Detection and attribution of vegetation greening trend in China over the last 30 years

The reliable detection and attribution of changes in vegetation growth is a prerequisite for the development of strategies for the sustainable management of ecosystems. This is an extraordinary challenge. To our knowledge, this study is the first to comprehensively detect and attribute a greening trend in China over the last three decades. We use three different satellite-derived Leaf Area Index (LAI) datasets for detection as well as five different process-based ecosystem models for attribution. Rising atmospheric CO2 concentration and nitrogen deposition are identified as the most likely causes of the greening trend in China, explaining 85% and 41% of the average growing-season LAI trend (LAIGS) estimated by…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 31321061, 41125004
• OO
  Office of Science
• OR
  Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  Award: DE‐AC05‐00OR22725