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Net terrestrial CO 2 exchange over China during 2001–2010 estimated with an ensemble data assimilation system for atmospheric CO 2
Author(s) -
Zhang H. F.,
Chen B. Z.,
LaanLuijkx I. T.,
Chen J.,
Xu G.,
Yan J. W.,
Zhou L. X.,
Fukuyama Y.,
Tans P. P.,
Peters W.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1002/2013jd021297
Subject(s) - terrestrial ecosystem , environmental science , carbon sink , biome , atmospheric sciences , ecosystem , primary production , carbon flux , shrubland , carbon cycle , data assimilation , sink (geography) , china , climatology , carbon dioxide , ecology , geography , biology , meteorology , geology , archaeology , cartography
In this paper we present an estimate of net ecosystem CO 2 exchange over China for the years 2001–2010 using the CarbonTracker Data Assimilation System for CO 2 (CTDAS). Additional Chinese and Asian CO 2 observations are used in CTDAS to improve our estimate. We found that the combined terrestrial ecosystems in China absorbed about −0.33 Pg C yr −1 during 2001–2010. The uncertainty on Chinese terrestrial carbon exchange estimates as derived from a set of sensitivity experiments suggests a range of −0.29 to −0.64 Pg C yr −1 . This total Chinese terrestrial CO 2 sink is attributed to the three major biomes (forests, croplands, and grass/shrublands) with estimated CO 2 fluxes of −0.12 Pg C yr −1 (range from −0.09 to −0.19 Pg C yr −1 ), −0.12 Pg C yr −1 (range from −0.09 to −0.26 Pg C yr −1 ), and −0.09 Pg C yr −1 (range from −0.09 to −0.17 Pg C yr −1 ), respectively. The peak‐to‐peak amplitude of interannual variability of the Chinese terrestrial ecosystem carbon flux is 0.21 Pg C yr −1 (~64% of mean annual average), with the smallest CO 2 sink (−0.19 Pg C yr −1 ) in 2003 and the largest CO 2 sink (−0.40 Pg C yr −1 ) in 2007. We stress that our estimate of terrestrial ecosystem CO 2 uptake based on inverse modeling strongly depends on a limited number of atmospheric CO 2 observations used. More observations in China specifically and in Asia in general are needed to improve the accuracy of terrestrial carbon budgeting for this region.