Estimation of the effects of aerosol optical properties on peatland production in Rzecin, Poland

The productivity response of a peatland ecosystem in Rzecin, Poland, was determined based on varying aerosols abundant in the atmosphere. The study was done with the use of a multifactorial model that combined atmospheric and ecosystem modules to describe plant photosynthetic ability from different perspectives. The Gross Ecosystem Production (GEP) was calculated for real conditions in the period from May through September 2018. This period was characterized by increased air temperatures (1.4 °C) and reduced precipitation (17%), when compared to the long-term averages (1981–2010) for the studied area. This also aligned with expected direction of climate change predictions. The multifactorial model was used to show that, depending on the aerosol situation, the peatland ecosystem may react with an average increase (8.2%) as well as a decrease (6%) of GEP during the growing season. The modification of atmospheric optical properties with a step-wise increase of aerosol optical depth (AOD) by 0.2 in relation to the observed value, resulted in the increase of diffuse index (DI) of circa 22%, the decrease of photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) of circa 5%, and the increase of GEP of circa 8% in each of analyzed months. The GEP reduction (6%) was caused by the absorbing aerosol presence characterized by low single scattering albedo (SSA) value. Consequently, the CO2 uptake process could not be maximized by the ecosystem due to reduced levels of available radiant energy. Conversely, the effect of non-absorbing aerosols presence on GEP was found negligible due to the continental clean aerosols prevailed in the air mass during the study period. Generally speaking, the estimation of the effects of aerosol optical properties on Rzecin peatland production shows that more absorbing aerosols occurrence cause GEP reduction while AOD rise results in GEP gain.