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Limitations of nitrogen and phosphorous on the terrestrial carbon uptake in the 20th century
Author(s) -
Zhang Q.,
Wang Y. P.,
Pitman A. J.,
Dai Y. J.
Publication year - 2011
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 - 10.1029/2011gl049244
Subject(s) - nitrogen , environmental science , carbon fibers , phosphorus , environmental chemistry , astrobiology , earth science , geology , chemistry , biology , materials science , organic chemistry , composite number , composite material
A climate model, coupled to a sophisticated land model, is used to explore the impact of nitrogen and phosphorous limitations on carbon uptake under increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, or [CO 2 ], from 1870 to 2009. Adding nitrogen limitation strongly reduces the capacity of land CO 2 uptake under increasing [CO 2 ]. The further limitation by phosphorous has a smaller impact on the global uptake of CO 2 . However, phosphorous limitation has a strong impact on regional carbon uptake: increasing CO 2 sinks over North America and Eurasia and decreasing sinks over China and Australia. Thus, while the global carbon balance can be resolved with just nitrogen limitation, simulations of continental‐scale carbon sinks will need to include the additional limitation of phosphorous through the 20th century.