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Recent trends and drivers of regional sources and sinks of carbon dioxide

Sitch, S. ; Friedlingstein, P. ; Gruber, N. ; Jones, S. D. ; Murray-Tortarolo, G. ; Ahlström, Anders LU orcid ; Doney, S. C. ; Graven, H. ; Heinze, C. and Huntingford, C. , et al. (2015) In Biogeosciences 12(3). p.653-679
Abstract
The 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... (More)
The 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 PgC yr(-1) with a small significant trend of -0.06 +/- 0.03 PgC yr(-2) (increasing sink). Over the more limited period 1990-2004, the ocean models simulate a mean ocean sink of -2.2 +/- 0.2 PgC yr(-1) with a trend in the net C uptake that is indistinguishable from zero (-0.01 +/- 0.02 PgC 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 PgC 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 PgC yr(-2) exceeds a significant trend in heterotrophic respiration of 0.16 +/- 0.05 PgC 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 PgC 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 counteract 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. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Biogeosciences
volume
12
issue
3
pages
27 pages
publisher
Copernicus GmbH
external identifiers
  • wos:000349793100002
  • scopus:84922330924
ISSN
1726-4189
DOI
10.5194/bg-12-653-2015
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
720f7eff-28ae-4bda-b9d2-cdfc664fe864 (old id 5305627)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:07:07
date last changed
2022-04-28 06:58:48
@article{720f7eff-28ae-4bda-b9d2-cdfc664fe864,
  abstract     = {{The 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 PgC yr(-1) with a small significant trend of -0.06 +/- 0.03 PgC yr(-2) (increasing sink). Over the more limited period 1990-2004, the ocean models simulate a mean ocean sink of -2.2 +/- 0.2 PgC yr(-1) with a trend in the net C uptake that is indistinguishable from zero (-0.01 +/- 0.02 PgC 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 PgC 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 PgC yr(-2) exceeds a significant trend in heterotrophic respiration of 0.16 +/- 0.05 PgC 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 PgC 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 counteract 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.}},
  author       = {{Sitch, S. and Friedlingstein, P. and Gruber, N. and Jones, S. D. and Murray-Tortarolo, G. and Ahlström, Anders and Doney, S. C. and Graven, H. and Heinze, C. and Huntingford, C. and Levis, S. and Levy, P. E. and Lomas, M. and Poulter, B. and Viovy, N. and Zaehle, S. and Zeng, N. and Arneth, A. and Bonan, G. and Bopp, L. and Canadell, J. G. and Chevallier, F. and Ciais, P. and Ellis, R. and Gloor, M. and Peylin, P. and Piao, S. L. and Le Quere, C. and Smith, Benjamin and Zhu, Z. and Myneni, R.}},
  issn         = {{1726-4189}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{653--679}},
  publisher    = {{Copernicus GmbH}},
  series       = {{Biogeosciences}},
  title        = {{Recent trends and drivers of regional sources and sinks of carbon dioxide}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-653-2015}},
  doi          = {{10.5194/bg-12-653-2015}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}