Identification

Title

Topographic heterogeneity and aspect moderate exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope

Abstract

Alpine tundra ecosystems are highly vulnerable to climate warming but are governed by local-scale abiotic heterogeneity, which makes it difficult to predict tundra responses to environmental change. Although land models are typically implemented at global scales, they can be applied at local scales to address process-based ecological questions. In this study, we ran ecosystem-scale Community Land Model (CLM) simulations with a novel hillslope hydrology configuration to represent topographically heterogeneous alpine tundra vegetation across a moisture gradient at Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA. We used local observations to evaluate our simulations and investigated the role of topography and aspect in mediating patterns of snow, productivity, soil moisture, and soil temperature, as well as the potential exposure to climate change across an alpine tundra hillslope. Overall, our simulations captured observed gradients in abiotic conditions and productivity among heterogeneous, hydrologically connected vegetation communities (moist, wet, and dry). We found that south facing aspects were characterized by reduced snowpack and drier and warmer soils in all communities. When we extended our simulations to the year 2100, we found that earlier snowmelt altered the timing of runoff, with cascading effects on soil moisture, productivity, and growing season length. However, these effects were not distributed equally across the tundra, highlighting potential vulnerabilities of alpine vegetation in dry, wind-scoured, and south facing areas. Overall, our results demonstrate how land model outputs can be applied to advance process-based understanding of climate change impacts on ecosystem function.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7qv3rk4

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2023-11-27T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact