Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Invitrogen Webinar

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 22 June 2001:
Vol. 292. no. 5525, pp. 2316 - 2320
DOI: 10.1126/science.1057320
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Consistent Land- and Atmosphere-Based U.S. Carbon Sink Estimates

S. W. Pacala,1* G. C. Hurtt,3 D. Baker,2 P. Peylin,4 R. A. Houghton,5 R. A. Birdsey,6 L. Heath,6 E. T. Sundquist,7 R. F. Stallard,8 P. Ciais,9 P. Moorcroft,1 J. P. Caspersen,1 E. Shevliakova,1 B. Moore,3 G. Kohlmaier,10 E. Holland,11 M. Gloor,11 M. E. Harmon,12 S.-M. Fan,2 J. L. Sarmiento,2 C. L. Goodale,13 D. Schimel,11 C. B. Field13

For the period 1980-89, we estimate a carbon sink in the coterminous United States between 0.30 and 0.58 petagrams of carbon per year (petagrams of carbon = 1015 grams of carbon). The net carbon flux from the atmosphere to the land was higher, 0.37 to 0.71 petagrams of carbon per year, because a net flux of 0.07 to 0.13 petagrams of carbon per year was exported by rivers and commerce and returned to the atmosphere elsewhere. These land-based estimates are larger than those from previous studies (0.08 to 0.35 petagrams of carbon per year) because of the inclusion of additional processes and revised estimates of some component fluxes. Although component estimates are uncertain, about one-half of the total is outside the forest sector. We also estimated the sink using atmospheric models and the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (the tracer-transport inversion method). The range of results from the atmosphere-based inversions contains the land-based estimates. Atmosphere- and land-based estimates are thus consistent, within the large ranges of uncertainty for both methods. Atmosphere-based results for 1980-89 are similar to those for 1985-89 and 1990-94, indicating a relatively stable U.S. sink throughout the period.

1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
2 Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
3 Complex Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA.
4 Laboratoire de Biogeochimie Isotopique, UPMC-CNRS-INRA, Jussieu, Paris, France.
5 Woods Hole Research Center, Post Office Box 296, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
6 U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Newtown Square, PA 19073, USA.
7 U.S. Geological Survey, Quissett Campus, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
8 Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, Boulder, CO 80303-1066, USA.
9 LSCE-CEA de Saclay, Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif/Yvette, France.
10 Zentrum für Umweltforshung, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany.
11 Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie, Carl Zeiss Promenada 10 07745 Jena, Germany.
12 Department of Forest Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
13 Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, CA 94305-1297, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Pacala{at}princeton.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
An atmospheric perspective on North American carbon dioxide exchange: CarbonTracker.
W. Peters, A. R. Jacobson, C. Sweeney, A. E. Andrews, T. J. Conway, K. Masarie, J. B. Miller, L. M. P. Bruhwiler, G. Petron, A. I. Hirsch, et al. (2007)
PNAS 104, 18925-18930
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Hurricane Katrina's Carbon Footprint on U.S. Gulf Coast Forests.
J. Q. Chambers, J. I. Fisher, H. Zeng, E. L. Chapman, D. B. Baker, and G. C. Hurtt (2007)
Science 318, 1107
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Increases in nitrogen uptake rather than nitrogen-use efficiency support higher rates of temperate forest productivity under elevated CO2.
A. C. Finzi, R. J. Norby, C. Calfapietra, A. Gallet-Budynek, B. Gielen, W. E. Holmes, M. R. Hoosbeek, C. M. Iversen, R. B. Jackson, M. E. Kubiske, et al. (2007)
PNAS 104, 14014-14019
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Weak Northern and Strong Tropical Land Carbon Uptake from Vertical Profiles of Atmospheric CO2.
B. B. Stephens, K. R. Gurney, P. P. Tans, C. Sweeney, W. Peters, L. Bruhwiler, P. Ciais, M. Ramonet, P. Bousquet, T. Nakazawa, et al. (2007)
Science 316, 1732-1735
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Carbon Storage in the Soils of a Mesotidal Gulf of Maine Estuary.
J. L. Jespersen and L. J. Osher (2007)
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 71, 372-379
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Warming and Earlier Spring Increase Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity.
A. L. Westerling, H. G. Hidalgo, D. R. Cayan, and T. W. Swetnam (2006)
Science 313, 940-943
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Effects of land use on soil respiration: conversion of oak woodlands to vineyards..
E. A. Carlisle, K. L. Steenwerth, and D. R. Smart (2006)
J. Environ. Qual. 35, 1396-1404
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Effect of land-cover change on terrestrial carbon dynamics in the southern United States..
H. Chen, H. Tian, M. Liu, J. Melillo, S. Pan, and C. Zhang (2006)
J. Environ. Qual. 35, 1533-1547
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Approaches and Technologies for Detecting Changes in Forest Soil Carbon Pools: Preamble.
E. D. Vance (2003)
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 67, 1582
   Full Text »    PDF »
Increase in the Export of Alkalinity from North America's Largest River.
P. A. Raymond and J. J. Cole (2003)
Science 301, 88-91
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Europe's Terrestrial Biosphere Absorbs 7 to 12% of European Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions.
I. A. Janssens, A. Freibauer, P. Ciais, P. Smith, G.-J. Nabuurs, G. Folberth, B. Schlamadinger, R. W. A. Hutjes, R. Ceulemans, E.-D. Schulze, et al. (2003)
Science 300, 1538-1542
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From Anchovies to Sardines and Back: Multidecadal Change in the Pacific Ocean.
F. P. Chavez, J. Ryan, S. E. Lluch-Cota, and M. Niquen C. (2003)
Science 299, 217-221
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation and regrowth based on satellite observations for the 1980s and 1990s.
R. S. DeFries, R. A. Houghton, M. C. Hansen, C. B. Field, D. Skole, and J. Townshend (2002)
PNAS 99, 14256-14261
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Organic carbon fluxes to the ocean from high-standing islands.
(2002)
Geology 30, 443-446
Projecting the future of the U.S. carbon sink.
G. C. Hurtt, S. W. Pacala, P. R. Moorcroft, J. Caspersen, E. Shevliakova, R. A. Houghton, and B. Moore III (2002)
PNAS 99, 1389-1394
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A large carbon sink in the woody biomass of Northern forests.
R. B. Myneni, J. Dong, C. J. Tucker, R. K. Kaufmann, P. E. Kauppi, J. Liski, L. Zhou, V. Alexeyev, and M. K. Hughes (2001)
PNAS
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Factors Controlling Long- and Short-Term Sequestration of Atmospheric CO2 in a Mid-latitude Forest.
C. C. Barford, S. C. Wofsy, M. L. Goulden, J. W. Munger, E. H. Pyle, S. P. Urbanski, L. Hutyra, S. R. Saleska, D. Fitzjarrald, and K. Moore (2001)
Science 294, 1688-1691
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A large carbon sink in the woody biomass of Northern forests.
R. B. Myneni, J. Dong, C. J. Tucker, R. K. Kaufmann, P. E. Kauppi, J. Liski, L. Zhou, V. Alexeyev, and M. K. Hughes (2001)
PNAS 98, 14784-14789
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products