Atmospheric carbonyl sulfide sources from anthropogenic activity: Implications for carbon cycle constraints

Carbonyl sulfide (COS) has recently emerged as an atmospheric tracer of gross primary production. All modeling studies of COS air-monitoring data rely on a climatological anthropogenic inventory that does not reflect present conditions or support interpretation of ice core and firn trends. Here we d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Campbell, J. E., Whelan, Mary, Seibt, U., Smith, Steven J., Berry, J. A., Hilton, Timothy W.
Language:unknown
Published: 2022
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Online Access:http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1208712
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1208712
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063445
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Summary:Carbonyl sulfide (COS) has recently emerged as an atmospheric tracer of gross primary production. All modeling studies of COS air-monitoring data rely on a climatological anthropogenic inventory that does not reflect present conditions or support interpretation of ice core and firn trends. Here we develop a global anthropogenic inventory for the years 1850 to 2013 based on new emission measurements and material-specific data. By applying methods from a recent regional inventory to global data, we find that the anthropogenic source is similar in magnitude to the plant sink, confounding carbon cycle applications. However, a material-specific approach results in a current anthropogenic source that is only one third of plant uptake and is concentrated in Asia, supporting carbon cycle applications of global air-monitoring data. As a result, changes in the anthropogenic source alone cannot explain the century-scale mixing ratio growth, which suggests that ice and firn data may provide the first global history of gross primary production.