Drivers of shortwave radiation fluxes in Arctic tundra across scales

Vegetation composition and water surface area are changing in many tundra regions due to climate warming, which is twice as strong in the Arctic as compared to the global mean. Such land cover changes feed back to climate and permafrost thaw through altering the surface energy budget. We quantified the influence of vegetation type, canopy characteristics, and patchiness on the tundra shortwave radiation components. We used in situ measurements and vegetation mapping to parametrise a 3D radiative transfer model (DART) for summer conditions at the Kytalyk test site in northeast Siberia. We analysed model results assessing the most important drivers of canopy albedo, transmittance, and absorptance of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Tundra albedo was strongly influenced by the fractional cover of water surfaces. Albedo decreased with increasing shrub cover. However, plant area index effects on albedo were not statistically significant. Canopy transmittance and PAR absorptance (fAPAR) were almost entirely controlled by plant area index at the landscape scale. Only about one half of the total plant area index consisted of green leaves, while wood and standing dead leaves contributed equally to the other half. While spatial patterns and patch sizes of vegetation types and open water did not significantly influence the radiation budget at the landscape scale, it contributed to the large variability at the local scale. Such local variability of shortwave radiation may impact evapotranspiration and primary productivity at a range of scales. Therefore, the variation of radiation fluxes within single vegetation types potentially affects larger scale energy, water, and carbon fluxes.