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Interannual variability of the global carbon cycle (1992–2005) inferred by inversion of atmospheric CO 2 and δ 13 CO 2 measurements
Author(s) -
Rayner P. J.,
Law R. M.,
Allison C. E.,
Francey R. J.,
Trudinger C. M.,
PickettHeaps C.
Publication year - 2008
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 - 10.1029/2007gb003068
Subject(s) - environmental science , carbon cycle , climatology , anomaly (physics) , inversion (geology) , atmospheric sciences , biomass burning , isotopes of carbon , atmospheric model , isotope , atmospheric dynamics , geology , atmosphere (unit) , meteorology , geography , aerosol , oceanography , physics , ecology , paleontology , structural basin , quantum mechanics , ecosystem , biology , condensed matter physics
We present estimates of the surface sources and sinks of CO 2 for 1992–2005 deduced from atmospheric inversions. We use atmospheric CO 2 records from 67 sites and 10 δ 13 CO 2 records. We use two atmospheric models to increase the robustness of the results. The results suggest that interannual variability is dominated by the tropical land. Statistically significant variability in the tropical Pacific supports recent ocean modeling studies in that region. The northern land also shows significant variability. In particular, there is a large positive anomaly in 2003 in north Asia, which we associate with anomalous biomass burning. Results using δ 13 CO 2 and CO 2 are statistically consistent with those using only CO 2 , suggesting that it is valid to use both types of data together. An objective analysis of residuals suggests that our treatment of uncertainties in CO 2 is conservative, while those for δ 13 CO 2 are optimistic, highlighting problems in our simple isotope model. Finally, δ 13 CO 2 measurements offer a good constraint to nearby land regions, suggesting an ongoing value in these measurements for studies of interannual variability.