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Biosphere model simulations of interannual variability in terrestrial 13 C/ 12 C exchange
Author(s) -
van der Velde I. R.,
Miller J. B.,
Schaefer K.,
Masarie K. A.,
Denning S.,
White J. W. C.,
Tans P. P.,
Krol M. C.,
Peters W.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1002/gbc.20048
Subject(s) - biosphere , biogeochemical cycle , disequilibrium , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , carbon cycle , flux (metallurgy) , sink (geography) , biosphere model , carbon sink , biogeochemistry , isotopes of carbon , ecosystem , geology , chemistry , oceanography , ecology , total organic carbon , environmental chemistry , biology , geography , medicine , cartography , organic chemistry , ophthalmology
Previous studies suggest that a large part of the variability in the atmospheric ratio of 13 CO 2 / 12 CO 2 originates from carbon exchange with the terrestrial biosphere rather than with the oceans. Since this variability is used to quantitatively partition the total carbon sink, we here investigate the contribution of interannual variability (IAV) in biospheric exchange to the observed atmospheric 13 C variations. We use the Simple Biosphere ‐ Carnegie‐Ames‐Stanford Approach biogeochemical model, including a detailed isotopic fractionation scheme, separate 12 C and 13 C biogeochemical pools, and satellite‐observed fire disturbances. This model of 12 CO 2 and 13 CO 2 thus also produces return fluxes of 13 CO 2 from its differently aged pools, contributing to the so‐called disequilibrium flux. Our simulated terrestrial 13 C budget closely resembles previously published model results for plant discrimination and disequilibrium fluxes and similarly suggests that variations in C 3 discrimination and year‐to‐year variations in C 3 and C 4 productivity are the main drivers of their IAV. But the year‐to‐year variability in the isotopic disequilibrium flux is much lower (1 σ =±1.5 PgC ‰ yr −1 ) than required (±12.5 PgC ‰ yr −1 ) to match atmospheric observations, under the common assumption of low variability in net ocean CO 2 fluxes. This contrasts with earlier published results. It is currently unclear how to increase IAV in these drivers suggesting that SiBCASA still misses processes that enhance variability in plant discrimination and relative C 3 /C 4 productivity. Alternatively, 13 C budget terms other than terrestrial disequilibrium fluxes, including possibly the atmospheric growth rate, must have significantly different IAV in order to close the atmospheric 13 C budget on a year‐to‐year basis.