Spatiotemporal variations and relationships of absorbing aerosol-radiation-gross primary productivity over China.

High-load carbonaceous and dust aerosols can significantly reduce direct radiation (DIRR), which would affect photosynthesis in terrestrial ecosystems, thereby further affecting the productivity of vegetation. Based on this, a variety of remote sensing data were used to study the spatiotemporal distributions and changing tendencies of the absorbing aerosols, CO, DIRR, and gross primary productivity (GPP) in China during 2005-2019; then, the relationships were analyzed between different types of absorbing aerosols and DIRR as well as GPP. The results showed that the annual mean absorbing aerosols index (AAI) in China during 2005-2019 was 0.39, with a slow growth rate of 0.02 year, and the emission of CO showed a decreasing trend with each passing year, especially in North China Plain and Sichuan Basin. Carbonaceous and dust aerosols were predominantly bounded by Hu line. The east of Hu line was the dominant area of carbonaceous aerosols, and the west of Hu line was the topographical region of dust aerosols. Near the Hu line was the dominant area of carbonaceous-dust aerosols. However, the Karamay-Urumqi-Hami area and Northeast China Plain were exceptional. During the vegetation growing season, different types of absorbing aerosols significantly negatively affected GPP. From a perspective of regional scale variation pattern, the negative effect of absorbing aerosols on vegetation productivity was the most significant in Northeast China; from the perspective of the effects of different vegetation types, the negative effect of absorbing aerosols on grasslands was greater than that of woodlands; from the perspective of the composition characteristics of aerosols, the negative effect of dust aerosols on GPP was greater than that of carbonaceous aerosols.