The carbon budget of terrestrial ecosystems in East Asia over the last two decades

Piao, S.L.; Ito, A.; Li, S.G.; Huang, Y.; Ciais, P.; Wang, X.H.; Peng, S.S.; Nan, H.J.; Zhao, C.; Ahlström, A.; Andres, R.J.; Chevallier, F.; Fang, J.Y.; Hartmann, J.; Huntingford, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5941-7770; Jeong, S.; Levis, S.; Levy, P.E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8505-1901; Li, J.S.; Lomas, M.R.; Mao, J.F.; Mayorga, E.; Mohammat, A.; Muraoka, H.; Peng, C.H.; Peylin, P.; Poulter, B.; Shen, Z.H.; Shi, X.; Sitch, S.; Tao, S.; Tian, H.Q.; Wu, X.P.; Xu, M.; Yu, G.R.; Viovy, N.; Zaehle, S.; Zeng, N.; Zhu, B.. 2012 The carbon budget of terrestrial ecosystems in East Asia over the last two decades. Biogeosciences, 9 (9). 3571-3586. 10.5194/bg-9-3571-2012

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Abstract/Summary

This REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes regional study provides a synthesis of the carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems in East Asia, a region comprised of China, Japan, North and South Korea, and Mongolia. We estimate the current terrestrial carbon balance of East Asia and its driving mechanisms during 1990–2009 using three different approaches: inventories combined with satellite greenness measurements, terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle models and atmospheric inversion models. The magnitudes of East Asia's terrestrial carbon sink from these three approaches are comparable: −0.293±0.033 PgC yr−1 from inventory–remote sensing model–data fusion approach, −0.413±0.141 PgC yr−1 (not considering biofuel emissions) or −0.224±0.141 PgC yr−1 (considering biofuel emissions) for carbon cycle models, and −0.270±0.507 PgC yr−1 for atmospheric inverse models. Here and in the following, the numbers behind ± signs are standard deviations. The ensemble of ecosystem modeling based analyses further suggests that at the regional scale, climate change and rising atmospheric CO2 together resulted in a carbon sink of −0.289±0.135 PgC yr−1, while land-use change and nitrogen deposition had a contribution of −0.013±0.029 PgC yr−1 and −0.107±0.025 PgC yr−1, respectively. Although the magnitude of climate change effects on the carbon balance varies among different models, all models agree that in response to climate change alone, southern China experienced an increase in carbon storage from 1990 to 2009, while northern East Asia including Mongolia and north China showed a decrease in carbon storage. Overall, our results suggest that about 13–27% of East Asia's CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning have been offset by carbon accumulation in its terrestrial territory over the period from 1990 to 2009. The underlying mechanisms of carbon sink over East Asia still remain largely uncertain, given the diversity and intensity of land management processes, and the regional conjunction of many drivers such as nutrient deposition, climate, atmospheric pollution and CO2 changes, which cannot be considered as independent for their effects on carbon storage

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.5194/bg-9-3571-2012
Programmes:	CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biogeochemistry > BGC Topic 2 - Biogeochemistry and Climate System Processes > BGC - 2.2 - Measure and model surface atmosphere exchanges of energy ... CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biogeochemistry > BGC Topic 2 - Biogeochemistry and Climate System Processes > BGC - 2.3 - Determine land-climate feedback processes to improve climate model predictions
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Billett (to November 2013) Reynard
ISSN:	1726-4170
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment Meteorology and Climatology Atmospheric Sciences
Date made live:	24 Sep 2012 09:26 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/19515

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