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.

Science 23 July 1999:
Vol. 285. no. 5427, pp. 544 - 545
DOI: 10.1126/science.285.5427.544
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Perspectives

Also see the archival list of Science's Compass: Enhanced Perspectives

BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES:
Enhanced: The Not-So-Big U.S. Carbon Sink

Christopher B. Field and Inez Y. Fung

Not all anthropogenic carbon emissions remain in the atmosphere, but the size of the terrestrial and oceanic carbon sinks and the mechanisms by which they sequester carbon remain controversial. Field and Fung (page 544) discuss the implications of a study into long-term land use change by Houghton et al. (page 574) for the carbon sink in the United States. Houghton et al. calculate annual changes in the amount of carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems. The sink, they determine, is much smaller than that found in an earlier study based on atmospheric measurements. Field and Fung discuss possible reasons for the discrepancy and implications for our understanding of carbon sources and sinks.

C. B. Field is in the Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. E-mail: chris{at}jasper.stanford.edu. I. Y. Fung is at the Center for Atmospheric Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Comparison of eddy covariance and chamber-based methods for measuring CO2 flux in a temperate mixed forest.
M. Wang, D.-X. Guan, S.-J. Han, and J.-L. Wu (2009)
Tree Physiol
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Are industrial SO2 emissions reducing CO2 uptake by the boreal forest?.
M. M. Savard, C. Begin, and M. Parent (2002)
Geology 30, 403-406
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Changes in Forest Biomass Carbon Storage in China Between 1949 and 1998.
J. Fang, A. Chen, C. Peng, S. Zhao, and L. Ci (2001)
Science 292, 2320-2322
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)