Northern high latitudes could become a net carbon source below 2 °C global warming

Abstract

Abstract. Under historical warming, terrestrial ecosystems within the northern high latitudes have been a net carbon sink, providing vital mitigation against anthropogenic emissions of CO2. However, the long-term stability of this net sink is uncertain due to complex carbon cycle feedbacks in response to future climate change. Here, the PRIME framework is used to probabilistically quantify if and when this region will transition from a net carbon sink to a carbon source in a range of plausible future climate scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5), including overshoot (SSP5-3.4-OS). JULES – the land surface model component of PRIME, has the capability to explicitly simulate permafrost physics, dynamic vegetation and fire; key processes within northern high-latitude terrestrial ecosystems that are yet to be coupled together in Earth system models. In a low emission scenario, permafrost carbon emissions increase the risk of northern high latitudes becoming a net carbon source by more than 50 % at 2 °C of warming, and at greater levels of warming in high emission scenarios. Conversely, in all emission scenarios dynamic vegetation is found to limit the sink-to-source transition at all warming levels by enhancing the carbon sink. Fire emissions can further weaken the sink by reducing its resilience to warming. A high temperature overshoot further limits the resilience of the carbon sink due to a reduction in temperatures after the peak, providing less optimal conditions for vegetation growth. These results highlight the importance of vegetation on the strength of the Arctic terrestrial carbon sink under warming and emphasise the need for representing comprehensive terrestrial climate feedbacks in Earth system models to improve projections of the land carbon response in future climate change trajectories.