TY - JOUR
T1 - The terrestrial biosphere as a net source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere
AU - Tian, Hanqin
AU - Lu, Chaoqun
AU - Ciais, Philippe
AU - Michalak, Anna M.
AU - Canadell, Josep G.
AU - Saikawa, Eri
AU - Huntzinger, Deborah N.
AU - Gurney, Kevin R.
AU - Sitch, Stephen
AU - Zhang, Bowen
AU - Yang, Jia
AU - Bousquet, Philippe
AU - Bruhwiler, Lori
AU - Chen, Guangsheng
AU - Dlugokencky, Edward
AU - Friedlingstein, Pierre
AU - Melillo, Jerry
AU - Pan, Shufen
AU - Poulter, Benjamin
AU - Prinn, Ronald
AU - Saunois, Marielle
AU - Schwalm, Christopher R.
AU - Wofsy, Steven C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements This research was supported partially by NASA grants (NNX08AL73G, NNX14AO73G, NNX10AU06G, NNX11AD47G, NNG04GM39C) and NSF grants (AGS 1243232, AGS-1243220, CNH1210360). J.G.C. was supported by the Australian Climate Change Science Program. E.S. was supported by the NOAA Climate Program Office (award NA13OAR4310059). C.R.S. was supported by NASA grants (NNX12AP74G, NNX10AG01A, NNX11AO08A). K.R.G. was supported by NSF CAREER (AGS-0846358). R.G.P. was supported by a NASA Upper Atmosphere Research Program AGAGE grant (NNX11AF17G to MIT). This study contributes to the Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases Synthesis of NACP (North American Carbon Program), and the Global Carbon Project (a joint project of IGBP, IHDP, WCRP and Diversitas).
PY - 2016/3/9
Y1 - 2016/3/9
N2 - The terrestrial biosphere can release or absorb the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO 2), methane (CH 4) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O), and therefore has an important role in regulating atmospheric composition and climate. Anthropogenic activities such as land-use change, agriculture and waste management have altered terrestrial biogenic greenhouse gas fluxes, and the resulting increases in methane and nitrous oxide emissions in particular can contribute to climate change. The terrestrial biogenic fluxes of individual greenhouse gases have been studied extensively, but the net biogenic greenhouse gas balance resulting from anthropogenic activities and its effect on the climate system remains uncertain. Here we use bottom-up (inventory, statistical extrapolation of local flux measurements, and process-based modelling) and top-down (atmospheric inversions) approaches to quantify the global net biogenic greenhouse gas balance between 1981 and 2010 resulting from anthropogenic activities and its effect on the climate system. We find that the cumulative warming capacity of concurrent biogenic methane and nitrous oxide emissions is a factor of about two larger than the cooling effect resulting from the global land carbon dioxide uptake from 2001 to 2010. This results in a net positive cumulative impact of the three greenhouse gases on the planetary energy budget, with a best estimate (in petagrams of CO 2 equivalent per year) of 3.9 ± 3.8 (top down) and 5.4 ± 4.8 (bottom up) based on the GWP100 metric (global warming potential on a 100-year time horizon). Our findings suggest that a reduction in agricultural methane and nitrous oxide emissions, particularly in Southern Asia, may help mitigate climate change.
AB - The terrestrial biosphere can release or absorb the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO 2), methane (CH 4) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O), and therefore has an important role in regulating atmospheric composition and climate. Anthropogenic activities such as land-use change, agriculture and waste management have altered terrestrial biogenic greenhouse gas fluxes, and the resulting increases in methane and nitrous oxide emissions in particular can contribute to climate change. The terrestrial biogenic fluxes of individual greenhouse gases have been studied extensively, but the net biogenic greenhouse gas balance resulting from anthropogenic activities and its effect on the climate system remains uncertain. Here we use bottom-up (inventory, statistical extrapolation of local flux measurements, and process-based modelling) and top-down (atmospheric inversions) approaches to quantify the global net biogenic greenhouse gas balance between 1981 and 2010 resulting from anthropogenic activities and its effect on the climate system. We find that the cumulative warming capacity of concurrent biogenic methane and nitrous oxide emissions is a factor of about two larger than the cooling effect resulting from the global land carbon dioxide uptake from 2001 to 2010. This results in a net positive cumulative impact of the three greenhouse gases on the planetary energy budget, with a best estimate (in petagrams of CO 2 equivalent per year) of 3.9 ± 3.8 (top down) and 5.4 ± 4.8 (bottom up) based on the GWP100 metric (global warming potential on a 100-year time horizon). Our findings suggest that a reduction in agricultural methane and nitrous oxide emissions, particularly in Southern Asia, may help mitigate climate change.
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U2 - 10.1038/nature16946
DO - 10.1038/nature16946
M3 - Article
C2 - 26961656
AN - SCOPUS:84961710260
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 531
SP - 225
EP - 228
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 7593
ER -