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First-ever 'State of the Carbon Cycle Report' finds troubling imbalance
November 15, 2007The first "State of the Carbon Cycle Report" for North America, released online this week by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, finds the continent's carbon budget increasingly overwhelmed by human-caused emissions. North American sources release nearly 2 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year, mostly as carbon dioxide. Carbon "sinks" such as growing forests may remove up to half this amount, but these current sinks may turn into new sources as climate changes.
"By burning fossil fuel and clearing forests human beings have significantly altered the global carbon cycle," says Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology, one of the report's lead authors. A result has been the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but so far this has been partially offset by carbon uptake by the oceans and by plants and soils on land.
"In effect, we have been getting a huge subsidy from these unmanaged parts of the carbon cycle," notes Field. Overall, this subsidy has sequestered, or hidden from the atmosphere, approximately 200 billion tons of carbon. In North America much of it has come from the regrowth of forests on former farmland and the uptake of carbon by agricultural soils.
But these carbon sinks may be reaching their limit as forests mature and climate conditions change. And some may literally go up in smoke if wildfires become more frequent, as some climate simulations predict. Planting forests and adopting carbon-conserving practices such as no-till agriculture may increase carbon sinks somewhat, but this would not come close to compensating for carbon emissions, which continue to accelerate.
"There are a lot of good reasons for replenishing our forests and encouraging better agricultural practices," says Ken Caldeira, another author of the report, also at Carnegie's Department of Global Ecology. "But if we want to mitigate our impact on the carbon cycle, there's no escaping the fact that we need to drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions."
Carnegie Institution
But these carbon sinks may be reaching their limit as forests mature and climate conditions change. And some may literally go up in smoke if wildfires become more frequent, as some climate simulations predict. Planting forests and adopting carbon-conserving practices such as no-till agriculture may increase carbon sinks somewhat, but this would not come close to compensating for carbon emissions, which continue to accelerate.
"There are a lot of good reasons for replenishing our forests and encouraging better agricultural practices," says Ken Caldeira, another author of the report, also at Carnegie's Department of Global Ecology. "But if we want to mitigate our impact on the carbon cycle, there's no escaping the fact that we need to drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions."
Carnegie Institution
Carbon Cycle Current Events and Carbon Cycle News RSSNewly Discovered Fat Molecule: An Undersea Killer with an Upside
A chemical culprit responsible for the rapid, mysterious death of phytoplankton in the North Atlantic Ocean has been found by collaborating scientists at Rutgers University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). This same chemical may hold unexpected promise in cancer research.
Arctic land and seas account for up to 25 percent of world's carbon sink
In a new study in the journal Ecological Monographs, ecologists estimate that Arctic lands and oceans are responsible for up to 25 percent of the global net sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Key new ingredient in climate model refines global predictions
For the first time, climate scientists from across the country have successfully incorporated the nitrogen cycle into global simulations for climate change, questioning previous assumptions regarding carbon feedback and potentially helping to refine model forecasts about global warming.
Last time carbon dioxide levels were this high: 15 million years ago, scientists report
You would have to go back at least 15 million years to find carbon dioxide levels on Earth as high as they are today, a UCLA scientist and colleagues report Oct. 8 in the online edition of the journal Science.
Scientists say climate change mitigation strategies ignore carbon cycling processes of inland waters
In the paper, The Boundless Carbon Cycle, published in the September issue of Nature Geoscience, scientists from the University of Vienna, Uppsala University in Sweden, University of Antwerp, and the U.S. based Stroud™ Water Research Center argue that current international strategies to mitigate manmade carbon emissions and address climate change have overlooked a critical player - inland waters.
Earth's biogeochemical cycles, once in concert, falling out of sync
What do the Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone," global climate change, and acid rain have in common? They're all a result of human impacts to Earth's biology, chemistry and geology, and the natural cycles that involve all three.
Global warming: Our best guess is likely wrong
No one knows exactly how much Earth's climate will warm due to carbon emissions, but a new study this week suggests scientists' best predictions about global warming might be incorrect.
New isotope cluster could lead to better understanding of atmospheric carbon dioxide
A team of researchers has discovered an unexpected concentration of a certain isotopic molecule in parts of the stratosphere that could have implications for understanding the carbon cycle and its response to climate change.
Methane-eating microbes can use iron and manganese oxides to 'breathe'
Iron and manganese compounds, in addition to sulfate, may play an important role in converting methane to carbon dioxide and eventually carbonates in the Earth's oceans, according to a team of researchers looking at anaerobic sediments.
Study of agricultural watersheds and carbon losses
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) losses from tile drains are an underquantified portion of the terrestrial carbon cycle.
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The Carbon Cycle by T. M. L. Wigley (Editor), D. S. Schimel (Editor) Reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is imperative to stabilizing our future climate. Our ability to reduce these emissions combined with an understanding of how much fossil-fuel-derived CO2 the oceans and plants can absorb is central to mitigating climate change. In The Carbon Cycle, leading scientists examine how atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have changed in the past and how this may affect the concentrations in the future. They look at the carbon budget and the "missing sink" for carbon dioxide. They offer approaches to modeling the carbon cycle, providing mathematical tools for predicting future levels of carbon dioxide. This comprehensive text incorporates findings from the recent IPCC reports. New insights, and a convergence of ideas and views across several... |
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The Carbon Cycle by Suzanne Slade (Author) |
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The Global Carbon Cycle: Integrating Humans, Climate, and the Natural World (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) Series) by Christopher B. Field (Editor), Michael R. Raupach (Editor), Susan Hill MacKenzie (Editor) |
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Chemical Oceanography and the Marine Carbon Cycle by Steven Emerson (Author), John Hedges (Author) The principles of chemical oceanography provide insight into the processes regulating the marine carbon cycle. The text offers a background in chemical oceanography and a description of how chemical elements in seawater and ocean sediments are used as tracers of physical, biological, chemical and geological processes in the ocean. The first seven chapters present basic topics of thermodynamics, isotope systematics and carbonate chemistry, and explain the influence of life on ocean chemistry and how it has evolved in the recent (glacial-interglacial) past. This is followed by topics essential to understanding the carbon cycle, including organic geochemistry, air-sea gas exchange, diffusion and reaction kinetics, the marine and atmosphere carbon cycle and diagenesis in marine sediments.... |
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The Carbon Cycle by Leonard Ridzon (Author) The Carbon Cycle defines the role of carbon in the soil digestion process. Priceless is Ridzon’s insight into the soil carbon function in handling toxicity. The point of this volume and its earlier companion, The Carbon Connection, is that the carbon frame has to come first, although it is dependent on the right ingredients, namely a gas, a liquid and energy. This energy must pump moisture from the soil and lift it against gravity into the sky at least as high as plants grow. If oxygen would fall below 15% in the atmosphere, the fires would go out and we would all suffocate. If oxygen would climb to over 25%, the world would explode. The temperature of planet Earth is regulated within this narrow range. Life does all of this, governed by carbon. In Ridzon's words "...death is life... |
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Finish Line Fiber Grip Carbon Fiber Bicycle Assembly Gel, 1.75-Ounce Tube by Finish Line Fiber Grip is specially designed to create friction and reduce slippage between clamped carbon fiber surfaces. Fiber Grip eliminates the need to over tighten clamps to achieve secure connections. Over tightening can cause internal fractures and fatigue of carbon fiber parts. Apply Fiber Grip in a thin film to clamping areas of stems, handlebars, seat posts, and seat tubes. Tested and approved by leading carbon fiber component manufacturers. |
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Carbon Cycle Mind Over Midi (Primary Contributor) |
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Topeak MT Rocket CB MasterBlaster Carbon Fiber Bike Pump by Topeak This stealthy mini pump weighs a feathery 110 grams and features a locking carbon handle and high volume carbon sheathed barrel for inflating fat MTB tires. Fits both Presta and Schrader valves. Head Presta/ Schrader. Twistlock Mechanism. Barrel Carbon sheath. Handle Locking Carbon. Capacity 120 psi/ 8 bar. Added Features Single Action Kraton Head. Size L x W x H 19 x 3.6 x 2.7 cm. Weight 110 g. |
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Human Interactions with the Carbon Cycle: Summary of a Workshop (Compass series) by Paul C. Stern (Author), Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change (Author), National Research Council (Author) |
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