Impacts of extremely high summer temperature and drought on forest over Eurasia with a focus on Sweden
Title: Impacts of extremely high summer temperature and drought on forest over Eurasia with a focus on Sweden
DNr: SNIC 2021/23-469
Project Type: SNIC Small Storage
Principal Investigator: Peng Zhang <peng.zhang@gu.se>
Affiliation: Göteborgs universitet
Duration: 2021-08-02 – 2022-09-01
Classification: 10501
Keywords:

Abstract

Summer high-temperature extreme (SHTE) events have significantly changed over the 20th century, as a result of global warming. SHTE and droughts occurred in Sweden in 2018 and their impact on forest fire reminded us about the importance of the possible significant impacts of climate change on the Swedish forest. SHTEs in Scandinavia are generally associated with persistent anticyclonic circulation patterns. Another factor leading to or enhancing SHTE is soil moisture deficit which causes drought and can change surface energy balance and near surface temperature. While recent warming over the northern hemisphere has positively contributed to terrestrial vegetation growth through increase of photosynthesis and extension of photosynthetic growing season in general, SHTE and drought can have a sizable genitive impact on forest growth. However, how SHTE and drought in Sweden have changed over the last decades and how these changes have influenced Swedish forest growth remain largely unclear. The overall aims of this project are thus to find out how the characteristics and triggers of SHTE and drought have changed over the past decades in relation to changes in the atmospheric circulation, and how the changes have affected forest growth in Sweden and other parts of Eurasia. Successfully addressing these two research questions will provide us with valuable insight into future trajectories in forest growth in Sweden under a warmer and more extreme climate.