---
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: hybrid
_id: '22574'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Ecosystem models often perform poorly in reproducing interannual variability
    in carbon and water fluxes, resulting in considerable uncertainty when estimating
    the land‐carbon sink. While many aggregated variables (growing season length,
    seasonal precipitation, or temperature) have been suggested as predictors for
    interannual variability in carbon fluxes, their explanatory power is limited and
    uncertainties remain as to their relative contributions. Recent results show that
    the annual count of hours where evapotranspiration (ET) is larger than its 95th
    percentile is strongly correlated with the annual variability of ET and gross
    primary production (GPP) in an ecosystem model. This suggests that the occurrence
    of favorable conditions has a strong influence on the annual carbon budget. Here
    we analyzed data from eight forest sites of the AmeriFlux network with at least
    7 years of continuous measurements. We show that for ET and the carbon fluxes
    GPP, ecosystem respiration (RE), and net ecosystem production, counting the “most
    active hours/days” (i.e., hours/days when the flux exceeds a high percentile)
    correlates well with the respective annual sums, with correlation coefficients
    generally larger than 0.8. Phenological transitions have much weaker explanatory
    power. By exploiting the relationship between most active hours and interannual
    variability, we classify hours as most active or less active and largely explain
    interannual variability in ecosystem fluxes, particularly for GPP and RE. Our
    results suggest that a better understanding and modeling of the occurrence of
    large values in high‐frequency ecosystem fluxes will result in a better understanding
    of interannual variability of these fluxes.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Jakob
  full_name: Zscheischler, Jakob
  last_name: Zscheischler
- first_name: Simone
  full_name: Fatichi, Simone
  id: cf8e546b-a9b0-11f0-a43b-aa89ed1b56d6
  last_name: Fatichi
- first_name: Sebastian
  full_name: Wolf, Sebastian
  last_name: Wolf
- first_name: Peter D.
  full_name: Blanken, Peter D.
  last_name: Blanken
- first_name: Gil
  full_name: Bohrer, Gil
  last_name: Bohrer
- first_name: Kenneth
  full_name: Clark, Kenneth
  last_name: Clark
- first_name: Ankur R.
  full_name: Desai, Ankur R.
  last_name: Desai
- first_name: David
  full_name: Hollinger, David
  last_name: Hollinger
- first_name: Trevor
  full_name: Keenan, Trevor
  last_name: Keenan
- first_name: Kimberly A.
  full_name: Novick, Kimberly A.
  last_name: Novick
- first_name: Sonia I.
  full_name: Seneviratne, Sonia I.
  last_name: Seneviratne
citation:
  ama: 'Zscheischler J, Fatichi S, Wolf S, et al. Short‐term favorable weather conditions
    are an important control of interannual variability in carbon and water fluxes.
    <i>Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences</i>. 2016;121(8):2186-2198.
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jg003503">10.1002/2016jg003503</a>'
  apa: 'Zscheischler, J., Fatichi, S., Wolf, S., Blanken, P. D., Bohrer, G., Clark,
    K., … Seneviratne, S. I. (2016). Short‐term favorable weather conditions are an
    important control of interannual variability in carbon and water fluxes. <i>Journal
    of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences</i>. American Geophysical Union. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jg003503">https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jg003503</a>'
  chicago: 'Zscheischler, Jakob, Simone Fatichi, Sebastian Wolf, Peter D. Blanken,
    Gil Bohrer, Kenneth Clark, Ankur R. Desai, et al. “Short‐term Favorable Weather
    Conditions Are an Important Control of Interannual Variability in Carbon and Water
    Fluxes.” <i>Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences</i>. American Geophysical
    Union, 2016. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jg003503">https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jg003503</a>.'
  ieee: 'J. Zscheischler <i>et al.</i>, “Short‐term favorable weather conditions are
    an important control of interannual variability in carbon and water fluxes,” <i>Journal
    of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences</i>, vol. 121, no. 8. American Geophysical
    Union, pp. 2186–2198, 2016.'
  ista: 'Zscheischler J, Fatichi S, Wolf S, Blanken PD, Bohrer G, Clark K, Desai AR,
    Hollinger D, Keenan T, Novick KA, Seneviratne SI. 2016. Short‐term favorable weather
    conditions are an important control of interannual variability in carbon and water
    fluxes. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 121(8), 2186–2198.'
  mla: 'Zscheischler, Jakob, et al. “Short‐term Favorable Weather Conditions Are an
    Important Control of Interannual Variability in Carbon and Water Fluxes.” <i>Journal
    of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences</i>, vol. 121, no. 8, American Geophysical
    Union, 2016, pp. 2186–98, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jg003503">10.1002/2016jg003503</a>.'
  short: 'J. Zscheischler, S. Fatichi, S. Wolf, P.D. Blanken, G. Bohrer, K. Clark,
    A.R. Desai, D. Hollinger, T. Keenan, K.A. Novick, S.I. Seneviratne, Journal of
    Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 121 (2016) 2186–2198.'
das_tickbox: '1'
date_created: 2026-07-27T12:30:24Z
date_published: 2016-08-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-08-03T13:57:54Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '550'
doi: 10.1002/2016jg003503
extern: '1'
external_id:
  pmid:
  - '27774367'
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '       121'
issue: '8'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: ' https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JG003503'
month: '08'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 2186-2198
pmid: 1
publication: 'Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences'
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 2169-8961
  issn:
  - 2169-8953
publication_status: published
publisher: American Geophysical Union
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Short‐term favorable weather conditions are an important control of interannual
  variability in carbon and water fluxes
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by_nc_nd.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
    (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
  short: CC BY-NC-ND (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd
volume: 121
year: '2016'
...