Spatiotemporal variability in ozone dry deposition is often overlooked despite its implications for interpreting and modeling tropospheric ozone concentrations accurately. Understanding the influences of stomatal versus nonstomatal deposition processes on ozone deposition velocity is important for attributing observed changes in the ozone depositional sink and associated damage to ecosystems. Here, we aim to identify the stomatal versus nonstomatal deposition processes driving observed variability in ozone deposition velocity over the northeastern United States during June–September. We use ozone eddy covariance measurements from Harvard Forest in Massachusetts, which span a decade, and from Kane Experimental Forest in Pennsylvania and Sand Flats State Forest in New York, which span one growing season each, along with observation‐driven modeling. Using a cumulative precipitation indicator of soil wetness, we infer that high soil uptake during dry years and low soil uptake during wet years may contribute to the twofold interannual variability in ozone deposition velocity at Harvard Forest. We link stomatal deposition and humidity to variability in ozone deposition velocity on daily timescales. The humidity dependence may reflect higher uptake by leaf cuticles under humid conditions, noted in previous work. Previous work also suggests that uptake by leaf cuticles may be enhanced after rain, but we find that increases in ozone deposition velocity on rainy days are instead mostly associated with increases in stomatal conductance. Our analysis highlights a need for constraints on subseasonal variability in ozone dry deposition to soil and fast in‐canopy chemistry during ecosystem stress.
Dry deposition could partially explain the observed response in ambient ozone to extreme hot and dry episodes. We examine the response of ozone deposition to heat and dry anomalies using three long‐term co‐located ecosystem‐scale carbon dioxide, water vapor and ozone flux measurement records. We find that, as expected, canopy stomatal conductance generally decreases during days with dry air or soil. However, during hot days, concurrent increases in non‐stomatal conductance are inferred at all three sites, which may be related to several temperature‐sensitive processes not represented in the current generation of big‐leaf models. This may offset the reduction in stomatal conductance, leading to smaller net reduction, or even net increase, in total deposition velocity. We find the response of deposition velocity to soil dryness may be related to its impact on photosynthetic activity, though considerable variability exists. Our findings emphasize the need for better understanding and representation of non‐stomatal ozone deposition.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10368178
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume:
- 49
- Issue:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 0094-8276
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Dry deposition is an important sink of tropospheric ozone and influences background and episodic ozone air pollution. Plant canopies remove ozone through uptake by plant stomata, leaf cuticles, and soil. Stomatal uptake of ozone injures vegetation, thereby altering local‐to‐global water and carbon cycling. Observed ozone fluxes are used to inform dry deposition parameterizations in chemical transport models but represent the net influence of several poorly constrained processes. Advancing understanding of the processes controlling dry deposition is key for building predictive ability of the terrestrial ozone sink and plant damage. Here, we constrain the influence of spatial structure in turbulence on ozone dry deposition with large eddy simulation coupled to a multilayer canopy model. We investigate whether organized turbulence separates areas of efficient leaf uptake from areas of high or low ozone mixing ratios. We simulate summertime midday conditions at three homogenous deciduous forests with varying leaf area, soil moisture, and ambient humidity. Sensitivity simulations perturb atmospheric stability, parameters related to ozone dry deposition, how quickly stomata respond to local atmospheric variations, and entrainment of ozone from atmospheric boundary layer growth. Overall, we find a low covariance between ozone and leaf uptake, in part due to counteracting influences from micrometeorological variations on ozone and leaf uptake individually versus the influence of leaf uptake on ozone. The low covariance between ozone and leaf uptake suggests that dry deposition parameterizations and interpretations of ozone flux observations can ignore the influence of organized turbulence on dry deposition.
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Here we introduce the concept of ‘integrated metabolic strategy’ (IMS) to describe the ratio between carbon isotope composition (
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Premise The impact of elevated CO2concentration ([CO2]) and climate warming on plant productivity in dryland ecosystems is influenced strongly by soil moisture availability. We predicted that the influence of warming on the stimulation of photosynthesis by elevated [CO2] in prairie plants would operate primarily through direct and indirect effects on soil water.
Methods We measured light‐saturated photosynthesis (
A net), stomatal conductance (g s), maximum Rubisco carboxylation rate (V cmax), maximum electron transport capacity (J max) and related variables in four C3plant species in the Prairie Heating and CO2Enrichment (PHACE) experiment in southeastern Wyoming. Measurements were conducted over two growing seasons that differed in the amount of precipitation and soil moisture content.Results A netin the C3subshrubArtemisia frigida and the C3forbSphaeralcea coccinea was stimulated by elevated [CO2] under ambient and warmed temperature treatments. Warming by itself reducedA netin all species during the dry year, but stimulated photosynthesis inS. coccinea in the wet year. In contrast,A netin the C3grassPascopyrum smithii was not stimulated by elevated [CO2] or warming under wet or dry conditions. Photosynthetic downregulation under elevated [CO2] in this species countered the potential stimulatory effect under improved water relations. Warming also reduced the magnitude of CO2‐induced down‐regulation in this grass, possibly by sustaining high levels of carbon utilization.Conclusions Direct and indirect effects of elevated [CO2] and warming on soil water was an overriding factor influencing patterns of
A netin this semi‐arid temperate grassland, emphasizing the important role of water relations in driving grassland responses to global change.
