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Nitrogen and phosphorous limitations significantly reduce future allowable CO 2 emissions
Author(s) -
Zhang Q.,
Wang Y. P.,
Matear R. J.,
Pitman A. J.,
Dai Y. J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2013gl058352
Subject(s) - environmental science , greenhouse gas , representative concentration pathways , climate change , phosphorus , nutrient , nitrogen , carbon fibers , atmospheric sciences , environmental engineering , climate model , chemistry , oceanography , organic chemistry , materials science , composite number , composite material , geology
Allowable CO 2 emissions are the emissions of CO 2 allowed in order to follow a prescribed atmospheric CO 2 concentration pathway. Allowable emissions depend on the uptake rates by the land and ocean and carbon‐climate interaction. Few Earth System Models used for estimating allowable emissions include nitrogen limitation on land, and none include phosphorus. We provide the first estimate of how nitrogen and phosphorus limitations alter the allowable emissions between 2006 and 2100 for two representative concentration pathways (RCPs). We show that nutrient limitations on land have little influence on ocean carbon uptake but reduce the land carbon uptake and allowable emissions by 69 Pg C (21%) for RCP2.6 and by 250 Pg C (13%) for RCP8.5 by 2100, as compared with the emissions estimated using integrated assessment models. We therefore demonstrate the importance of nutrient limitations in estimating future CO 2 emissions to achieve the climate change limits implied by RCPs.