Earlier-Season Vegetation Has Greater Temperature Sensitivity of Spring Phenology in Northern Hemisphere

In recent decades, satellite-derived start of vegetation growing season (SOS) has advanced in many northern temperate and boreal regions. Both the magnitude of temperature increase and the sensitivity of the greenness phenology to temperature–the phenological change per unit temperature–can contribute the advancement. To determine the temperature-sensitivity, we examined the satellite-derived SOS and the potentially effective pre-season temperature (T (eff)) from 1982 to 2008 for vegetated land between 30°N and 80°N. Earlier season vegetation types, i.e., the vegetation types with earlier SOS(mean) (mean SOS for 1982–2008), showed greater advancement of SOS during 1982–2008. The advancing rate of SOS against year was also greater in the vegetation with earlier SOS(mean) even the T (eff) increase was the same. These results suggest that the spring phenology of vegetation may have high temperature sensitivity in a warmer area. Therefore it is important to consider temperature-sensitivity in assessing broad-scale phenological responses to climatic warming. Further studies are needed to explore the mechanisms and ecological consequences of the temperature-sensitivity of start of growing season in a warming climate.