Title
Trends in the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Nature Geoscience
Publication Date
11-2009
Volume
2
First Page
831
Last Page
836
Abstract
Efforts to control climate change require the stabilization of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. This can only be achieved through a drastic reduction of global CO2 emissions. Yet fossil fuel emissions increased by 29% between 2000 and 2008, in conjunction with increased contributions from emerging economies, from the production and international trade of goods and services, and from the use of coal as a fuel source. In contrast, emissions from land-use changes were nearly constant. Between 1959 and 2008, 43% of each year's CO2 emissions remained in the atmosphere on average; the rest was absorbed by carbon sinks on land and in the oceans. In the past 50 years, the fraction of CO2 emissions that remains in the atmosphere each year has likely increased, from about 40% to 45%, and models suggest that this trend was caused by a decrease in the uptake of CO2 by the carbon sinks in response to climate change and variability. Changes in the CO2 sinks are highly uncertain, but they could have a significant influence on future atmospheric CO2 levels. It is therefore crucial to reduce the uncertainties.
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo689
Rights
© 2009 Nature Publishing Group
Recommended Citation
Le Quéré, C., Raupach M., Canadell J. G., Marland G., Bopp L., Ciais P., Conway T. J., Doney S. C., Feely R. A., Foster P., Friedlingstein P., Gurney K., Houghton R. A., House J. I., Huntingford C., Levy P. E., Lomas M., Majkut J., Metzl N., Ometto J. P., Peters G. P., Prentice I. C., Randerson J., Running S. W., Sarmiento J. L., Schuster Ute, Sitch S., Takahashi T., Viovy N., van der Werf G. R., and Woodwards F. I. (2009). Trends in the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide. Nature Geoscience, 2, 831-836, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo689