Document Detail


A carbon cycle science update since IPCC AR-4.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21053724     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
We review important advances in our understanding of the global carbon cycle since the publication of the IPCC AR4. We conclude that: the anthropogenic emissions of CO2 due to fossil fuel burning have increased up through 2008 at a rate near to the high end of the IPCC emission scenarios; there are contradictory analyses whether an increase in atmospheric fraction, that might indicate a declining sink strength of ocean and/or land, exists; methane emissions are increasing, possibly through enhanced natural emission from northern wetland, methane emissions from dry plants are negligible; old-growth forest take up more carbon than expected from ecological equilibrium reasoning; tropical forest also take up more carbon than previously thought, however, for the global budget to balance, this would imply a smaller uptake in the northern forest; the exchange fluxes between the atmosphere and ocean are increasingly better understood and bottom up and observation-based top down estimates are getting closer to each other; the North Atlantic and Southern ocean take up less CO2, but it is unclear whether this is part of the 'natural' decadal scale variability; large-scale fires and droughts, for instance in Amazonia, but also at Northern latitudes, have lead to significant decreases in carbon uptake on annual timescales; the extra uptake of CO2 stimulated by increased N-deposition is, from a greenhouse gas forcing perspective, counterbalanced by the related additional N2O emissions; the amount of carbon stored in permafrost areas appears much (two times) larger than previously thought; preservation of existing marine ecosystems could require a CO2 stabilization as low as 450 ppm; Dynamic Vegetation Models show a wide divergence for future carbon trajectories, uncertainty in the process description, lack of understanding of the CO2 fertilization effect and nitrogen-carbon interaction are major uncertainties.
Authors:
A J Dolman; G R van der Werf; M K van der Molen; G Ganssen; J-W Erisman; B Strengers
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Ambio     Volume:  39     ISSN:  0044-7447     ISO Abbreviation:  Ambio     Publication Date:    2010 Jul-Sep
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-11-08     Completed Date:  2010-12-02     Revised Date:  2013-03-28    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0364220     Medline TA:  Ambio     Country:  Sweden    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  402-12     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands. han.dolman@falw.vu.nl
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Air Pollutants / chemistry*
Atmosphere
Carbon Cycle*
Carbon Dioxide / chemistry*
Climatic Processes*
Ecosystem
Environmental Monitoring
Internationality
Methane / chemistry*
Oceans and Seas
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Air Pollutants; 124-38-9/Carbon Dioxide; 74-82-8/Methane
Comments/Corrections

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