Work

Land use effects on atmospheric 13C imply a sizable terrestrial CO2 sink in tropical latitudes

Year: 2002

Type: article

Abstract: Records of atmospheric CO2 and 13CO2 can be used to distinguish terrestrial vs. oceanic exchanges of CO2 with the atmosphere. However, this approach has proven difficult in the tropics, partly due to extensive land conversion from C3 to C4 vegetation. We estimated the effects of such conversion on biosphere‐atmosphere 13C exchange for 1991–2000, and then explored how this “land‐use disequilibrium” altered the partitioning of net atmospheric CO2 exchanges between ocean and land using NOAA‐CMDL data and a 2D, zonally averaged atmospheric transport model. Our results suggest sizable CO2 uptake in C3‐dominated tropical regions in 8 of the 10 years; 1997 and 1998, which included a strong ENSO event, are near neutral. Since these fluxes include any deforestation source, our findings imply either that such sources are smaller than previously estimated, and/or the existence of a large equatorial terrestrial CO2 sink.

Source: Geophysical Research Letters

DOI: 10.1029/2001gl013454

Authors: Alan R. Townsend, Gregory P. Asner, James W. C. White, Pieter P. Tans

Institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, Carnegie Institution for Science, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Language: English

Topic: Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Life on land

Open Access status: bronze

OpenAlex ID: W2130257953

FWCI: 1.898

Cites: 22

Cited by: 29

Related to: 10