A study by Y. Song et al titled “Elevated CO2 concentrations contribute to a closer relationship between vegetation growth and water availability in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes” published on 12 July 2024 has found that “CO2 concentrations not only boosted vegetation growth through the fertilizer effect but also indirectly enhanced water availability by improving water use efficiency”.
The study analyzed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the fine-resolution Palmer drought severity index (PDSI) data over 34 active growing seasons from 1982 to 2015.
Amongst other findings:
Considering that atmospheric CO2 was the dominant driver of changes in the Rvw for both croplands, grasslands, and forests, we mapped the partial correlation results without distinguishing the ecosystems (figures 5(a)–(c)). Our results showed that 73.65%, 66.35%, and 65.71% of grid cells had a positive partial correlation between atmospheric CO2 and NDVI for croplands, grasslands, and forests, respectively (37.87%, 29.47%, and 34.66% with a significant correlation, two-tailed t-test: p<0.05) (figure 5(d)). The fertilization effect due to elevated CO2 concentrations can boost vegetation growth and greenness (Schimel et al 2014, Wang et al 2020).
In other words, the results
…showed that atmospheric CO2 and WUENDVI [water use efficiency] were highly correlated, suggesting that elevated CO2 concentrations could indirectly enhance water availability by improving WUENDVI.
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