Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system
abstract: A globally integrated carbon observation and analysis system is needed to improve the fundamental understanding of the global carbon cycle, to improve our ability to project future changes, and to verify the effectiveness of policies aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase c...
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2013
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-3547-2014 http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.25998 |
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abstract: A globally integrated carbon observation and analysis system is needed to improve the fundamental understanding of the global carbon cycle, to improve our ability to project future changes, and to verify the effectiveness of policies aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration. Building an integrated carbon observation system requires transformational advances from the existing sparse, exploratory framework towards a dense, robust, and sustained system in all components: anthropogenic emissions, the atmosphere, the ocean, and the terrestrial biosphere. The paper is addressed to scientists, policymakers, and funding agencies who need to have a global picture of the current state of the (diverse) carbon observations. We identify the current state of carbon observations, and the needs and notional requirements for a global integrated carbon observation system that can be built in the next decade. A key conclusion is the substantial expansion of the ground-based observation networks required to reach the high spatial resolution for CO[subscript 2] and CH[subscript 4] fluxes, and for carbon stocks for addressing policy-relevant objectives, and attributing flux changes to underlying processes in each region. In order to establish flux and stock diagnostics over areas such as the southern oceans, tropical forests, and the Arctic, in situ observations will have to be complemented with remote-sensing measurements. Remote sensing offers the advantage of dense spatial coverage and frequent revisit. A key challenge is to bring remote-sensing measurements to a level of long-term consistency and accuracy so that they can be efficiently combined in models to reduce uncertainties, in synergy with ground-based data. Bringing tight observational constraints on fossil fuel and land use change emissions will be the biggest challenge for deployment of a policy-relevant integrated carbon observation system. This will require in situ and remotely sensed data at much higher resolution and density than currently achieved for natural fluxes, although over a small land area (cities, industrial sites, power plants), as well as the inclusion of fossil fuel CO[subscript 2] proxy measurements such as radiocarbon in CO[subscript 2] and carbon-fuel combustion tracers. Additionally, a policy-relevant carbon monitoring system should also provide mechanisms for reconciling regional top-down (atmosphere-based) and bottom-up (surface-based) flux estimates across the range of spatial and temporal scales relevant to mitigation policies. In addition, uncertainties for each observation data-stream should be assessed. The success of the system will rely on long-term commitments to monitoring, on improved international collaboration to fill gaps in the current observations, on sustained efforts to improve access to the different data streams and make databases interoperable, and on the calibration of each component of the system to agreed-upon international scales. |
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Ciais, P. (Author) Dolman, A. J. (Author) Bombelli, A. (Author) Duren, R. (Author) Peregon, A. (Author) Rayner, P. J. (Author) Miller, C. (Author) Gobron, N. (Author) Kinderman, G. (Author) Marland, G. (Author) Gruber, N. (Author) Chevallier, F. (Author) Andres, R. J. (Author) Balsamo, G. (Author) Bopp, L. (Author) Breon, F. -M. (Author) Broquet, G. (Author) Dargaville, R. (Author) Battin, T. J. (Author) Borges, A. (Author) Bovensmann, H. (Author) Buchwitz, M. (Author) Butler, J. (Author) Canadell, J. G. (Author) Cook, R. B. (Author) DeFries, R. (Author) Engelen, R. (Author) Gurney, Kevin (ASU author) Heinze, C. (Author) Heimann, M. (Author) Held, A. (Author) Henry, M. (Author) Law, B. (Author) Luyssaert, S. (Author) Miller, J. (Author) Moriyama, T. (Author) Moulin, C. (Author) Myneni, R. (Author) College of Liberal Arts and Sciences School of Life Sciences Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability School of Sustainability |
format |
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title |
Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system |
spellingShingle |
Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system |
title_short |
Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system |
title_full |
Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system |
title_fullStr |
Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system |
title_full_unstemmed |
Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system |
title_sort |
current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system |
publishDate |
2013 |
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https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-3547-2014 http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.25998 |
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Arctic |
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BIOGEOSCIENCES doi:10.5194/bg-11-3547-2014 ISSN: 1726-4189 ISSN: 1726-4170 Ciais, P., Dolman, A. J., Bombelli, A., Duren, R., Peregon, A., Rayner, P. J., Miller, C., Gobron, N., Kinderman, G., Marland, G., Gruber, N., Chevallier, F., Andres, R. J., Balsamo, G., Bopp, L., Breon, F. -M., Broquet, G., Dargaville, R., Battin, T. J., Borges, A., Bovensmann, H., Buchwitz, M., Butler, J., Canadell, J. G., Cook, R. B., DeFries, R., Engelen, R., Gurney, K. R., Heinze, C., Heimann, M., Held, A., Henry, M., Law, B., Luyssaert, S., Miller, J., Moriyama, T., Moulin, C., & Myneni, R. (2014). Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system. BIOGEOSCIENCES, 11(13), 3547-3602. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-3547-2014 http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.25998 |
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https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-3547-2014 |
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ftarizonastateun:item:25998 2023-05-15T15:19:34+02:00 Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system Ciais, P. (Author) Dolman, A. J. (Author) Bombelli, A. (Author) Duren, R. (Author) Peregon, A. (Author) Rayner, P. J. (Author) Miller, C. (Author) Gobron, N. (Author) Kinderman, G. (Author) Marland, G. (Author) Gruber, N. (Author) Chevallier, F. (Author) Andres, R. J. (Author) Balsamo, G. (Author) Bopp, L. (Author) Breon, F. -M. (Author) Broquet, G. (Author) Dargaville, R. (Author) Battin, T. J. (Author) Borges, A. (Author) Bovensmann, H. (Author) Buchwitz, M. (Author) Butler, J. (Author) Canadell, J. G. (Author) Cook, R. B. (Author) DeFries, R. (Author) Engelen, R. (Author) Gurney, Kevin (ASU author) Heinze, C. (Author) Heimann, M. (Author) Held, A. (Author) Henry, M. (Author) Law, B. (Author) Luyssaert, S. (Author) Miller, J. (Author) Moriyama, T. (Author) Moulin, C. (Author) Myneni, R. (Author) College of Liberal Arts and Sciences School of Life Sciences Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability School of Sustainability 2013-11-30 56 pages https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-3547-2014 http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.25998 eng eng BIOGEOSCIENCES doi:10.5194/bg-11-3547-2014 ISSN: 1726-4189 ISSN: 1726-4170 Ciais, P., Dolman, A. J., Bombelli, A., Duren, R., Peregon, A., Rayner, P. J., Miller, C., Gobron, N., Kinderman, G., Marland, G., Gruber, N., Chevallier, F., Andres, R. J., Balsamo, G., Bopp, L., Breon, F. -M., Broquet, G., Dargaville, R., Battin, T. J., Borges, A., Bovensmann, H., Buchwitz, M., Butler, J., Canadell, J. G., Cook, R. B., DeFries, R., Engelen, R., Gurney, K. R., Heinze, C., Heimann, M., Held, A., Henry, M., Law, B., Luyssaert, S., Miller, J., Moriyama, T., Moulin, C., & Myneni, R. (2014). Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system. BIOGEOSCIENCES, 11(13), 3547-3602. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-3547-2014 http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.25998 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Text 2013 ftarizonastateun https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-3547-2014 2018-06-30T22:53:36Z abstract: A globally integrated carbon observation and analysis system is needed to improve the fundamental understanding of the global carbon cycle, to improve our ability to project future changes, and to verify the effectiveness of policies aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration. Building an integrated carbon observation system requires transformational advances from the existing sparse, exploratory framework towards a dense, robust, and sustained system in all components: anthropogenic emissions, the atmosphere, the ocean, and the terrestrial biosphere. The paper is addressed to scientists, policymakers, and funding agencies who need to have a global picture of the current state of the (diverse) carbon observations. We identify the current state of carbon observations, and the needs and notional requirements for a global integrated carbon observation system that can be built in the next decade. A key conclusion is the substantial expansion of the ground-based observation networks required to reach the high spatial resolution for CO[subscript 2] and CH[subscript 4] fluxes, and for carbon stocks for addressing policy-relevant objectives, and attributing flux changes to underlying processes in each region. In order to establish flux and stock diagnostics over areas such as the southern oceans, tropical forests, and the Arctic, in situ observations will have to be complemented with remote-sensing measurements. Remote sensing offers the advantage of dense spatial coverage and frequent revisit. A key challenge is to bring remote-sensing measurements to a level of long-term consistency and accuracy so that they can be efficiently combined in models to reduce uncertainties, in synergy with ground-based data. Bringing tight observational constraints on fossil fuel and land use change emissions will be the biggest challenge for deployment of a policy-relevant integrated carbon observation system. This will require in situ and remotely sensed data at much higher resolution and density than currently achieved for natural fluxes, although over a small land area (cities, industrial sites, power plants), as well as the inclusion of fossil fuel CO[subscript 2] proxy measurements such as radiocarbon in CO[subscript 2] and carbon-fuel combustion tracers. Additionally, a policy-relevant carbon monitoring system should also provide mechanisms for reconciling regional top-down (atmosphere-based) and bottom-up (surface-based) flux estimates across the range of spatial and temporal scales relevant to mitigation policies. In addition, uncertainties for each observation data-stream should be assessed. The success of the system will rely on long-term commitments to monitoring, on improved international collaboration to fill gaps in the current observations, on sustained efforts to improve access to the different data streams and make databases interoperable, and on the calibration of each component of the system to agreed-upon international scales. Text Arctic Arizona State University: ASU Digital Repository Arctic Biogeosciences 11 13 3547 3602 |