand Decharme, Christine Delire, Stefanie Falk, Akihiko Ito, Etsushi Kato, Daniel Kennedy, Jürgen Knauer, Michael O’Sullivan, Wenping Yuan, and Natasha MacBean
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2841,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2841, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Biogeosciences (BG).
Short summary
Reconstructed global monthly burned area maps from 1901 to 2020
Zhixuan Guo, Wei Li, Philippe Ciais, Stephen Sitch, Guido R. van der Werf, Simon P. K. Bowring, Ana Bastos, Florent Mouillot, Jiaying He, Minxuan Sun, Lei Zhu, Xiaomeng Du, Nan Wang, and Xiaomeng Huang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 3599–3618, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-3599-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-3599-2025, 2025
Short summary
Uncertainties in carbon emissions from land use and land cover change in Indonesia
Ida Bagus Mandhara Brasika, Pierre Friedlingstein, Stephen Sitch, Michael O'Sullivan, Maria Carolina Duran-Rojas, Thais Michele Rosan, Kees Klein Goldewijk, Julia Pongratz, Clemens Schwingshackl, Louise P. Chini, and George C. Hurtt
Biogeosciences, 22, 3547–3561, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-3547-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-3547-2025, 2025
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