Global Carbon Sinks and Their Variability Inferred from Atmospheric O 2 and δ 13 C
- 31 March 2000
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 287 (5462), 2467-2470
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.287.5462.2467
Abstract
Recent time-series measurements of atmospheric O 2 show that the land biosphere and world oceans annually sequestered 1.4 ± 0.8 and 2.0 ± 0.6 gigatons of carbon, respectively, between mid-1991 and mid-1997. The rapid storage of carbon by the land biosphere from 1991 to 1997 contrasts with the 1980s, when the land biosphere was approximately neutral. Comparison with measurements of δ 13 CO 2 implies an isotopic flux of 89 ± 21 gigatons of carbon per mil per year, in agreement with model- and inventory-based estimates of this flux. Both the δ 13 C and the O 2 data show significant interannual variability in carbon storage over the period of record. The general agreement of the independent estimates from O 2 and δ 13 C is a robust signal of variable carbon uptake by both the land biosphere and the oceans.Keywords
This publication has 21 references indexed in Scilit:
- Monitoring the isotopic composition of atmospheric CO2: Measurements from the NOAA Global Air Sampling NetworkJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 1996
- Variability in the O2/N2 ratio of southern hemisphere air, 1991–1994: Implications for the carbon cycleGlobal Biogeochemical Cycles, 1996
- On the relations between the oceanic uptake of CO2 and its carbon isotopesGlobal Biogeochemical Cycles, 1996
- Partitioning of ocean and land uptake of CO2 as inferred by δ13C measurements from the NOAA Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory Global Air Sampling NetworkJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 1995
- Terrestrial ecosystems and the carbon cycleGlobal Change Biology, 1995
- Evidence for interannual variability of the carbon cycle from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory Global Air Sampling NetworkJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 1994
- Oceanic 13C/12C observations: A new window on ocean CO2 uptakeGlobal Biogeochemical Cycles, 1993
- What atmospheric oxygen measurements can tell us about the global carbon cycleGlobal Biogeochemical Cycles, 1993
- Revised budget for the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxideNature, 1992
- Atmospheric Oxygen in 1967 to 1970Science, 1970