North America's net terrestrial CO<sub>2</sub> exchange with the atmosphere 1990–2009
Scientific understanding of the global carbon cycle is required for developing national and international policy to mitigate fossil fuel CO<sub>2</sub> emissions by managing terrestrial carbon uptake. Toward that understanding and as a contribution to the REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Biogeosciences |
| Online Access: | http://www.biogeosciences.net/12/399/2015/bg-12-399-2015.pdf |
| _version_ | 1828777939641040896 |
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| author | A. W. King R. J. Andres K. J. Davis M. Hafer D. J. Hayes D. N. Huntzinger B. de Jong W. A. Kurz A. D. McGuire R. Vargas Y. Wei T. O. West C. W. Woodall |
| author_facet | A. W. King R. J. Andres K. J. Davis M. Hafer D. J. Hayes D. N. Huntzinger B. de Jong W. A. Kurz A. D. McGuire R. Vargas Y. Wei T. O. West C. W. Woodall |
| author_sort | A. W. King |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Scientific understanding of the global carbon cycle is required for
developing national and international policy to mitigate fossil fuel
CO<sub>2</sub> emissions by managing terrestrial carbon uptake. Toward that
understanding and as a contribution to the REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment
and Processes (RECCAP) project, this paper provides a synthesis of net
land–atmosphere CO<sub>2</sub> exchange for North America (Canada, United States,
and Mexico) over the period 1990–2009. Only CO<sub>2</sub> is considered, not
methane or other greenhouse gases. This synthesis is based on results from
three different methods: atmospheric inversion, inventory-based methods and
terrestrial biosphere modeling. All methods indicate that the North American
land surface was a sink for atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub>, with a net transfer from
atmosphere to land. Estimates ranged from −890 to −280 Tg C yr<sup>−1</sup>, where
the mean of atmospheric inversion estimates forms the lower bound of that
range (a larger land sink) and the inventory-based estimate using the
production approach the upper (a smaller land sink). This relatively large
range is due in part to differences in how the approaches represent trade,
fire and other disturbances and which ecosystems they include. Integrating
across estimates, "best" estimates (i.e., measures of central tendency)
are −472 ± 281 Tg C yr<sup>−1</sup> based on the mean and standard deviation
of the distribution and −360 Tg C yr<sup>−1</sup> (with an interquartile range of
−496 to −337) based on the median. Considering both the fossil fuel
emissions source and the land sink, our analysis shows that North America
was, however, a net contributor to the growth of CO<sub>2</sub> in the atmosphere
in the late 20th and early 21st century. With North America's mean
annual fossil fuel CO<sub>2</sub> emissions for the period 1990–2009 equal to 1720 Tg C yr<sup>−1</sup>
and assuming the estimate of −472 Tg C yr<sup>−1</sup> as an
approximation of the true terrestrial CO<sub>2</sub> sink, the continent's
source : sink ratio for this time period was 1720:472, or nearly 4:1. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T16:32:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-344fa6e652f74b1ba74558c09cc9bd71 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1726-4170 1726-4189 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T16:32:17Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biogeosciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-344fa6e652f74b1ba74558c09cc9bd712022-12-22T00:58:35ZengCopernicus PublicationsBiogeosciences1726-41701726-41892015-01-0112239941410.5194/bg-12-399-2015North America's net terrestrial CO<sub>2</sub> exchange with the atmosphere 1990–2009A. W. King0R. J. Andres1K. J. Davis2M. Hafer3D. J. Hayes4D. N. Huntzinger5B. de Jong6W. A. Kurz7A. D. McGuire8R. Vargas9Y. Wei10T. O. West11C. W. Woodall12Environmental Sciences Division and Climate Change Science Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USAEnvironmental Sciences Division and Climate Change Science Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USADepartment of Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USACanadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Victoria, British Columbia, CanadaEnvironmental Sciences Division and Climate Change Science Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USASchool of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Arizona, USAEl Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Unidad Campeche, Campeche, MexicoCanadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Victoria, British Columbia, CanadaUS Geological Survey, Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USADepartment of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USAEnvironmental Sciences Division and Climate Change Science Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USAJoint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, College Park, Maryland, USANorthern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USAScientific understanding of the global carbon cycle is required for developing national and international policy to mitigate fossil fuel CO<sub>2</sub> emissions by managing terrestrial carbon uptake. Toward that understanding and as a contribution to the REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP) project, this paper provides a synthesis of net land–atmosphere CO<sub>2</sub> exchange for North America (Canada, United States, and Mexico) over the period 1990–2009. Only CO<sub>2</sub> is considered, not methane or other greenhouse gases. This synthesis is based on results from three different methods: atmospheric inversion, inventory-based methods and terrestrial biosphere modeling. All methods indicate that the North American land surface was a sink for atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub>, with a net transfer from atmosphere to land. Estimates ranged from −890 to −280 Tg C yr<sup>−1</sup>, where the mean of atmospheric inversion estimates forms the lower bound of that range (a larger land sink) and the inventory-based estimate using the production approach the upper (a smaller land sink). This relatively large range is due in part to differences in how the approaches represent trade, fire and other disturbances and which ecosystems they include. Integrating across estimates, "best" estimates (i.e., measures of central tendency) are −472 ± 281 Tg C yr<sup>−1</sup> based on the mean and standard deviation of the distribution and −360 Tg C yr<sup>−1</sup> (with an interquartile range of −496 to −337) based on the median. Considering both the fossil fuel emissions source and the land sink, our analysis shows that North America was, however, a net contributor to the growth of CO<sub>2</sub> in the atmosphere in the late 20th and early 21st century. With North America's mean annual fossil fuel CO<sub>2</sub> emissions for the period 1990–2009 equal to 1720 Tg C yr<sup>−1</sup> and assuming the estimate of −472 Tg C yr<sup>−1</sup> as an approximation of the true terrestrial CO<sub>2</sub> sink, the continent's source : sink ratio for this time period was 1720:472, or nearly 4:1.http://www.biogeosciences.net/12/399/2015/bg-12-399-2015.pdf |
| spellingShingle | A. W. King R. J. Andres K. J. Davis M. Hafer D. J. Hayes D. N. Huntzinger B. de Jong W. A. Kurz A. D. McGuire R. Vargas Y. Wei T. O. West C. W. Woodall North America's net terrestrial CO<sub>2</sub> exchange with the atmosphere 1990–2009 Biogeosciences |
| title | North America's net terrestrial CO<sub>2</sub> exchange with the atmosphere 1990–2009 |
| title_full | North America's net terrestrial CO<sub>2</sub> exchange with the atmosphere 1990–2009 |
| title_fullStr | North America's net terrestrial CO<sub>2</sub> exchange with the atmosphere 1990–2009 |
| title_full_unstemmed | North America's net terrestrial CO<sub>2</sub> exchange with the atmosphere 1990–2009 |
| title_short | North America's net terrestrial CO<sub>2</sub> exchange with the atmosphere 1990–2009 |
| title_sort | north america s net terrestrial co sub 2 sub exchange with the atmosphere 1990 2009 |
| url | http://www.biogeosciences.net/12/399/2015/bg-12-399-2015.pdf |
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