Land-atmosphere interactions in early Holocene Beringia

High-latitude boreal forests in North America and Eurasia are an important sites for energy and carbon exchange with the atmosphere. At present, boreal forest are only roughly represented in GCMs although boreal forests are large carbon sinks. Accurate maps of paleovegetatation are essential to fully understanding land-atmosphere exchange processes during the Holocene. A matrix of single column model (SCM) simulations are conducted by varying vegetation type, soil type, and thaw lake abundance for two sites (eastern and western Beringia). The SCM is forced with output from a 11ka GCM simulation and range of vegetation, soil, and thaw lake parameters to determine important local feedbacks. Representative parameters including timing of spring thaw, summer surface air temperature, and primary productivity. Spring to summer transition is dependent upon vegetation type, while late summer climate is more influenced by soil and thaw lake specifications.