Weak Northern and Strong Tropical Land Carbon Uptake from Vertical Profiles of Atmospheric CO 2

Measurements of midday vertical atmospheric CO 2 distributions reveal annual-mean vertical CO 2 gradients that are inconsistent with atmospheric models that estimate a large transfer of terrestrial carbon from tropical to northern latitudes. The three models that most closely reproduce the observed...

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Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2007-06, Vol.316 (5832), p.1732-1735
Main Authors: Stephens, Britton B., Gurney, Kevin R., Tans, Pieter P., Sweeney, Colm, Peters, Wouter, Bruhwiler, Lori, Ciais, Philippe, Ramonet, Michel, Bousquet, Philippe, Nakazawa, Takakiyo, Aoki, Shuji, Machida, Toshinobu, Inoue, Gen, Vinnichenko, Nikolay, Lloyd, Jon, Jordan, Armin, Heimann, Martin, Shibistova, Olga, Langenfelds, Ray L., Steele, L. Paul, Francey, Roger J., Denning, A. Scott
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Measurements of midday vertical atmospheric CO 2 distributions reveal annual-mean vertical CO 2 gradients that are inconsistent with atmospheric models that estimate a large transfer of terrestrial carbon from tropical to northern latitudes. The three models that most closely reproduce the observed annual-mean vertical CO 2 gradients estimate weaker northern uptake of –1.5 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year –1 ) and weaker tropical emission of +0.1 Pg C year –1 compared with previous consensus estimates of –2.4 and +1.8 Pg C year –1 , respectively. This suggests that northern terrestrial uptake of industrial CO 2 emissions plays a smaller role than previously thought and that, after subtracting land-use emissions, tropical ecosystems may currently be strong sinks for CO 2 .
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1137004