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ArticleGlobal carbon budget 2013(Copernicus Publications., 2014-06-17) Le Quere, Corinne ; Peters, Glen P. ; Andres, Robert J. ; Andrew, Robbie M. ; Boden, Thomas A. ; Ciais, Philippe ; Friedlingstein, Pierre ; Houghton, Richard A. ; Marland, G. ; Moriarty, Roisin ; Sitch, Stephen ; Tans, Pieter P. ; Arneth, Almut ; Arvanitis, A. ; Bakker, Dorothee C. E. ; Bopp, Laurent ; Canadell, Josep G. ; Chini, Louise Parsons ; Doney, Scott C. ; Harper, Anna B. ; Harris, Ian ; House, Jo I. ; Jain, Atul K. ; Jones, S. D. ; Kato, Etsushi ; Keeling, Ralph F. ; Klein Goldewijk, Kees ; Kortzinger, A. ; Koven, Charles ; Lefevre, N. ; Maignan, F. ; Omar, A. ; Ono, Tsuneo ; Park, Geun-Ha ; Pfeil, Benjamin ; Poulter, Benjamin ; Raupach, Michael R. ; Regnier, P. ; Rodenbeck, C. ; Saito, Shu ; Schwinger, Jorg ; Segschneider, J. ; Stocker, Benjamin D. ; Takahashi, Taro ; Tilbrook, Bronte ; van Heuven, Steven ; Viovy, Nicolas ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Wiltshire, Andrew J. ; Zaehle, SonkeAccurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe data sets and a methodology to quantify all major components of the global carbon budget, including their uncertainties, based on the combination of a range of data, algorithms, statistics and model estimates and their interpretation by a broad scientific community. We discuss changes compared to previous estimates, consistency within and among components, alongside methodology and data limitations. CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel combustion and cement production (EFF) are based on energy statistics, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on combined evidence from land-cover change data, fire activity associated with deforestation, and models. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its rate of growth (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The mean ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) is based on observations from the 1990s, while the annual anomalies and trends are estimated with ocean models. The variability in SOCEAN is evaluated for the first time in this budget with data products based on surveys of ocean CO2 measurements. The global residual terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) is estimated by the difference of the other terms of the global carbon budget and compared to results of independent dynamic global vegetation models forced by observed climate, CO2 and land cover change (some including nitrogen–carbon interactions). All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ, reflecting the current capacity to characterise the annual estimates of each component of the global carbon budget. For the last decade available (2003–2012), EFF was 8.6 ± 0.4 GtC yr−1, ELUC 0.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, GATM 4.3 ± 0.1 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN 2.5 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND 2.8 ± 0.8 GtC yr−1. For year 2012 alone, EFF grew to 9.7 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, 2.2% above 2011, reflecting a continued growing trend in these emissions, GATM was 5.1 ± 0.2 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN was 2.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and assuming an ELUC of 1.0 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 (based on the 2001–2010 average), SLAND was 2.7 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1. GATM was high in 2012 compared to the 2003–2012 average, almost entirely reflecting the high EFF. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 392.52 ± 0.10 ppm averaged over 2012. We estimate that EFF will increase by 2.1% (1.1–3.1%) to 9.9 ± 0.5 GtC in 2013, 61% above emissions in 1990, based on projections of world gross domestic product and recent changes in the carbon intensity of the economy. With this projection, cumulative emissions of CO2 will reach about 535 ± 55 GtC for 1870–2013, about 70% from EFF (390 ± 20 GtC) and 30% from ELUC (145 ± 50 GtC).
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ArticleUncertainty analysis of vegetation distribution in the northern high latitudes during the 21st century with a dynamic vegetation model(John Wiley & Sons, 2012-02-13) Jiang, Yueyang ; Zhuang, Qianlai ; Schaphoff, Sibyll ; Sitch, Stephen ; Sokolov, Andrei P. ; Kicklighter, David W. ; Melillo, Jerry M.This study aims to assess how high-latitude vegetation may respond under various climate scenarios during the 21st century with a focus on analyzing model parameters induced uncertainty and how this uncertainty compares to the uncertainty induced by various climates. The analysis was based on a set of 10,000 Monte Carlo ensemble Lund-Potsdam-Jena (LPJ) simulations for the northern high latitudes (45oN and polewards) for the period 1900–2100. The LPJ Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ-DGVM) was run under contemporary and future climates from four Special Report Emission Scenarios (SRES), A1FI, A2, B1, and B2, based on the Hadley Centre General Circulation Model (GCM), and six climate scenarios, X901M, X902L, X903H, X904M, X905L, and X906H from the Integrated Global System Model (IGSM) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In the current dynamic vegetation model, some parameters are more important than others in determining the vegetation distribution. Parameters that control plant carbon uptake and light-use efficiency have the predominant influence on the vegetation distribution of both woody and herbaceous plant functional types. The relative importance of different parameters varies temporally and spatially and is influenced by climate inputs. In addition to climate, these parameters play an important role in determining the vegetation distribution in the region. The parameter-based uncertainties contribute most to the total uncertainty. The current warming conditions lead to a complexity of vegetation responses in the region. Temperate trees will be more sensitive to climate variability, compared with boreal forest trees and C3 perennial grasses. This sensitivity would result in a unanimous northward greenness migration due to anomalous warming in the northern high latitudes. Temporally, boreal needleleaved evergreen plants are projected to decline considerably, and a large portion of C3 perennial grass is projected to disappear by the end of the 21st century. In contrast, the area of temperate trees would increase, especially under the most extreme A1FI scenario. As the warming continues, the northward greenness expansion in the Arctic region could continue.
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ArticleRecent trends and drivers of regional sources and sinks of carbon dioxide(Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2015-02-02) Sitch, Stephen ; Friedlingstein, Pierre ; Gruber, Nicolas ; Jones, S. D. ; Murray-Tortarolo, G. ; Ahlstrom, Andreas P. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Graven, Heather ; Heinze, Christoph ; Huntingford, Chris ; Levis, Samuel ; Levy, Peter E. ; Lomas, Mark ; Poulter, Benjamin ; Viovy, Nicolas ; Zaehle, Sonke ; Zeng, Ning ; Arneth, Almut ; Bonan, Gordon B. ; Bopp, Laurent ; Canadell, Josep G. ; Chevallier, Frédéric ; Ciais, Philippe ; Ellis, Richard ; Gloor, Emanuel ; Peylin, Philippe ; Piao, S. L. ; Le Quere, Corinne ; Smith, Benjamin ; Zhu, Zaichun ; Myneni, RangaThe land and ocean absorb on average just over half of the anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. These CO2 "sinks" are modulated by climate change and variability. Here we use a suite of nine dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) and four ocean biogeochemical general circulation models (OBGCMs) to estimate trends driven by global and regional climate and atmospheric CO2 in land and oceanic CO2 exchanges with the atmosphere over the period 1990–2009, to attribute these trends to underlying processes in the models, and to quantify the uncertainty and level of inter-model agreement. The models were forced with reconstructed climate fields and observed global atmospheric CO2; land use and land cover changes are not included for the DGVMs. Over the period 1990–2009, the DGVMs simulate a mean global land carbon sink of −2.4 ± 0.7 Pg C yr−1 with a small significant trend of −0.06 ± 0.03 Pg C yr−2 (increasing sink). Over the more limited period 1990–2004, the ocean models simulate a mean ocean sink of −2.2 ± 0.2 Pg C yr−1 with a trend in the net C uptake that is indistinguishable from zero (−0.01 ± 0.02 Pg C yr−2). The two ocean models that extended the simulations until 2009 suggest a slightly stronger, but still small, trend of −0.02 ± 0.01 Pg C yr−2. Trends from land and ocean models compare favourably to the land greenness trends from remote sensing, atmospheric inversion results, and the residual land sink required to close the global carbon budget. Trends in the land sink are driven by increasing net primary production (NPP), whose statistically significant trend of 0.22 ± 0.08 Pg C yr−2 exceeds a significant trend in heterotrophic respiration of 0.16 ± 0.05 Pg C yr−2 – primarily as a consequence of widespread CO2 fertilisation of plant production. Most of the land-based trend in simulated net carbon uptake originates from natural ecosystems in the tropics (−0.04 ± 0.01 Pg C yr−2), with almost no trend over the northern land region, where recent warming and reduced rainfall offsets the positive impact of elevated atmospheric CO2 and changes in growing season length on carbon storage. The small uptake trend in the ocean models emerges because climate variability and change, and in particular increasing sea surface temperatures, tend to counter\-act the trend in ocean uptake driven by the increase in atmospheric CO2. Large uncertainty remains in the magnitude and sign of modelled carbon trends in several regions, as well as regarding the influence of land use and land cover changes on regional trends.
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PreprintThe terrestrial biosphere as a net source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere( 2015-12-21) Tian, Hanqin ; Lu, Chaoqun ; Ciais, Philippe ; Michalak, Anna M. ; Canadell, Josep G. ; Saikawa, Eri ; Huntzinger, Deborah N. ; Gurney, Kevin R. ; Sitch, Stephen ; Zhang, Bowen ; Yang, Jia ; Bousquet, Philippe ; Bruhwiler, Lori ; Chen, Guangsheng ; Dlugokencky, Edward J. ; Friedlingstein, Pierre ; Melillo, Jerry M. ; Pan, Shufen ; Poulter, Benjamin ; Prinn, Ronald G. ; Saunois, Marielle ; Schwalm, Christopher R. ; Wofsy, Steven C.The terrestrial biosphere can release or absorb the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) and therefore plays an important role in regulating atmospheric composition and climate1. Anthropogenic activities such as land use change, agricultural and waste management have altered terrestrial biogenic greenhouse gas fluxes and the resulting increases in methane and nitrous oxide emissions in particular can contribute to climate warming2,3. The terrestrial biogenic fluxes of individual greenhouse gases have been studied extensively4-6, but the net biogenic greenhouse gas balance as a result of anthropogenic activities and its effect on the climate system remains uncertain. Here we use bottom-up (BU: e.g., inventory, statistical extrapolation of local flux measurements, process-based modeling) and top-down (TD: atmospheric inversions) approaches to quantify the global net biogenic greenhouse gas balance between 1981-2010 as a result of anthropogenic activities and its effect on the climate system. We find that the cumulative warming capacity of concurrent biogenic CH4 and N2O emissions is about a factor of 2 larger than the cooling effect resulting from the global land CO2 uptake in the 2000s. This results in a net positive cumulative impact of the three GHGs on the planetary energy budget, with a best estimate of 3.9±3.8 Pg CO2 eq/yr (TD) and 5.4±4.8 Pg CO2 eq/yr (BU) based on the GWP 100 metric (global warming potential on a 100-year time horizon). Our findings suggest that a reduction in agricultural CH4 and N2O emissions in particular in Southern Asia may help mitigate climate change.
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ArticleGlobal Carbon Budget 2015(Copernicus Publications, 2015-12-07) Le Quere, Corinne ; Moriarty, Roisin ; Andrew, Robbie M. ; Canadell, Josep G. ; Sitch, Stephen ; Korsbakken, Jan Ivar ; Friedlingstein, Pierre ; Peters, Glen P. ; Andres, Robert J. ; Boden, Thomas A. ; Houghton, Richard A. ; House, Jo I. ; Keeling, Ralph F. ; Tans, Pieter P. ; Arneth, Almut ; Bakker, Dorothee C. E. ; Barbero, Leticia ; Bopp, Laurent ; Chang, J. ; Chevallier, Frédéric ; Chini, Louise Parsons ; Ciais, Philippe ; Fader, Marianela ; Feely, Richard A. ; Gkritzalis, Thanos ; Harris, Ian ; Hauck, Judith ; Ilyina, Tatiana ; Jain, Atul K. ; Kato, Etsushi ; Kitidis, Vassilis ; Klein Goldewijk, Kees ; Koven, Charles ; Landschutzer, Peter ; Lauvset, Siv K. ; Lefevre, N. ; Lenton, Andrew ; Lima, Ivan D. ; Metzl, Nicolas ; Millero, Frank J. ; Munro, David R. ; Murata, Akihiko ; Nabel, Julia E. M. S. ; Nakaoka, Shin-ichiro ; Nojiri, Yukihiro ; O'Brien, Kevin ; Olsen, Are ; Ono, Tsuneo ; Perez, Fiz F. ; Pfeil, Benjamin ; Pierrot, Denis ; Poulter, Benjamin ; Rehder, Gregor ; Rodenbeck, C. ; Saito, Shu ; Schuster, Ute ; Schwinger, Jorg ; Seferian, Roland ; Steinhoff, Tobias ; Stocker, Benjamin D. ; Sutton, Adrienne J. ; Takahashi, Taro ; Tilbrook, Bronte ; van der Laan-Luijkx, I. T. ; van der Werf, Guido R. ; van Heuven, Steven ; Vandemark, Douglas ; Viovy, Nicolas ; Wiltshire, Andrew J. ; Zaehle, Sonke ; Zeng, NingAccurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe data sets and a methodology to quantify all major components of the global carbon budget, including their uncertainties, based on the combination of a range of data, algorithms, statistics, and model estimates and their interpretation by a broad scientific community. We discuss changes compared to previous estimates as well as consistency within and among components, alongside methodology and data limitations. CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry (EFF) are based on energy statistics and cement production data, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on combined evidence from land-cover-change data, fire activity associated with deforestation, and models. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its rate of growth (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The mean ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) is based on observations from the 1990s, while the annual anomalies and trends are estimated with ocean models. The variability in SOCEAN is evaluated with data products based on surveys of ocean CO2 measurements. The global residual terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) is estimated by the difference of the other terms of the global carbon budget and compared to results of independent dynamic global vegetation models forced by observed climate, CO2, and land-cover change (some including nitrogen–carbon interactions). We compare the mean land and ocean fluxes and their variability to estimates from three atmospheric inverse methods for three broad latitude bands. All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ, reflecting the current capacity to characterise the annual estimates of each component of the global carbon budget. For the last decade available (2005–2014), EFF was 9.0 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, ELUC was 0.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, GATM was 4.4 ± 0.1 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN was 2.6 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND was 3.0 ± 0.8 GtC yr−1. For the year 2014 alone, EFF grew to 9.8 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, 0.6 % above 2013, continuing the growth trend in these emissions, albeit at a slower rate compared to the average growth of 2.2 % yr−1 that took place during 2005–2014. Also, for 2014, ELUC was 1.1 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, GATM was 3.9 ± 0.2 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN was 2.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND was 4.1 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1. GATM was lower in 2014 compared to the past decade (2005–2014), reflecting a larger SLAND for that year. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 397.15 ± 0.10 ppm averaged over 2014. For 2015, preliminary data indicate that the growth in EFF will be near or slightly below zero, with a projection of −0.6 [range of −1.6 to +0.5] %, based on national emissions projections for China and the USA, and projections of gross domestic product corrected for recent changes in the carbon intensity of the global economy for the rest of the world. From this projection of EFF and assumed constant ELUC for 2015, cumulative emissions of CO2 will reach about 555 ± 55 GtC (2035 ± 205 GtCO2) for 1870–2015, about 75 % from EFF and 25 % from ELUC. This living data update documents changes in the methods and data sets used in this new carbon budget compared with previous publications of this data set (Le Quéré et al., 2015, 2014, 2013). All observations presented here can be downloaded from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (doi:10.3334/CDIAC/GCP_2015).
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ArticleImplications of improved representations of plant respiration in a changing climate(Nature Publishing Group, 2017-11-17) Huntingford, Chris ; Atkin, Owen K. ; Martinez-de la Torre, Alberto ; Mercado, Lina M. ; Heskel, Mary ; Harper, Anna B. ; Bloomfield, Keith J. ; O'Sullivan, Odhran S. ; Reich, Peter B. ; Wythers, Kirk R. ; Butler, Ethan E. ; Chen, Ming ; Griffin, Kevin L. ; Meir, Patrick ; Tjoelker, Mark ; Turnbull, Matthew H. ; Sitch, Stephen ; Wiltshire, Andrew J. ; Malhi, YadvinderLand-atmosphere exchanges influence atmospheric CO2. Emphasis has been on describing photosynthetic CO2 uptake, but less on respiration losses. New global datasets describe upper canopy dark respiration (Rd) and temperature dependencies. This allows characterisation of baseline Rd, instantaneous temperature responses and longer-term thermal acclimation effects. Here we show the global implications of these parameterisations with a global gridded land model. This model aggregates Rd to whole-plant respiration Rp, driven with meteorological forcings spanning uncertainty across climate change models. For pre-industrial estimates, new baseline Rd increases Rp and especially in the tropics. Compared to new baseline, revised instantaneous response decreases Rp for mid-latitudes, while acclimation lowers this for the tropics with increases elsewhere. Under global warming, new Rd estimates amplify modelled respiration increases, although partially lowered by acclimation. Future measurements will refine how Rd aggregates to whole-plant respiration. Our analysis suggests Rp could be around 30% higher than existing estimates.
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ArticleAssessing the carbon balance of circumpolar Arctic tundra using remote sensing and process modeling(Ecological Society of America, 2007-01) Sitch, Stephen ; McGuire, A. David ; Kimball, John S. ; Gedney, Nicola ; Gamon, John ; Engstrom, Ryan ; Wolf, Annett ; Zhuang, Qianlai ; Clein, Joy S. ; McDonald, Kyle C.This paper reviews the current status of using remote sensing and process-based modeling approaches to assess the contemporary and future circumpolar carbon balance of Arctic tundra, including the exchange of both carbon dioxide and methane with the atmosphere. Analyses based on remote sensing approaches that use a 20-year data record of satellite data indicate that tundra is greening in the Arctic, suggesting an increase in photosynthetic activity and net primary production. Modeling studies generally simulate a small net carbon sink for the distribution of Arctic tundra, a result that is within the uncertainty range of field-based estimates of net carbon exchange. Applications of process-based approaches for scenarios of future climate change generally indicate net carbon sequestration in Arctic tundra as enhanced vegetation production exceeds simulated increases in decomposition. However, methane emissions are likely to increase dramatically, in response to rising soil temperatures, over the next century. Key uncertainties in the response of Arctic ecosystems to climate change include uncertainties in future fire regimes and uncertainties relating to changes in the soil environment. These include the response of soil decomposition and respiration to warming and deepening of the soil active layer, uncertainties in precipitation and potential soil drying, and distribution of wetlands. While there are numerous uncertainties in the projections of process-based models, they generally indicate that Arctic tundra will be a small sink for carbon over the next century and that methane emissions will increase considerably, which implies that exchange of greenhouse gases between the atmosphere and Arctic tundra ecosystems is likely to contribute to climate warming.
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ArticleGlobal carbon budget 2017(Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2018-03-12) Le Quere, Corinne ; Andrew, Robbie M. ; Friedlingstein, Pierre ; Sitch, Stephen ; Pongratz, Julia ; Manning, Andrew C. ; Korsbakken, Jan Ivar ; Peters, Glen P. ; Canadell, Josep G. ; Jackson, Robert B. ; Boden, Thomas A. ; Tans, Pieter P. ; Andrews, Oliver D. ; Arora, Vivek K. ; Bakker, Dorothee ; Barbero, Leticia ; Becker, Meike ; Betts, Richard A. ; Bopp, Laurent ; Chevallier, Frédéric ; Chini, Louise Parsons ; Ciais, Philippe ; Cosca, Catherine E. ; Cross, Jessica N. ; Currie, Kim I. ; Gasser, Thomas ; Harris, Ian ; Hauck, Judith ; Haverd, Vanessa ; Houghton, Richard A. ; Hunt, Christopher W. ; Hurtt, George ; Ilyina, Tatiana ; Jain, Atul K. ; Kato, Etsushi ; Kautz, Markus ; Keeling, Ralph F. ; Klein Goldewijk, Kees ; Körtzinger, Arne ; Landschützer, Peter ; Lefèvre, Nathalie ; Lenton, Andrew ; Lienert, Sebastian ; Lima, Ivan D. ; Lombardozzi, Danica ; Metzl, Nicolas ; Millero, Frank J. ; Monteiro, Pedro M. S. ; Munro, David R. ; Nabel, Julia E. M. S. ; Nakaoka, Shin-ichiro ; Nojiri, Yukihiro ; Padin, X. Antonio ; Peregon, Anna ; Pfeil, Benjamin ; Pierrot, Denis ; Poulter, Benjamin ; Rehder, Gregor ; Reimer, Janet ; Rödenbeck, Christian ; Schwinger, Jorg ; Séférian, Roland ; Skjelvan, Ingunn ; Stocker, Benjamin D. ; Tian, Hanqin ; Tilbrook, Bronte ; Tubiello, Francesco N. ; van der Laan-Luijkx, Ingrid T. ; van der Werf, Guido R. ; van Heuven, Steven ; Viovy, Nicolas ; Vuichard, Nicolas ; Walker, Anthony P. ; Watson, Andrew J. ; Wiltshire, Andrew J. ; Zaehle, Sonke ; Zhu, DanAccurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere – the "global carbon budget" – is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe data sets and methodology to quantify the five major components of the global carbon budget and their uncertainties. CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry (EFF) are based on energy statistics and cement production data, respectively, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on land-cover change data and bookkeeping models. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its rate of growth (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) and terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) are estimated with global process models constrained by observations. The resulting carbon budget imbalance (BIM), the difference between the estimated total emissions and the estimated changes in the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere, is a measure of imperfect data and understanding of the contemporary carbon cycle. All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ. For the last decade available (2007–2016), EFF was 9.4 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, ELUC 1.3 ± 0.7 GtC yr−1, GATM 4.7 ± 0.1 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN 2.4 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND 3.0 ± 0.8 GtC yr−1, with a budget imbalance BIM of 0.6 GtC yr−1 indicating overestimated emissions and/or underestimated sinks. For year 2016 alone, the growth in EFF was approximately zero and emissions remained at 9.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1. Also for 2016, ELUC was 1.3 ± 0.7 GtC yr−1, GATM was 6.1 ± 0.2 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN was 2.6 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND was 2.7 ± 1.0 GtC yr−1, with a small BIM of −0.3 GtC. GATM continued to be higher in 2016 compared to the past decade (2007–2016), reflecting in part the high fossil emissions and the small SLAND consistent with El Niño conditions. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 402.8 ± 0.1 ppm averaged over 2016. For 2017, preliminary data for the first 6–9 months indicate a renewed growth in EFF of +2.0 % (range of 0.8 to 3.0 %) based on national emissions projections for China, USA, and India, and projections of gross domestic product (GDP) corrected for recent changes in the carbon intensity of the economy for the rest of the world. This living data update documents changes in the methods and data sets used in this new global carbon budget compared with previous publications of this data set (Le Quéré et al., 2016, 2015b, a, 2014, 2013). All results presented here can be downloaded from https://doi.org/10.18160/GCP-2017 (GCP, 2017).
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PreprintImportance of soil thermal regime in terrestrial ecosystem carbon dynamics in the circumpolar north( 2016-04-19) Jiang, Yueyang ; Zhuang, Qianlai ; Sitch, Stephen ; O'Donnell, Jonathan A. ; Kicklighter, David W. ; Sokolov, Andrei P. ; Melillo, Jerry M.In the circumpolar north (45-90°N), permafrost plays an important role in vegetation and carbon (C) dynamics. Permafrost thawing has been accelerated by the warming climate and exerts a positive feedback to climate through increasing soil C release to the atmosphere. To evaluate the influence of permafrost on C dynamics, changes in soil temperature profiles should be considered in global C models. This study incorporates a sophisticated soil thermal model (STM) into a dynamic global vegetation model (LPJ-DGVM) to improve simulations of changes in soil temperature profiles from the ground surface to 3 m depth, and its impacts on C pools and fluxes during the 20th and 21st centuries.With cooler simulated soil temperatures during the summer, LPJ-STM estimates ~0.4 Pg C yr-1 lower present-day heterotrophic respiration but ~0.5 Pg C yr-1 higher net primary production than the original LPJ model resulting in an additional 0.8 to 1.0 Pg C yr-1 being sequestered in circumpolar ecosystems. Under a suite of projected warming scenarios, we show that the increasing active layer thickness results in the mobilization of permafrost C, which contributes to a more rapid increase in heterotrophic respiration in LPJ-STM compared to the stand-alone LPJ model. Except under the extreme warming conditions, increases in plant production due to warming and rising CO2, overwhelm the enhanced ecosystem respiration so that both boreal forest and arctic tundra ecosystems remain a net C sink over the 21st century. This study highlights the importance of considering changes in the soil thermal regime when quantifying the C budget in the circumpolar north.
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ArticleGlobal carbon budget 2014(Copernicus Publications, 2015-05-08) Le Quere, Corinne ; Moriarty, Roisin ; Andrew, Robbie M. ; Peters, Glen P. ; Ciais, Philippe ; Friedlingstein, Pierre ; Jones, S. D. ; Sitch, Stephen ; Tans, Pieter P. ; Arneth, Almut ; Boden, Thomas A. ; Bopp, Laurent ; Bozec, Yann ; Canadell, Josep G. ; Chini, Louise Parsons ; Chevallier, Frédéric ; Cosca, Catherine E. ; Harris, Ian ; Hoppema, Mario ; Houghton, Richard A. ; House, Jo I. ; Jain, Atul K. ; Johannessen, T. ; Kato, Etsushi ; Keeling, Ralph F. ; Kitidis, Vassilis ; Klein Goldewijk, Kees ; Koven, Charles ; Landa, C. S. ; Landschutzer, Peter ; Lenton, Andrew ; Lima, Ivan D. ; Marland, G. ; Mathis, Jeremy T. ; Metzl, Nicolas ; Nojiri, Yukihiro ; Olsen, Are ; Ono, Tsuneo ; Peng, S. ; Peters, W. ; Pfeil, Benjamin ; Poulter, Benjamin ; Raupach, Michael R. ; Regnier, P. ; Rodenbeck, C. ; Saito, Shu ; Salisbury, Joseph E. ; Schuster, Ute ; Schwinger, Jorg ; Seferian, Roland ; Segschneider, J. ; Steinhoff, Tobias ; Stocker, Benjamin D. ; Sutton, Adrienne J. ; Takahashi, Taro ; Tilbrook, Bronte ; van der Werf, Guido R. ; Viovy, Nicolas ; Wang, Y.-P. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Wiltshire, Andrew J. ; Zeng, NingAccurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe data sets and a methodology to quantify all major components of the global carbon budget, including their uncertainties, based on the combination of a range of data, algorithms, statistics, and model estimates and their interpretation by a broad scientific community. We discuss changes compared to previous estimates, consistency within and among components, alongside methodology and data limitations. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production (EFF) are based on energy statistics and cement production data, respectively, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on combined evidence from land-cover-change data, fire activity associated with deforestation, and models. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its rate of growth (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The mean ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) is based on observations from the 1990s, while the annual anomalies and trends are estimated with ocean models. The variability in SOCEAN is evaluated with data products based on surveys of ocean CO2 measurements. The global residual terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) is estimated by the difference of the other terms of the global carbon budget and compared to results of independent dynamic global vegetation models forced by observed climate, CO2, and land-cover-change (some including nitrogen–carbon interactions). We compare the mean land and ocean fluxes and their variability to estimates from three atmospheric inverse methods for three broad latitude bands. All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ, reflecting the current capacity to characterise the annual estimates of each component of the global carbon budget. For the last decade available (2004–2013), EFF was 8.9 ± 0.4 GtC yr−1, ELUC 0.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, GATM 4.3 ± 0.1 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN 2.6 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND 2.9 ± 0.8 GtC yr−1. For year 2013 alone, EFF grew to 9.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, 2.3% above 2012, continuing the growth trend in these emissions, ELUC was 0.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, GATM was 5.4 ± 0.2 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN was 2.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND was 2.5 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1. GATM was high in 2013, reflecting a steady increase in EFF and smaller and opposite changes between SOCEAN and SLAND compared to the past decade (2004–2013). The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 395.31 ± 0.10 ppm averaged over 2013. We estimate that EFF will increase by 2.5% (1.3–3.5%) to 10.1 ± 0.6 GtC in 2014 (37.0 ± 2.2 GtCO2 yr−1), 65% above emissions in 1990, based on projections of world gross domestic product and recent changes in the carbon intensity of the global economy. From this projection of EFF and assumed constant ELUC for 2014, cumulative emissions of CO2 will reach about 545 ± 55 GtC (2000 ± 200 GtCO2) for 1870–2014, about 75% from EFF and 25% from ELUC. This paper documents changes in the methods and data sets used in this new carbon budget compared with previous publications of this living data set (Le Quéré et al., 2013, 2014). All observations presented here can be downloaded from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (doi:10.3334/CDIAC/GCP_2014).
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ArticleGlobal Carbon Budget 2016(Copernicus Publications, 2016-11-14) Le Quere, Corinne ; Andrew, Robbie M. ; Canadell, Josep G. ; Sitch, Stephen ; Korsbakken, Jan Ivar ; Peters, Glen P. ; Manning, Andrew C. ; Boden, Thomas A. ; Tans, Pieter P. ; Houghton, Richard A. ; Keeling, Ralph F. ; Alin, Simone R. ; Andrews, Oliver D. ; Anthoni, Peter ; Barbero, Leticia ; Bopp, Laurent ; Chevallier, Frédéric ; Chini, Louise Parsons ; Ciais, Philippe ; Currie, Kim I. ; Delire, Christine ; Doney, Scott C. ; Friedlingstein, Pierre ; Gkritzalis, Thanos ; Harris, Ian ; Hauck, Judith ; Haverd, Vanessa ; Hoppema, Mario ; Klein Goldewijk, Kees ; Jain, Atul K. ; Kato, Etsushi ; Körtzinger, Arne ; Landschützer, Peter ; Lefèvre, Nathalie ; Lenton, Andrew ; Lienert, Sebastian ; Lombardozzi, Danica ; Melton, Joe R. ; Metzl, Nicolas ; Millero, Frank J. ; Monteiro, Pedro M. S. ; Munro, David R. ; Nabel, Julia E. M. S. ; Nakaoka, Shin-ichiro ; O'Brien, Kevin ; Olsen, Are ; Omar, Abdirahman M. ; Ono, Tsuneo ; Pierrot, Denis ; Poulter, Benjamin ; Rödenbeck, Christian ; Salisbury, Joseph E. ; Schuster, Ute ; Schwinger, Jorg ; Séférian, Roland ; Skjelvan, Ingunn ; Stocker, Benjamin D. ; Sutton, Adrienne J. ; Takahashi, Taro ; Tian, Hanqin ; Tilbrook, Bronte ; van der Laan-Luijkx, Ingrid ; van der Werf, Guido R. ; Viovy, Nicolas ; Walker, Anthony P. ; Wiltshire, Andrew J. ; Zaehle, SonkeAccurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere – the “global carbon budget” – is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe data sets and methodology to quantify all major components of the global carbon budget, including their uncertainties, based on the combination of a range of data, algorithms, statistics, and model estimates and their interpretation by a broad scientific community. We discuss changes compared to previous estimates and consistency within and among components, alongside methodology and data limitations. CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry (EFF) are based on energy statistics and cement production data, respectively, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on combined evidence from land-cover change data, fire activity associated with deforestation, and models. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its rate of growth (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The mean ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) is based on observations from the 1990s, while the annual anomalies and trends are estimated with ocean models. The variability in SOCEAN is evaluated with data products based on surveys of ocean CO2 measurements. The global residual terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) is estimated by the difference of the other terms of the global carbon budget and compared to results of independent dynamic global vegetation models. We compare the mean land and ocean fluxes and their variability to estimates from three atmospheric inverse methods for three broad latitude bands. All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ, reflecting the current capacity to characterise the annual estimates of each component of the global carbon budget. For the last decade available (2006–2015), EFF was 9.3 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, ELUC 1.0 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, GATM 4.5 ± 0.1 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN 2.6 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND 3.1 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1. For year 2015 alone, the growth in EFF was approximately zero and emissions remained at 9.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, showing a slowdown in growth of these emissions compared to the average growth of 1.8 % yr−1 that took place during 2006–2015. Also, for 2015, ELUC was 1.3 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, GATM was 6.3 ± 0.2 GtC yr−1, SOCEAN was 3.0 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1, and SLAND was 1.9 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1. GATM was higher in 2015 compared to the past decade (2006–2015), reflecting a smaller SLAND for that year. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 399.4 ± 0.1 ppm averaged over 2015. For 2016, preliminary data indicate the continuation of low growth in EFF with +0.2 % (range of −1.0 to +1.8 %) based on national emissions projections for China and USA, and projections of gross domestic product corrected for recent changes in the carbon intensity of the economy for the rest of the world. In spite of the low growth of EFF in 2016, the growth rate in atmospheric CO2 concentration is expected to be relatively high because of the persistence of the smaller residual terrestrial sink (SLAND) in response to El Niño conditions of 2015–2016. From this projection of EFF and assumed constant ELUC for 2016, cumulative emissions of CO2 will reach 565 ± 55 GtC (2075 ± 205 GtCO2) for 1870–2016, about 75 % from EFF and 25 % from ELUC. This living data update documents changes in the methods and data sets used in this new carbon budget compared with previous publications of this data set (Le Quéré et al., 2015b, a, 2014, 2013). All observations presented here can be downloaded from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (doi:10.3334/CDIAC/GCP_2016).