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Carbon sinks losing the battle with rising emissions
March 17, 2009The stabilising influence that land and ocean carbon sinks have on rising carbon emissions is gradually weakening, say scientists attending this week's international Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.
"Forests, grasslands and oceans are absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere faster than ever but they are not keeping pace with rapidly rising emissions," says CSIRO scientist and co-Chair of the Global Carbon Project, Dr Mike Raupach.
"While these natural CO2 sinks are a huge buffer against climate change, which would occur about twice as fast without them, they cannot be taken for granted."
Dr Raupach and Swiss scientist, Dr Nicolas Gruber, co-Chaired one of 43 sessions at the conference - Climate Change, Vulnerability of Carbon Sinks.
Dr Raupach says concern about the vulnerability of carbon sinks is based on identifying several mechanisms that could cause the present stabilising role of oceans and land to be weakened or even reversed.
"Such a change would have drastic consequences for the predicted magnitude or speed of climate change occurring and scientists will meet in Copenhagen to review and question the latest research from which advice can ultimately be provided to decision-makers."
Discussions will focus on:
* Changes in the carbon sink on land through shifts in atmospheric composition, temperature and rainfall changes, deforestation, fire frequency and insect attacks, all of which can slow or reverse sinks or initiate sources of CO2 to the atmosphere.
* Release of carbon presently locked in frozen soil, as both CO2 and methane (a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2).
* Shifts in large-scale agricultural production of food and fibre, potentially speeding up land clearing and tropical deforestation. This process currently contributes 15-20 per cent of anthropogenic carbon emissions.
* Findings on the exchange of heat and CO2 between the atmosphere and deep ocean, which suggest that climate change is effectively irreversible in less than 1000 years.
Australian science is represented at the conference in sessions on; sea ice, sea level rise, ocean circulation, atmosphere and ocean tipping points, carbon sequestration, carbon capture and storage, changing the way we live and adapting future agricultural production.
CSIRO
Dr Raupach and Swiss scientist, Dr Nicolas Gruber, co-Chaired one of 43 sessions at the conference - Climate Change, Vulnerability of Carbon Sinks.
Dr Raupach says concern about the vulnerability of carbon sinks is based on identifying several mechanisms that could cause the present stabilising role of oceans and land to be weakened or even reversed.
"Such a change would have drastic consequences for the predicted magnitude or speed of climate change occurring and scientists will meet in Copenhagen to review and question the latest research from which advice can ultimately be provided to decision-makers."
Discussions will focus on:
* Changes in the carbon sink on land through shifts in atmospheric composition, temperature and rainfall changes, deforestation, fire frequency and insect attacks, all of which can slow or reverse sinks or initiate sources of CO2 to the atmosphere.
* Release of carbon presently locked in frozen soil, as both CO2 and methane (a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2).
* Shifts in large-scale agricultural production of food and fibre, potentially speeding up land clearing and tropical deforestation. This process currently contributes 15-20 per cent of anthropogenic carbon emissions.
* Findings on the exchange of heat and CO2 between the atmosphere and deep ocean, which suggest that climate change is effectively irreversible in less than 1000 years.
Australian science is represented at the conference in sessions on; sea ice, sea level rise, ocean circulation, atmosphere and ocean tipping points, carbon sequestration, carbon capture and storage, changing the way we live and adapting future agricultural production.
CSIRO
Carbon Sinks Current Events and Carbon Sinks News RSSTime to tap climate-change-combating potential of the world's ecosystems
Investing in restoration and maintenance of the Earth's multi-trillion dollar ecosystems - from forests and mangroves to wetlands and river basins - can have a key role in countering climate change and climate-proofing vulnerable economies.
Pacific Northwest forests could store more carbon, help address greenhouse issues
The forests of the Pacific Northwest hold significant potential to increase carbon storage and help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in coming years, a recent study concludes, if they are managed primarily for that purpose through timber harvest reductions and increased rotation ages.
A new measure of global warming from carbon emissions
Damon Matthews, a professor in Concordia University's Department of Geography, Planning and the Environment has found a direct relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming.
Landscape-scale treatment promising for slowing beetle spread
Mountain pine beetles devastating lodgepole pine stands across the West might best be kept in check with aerial application of flakes containing a natural substance used in herbal teas that the insects release to avoid overcrowding host trees, according to a team of scientists.
Carbon sinks: Issues, markets, policy
With reducing carbon emissions on the national agenda, a group of expert panelists will discuss methods, markets, testing and policy issues on how carbon sinks or carbon sequestration may be used to reduce atmospheric CO2.
Old growth forests are valuable carbon sinks
Contrary to 40 years of conventional wisdom, a new analysis to be published Friday in the journal Nature suggests that old growth forests are usually "carbon sinks" - they continue to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mitigate climate change for centuries.
ESA contributes to ocean carbon cycle research
The Earth's oceans play a vital role in the carbon cycle, making it imperative that we understand marine biological activity enough to predict how our planet will react to the extra 25 000 million tonnes of carbon dioxide humans are pumping into the atmosphere annually.
Better regional monitoring of CO2 needed as global levels continue rising
Monitoring Earth's rising greenhouse gas levels will require a global data collection network 10 times larger than the one currently in place in order to quantify regional progress in emission reductions, according to a new research commentary by University of Colorado and NOAA researchers appearing in the April 25 issue of Science.
Forests damaged by Katrina may contribute to global warming
Researchers led by biologist Jeffrey Chambers of Tulane University have determined that the losses inflicted by Hurricane Katrina on Gulf Coast forest trees are enough to cancel out a year's worth of new tree biomass (trunks, branches and foliage) growth in other parts of the country.
First-ever 'State of the Carbon Cycle Report' finds troubling imbalance
The 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.
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