621
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      A large and persistent carbon sink in the world's forests.

      Science (New York, N.Y.)
      Atmosphere, Biomass, Carbon, analysis, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation of Natural Resources, Ecosystem, Trees, Tropical Climate

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPubMed
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          The terrestrial carbon sink has been large in recent decades, but its size and location remain uncertain. Using forest inventory data and long-term ecosystem carbon studies, we estimate a total forest sink of 2.4 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year(-1)) globally for 1990 to 2007. We also estimate a source of 1.3 ± 0.7 Pg C year(-1) from tropical land-use change, consisting of a gross tropical deforestation emission of 2.9 ± 0.5 Pg C year(-1) partially compensated by a carbon sink in tropical forest regrowth of 1.6 ± 0.5 Pg C year(-1). Together, the fluxes comprise a net global forest sink of 1.1 ± 0.8 Pg C year(-1), with tropical estimates having the largest uncertainties. Our total forest sink estimate is equivalent in magnitude to the terrestrial sink deduced from fossil fuel emissions and land-use change sources minus ocean and atmospheric sinks.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          21764754
          10.1126/science.1201609

          Chemistry
          Atmosphere,Biomass,Carbon,analysis,Carbon Dioxide,Carbon Sequestration,Climate Change,Conservation of Natural Resources,Ecosystem,Trees,Tropical Climate

          Comments

          Comment on this article