Bioturbation and dissolved organic matter enhance contaminant fluxes from sediment treated with powdered and granular activated carbon

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kupryianchyk, D.; Noori, A.; Rakowska, M.I.; Grotenhuis, J.T.C.; Koelmans, A.A.

2013-01-01

Sediment amendment with activated carbon (AC) is a promising technique for in situ sediment remediation. To date it is not clear whether this technique sufficiently reduces sediment-to-water fluxes of sediment-bound hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOCs) in the presence of bioturbators. Here, we

Organic carbon fluxes in stemflow, throughfall and rainfall in an olive orchard

Science.gov (United States)

Lombardo, L.; Vanwalleghem, T.; Gomez, J. A.

2012-04-01

The importance of rainfall distribution under the vegetation canopy for nutrient cycling of forest ecosystems has been widely studied (e.g. Kolkai et al., 1999, Bath et al., 2011). It has been demonstrated how throughfall and stemflow reach the soil as chemically-enriched water, by incorporating soluble organic and inorganic particles deriving from plant exudates and from atmospheric depositions (dryfall and wetfall) present on the surfaces of the plant (leaves, bark, fruits). Dissolved (DOC) and particulate (POC) organic carbon inputs from stem- and canopy-derived hydrologic fluxes are small but important components of the natural carbon cycle. DOC has also the capability to form complexes that control the transport and solubility of heavy metals in surface and ground waters, being composed for the most part (75-90%) of fulvic, humic or tanninic compounds, and for the resting part of molecules like carbohydrates, hydrocarbons, waxes, fatty acids, amino and hydroxy acids. However, very little data is available for agricultural tree crops, especially olive trees. In this sense, the objective of this work is to investigate the concentration and fluxes of organic carbon in rainfall, throughfall, and stemflow in a mature olive orchard located in Cordoba, in Southern Spain and to relate them to rainfall characteristics and tree physiology. The measurements started in October 2011. Four high density polyethylene bottles with 18-cm-diameter polyethylene funnels for throughfall collection were placed beneath the canopy of each of the three selected olive trees; four more collectors were placed in open spaces in the same orchard for rainfall sampling. Stemflow was collected through PVC spiral tubes wrapped around the trunks and leading into collection bins. The throughflow sampling points were chosen randomly. Total and dissolved organic carbon concentrations in unfiltered (TOC) and filtered (0.45 µm membrane filter, DOC) collected waters were measured using a TOC analyzer

Tidal wetland fluxes of dissolved organic carbon and sediment at Browns Island, California: initial evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Ganju, N.K.; Bergamaschi, B.; Schoellhamer, D.H.

2003-01-01

Carbon and sediment fluxes from tidal wetlands are of increasing concern in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Delta), because of drinking water issues and habitat restoration efforts. Certain forms of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) react with disinfecting chemicals used to treat drinking water, to form disinfection byproducts (DBPs), some of which are potential carcinogens. The contribution of DBP precursors by tidal wetlands is unknown. Sediment transport to and from tidal wetlands determines the potential for marsh accretion, thereby affecting habitat formation.Water, carbon, and sediment flux were measured in the main channel of Browns Island, a tidal wetland located at the confluence of Suisun Bay and the Delta. In-situ instrumentation were deployed between May 3 and May 21, 2002. Water flux was measured using acoustic Doppler current profilers and the index-velocity method. DOC concentrations were measured using calibrated ultraviolet absorbance and fluorescence instruments. Suspended-sediment concentrations were measured using a calibrated nephelometric turbidity sensor. Tidally averaged water flux through the channel was dependent on water surface elevations in Suisun Bay. Strong westerly winds resulted in higher water surface elevations in the area east of Browns Island, causing seaward flow, while subsiding winds reversed this effect. Peak ebb flow transported 36% more water than peak flood flow, indicating an ebb-dominant system. DOC concentrations were affected strongly by porewater drainage from the banks of the channel. Peak DOC concentrations were observed during slack after ebb, when the most porewater drained into the channel. Suspended-sediment concentrations were controlled by tidal currents that mobilized sediment from the channel bed, and stronger tides mobilized more sediment than the weaker tides. Sediment was transported mainly to the island during the 2-week monitoring period, though short periods of export occurred during the spring

Modelling biogeochemical processes in sediments from the north-western Adriatic Sea: response to enhanced particulate organic carbon fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Brigolin, Daniele; Rabouille, Christophe; Bombled, Bruno; Colla, Silvia; Vizzini, Salvatrice; Pastres, Roberto; Pranovi, Fabio

2018-03-01

This work presents the result of a study carried out in the north-western Adriatic Sea, by combining two different types of biogeochemical models with field sampling efforts. A longline mussel farm was taken as a local source of perturbation to the natural particulate organic carbon (POC) downward flux. This flux was first quantified by means of a pelagic model of POC deposition coupled to sediment trap data, and its effects on sediment bioirrigation capacity and organic matter (OM) degradation pathways were investigated constraining an early diagenesis model by using original data collected in sediment porewater. The measurements were performed at stations located inside and outside the area affected by mussel farm deposition. Model-predicted POC fluxes showed marked spatial and temporal variability, which was mostly associated with the dynamics of the farming cycle. Sediment trap data at the two sampled stations (inside and outside of the mussel farm) showed average POC background flux of 20.0-24.2 mmol C m-2 d-1. The difference of organic carbon (OC) fluxes between the two stations was in agreement with model results, ranging between 3.3 and 14.2 mmol C m-2 d-1, and was primarily associated with mussel physiological conditions. Although restricted, these changes in POC fluxes induced visible effects on sediment biogeochemistry. Observed oxygen microprofiles presented a 50 % decrease in oxygen penetration depth (from 2.3 to 1.4 mm), accompanied by an increase in the O2 influx at the station below the mussel farm (19-31 versus 10-12 mmol O2 m-2 d-1) characterised by higher POC flux. Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and NH4+ concentrations showed similar behaviour, with a more evident effect of bioirrigation underneath the farm. This was confirmed through constraining the early diagenesis model, of which calibration leads to an estimation of enhanced and shallower bioirrigation underneath the farm: bioirrigation rates of 40 yr-1 and irrigation depth of 15 cm were

Modelling biogeochemical processes in sediments from the north-western Adriatic Sea: response to enhanced particulate organic carbon fluxes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Brigolin

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This work presents the result of a study carried out in the north-western Adriatic Sea, by combining two different types of biogeochemical models with field sampling efforts. A longline mussel farm was taken as a local source of perturbation to the natural particulate organic carbon (POC downward flux. This flux was first quantified by means of a pelagic model of POC deposition coupled to sediment trap data, and its effects on sediment bioirrigation capacity and organic matter (OM degradation pathways were investigated constraining an early diagenesis model by using original data collected in sediment porewater. The measurements were performed at stations located inside and outside the area affected by mussel farm deposition. Model-predicted POC fluxes showed marked spatial and temporal variability, which was mostly associated with the dynamics of the farming cycle. Sediment trap data at the two sampled stations (inside and outside of the mussel farm showed average POC background flux of 20.0–24.2 mmol C m−2 d−1. The difference of organic carbon (OC fluxes between the two stations was in agreement with model results, ranging between 3.3 and 14.2 mmol C m−2 d−1, and was primarily associated with mussel physiological conditions. Although restricted, these changes in POC fluxes induced visible effects on sediment biogeochemistry. Observed oxygen microprofiles presented a 50 % decrease in oxygen penetration depth (from 2.3 to 1.4 mm, accompanied by an increase in the O2 influx at the station below the mussel farm (19–31 versus 10–12 mmol O2 m−2 d−1 characterised by higher POC flux. Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC and NH4+ concentrations showed similar behaviour, with a more evident effect of bioirrigation underneath the farm. This was confirmed through constraining the early diagenesis model, of which calibration leads to an estimation of enhanced and shallower bioirrigation underneath the farm

The impact of lateral carbon fluxes on the European carbon balance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ciais, P.; Hauglustaine, D.; Borges, A.V.; Abril, G.; Meybeck, M.; Folberth, G.; Janssens, I.A.

2008-01-01

To date, little is known about the impact of processes which cause lateral carbon fluxes over continents, and from continents to oceans on the CO 2 - and carbon budgets at local, regional and continental scales. Lateral carbon fluxes contribute to regional carbon budgets as follows: Ecosystem CO 2 sink=Ecosystem carbon accumulation + Lateral carbon fluxes. We estimated the contribution of wood and food product trade, of emission and oxidation of reduced carbon species, and of river erosion and transport as lateral carbon fluxes to the carbon balance of Europe (EU-25). The analysis is completed by new estimates of the carbon fluxes of coastal seas. We estimated that lateral transport (all processes combined) is a flux of 165 Tg C yr -1 at the scale of EU-25. The magnitude of lateral transport is thus comparable to current estimates of carbon accumulation in European forests. The main process contributing to the total lateral flux out of Europe is the flux of reduced carbon compounds, corresponding to the sum of non-CO 2 gaseous species (CH 4 , CO, hydrocarbons,... ) emitted by ecosystems and exported out of the European boundary layer by the large scale atmospheric circulation. (authors)

Dissolved organic carbon in water fluxes of Eucalyptus grandis plantations in northeastern Entre Ríos Province, Argentina

Science.gov (United States)

Natalia Tesón; Víctor H Conzonno; Marcelo F Arturi; Jorge L Frangi

2014-01-01

Water fluxes in tree plantations and other ecosystems carry dissolved organic carbon (DOC) provided by atmospheric inputs, autotrophic and heterotrophic metabolisms and from the lysis of dead material. These compounds may be colorless or provide a yellow-to-brown color to water and may also absorb visible light due to the presence of chromophores in the chemical...

Carbon dioxide flux measurements from a coastal Douglas-fir forest floor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drewitt, G.B.

2002-01-01

This thesis examined the process that affects the exchange of carbon between the soil and the atmosphere with particular attention to the large amounts of carbon stored in soils in the form of decaying organic matter. This forest floor measuring study was conducted in 2000 at a micro-meteorological tower flux site in a coastal temperature Douglas-fir forest. The measuring study involved half hourly measurements of both carbon dioxide and below-ground carbon dioxide storage. Measurements were taken at 6 locations between April and December to include a large portion of the growing season. Eddy covariance (EC) measurements of carbon dioxide flux above the forest floor over a two month period in the summer and the autumn were compared with forest floor measurements. Below-ground carbon dioxide mixing ratios of soil air were measured at 6 depths between 0.02 to 1 m using gas diffusion probes and a syringe sampling method. Maximum carbon dioxide fluxes measured by the soil chambers varied by a factor of 3 and a high spatial variability in soil carbon dioxide flux was noted. Forest floor carbon dioxide fluxes measured by each of the chambers indicated different sensitivities to soil temperature. Hysteresis in the flux temperature relationship over the year was evident. Reliable below-canopy EC measurements of the forest floor carbon dioxide flux were difficult to obtain because of the every low wind speeds below the forest canopy. The amount of carbon dioxde present in the soil increased rapidly with depth near the surface but less rapidly deeper in the soil. It was suggested that approximately half of the carbon dioxide produced below-ground comes from between the soil surface and the first 0.15 m of depth. Carbon dioxide fluxes from the floor of a Douglas-fir forest were found to be large compared to other, less productive ecosystems

Fluxes and burial of particulate organic carbon along the Adriatic mud-wedge (Mediterranean Sea)

Science.gov (United States)

Tesi, T.; Langone, L.; Giani, M.; Ravaioli, M.; Miserocchi, S.

2012-04-01

Clinoform-shaped deposits are ubiquitous sedimentological bodies of modern continental margins, including both carbonate and silicoclastic platforms. They formed after the attainment of the modern sea level high-stand (mid-late Holocene) when river outlets and shoreline migrated landward. As clinoform-shape deposits are essential building blocks of the infill of sedimentary basins, they are sites of intense organic carbon (OC) deposition and account for a significant fraction of OC burial in the ocean during interglacial periods. In this study, we focused on sigmoid clinoforms that are generally associated with low-energy environments. In particular, we characterized the modern accumulation and burial of OC along the late-Holocene sigmoid in the Western Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea). This sedimentary body consists of a mud wedge recognizable on seismic profiles as a progradational unit lying on top the maximum flooding surface that marks the time of maximum landward shift of the shoreline attained around 5.5 kyr cal BP. In the last two decades, several projects have investigated sediment dynamics and organic geochemistry along the Adriatic mud wedge (e.g., PRISMA, EURODELTA, EuroSTRATAFORM, PASTA, CIPE, VECTOR). All these studies increased our understanding of strata formation and organic matter cycling in this epicontinental margin. The overarching goal of this study was to combine the results gained during these projects with newly acquired data to assess fluxes to seabed and burial efficiency of organic carbon along the uppermost strata of the Adriatic mud-wedge. Our study benefited of an extensive number of radionuclide-based (Pb-210, and Cs-137) sediment accumulation rates and numerous biogeochemical data of surface sediments and sediment cores (organic carbon, total nitrogen, radiocarbon measurements, carbon stable isotopes, and biomarkers). In addition, because the accumulation of river-borne sediment may or may not be linked to a specific source, another

The FOODBANCS project: Introduction and sinking fluxes of organic carbon, chlorophyll- a and phytodetritus on the western Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Craig R.; Mincks, Sarah; DeMaster, David J.

2008-11-01

The impact of the highly seasonal Antarctic primary production cycle on shelf benthic ecosystems remains poorly evaluated. Here we describe a times-series research project on the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) shelf designed to evaluate the seafloor deposition, and subsequent ecological and biogeochemical impacts, of the summer phytoplankton bloom along a transect crossing the Antarctic shelf near Anvers Island. During this project, entitled Food for Benthos on the Antarctic Continental Shelf (FOODBANCS), we deployed replicate sediment traps 150-170 m above the seafloor (total water-column depth of 590 m) on the central shelf from December 1999 to March 2001, recovering trap samples every 3-4 months. In addition, we used a seafloor time-lapse camera system, as well as video surveys conducted at 3-4 months intervals, to monitor the presence and accumulation of phytodetritus at the sediment-water interface. The fluxes of particulate organic carbon and chlorophyll- a into sediment traps (binned over 3-4 month intervals) showed patterns consistent with seasonal variability, with average summer fluxes during the first year exceeding winter fluxes by a factor of ˜2-3. However, inter-annual variability in summer fluxes was even greater than seasonal variability, with 4-10-fold differences in the flux of organic carbon and chlorophyll- a between the summer seasons of 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. Phytodetrital accumulation at the shelf floor also exhibited intense inter-annual variability, with no visible phytodetritus from essentially December 1999 to November 2000, followed by pulsed accumulation of 1-2 cm of phytodetritus over a ˜30,000 km 2 shelf area by March 2001. Comparisons with other studies suggest that the levels of inter-annual variability we observed are typical of the Antarctic shelf over decadal time scales. We conclude that fluxes of particulate organic carbon, chlorophyll- a and phytodetritus to WAP-shelf sediments vary intensely on seasonal to inter

Erosion of organic carbon in the Arctic as a geological carbon dioxide sink.

Science.gov (United States)

Hilton, Robert G; Galy, Valier; Gaillardet, Jérôme; Dellinger, Mathieu; Bryant, Charlotte; O'Regan, Matt; Gröcke, Darren R; Coxall, Helen; Bouchez, Julien; Calmels, Damien

2015-08-06

Soils of the northern high latitudes store carbon over millennial timescales (thousands of years) and contain approximately double the carbon stock of the atmosphere. Warming and associated permafrost thaw can expose soil organic carbon and result in mineralization and carbon dioxide (CO2) release. However, some of this soil organic carbon may be eroded and transferred to rivers. If it escapes degradation during river transport and is buried in marine sediments, then it can contribute to a longer-term (more than ten thousand years), geological CO2 sink. Despite this recognition, the erosional flux and fate of particulate organic carbon (POC) in large rivers at high latitudes remains poorly constrained. Here, we quantify the source of POC in the Mackenzie River, the main sediment supplier to the Arctic Ocean, and assess its flux and fate. We combine measurements of radiocarbon, stable carbon isotopes and element ratios to correct for rock-derived POC. Our samples reveal that the eroded biospheric POC has resided in the basin for millennia, with a mean radiocarbon age of 5,800 ± 800 years, much older than the POC in large tropical rivers. From the measured biospheric POC content and variability in annual sediment yield, we calculate a biospheric POC flux of 2.2(+1.3)(-0.9) teragrams of carbon per year from the Mackenzie River, which is three times the CO2 drawdown by silicate weathering in this basin. Offshore, we find evidence for efficient terrestrial organic carbon burial over the Holocene period, suggesting that erosion of organic carbon-rich, high-latitude soils may result in an important geological CO2 sink.

Climate Warming Can Increase Soil Carbon Fluxes Without Decreasing Soil Carbon Stocks in Boreal Forests

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Ziegler, S. E.; Benner, R. H.; Billings, S. A.; Edwards, K. A.; Philben, M. J.; Zhu, X.; Laganiere, J.

2016-12-01

Ecosystem C fluxes respond positively to climate warming, however, the net impact of changing C fluxes on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks over decadal scales remains unclear. Manipulative studies and global-scale observations have informed much of the existing knowledge of SOC responses to climate, providing insights on relatively short (e.g. days to years) and long (centuries to millennia) time scales, respectively. Natural climate gradient studies capture integrated ecosystem responses to climate on decadal time scales. Here we report the soil C reservoirs, fluxes into and out of those reservoirs, and the chemical composition of inputs and soil organic matter pools along a mesic boreal forest climate transect. The sites studied consist of similar forest composition, successional stage, and soil moisture but differ by 5.2°C mean annual temperature. Carbon fluxes through these boreal forest soils were greatest in the lowest latitude regions and indicate that enhanced C inputs can offset soil C losses with warming in these forests. Respiration rates increased by 55% and the flux of dissolved organic carbon from the organic to mineral soil horizons tripled across this climate gradient. The 2-fold increase in litterfall inputs to these soils coincided with a significant increase in the organic horizon C stock with warming, however, no significant difference in the surface mineral soil C stocks was observed. The younger mean age of the mineral soil C ( 70 versus 330 YBP) provided further evidence for the greater turnover of SOC in the warmer climate soils. In spite of these differences in mean radiocarbon age, mineral SOC exhibited chemical characteristics of highly decomposed material across all regions. In contrast with depth trends in soil OM diagenetic indices, diagenetic shifts with latitude were limited to increases in C:N and alkyl to O-alkyl ratios in the overlying organic horizons in the warmer relative to the colder regions. These data indicate that the

River inputs and organic matter fluxes in the northern Bay of Bengal: Fatty acids

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Reemtsma, T.; Ittekkot, V.; Bartsch, M.; Nair, R.R

) 55-71 55 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam \\[RA\\] River inputs and organic matter fluxes in the northern Bay of Bengal: fatty acids T. Reemtsma a, V. Ittekkot a, M. Bartsch a and R.R. Nair b alnstitut fiir Biogeochemie und Meereschemie..., R.R., 1993. River inputs and organic matter fluxes in the northern Bay of Bengal: fatty acids. Chem. Geol., 103: 55-71. Total particulate matter flux and organic carbon and fatty acid fluxes associated with settling particles collected during...

The contribution of various types of settling particles to the flux of organic carbon in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Science.gov (United States)

Romero-Ibarra, Nancy; Silverberg, Norman

2011-10-01

The contents of 31 samples from free-drifting sediment traps deployed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) were analyzed for the individual contribution of the different types of particles encountered to the total particulate organic carbon (POC) flux. Two trap models were used in 1993-1994: small traps at 50 m depth and large traps at 50 and 150 m. Total POC fluxes averaged 42 mg C m -2 d -1 for the more reliable large trap and 149 mg C m -2 d -1 for the small trap. The POC fluxes were attributed to different classes of particles based upon microscopically determined particle dimensions and carbon/volume algorithms available in the literature. Fecal pellets, followed by phytoplankton, were the major attributable components, with important contributions by microzooplankton, particularly during the summer of 1994. The mean fluxes for pellets (6 and 60 mg C m -2 d -1, for the large and small traps, respectively) and phytoplankton (3.2 and 42.9 mg C m -2 d -1) were in the range of those encountered in other areas of moderate primary productivity. Mean zooplankton carbon fluxes (1.8 and 8.5 mg C m -2 d -1, respectively), however, reflect higher than average zooplankton abundances in the GSL. The C fluxes of specific algal groups confirmed the existence of three trophic regimes previously identified from water column studies and numeric cell fluxes: (1) a period when diatoms were dominant during the spring, (2) a longer interval, which was dominated by dinoflagellates at most others times of the year, and (3) a period of transition during summer. Carbon of animal origin dominated the attributable flux, including an important fraction associated with heterotrophic dinoflagellates. The contribution of marine snow to the total flux (estimated as the difference between the total POC flux and the sum of the attributed components) frequently amounted to more than 60%. The true importance of marine snow remains uncertain, however, because the errors associated with each of the

Modelling the genesis of equatorial podzols: age and implications for carbon fluxes

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Doupoux, Cédric; Merdy, Patricia; Régina Montes, Célia; Nunan, Naoise; José Melfi, Adolpho; José Ribeiro Pereira, Osvaldo; Lucas, Yves

2017-05-01

Amazonian podzols store huge amounts of carbon and play a key role in transferring organic matter to the Amazon River. In order to better understand their C dynamics, we modelled the formation of representative Amazonian podzol profiles by constraining both total carbon and radiocarbon. We determined the relationships between total carbon and radiocarbon in organic C pools numerically by setting constant C and 14C inputs over time. The model was an effective tool for determining the order of magnitude of the carbon fluxes and the time of genesis of the main carbon-containing horizons, i.e. the topsoil and deep Bh. We performed retrocalculations to take into account the bomb carbon in the young topsoil horizons (calculated apparent 14C age from 62 to 109 years). We modelled four profiles representative of Amazonian podzols, two profiles with an old Bh (calculated apparent 14C age 6.8 × 103 and 8.4 × 103 years) and two profiles with a very old Bh (calculated apparent 14C age 23.2 × 103 and 25.1 × 103 years). The calculated fluxes from the topsoil to the perched water table indicate that the most waterlogged zones of the podzolized areas are the main source of dissolved organic matter found in the river network. It was necessary to consider two Bh carbon pools to accurately represent the carbon fluxes leaving the Bh as observed in previous studies. We found that the genesis time of the studied soils was necessarily longer than 15 × 103 and 130 × 103 years for the two younger and two older Bhs, respectively, and that the genesis time calculated considering the more likely settings runs to around 15 × 103-25 × 103 and 150 × 103-250 × 103 years, respectively.

Organic carbon mass accumulation rate regulates the flux of reduced substances from the sediments of deep lakes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Steinsberger

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The flux of reduced substances, such as methane and ammonium, from the sediment to the bottom water (Fred is one of the major factors contributing to the consumption of oxygen in the hypolimnia of lakes and thus crucial for lake oxygen management. This study presents fluxes based on sediment porewater measurements from different water depths of five deep lakes of differing trophic states. In meso- to eutrophic lakes Fred was directly proportional to the total organic carbon mass accumulation rate (TOC-MAR of the sediments. TOC-MAR and thus Fred in eutrophic lakes decreased systematically with increasing mean hypolimnion depth (zH, suggesting that high oxygen concentrations in the deep waters of lakes were essential for the extent of organic matter mineralization leaving a smaller fraction for anaerobic degradation and thus formation of reduced compounds. Consequently, Fred was low in the 310 m deep meso-eutrophic Lake Geneva, with high O2 concentrations in the hypolimnion. By contrast, seasonal anoxic conditions enhanced Fred in the deep basin of oligotrophic Lake Aegeri. As TOC-MAR and zH are based on more readily available data, these relationships allow estimating the areal O2 consumption rate by reduced compounds from the sediments where no direct flux measurements are available.

A cross-site comparison of factors controlling streamwater carbon flux in western North American catchments (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, P. D.; Biederman, J. A.; Condon, K.; Chorover, J.; McIntosh, J. C.; Meixner, T.; Perdrial, J. N.

2013-12-01

Increasing variability in climate is expected to alter the amount and form of terrestrial carbon in stream water both directly, through changes in the magnitude and timing of discharge, and indirectly through changes in land cover following disturbance (e.g. drought, fire, or insect driven mortality). Predicting how these changes will impact individual stream-catchment ecosystems however, is hampered by a lack of concurrent observations on both dissolved and particulate carbon flux across a range of spatial, temporal, and discharge scales. Because carbon is strongly coupled to most biogeochemical reactions within both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, this represents a critical unknown in predicting the response of catchment-ecosystems to concurrent changes in climate and land cover. This presentation will address this issue using a meta-analysis of dissolved organic, dissolved inorganic, and particulate organic carbon fluxes from multiple locations, including undisturbed sites along a climate gradient from desert rivers to seasonally snow-covered, forested mountain catchments, and sites disturbed by both fire and extensive, insect driven mortality. Initial analyses suggest that dissolved (organic and inorganic) and particulate fluxes respond differently to various types of disturbance and depend on interactions between changes in size of mobile carbon pools and changes in hydrologic routing of carbon to streamwater. Anomalously large fluxes of both dissolved and particulate organic matter are associated with episodic changes in hydrologic routing (e.g. storm floods; snowmelt) that connect normally hydrologically isolated carbon pools (e.g. surficial hillslope soils) with surface water. These events are often of short duration as the supply of mobile carbon is exhausted in short term flushing response. In contrast, disturbances that increase the size of the mobile carbon pool (e.g. widespread vegetation mortality) result smaller proportional increases in

Tidal day organic and inorganic material flux of ponds in the Liberty Island freshwater tidal wetland.

Science.gov (United States)

Lehman, Peggy W; Mayr, Shawn; Liu, Leji; Tang, Alison

2015-01-01

The loss of inorganic and organic material export and habitat produced by freshwater tidal wetlands is hypothesized to be an important contributing factor to the long-term decline in fishery production in San Francisco Estuary. However, due to the absence of freshwater tidal wetlands in the estuary, there is little information on the export of inorganic and organic carbon, nutrient or phytoplankton community biomass and the associated mechanisms. A single-day study was conducted to assess the potential contribution of two small vegetated ponds and one large open-water pond to the inorganic and organic material flux within the freshwater tidal wetland Liberty Island in San Francisco Estuary. The study consisted of an intensive tidal day (25.5 h) sampling program that measured the flux of inorganic and organic material at three ponds using continuous monitoring of flow, chlorophyll a, turbidity and salt combined with discrete measurements of phytoplankton community carbon, total and dissolved organic carbon and nutrient concentration at 1.5 h intervals. Vegetated ponds had greater material concentrations than the open water pond and, despite their small area, contributed up to 81% of the organic and 61% of the inorganic material flux of the wetland. Exchange between ponds was important to wetland flux. The small vegetated pond in the interior of the wetland contributed as much as 72-87% of the total organic carbon and chlorophyll a and 10% of the diatom flux of the wetland. Export of inorganic and organic material from the small vegetated ponds was facilitated by small-scale topography and tidal asymmetry that produced a 40% greater material export on ebb tide. The small vegetated ponds contrasted with the large open water pond, which imported 29-96% of the inorganic and 4-81% of the organic material into the wetland from the adjacent river. This study identified small vegetated ponds as an important source of inorganic and organic material to the wetland and the

Diurnal Change of Soil Carbon Flux of Binhai New District

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, T. F.; Mao, T. Y.; Ye, W.

2018-05-01

In order to investigate the factors influencing diurnal change of soil carbon flux of Binhai New District. Field observation experiments were carried out by using LC pro-SD photosynthetic apparatus. The diurnal changes of soil carbon flux and its environmental factors such as atmosphere temperature and soil temperature were analysed. The results indicated that soil carbon flux appeared single diurnal pattern. The diurnal average of soil carbon flux ranked from 0.2761 to 2.3367μmo1/m2/s. Soil carbon flux varied significantly among different land use regimes(Pequations (Pquadratic correlations between soil carbon flux and soil temperature (10cm). And soil temperature could account for more than 32.27% of the soil carbon flux changes (P<0.05, R2=0.3227-0.7465).

Organic matter sources, fluxes and greenhouse gas exchange in the Oubangui River (Congo River basin)

Science.gov (United States)

Bouillon, S.; Yambélé, A.; Spencer, R. G. M.; Gillikin, D. P.; Hernes, P. J.; Six, J.; Merckx, R.; Borges, A. V.

2012-06-01

The Oubangui is a major tributary of the Congo River, draining an area of ~500 000 km2 mainly consisting of wooded savannahs. Here, we report results of a one year long, 2-weekly sampling campaign in Bangui (Central African Republic) since March 2010 for a suite of physico-chemical and biogeochemical characteristics, including total suspended matter (TSM), bulk concentration and stable isotope composition of particulate organic carbon (POC and δ13CPOC), particulate nitrogen (PN and δ15NPN), dissolved organic carbon (DOC and δ13CDOC), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC and δ13CDIC), dissolved greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O), and dissolved lignin composition. δ13C signatures of both POC and DOC showed strong seasonal variations (-30.6 to -25.8‰, and -31.8 to -27.1‰, respectively), but their different timing indicates that the origins of POC and DOC may vary strongly over the hydrograph and are largely uncoupled, differing up to 6‰ in δ13C signatures. Dissolved lignin characteristics (carbon-normalised yields, cinnamyl:vanillyl phenol ratios, and vanillic acid to vanillin ratios) showed marked differences between high and low discharge conditions, consistent with major seasonal variations in the sources of dissolved organic matter. We observed a strong seasonality in pCO2, ranging between 470 ± 203 ppm for Q production may be high enough to dominate the particulate organic carbon pool, and lower pCO2 values to near equilibrium values during low discharge conditions. The total annual flux of TSM, POC, PN, DOC and DIC are 2.33 Tg yr-1, 0.14 Tg C yr-1, 0.014 Tg N yr-1, 0.70 Tg C yr-1, and 0.49 Tg C yr-1, respectively. While our TSM and POC fluxes are similar to previous estimates for the Oubangui, DOC fluxes were ~30% higher and bicarbonate fluxes were ~35% lower than previous reports. DIC represented 58% of the total annual C flux, and under the assumptions that carbonate weathering represents 25% of the DIC flux and that CO2 from respiration drives

Increased losses of organic carbon and destabilising of tropical peatlands following deforestation, drainage and burning. (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, S.; Gauci, V.; Evans, C.; Page, S. E.

2013-12-01

Tropical peatlands contain one of the largest pools of terrestrial organic carbon, amounting to about 89,000 teragrams. Approximately 65% of this carbon store is in Indonesia, where extensive anthropogenic degradation in the form of deforestation, drainage and associated fire is converting it into a globally significant source of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Unlike boreal and temperate forests and higher-latitude wetlands, however, the loss of fluvial organic carbon from tropical peats has yet to be fully quantified. Here, we present the first data from intact and degraded peat swamp forest (PSF) catchments in Central Kalimantan, Borneo, that indicate a doubling of fluvial organic carbon losses from tropical peatlands following deforestation and drainage. Through carbon-14 dating of dissolved organic carbon (DO14C), we find that leaching of DOC from intact PSF is derived mainly from recent primary production. In contrast, DOC from disturbed PSF consists mostly of much older carbon from deep within the peat column. When we include this fluvial carbon loss, which is often ignored in peatland carbon budgets, we find that it increases the estimate of total carbon lost from the disturbed peatlands in our study by 22%. We further estimate that since 1990, peatland disturbance has resulted in a 32% increase in fluvial organic carbon flux from Southeast Asia - an increase that equates to more than half of the entire annual fluvial organic carbon flux from all European peatlands. Finally, we monitored fluvial organic carbon fluxes following large-scale peatland fires in 2009/10 within the study sub-catchments and found fluvial carbon fluxes to be 30-70% larger in the fire-affected catchments when compared to fluxes during the same interval in the previous year (pre-fire). This is in marked contrast to the intact catchment (control/no fire) where there were no differences observed in fluxes 'pre to post fire years'. Our sub-catchment findings were also found to be

Observation-based modelling of permafrost carbon fluxes with accounting for deep carbon deposits and thermokarst activity

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider von Deimling, T.; Grosse, G.; Strauss, J.; Schirrmeister, L.; Morgenstern, A.; Schaphoff, S.; Meinshausen, M.; Boike, J.

2015-06-01

High-latitude soils store vast amounts of perennially frozen and therefore inert organic matter. With rising global temperatures and consequent permafrost degradation, a part of this carbon stock will become available for microbial decay and eventual release to the atmosphere. We have developed a simplified, two-dimensional multi-pool model to estimate the strength and timing of future carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes from newly thawed permafrost carbon (i.e. carbon thawed when temperatures rise above pre-industrial levels). We have especially simulated carbon release from deep deposits in Yedoma regions by describing abrupt thaw under newly formed thermokarst lakes. The computational efficiency of our model allowed us to run large, multi-centennial ensembles under various scenarios of future warming to express uncertainty inherent to simulations of the permafrost carbon feedback. Under moderate warming of the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 2.6 scenario, cumulated CO2 fluxes from newly thawed permafrost carbon amount to 20 to 58 petagrams of carbon (Pg-C) (68% range) by the year 2100 and reach 40 to 98 Pg-C in 2300. The much larger permafrost degradation under strong warming (RCP8.5) results in cumulated CO2 release of 42 to 141 Pg-C and 157 to 313 Pg-C (68% ranges) in the years 2100 and 2300, respectively. Our estimates only consider fluxes from newly thawed permafrost, not from soils already part of the seasonally thawed active layer under pre-industrial climate. Our simulated CH4 fluxes contribute a few percent to total permafrost carbon release yet they can cause up to 40% of total permafrost-affected radiative forcing in the 21st century (upper 68% range). We infer largest CH4 emission rates of about 50 Tg-CH4 per year around the middle of the 21st century when simulated thermokarst lake extent is at its maximum and when abrupt thaw under thermokarst lakes is taken into account. CH4 release from newly thawed carbon in wetland

Observation-based modelling of permafrost carbon fluxes with accounting for deep carbon deposits and thermokarst activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Schneider von Deimling

2015-06-01

Full Text Available High-latitude soils store vast amounts of perennially frozen and therefore inert organic matter. With rising global temperatures and consequent permafrost degradation, a part of this carbon stock will become available for microbial decay and eventual release to the atmosphere. We have developed a simplified, two-dimensional multi-pool model to estimate the strength and timing of future carbon dioxide (CO2 and methane (CH4 fluxes from newly thawed permafrost carbon (i.e. carbon thawed when temperatures rise above pre-industrial levels. We have especially simulated carbon release from deep deposits in Yedoma regions by describing abrupt thaw under newly formed thermokarst lakes. The computational efficiency of our model allowed us to run large, multi-centennial ensembles under various scenarios of future warming to express uncertainty inherent to simulations of the permafrost carbon feedback. Under moderate warming of the representative concentration pathway (RCP 2.6 scenario, cumulated CO2 fluxes from newly thawed permafrost carbon amount to 20 to 58 petagrams of carbon (Pg-C (68% range by the year 2100 and reach 40 to 98 Pg-C in 2300. The much larger permafrost degradation under strong warming (RCP8.5 results in cumulated CO2 release of 42 to 141 Pg-C and 157 to 313 Pg-C (68% ranges in the years 2100 and 2300, respectively. Our estimates only consider fluxes from newly thawed permafrost, not from soils already part of the seasonally thawed active layer under pre-industrial climate. Our simulated CH4 fluxes contribute a few percent to total permafrost carbon release yet they can cause up to 40% of total permafrost-affected radiative forcing in the 21st century (upper 68% range. We infer largest CH4 emission rates of about 50 Tg-CH4 per year around the middle of the 21st century when simulated thermokarst lake extent is at its maximum and when abrupt thaw under thermokarst lakes is taken into account. CH4 release from newly thawed carbon in

Monitoring Forest Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Congo Basin

OpenAIRE

2010-01-01

The Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) and its partners (OFAC, USAID, EC-JRC, OSFAC, WWF, WRI, WCS, GOFC-GOLD, START, UN-FAO) organized an international conference on "Monitoring of Carbon stocks and fluxes in the Congo Basin" in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, 2-4 February 2010. The conference brought together leading international specialists to discuss approaches for quantifying stocks and flows of carbon in tropical forests of the Congo Basin. The conference provided a unique op...

Simulating the effects of light intensity and carbonate system composition on particulate organic and inorganic carbon production in Emiliania huxleyi.

Science.gov (United States)

Holtz, Lena-Maria; Wolf-Gladrow, Dieter; Thoms, Silke

2015-05-07

Coccolithophores play an important role in the marine carbon cycle. Variations in light intensity and external carbonate system composition alter intracellular carbon fluxes and therewith the production rates of particulate organic and inorganic carbon. Aiming to find a mechanistic explanation for the interrelation between dissolved inorganic carbon fluxes and particulate carbon production rates, we develop a numerical cell model for Emiliania huxleyi, one of the most abundant coccolithophore species. The model consists of four cellular compartments, for each of which the carbonate system is resolved dynamically. The compartments are connected to each other and to the external medium via substrate fluxes across the compartment-confining membranes. By means of the model we are able to explain several pattern observed in particulate organic and inorganic carbon production rates for different strains and under different acclimation conditions. Particulate organic and inorganic carbon production rates for instance decrease at very low external CO2 concentrations. Our model suggests that this effect is caused mainly by reduced HCO3(-) uptake rates, not by CO2 limitation. The often observed decrease in particulate inorganic carbon production rates under Ocean Acidification is explained by a downregulation of cellular HCO3(-) uptake. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Anthropogenic and climatic influences on carbon fluxes from eastern North America to the Atlantic Ocean: A process-based modeling study

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Tian, Hanqin; Yang, Qichun; Najjar, Raymond G.; Ren, Wei; Friedrichs, Marjorie A. M.; Hopkinson, Charles S.; Pan, Shufen

2015-04-01

The magnitude, spatiotemporal patterns, and controls of carbon flux from land to the ocean remain uncertain. Here we applied a process-based land model with explicit representation of carbon processes in streams and rivers to examine how changes in climate, land conversion, management practices, atmospheric CO2, and nitrogen deposition affected carbon fluxes from eastern North America to the Atlantic Ocean, specifically the Gulf of Maine (GOM), Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB), and South Atlantic Bight (SAB). Our simulation results indicate that the mean annual fluxes (±1 standard deviation) of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), particulate organic carbon (POC), and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the past three decades (1980-2008) were 2.37 ± 0.60, 1.06 ± 0.20, and 3.57 ± 0.72 Tg C yr-1, respectively. Carbon export demonstrated substantial spatial and temporal variability. For the region as a whole, the model simulates a significant decrease in riverine DIC fluxes from 1901 to 2008, whereas there were no significant trends in DOC or POC fluxes. In the SAB, however, there were significant declines in the fluxes of all three forms of carbon, and in the MAB subregion, DIC and POC fluxes declined significantly. The only significant trend in the GOM subregion was an increase in DIC flux. Climate variability was the primary cause of interannual variability in carbon export. Land conversion from cropland to forest was the primary factor contributing to decreases in all forms of C export, while nitrogen deposition and fertilizer use, as well as atmospheric CO2 increases, tended to increase DOC, POC, and DIC fluxes.

Measurements of flux and isotopic composition of soil carbon dioxide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gorczyca, Z.; Rozanski, K.; Kuc, T.

2002-01-01

The flux and isotope composition of soil CO 2 has been regularly measured at three sites located in the southern Poland, during the time period: January 1998 - October 2000. They represent typical ecosystems appearing in central Europe: (i) mixed forest; (ii) cultivated agricultural field; (iii) grassland. To monitor the flux and isotopic composition of soil CO 2 , a method based on the inverted cup principle was adopted. The flux of soil CO 2 reveals distinct seasonal fluctuations, with maximum values up to ca. 25 mmol/m 2 /h during sommer months and around ten times lower values during winter time. Also significant differences among the monitored sites were detected, the flux density of this gas being highest for the mixed forest site and ca. two times lower for the cultivated grassland. Carbon-13 content of the soil CO 2 reveals little seasonal variability, with δ 13 C values essentially reflecting the isotopic composition of the soil organic matter and the vegetation type. The carbon-14 content of soil CO 2 flux also reveals slight seasonality, with lower δ 14 C values recorded during winter time. Significantly lower δ 14 C values recorded during winter time. Significantly lower δ 14 C values were recorded at depth. (author)

Salp contributions to vertical carbon flux in the Sargasso Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, Joshua P.; Steinberg, Deborah K.

2016-07-01

We developed a one-dimensional model to estimate salp contributions to vertical carbon flux at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre for a 17-yr period (April 1994 to December 2011). We based the model parameters on published rates of salp physiology and experimentally determined sinking and decomposition rates of salp carcasses. Salp grazing was low during non-bloom conditions, but routinely exceeded 100% of chlorophyll standing stock and primary production during blooms. Fecal pellet production was the largest source of salp carbon flux (78% of total), followed by respiration below 200 m (19%), sinking of carcasses (3%), and DOC excretion below 200 m (salp-mediated carbon flux. Seasonally, salp flux was higher during spring-summer than fall-winter, due to seasonal changes in species composition and abundance. Salp carbon export to 200 m was on average 2.3 mg C m-2 d-1 across the entire time series. This is equivalent to 11% of the mean 200 m POC flux measured by sediment traps in the region. During years with significant salp blooms, however, annually-averaged salp carbon export was the equivalent of up to 60% of trap POC flux at 200 m. Salp carbon flux attenuated slowly, and at 3200 m the average modeled carbon from salps was 109% of the POC flux measured in sediment traps at that depth. Migratory and carcass carbon export pathways should also be considered (alongside fecal pellet flux) as facilitating carbon export to sequestration depths in future studies.

Comparing carbon to carbon: Organic and inorganic carbon balances across nitrogen fertilization gradients in rainfed vs. irrigated Midwest US cropland

Science.gov (United States)

Hamilton, S. K.; McGill, B.

2017-12-01

The top meter of the earth's soil contains about twice the amount of carbon than the atmosphere. Agricultural management practices influence whether a cropland soil is a net carbon source or sink. These practices affect both organic and inorganic carbon cycling although the vast majority of studies examine the former. We will present results from several rarely-compared carbon fluxes: carbon dioxide emissions and sequestration from lime (calcium carbonate) weathering, dissolved gases emitted from groundwater-fed irrigation, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) leaching to groundwater, and soil organic matter storage. These were compared in a corn-soybean-wheat rotation under no-till management across a nitrogen fertilizer gradient where half of the replicated blocks are irrigated with groundwater. DOC and liming fluxes are also estimated from a complementary study in neighboring plots comparing a gradient of management practices from conventional to biologically-based annuals and perennials. These studies were conducted at the Kellogg Biological Station Long Term Ecological Research site in Michigan where previous work estimated that carbon dioxide emissions from liming accounted for about one quarter of the total global warming impact (GWI) from no-till systems—our work refines that figure. We will present a first time look at the GWI of gases dissolved in groundwater that are emitted when the water equilibrates with the atmosphere. We will explore whether nitrogen fertilizer and irrigation increase soil organic carbon sequestration by producing greater crop biomass and residues or if they enhance microbial activity, increasing decomposition of organic matter. These results are critical for more accurately estimating how intensive agricultural practices affect the carbon balance of cropping systems.

Quantifying Sources and Fluxes of Aquatic Carbon in U.S. Streams and Reservoirs Using Spatially Referenced Regression Models

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Boyer, E. W.; Smith, R. A.; Alexander, R. B.; Schwarz, G. E.

2004-12-01

Organic carbon (OC) is a critical water quality characteristic in riverine systems that is an important component of the aquatic carbon cycle and energy balance. Examples of processes controlled by OC interactions are complexation of trace metals; enhancement of the solubility of hydrophobic organic contaminants; formation of trihalomethanes in drinking water; and absorption of visible and UV radiation. Organic carbon also can have indirect effects on water quality by influencing internal processes of aquatic ecosystems (e.g. photosynthesis and autotrophic and heterotrophic activity). The importance of organic matter dynamics on water quality has been recognized, but challenges remain in quantitatively addressing OC processes over broad spatial scales in a hydrological context. In this study, we apply spatially referenced watershed models (SPARROW) to statistically estimate long-term mean-annual rates of dissolved- and total- organic carbon export in streams and reservoirs across the conterminous United States. We make use of a GIS framework for the analysis, describing sources, transport, and transformations of organic matter from spatial databases providing characterizations of climate, land use, primary productivity, topography, soils, and geology. This approach is useful because it illustrates spatial patterns of organic carbon fluxes in streamflow, highlighting hot spots (e.g., organic-rich environments in the southeastern coastal plain). Further, our simulations provide estimates of the relative contributions to streams from allochthonous and autochthonous sources. We quantify surface water fluxes of OC with estimates of uncertainty in relation to the overall US carbon budget; our simulations highlight that aquatic sources and sinks of OC may be a more significant component of regional carbon cycling than was previously thought. Further, we are using our simulations to explore the potential role of climate and other changes in the terrestrial environment on

Inverse modeling of the terrestrial carbon flux in China with flux covariance among inverted regions

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Wang, H.; Jiang, F.; Chen, J. M.; Ju, W.; Wang, H.

2011-12-01

Quantitative understanding of the role of ocean and terrestrial biosphere in the global carbon cycle, their response and feedback to climate change is required for the future projection of the global climate. China has the largest amount of anthropogenic CO2 emission, diverse terrestrial ecosystems and an unprecedented rate of urbanization. Thus information on spatial and temporal distributions of the terrestrial carbon flux in China is of great importance in understanding the global carbon cycle. We developed a nested inversion with focus in China. Based on Transcom 22 regions for the globe, we divide China and its neighboring countries into 17 regions, making 39 regions in total for the globe. A Bayesian synthesis inversion is made to estimate the terrestrial carbon flux based on GlobalView CO2 data. In the inversion, GEOS-Chem is used as the transport model to develop the transport matrix. A terrestrial ecosystem model named BEPS is used to produce the prior surface flux to constrain the inversion. However, the sparseness of available observation stations in Asia poses a challenge to the inversion for the 17 small regions. To obtain additional constraint on the inversion, a prior flux covariance matrix is constructed using the BEPS model through analyzing the correlation in the net carbon flux among regions under variable climate conditions. The use of the covariance among different regions in the inversion effectively extends the information content of CO2 observations to more regions. The carbon flux over the 39 land and ocean regions are inverted for the period from 2004 to 2009. In order to investigate the impact of introducing the covariance matrix with non-zero off-diagonal values to the inversion, the inverted terrestrial carbon flux over China is evaluated against ChinaFlux eddy-covariance observations after applying an upscaling methodology.

Burial fluxes and source apportionment of carbon in culture areas of Sanggou Bay over the past 200 years

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LIU Sai; HUANG Jiansheng; YANG Qian; YANG Shu; YANG Guipeng; SUN Yao

2015-01-01

In this study, we assessed the burial fluxes and source appointment of different forms of carbon in core sediments collected from culture areas in the Sanggou Bay, and preliminarily analyzed the reasons for the greater proportion of inorganic carbon burial fluxes (BFTIC). The average content of total carbon (TC) in the Sanggou Bay was 2.14%. Total organic carbon (TOC) accounted for a small proportion in TC, more than 65% of which derived from terrigenous organic carbon (Ct), and while the proportion of marine-derived organic carbon (Ca) increased significantly since the beginning of large-scale aquaculture. Total inorganic carbon (TIC) accounted for 60%–75%of TC, an average of which was 60%, with a maximum up to 90% during flourishing periods (1880–1948) of small natural shellfish derived from seashells inorganic carbon (Shell-IC). The TC burial fluxes ranged from 31 g/(m2·a) to 895 g/(m2·a) with an average of 227 g/(m2·a), which was dominated by TIC (about 70%). Shell-IC was the main source of TIC and even TC. As the main food of natural shellfish, biogenic silica (BSi) negatively correlated with BFTIC through affecting shellfish breeding. BFTIC of Sta. S1, influenced greatly by the Yellow Sea Coastal Current, had a certain response to Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) in some specific periods.

Organic carbon production, mineralisation and preservation on the Peruvian margin

Science.gov (United States)

Dale, A. W.; Sommer, S.; Lomnitz, U.; Montes, I.; Treude, T.; Liebetrau, V.; Gier, J.; Hensen, C.; Dengler, M.; Stolpovsky, K.; Bryant, L. D.; Wallmann, K.

2015-03-01

Carbon cycling in Peruvian margin sediments (11 and 12° S) was examined at 16 stations, from 74 m water depth on the middle shelf down to 1024 m, using a combination of in situ flux measurements, sedimentary geochemistry and modelling. Bottom water oxygen was below detection limit down to ca. 400 m and increased to 53 μM at the deepest station. Sediment accumulation rates decreased sharply seaward of the middle shelf and subsequently increased at the deep stations. The organic carbon burial efficiency (CBE) was unusually low on the middle shelf (60%) at the deep oxygenated sites. In line with other studies, CBE was elevated under oxygen-deficient waters in the mid-water oxygen minimum zone. Organic carbon rain rates calculated from the benthic fluxes alluded to efficient mineralisation of organic matter in the water column compared to other oxygen-deficient environments. The observations at the Peruvian margin suggest that a lack of oxygen does not greatly affect the degradation of organic matter in the water column but promotes the preservation of organic matter in sediments.

Organic carbon production, mineralization and preservation on the Peruvian margin

Science.gov (United States)

Dale, A. W.; Sommer, S.; Lomnitz, U.; Montes, I.; Treude, T.; Gier, J.; Hensen, C.; Dengler, M.; Stolpovsky, K.; Bryant, L. D.; Wallmann, K.

2014-09-01

Carbon cycling in Peruvian margin sediments (11° S and 12° S) was examined at 16 stations from 74 m on the inner shelf down to 1024 m water depth by means of in situ flux measurements, sedimentary geochemistry and modeling. Bottom water oxygen was below detection limit down to ca. 400 m and increased to 53 μM at the deepest station. Sediment accumulation rates and benthic dissolved inorganic carbon fluxes decreased rapidly with water depth. Particulate organic carbon (POC) content was lowest on the inner shelf and at the deep oxygenated stations (< 5%) and highest between 200 and 400 m in the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ, 15-20%). The organic carbon burial efficiency (CBE) was unexpectedly low on the inner shelf (< 20%) when compared to a global database, for reasons which may be linked to the frequent ventilation of the shelf by oceanographic anomalies. CBE at the deeper oxygenated sites was much higher than expected (max. 81%). Elsewhere, CBEs were mostly above the range expected for sediments underlying normal oxic bottom waters, with an average of 51 and 58% for the 11° S and 12° S transects, respectively. Organic carbon rain rates calculated from the benthic fluxes alluded to a very efficient mineralization of organic matter in the water column, with a Martin curve exponent typical of normal oxic waters (0.88 ± 0.09). Yet, mean POC burial rates were 2-5 times higher than the global average for continental margins. The observations at the Peruvian margin suggest that a lack of oxygen does not affect the degradation of organic matter in the water column but promotes the preservation of organic matter in marine sediments.

Chamber and Diffusive Based Carbon Flux Measurements in an Alaskan Arctic Ecosystem

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkman, E.; Oechel, W. C.; Zona, D.

2013-12-01

Eric Wilkman, Walter Oechel, Donatella Zona Comprising an area of more than 7 x 106 km2 and containing over 11% of the world's organic matter pool, Arctic terrestrial ecosystems are vitally important components of the global carbon cycle, yet their structure and functioning are sensitive to subtle changes in climate and many of these functional changes can have large effects on the atmosphere and future climate regimes (Callaghan & Maxwell 1995, Chapin et al. 2002). Historically these northern ecosystems have acted as strong C sinks, sequestering large stores of atmospheric C due to photosynthetic dominance in the short summer season and low rates of decomposition throughout the rest of the year as a consequence of cold, nutrient poor, and generally water-logged conditions. Currently, much of this previously stored carbon is at risk of loss to the atmosphere due to accelerated soil organic matter decomposition in warmer future climates (Grogan & Chapin 2000). Although there have been numerous studies on Arctic carbon dynamics, much of the previous soil flux work has been done at limited time intervals, due to both the harshness of the environment and labor and time constraints. Therefore, in June of 2013 an Ultraportable Greenhouse Gas Analyzer (UGGA - Los Gatos Research Inc.) was deployed in concert with the LI-8100A Automated Soil Flux System (LI-COR Biosciences) in Barrow, AK to gather high temporal frequency soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes from a wet sedge tundra ecosystem. An additional UGGA in combination with diffusive probes, installed in the same location, provides year-round soil and snow CO2 and CH4 concentrations. When used in combination with the recently purchased AlphaGUARD portable radon monitor (Saphymo GmbH), continuous soil and snow diffusivities and fluxes of CO2 and CH4 can be calculated (Lehmann & Lehmann 2000). Of particular note, measuring soil gas concentration over a diffusive gradient in this way allows one to separate both net production and

The dynamic of organic carbon in South Cameroon. Fluxes in a tropical river system and a lake system as a varying sink on a glacial-interglacial time scale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giresse, P. [Laboratoire de Sedimentologie et Geochimie Marines, URA CNRS 715, Universite de Perpignan, 66860 Perpignan (France); Maley, J. [Paleoenvironnements et Palynologie, ISEM/CNRS, UMR 5554, ORSTOM, UR 12, Universite de Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier (France)

1998-05-01

In the first attempt to estimate both (i) a bulk carbon flux in a tropical river system (mainly Sanaga River) and (ii) their palaeoenvironmental implications from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present, this study presents a synthetic approach based on the combined use of modern evaluation of fluxes and estuarine biodegradation in the tropical river system Sanaga and nearby Douala Bay rivers, and of sedimentation rates of a well studied marine shelf and lake system (Barombi-Mbo). In the lake Barombi-Mbo, the Holocene transfer of particulate carbon (96.6x10{sup 3} t) is very close to the mass fixed presently in soil catchments (117x10{sup 3} t). A complete process of stored carbon consumption would require some 10{sup 4} years, namely the Holocene period. During the last 20,000 years, variations in the sediment organic matter can be explained by the change of the vegetation cover, particularly with the substitution of open environments by forests. The global sedimentation was slow between ca. 18,000 and 10,000 years BP and increased after 12,000 years. But the carbon sedimentation rate remains fairly constant as the carbon content is higher in the LGM deposits. Such LGM carbon concentrations are probably explained by the input of coarse debris by rough floods and by a less degraded organic matter as a result of the cooling of the climate. Today, the total transport of dissolved and particulate organic carbon of the Sanaga and Douala Bay rivers to the Guinea Gulf is estimated as 0.62 to 0.79x10{sup 6} t C yr{sup -1}. Based on 50% biodegradation at the estuarine interface, the loss of organic matter per unit of land is evaluated around 8.8 t C km{sup -2} yr{sup -1}. Marine oceanic records of the carbon sedimentation rate reflect with difficulty the major palaeoenvironmental changes according to interfering hydrodynamic factors. The greatest input of organic carbon during warm marine biozones would be balanced by higher concentrations during the LGM resulting in

Fluxes and concentrations of volatile organic compounds from a South-East Asian tropical rainforest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Langford

2010-09-01

Full Text Available As part of the OP3 field study of rainforest atmospheric chemistry, above-canopy fluxes of isoprene, monoterpenes and oxygenated volatile organic compounds were made by virtual disjunct eddy covariance from a South-East Asian tropical rainforest in Malaysia. Approximately 500 hours of flux data were collected over 48 days in April–May and June–July 2008. Isoprene was the dominant non-methane hydrocarbon emitted from the forest, accounting for 80% (as carbon of the measured emission of reactive carbon fluxes. Total monoterpene emissions accounted for 18% of the measured reactive carbon flux. There was no evidence for nocturnal monoterpene emissions and during the day their flux rate was dependent on both light and temperature. The oxygenated compounds, including methanol, acetone and acetaldehyde, contributed less than 2% of the total measured reactive carbon flux. The sum of the VOC fluxes measured represents a 0.4% loss of daytime assimilated carbon by the canopy, but atmospheric chemistry box modelling suggests that most (90% of this reactive carbon is returned back to the canopy by wet and dry deposition following chemical transformation. The emission rates of isoprene and monoterpenes, normalised to 30 °C and 1000 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ PAR, were 1.6 mg m⁻² h⁻¹ and 0.46mg m⁻² h⁻¹ respectively, which was 4 and 1.8 times lower respectively than the default value for tropical forests in the widely-used MEGAN model of biogenic VOC emissions. This highlights the need for more direct canopy-scale flux measurements of VOCs from the world's tropical forests.

Soil Dissolved Organic Carbon Fluxes are Controlled by both Precipitation and Longer-Term Climate Effects on Boreal Forest Ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Hotchkiss, E. R.; Ziegler, S. E.; Edwards, K. A.; Bowering, K.

2017-12-01

Water acts as a control on the cycling of organic carbon (OC). Forest productivity responses to climate change are linked to water availability while water residence time is a major control on OC loss in aquatic ecosystems. However, controls on the export of terrestrial OC to the aquatic environment remains poorly understood. Transport of dissolved OC (DOC) through soils both vertically to deeper soil horizons and into aquatic systems is a key flux of terrestrial OC, but the climate drivers controlling OC mobilized from soils is poorly understood. We installed zero-tension lysimeters across similar balsam fir forest sites within three regions that span a MAT gradient of 5.2˚C and MAP of 1050-1500 mm. Using soil water collected over all seasons for four years we tested whether a warmer and wetter climate promotes greater DOC fluxes in ecosystems experiencing relatively high precipitation. Variability within and between years was compared to that observed across climates to test the sensitivity of this flux to shorter relative to longer-term climate effects on this flux. The warmest and wettest southern site exhibited the greatest annual DOC flux (25 to 28 g C m-2 y-1) in contrast to the most northern site (8 to 10 g C m -2 y-1). This flux represented 10% of litterfall C inputs across sites and surpassed the DOC export from associated forested headwater streams (1 to 16 g C m-2 y-1) suggesting terrestrial to aquatic interface processing. Historical climate and increased soil C inputs explain the greater DOC flux in the southern region. Even in years with comparable annual precipitation among regions the DOC flux differed by climate region. Furthermore, neither quantity nor form of precipitation could explain inter-annual differences in DOC flux within each region. Region specific relationships between precipitation and soil water flux instead suggest historical climate effects may impact soil water transport efficiency thereby controlling the regional variation in

Carbon and energy fluxes from China's largest freshwater lake

Science.gov (United States)

Gan, G.; LIU, Y.

2017-12-01

Carbon and energy fluxes between lakes and the atmosphere are important aspects of hydrology, limnology, and ecology studies. China's largest freshwater lake, the Poyang lake experiences tremendous water-land transitions periodically throughout the year, which provides natural experimental settings for the study of carbon and energy fluxes. In this study, we use the eddy covariance technique to explore the seasonal and diurnal variation patterns of sensible and latent heat fluxes of Poyang lake during its high-water and low-water periods, when the lake is covered by water and mudflat, respectively. We also determine the annual NEE of Poyang lake and the variations of NEE's components: Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Ecosystem Respiration (Re). Controlling factors of seasonal and diurnal variations of carbon and energy fluxes are analyzed, and land cover impacts on the variation patterns are also studied. Finally, the coupling between the carbon and energy fluxes are analyzed under different atmospheric, boundary stability and land cover conditions.

Thermodynamic Cconstraints on Coupled Carbonate-Pyrite Weathering Dynamics and Carbon Fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Winnick, M.; Maher, K.

2017-12-01

Chemical weathering within the critical zone regulates global biogeochemical cycles, atmospheric composition, and the supply of key nutrients to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Recent studies suggest that thermodynamic limits on solute production act as a first-order control on global chemical weathering rates; however, few studies have addressed the factors that set these thermodynamic limits in natural systems. In this presentation, we investigate the effects of soil CO2 concentrations and pyrite oxidation rates on carbonate dissolution and associated carbon fluxes in the East River watershed in Colorado, using concentration-discharge relationships and thermodynamic constraints. Within the shallow subsurface, soil respiration rates and moisture content determine the extent of carbonic acid-promoted carbonate dissolution through their modulation of soil pCO2 and the balance of open- v. closed-system weathering processes. At greater depths, pyrite oxidation generates sulfuric acid, which alters the approach to equilibrium of infiltrating waters. Through comparisons of concentration-discharge data and reactive transport model simulations, we explore the conditions that determine whether sulfuric acid reacts to dissolve additional carbonate mineral or instead reacts with alkalinity already in solution - the balance of which determines watershed carbon flux budgets. Our study highlights the importance of interactions between the chemical structure of the critical zone and the hydrologic regulation of flowpaths in determining concentration-discharge relationships and overall carbon fluxes.

Increased terrestrial to ocean sediment and carbon fluxes in the northern Chesapeake Bay associated with twentieth century land alteration

Science.gov (United States)

Saenger, C.; Cronin, T. M.; Willard, D.; Halka, J.; Kerhin, R.

2008-01-01

We calculated Chesapeake Bay (CB) sediment and carbon fluxes before and after major anthropogenic land clearance using robust monitoring, modeling and sedimentary data. Four distinct fluxes in the estuarine system were considered including (1) the flux of eroded material from the watershed to streams, (2) the flux of suspended sediment at river fall lines, (3) the burial flux in tributary sediments, and (4) the burial flux in main CB sediments. The sedimentary maximum in Ambrosia (ragweed) pollen marked peak land clearance (~1900 a.d.). Rivers feeding CB had a total organic carbon (TOC)/total suspended solids of 0.24??0.12, and we used this observation to calculate TOC fluxes from sediment fluxes. Sediment and carbon fluxes increased by 138-269% across all four regions after land clearance. Our results demonstrate that sediment delivery to CB is subject to significant lags and that excess post-land clearance sediment loads have not reached the ocean. Post-land clearance increases in erosional flux from watersheds, and burial in estuaries are important processes that must be considered to calculate accurate global sediment and carbon budgets. ?? 2008 Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation.

Organic carbon burial in a mangrove forest, margin and intertidal mud flat

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, Christian J.; Smoak, Joseph M.; Naidu, A. Sathy; Sanders, Luciana M.; Patchineelam, Sambasiva R.

2010-12-01

The flux of total organic carbon (TOC) to depositional facies (intertidal mud flat, margin and forest) was quantified for a tropical mangrove forest in Brazil. Results indicate that these mangrove margins and intertidal mudflats are sites of large TOC accumulation, almost four times greater than the global averages for mangrove forests. The TOC burial rates were determined from organic carbon content in sediment cores which were dated using 210Pb. Burial rates were calculated to be 1129, 949, and 353 (g m -2 yr -1), for the mud flat, margin and forest, respectively. Sediment accumulation rates (SAR) were estimated to be 7.3, 5.0 and 2.8 mm yr -1. Sediment characterization (δ 13C, δ 15N, TOC/TN and mud fraction) indicated a representative mangrove system with a record of consistent organic matter flux of up to 100 years. Because of substantial burial of organic carbon in mangrove ecosystems, their role in the global carbon budget must be considered. More importantly, as climate change influences temperature and sea level, mangrove ecosystems will respond to specific climatic conditions.

1km Global Terrestrial Carbon Flux: Estimations and Evaluations

Science.gov (United States)

Murakami, K.; Sasai, T.; Kato, S.; Saito, M.; Matsunaga, T.; Hiraki, K.; Maksyutov, S. S.

2017-12-01

Estimating global scale of the terrestrial carbon flux change with high accuracy and high resolution is important to understand global environmental changes. Furthermore the estimations of the global spatiotemporal distribution may contribute to the political and social activities such as REDD+. In order to reveal the current state of terrestrial carbon fluxes covering all over the world and a decadal scale. The satellite-based diagnostic biosphere model is suitable for achieving this purpose owing to observing on the present global land surface condition uniformly at some time interval. In this study, we estimated the global terrestrial carbon fluxes with 1km grids by using the terrestrial biosphere model (BEAMS). And we evaluated our new carbon flux estimations on various spatial scales and showed the transition of forest carbon stocks in some regions. Because BEAMS required high resolution meteorological data and satellite data as input data, we made 1km interpolated data using a kriging method. The data used in this study were JRA-55, GPCP, GOSAT L4B atmospheric CO2 data as meteorological data, and MODIS land product as land surface satellite data. Interpolating process was performed on the meteorological data because of insufficient resolution, but not on MODIS data. We evaluated our new carbon flux estimations using the flux tower measurement (FLUXNET2015 Datasets) in a point scale. We used 166 sites data for evaluating our model results. These flux sites are classified following vegetation type (DBF, EBF, ENF, mixed forests, grass lands, croplands, shrub lands, Savannas, wetlands). In global scale, the BEAMS estimations was underestimated compared to the flux measurements in the case of carbon uptake and release. The monthly variations of NEP showed relatively high correlations in DBF and mixed forests, but the correlation coefficients of EBF, ENF, and grass lands were less than 0.5. In the meteorological factors, air temperature and solar radiation showed

Rich soil carbon and nitrogen but low atmospheric greenhouse gas fluxes from North Sulawesi mangrove swamps in Indonesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Guang C; Ulumuddin, Yaya I; Pramudji, Sastro; Chen, Shun Y; Chen, Bin; Ye, Yong; Ou, Dan Y; Ma, Zhi Y; Huang, Hao; Wang, Jing K

2014-07-15

The soil to atmosphere fluxes of greenhouse gases N2O, CH4 and CO2 and their relationships with soil characteristics were investigated in three tropical oceanic mangrove swamps (Teremaal, Likupang and Kema) in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Mangrove soils in North Sulawesi were rich in organic carbon and nitrogen, but the greenhouse gas fluxes were low in these mangroves. The fluxes ranged -6.05-13.14 μmol m(-2)h(-1), -0.35-0.61 μmol m(-2)h(-1) and -1.34-3.88 mmol m(-2)h(-1) for N2O, CH4 and CO2, respectively. The differences in both N2O and CH4 fluxes among different mangrove swamps and among tidal positions in each mangrove swamp were insignificant. CO2 flux was influenced only by mangrove swamps and the value was higher in Kema mangrove. None of the measured soil parameters could explain the variation of CH4 fluxes among the sampling plots. N2O flux was negatively related to porewater salinity, while CO2 flux was negatively correlated with water content and organic carbon. This study suggested that the low gas emissions due to slow metabolisms would lead to the accumulations of organic matters in North Sulawesi mangrove swamps. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Declines in the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and flux from the UK

Science.gov (United States)

Worrall, Fred; Howden, Nicholas J. K.; Burt, Tim P.; Bartlett, Rebecca

2018-01-01

Increased concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) have been reported for many catchments across the northern hemisphere. Hypotheses to explain the increase have varied (eg. increasing air temperature or recovery from acidification) but one test of alternative hypotheses is the trend over the recent decade, with the competing hypotheses predicting: continuing increase; the rate of increase declining with time; and even decrease in concentration. In this study, records of DOC concentration in non-tidal rivers across the UK were examined for the period 2003-2012. The study found that: Of the 62 decade-long concentration trends that could be examined, 3 showed a significant increase, 17 experienced no significant change and 42 showed a significant decrease; in 28 of the 42 significant decreases, a significant step change was apparent with step changes being a decrease in concentration in every case. Of the 118 sites where annual flux and concentration records were available from 1974, 28 showed a significant step change down in flux and 52 showed a step down in concentration. The modal year of the step changes was 2000 with no step changes observed before 1982. At the UK national scale, DOC flux peaked in 2005 at 1354 ktonnes C/yr (5.55 tonnes C/km2/yr) but has declined since. The study suggests that there is a disconnection between DOC records from large catchments at their tidal limits and complementary records from headwater catchments, which means that mechanisms believed to be driving increases in DOC concentrations in headwaters will not necessarily be those controlling trends in DOC concentration further downstream. We propose that the changes identified here have been driven by changes in in-stream processing and changes brought about by the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. Therefore, signals identified in headwater catchments may bear little relation to those observed in large rivers much further downstream and vice versa.

Carbon fluxes of Kobresia pygmaea pastures on the Tibetan Plateau

Science.gov (United States)

Foken, T.; Biermann, T.; Babel, W.; Ma, Y.

2013-12-01

With an approximate cover of 450,000 km2 on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), the Cyperaceae Kobresia pygmaea forms he world's largest alpine ecosystem. This species, especially adapted to grazing pressure, grows to a height of only 2-6 cm and can be found in an altitudinal range of 4000 to 5960 m a.s.l. A special characteristic of this ecosystem is the stable turf layer, which is built up from roots and plays a significant role in protecting soil from erosion. This is of great importance since soils on the TP store 2.5 % of the global soil organic carbon stocks. The aim of the investigation was the study of the carbon storage and the impact of human-induced land use change on these Kobresia pygmaea pastures. We therefore applied eddy-covariance measurements and modelling as a long-term control of the fluxes between the atmosphere and the pastures and 13C labelling for the investigation of flux partitioning, and chamber measurements to investigate the degradation of the pastures. Combining CO2 budgets observed in 2010 with eddy-covariance measurements and relative partitioning of Carbon fluxes estimated with 13C labelling enabled us to characterise the C turnover for the vegetation period with absolute fluxes within the plant-soil-atmosphere continuum. These results revealed that this ecosystem indeed stores a great amount of C in below-ground pools, especially in the root turf layer. To further investigate the importance of the root layer, the experiments in 2012 focused on flux measurements over the different surface types which make up the heterogeneity of the Kobresia pygmaea pastures and might result from degradation due to extensive grazing. The three surface types investigated with a LiCOR long-term monitoring chamber system include Kobresia pygmaea with intact turf layer (IRM), a surface type where the turf layer is still present but the vegetation is sparse and mainly consists of Cryptogam crusts (DRM) and finally areas without the turf layer (BS). According to

Anthropogenic perturbation of the carbon fluxes from land to ocean

KAUST Repository

Regnier, Pierre

2013-06-09

A substantial amount of the atmospheric carbon taken up on land through photosynthesis and chemical weathering is transported laterally along the aquatic continuum from upland terrestrial ecosystems to the ocean. So far, global carbon budget estimates have implicitly assumed that the transformation and lateral transport of carbon along this aquatic continuum has remained unchanged since pre-industrial times. A synthesis of published work reveals the magnitude of present-day lateral carbon fluxes from land to ocean, and the extent to which human activities have altered these fluxes. We show that anthropogenic perturbation may have increased the flux of carbon to inland waters by as much as 1.0 Pg C yr -1 since pre-industrial times, mainly owing to enhanced carbon export from soils. Most of this additional carbon input to upstream rivers is either emitted back to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (∼0.4 Pg C yr -1) or sequestered in sediments (∼0.5 Pg C yr -1) along the continuum of freshwater bodies, estuaries and coastal waters, leaving only a perturbation carbon input of ∼0.1 Pg C yr -1 to the open ocean. According to our analysis, terrestrial ecosystems store ∼0.9 Pg C yr -1 at present, which is in agreement with results from forest inventories but significantly differs from the figure of 1.5 Pg C yr -1 previously estimated when ignoring changes in lateral carbon fluxes. We suggest that carbon fluxes along the land-ocean aquatic continuum need to be included in global carbon dioxide budgets.

Mercury and Organic Carbon Relationships in Streams Draining Forested Upland/Peatland Watersheds

Science.gov (United States)

R. K. Kolka; D. F. Grigal; E. S. Verry; E. A. Nater

1999-01-01

We determined the fluxes of total mecury (HgT), total organic carbon (TOC), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from five upland/peatland watersheds at the watershed outlet. The difference between TOC and DOC was defined as particulate OC (POC). Concentrations of HgT showed moderate to strong relationships with POC (R2 = 0.77) when all watersheds...

Effects of ocean acidification and hydrodynamic conditions on carbon metabolism and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fluxes in seagrass populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Egea, Luis G; Jiménez-Ramos, Rocío; Hernández, Ignacio; Bouma, Tjeerd J; Brun, Fernando G

2018-01-01

Global change has been acknowledged as one of the main threats to the biosphere and its provision of ecosystem services, especially in marine ecosystems. Seagrasses play a critical ecological role in coastal ecosystems, but their responses to ocean acidification (OA) and climate change are not well understood. There have been previous studies focused on the effects of OA, but the outcome of interactions with co-factors predicted to alter during climate change still needs to be addressed. For example, the impact of higher CO2 and different hydrodynamic regimes on seagrass performance remains unknown. We studied the effects of OA under different current velocities on productivity of the seagrass Zostera noltei, using changes in dissolved oxygen as a proxy for the seagrass carbon metabolism, and release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in a four-week experiment using an open-water outdoor mesocosm. Under current pH conditions, increasing current velocity had a positive effect on productivity, but this depended on shoot density. However, this positive effect of current velocity disappeared under OA conditions. OA conditions led to a significant increase in gross production rate and respiration, suggesting that Z. noltei is carbon-limited under the current inorganic carbon concentration of seawater. In addition, an increase in non-structural carbohydrates was found, which may lead to better growing conditions and higher resilience in seagrasses subjected to environmental stress. Regarding DOC flux, a direct and positive relationship was found between current velocity and DOC release, both under current pH and OA conditions. We conclude that OA and high current velocity may lead to favourable growth scenarios for Z. noltei populations, increasing their productivity, non-structural carbohydrate concentrations and DOC release. Our results add new dimensions to predictions on how seagrass ecosystems will respond to climate change, with important implications for the

Effects of ocean acidification and hydrodynamic conditions on carbon metabolism and dissolved organic carbon (DOC fluxes in seagrass populations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis G Egea

Full Text Available Global change has been acknowledged as one of the main threats to the biosphere and its provision of ecosystem services, especially in marine ecosystems. Seagrasses play a critical ecological role in coastal ecosystems, but their responses to ocean acidification (OA and climate change are not well understood. There have been previous studies focused on the effects of OA, but the outcome of interactions with co-factors predicted to alter during climate change still needs to be addressed. For example, the impact of higher CO2 and different hydrodynamic regimes on seagrass performance remains unknown. We studied the effects of OA under different current velocities on productivity of the seagrass Zostera noltei, using changes in dissolved oxygen as a proxy for the seagrass carbon metabolism, and release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC in a four-week experiment using an open-water outdoor mesocosm. Under current pH conditions, increasing current velocity had a positive effect on productivity, but this depended on shoot density. However, this positive effect of current velocity disappeared under OA conditions. OA conditions led to a significant increase in gross production rate and respiration, suggesting that Z. noltei is carbon-limited under the current inorganic carbon concentration of seawater. In addition, an increase in non-structural carbohydrates was found, which may lead to better growing conditions and higher resilience in seagrasses subjected to environmental stress. Regarding DOC flux, a direct and positive relationship was found between current velocity and DOC release, both under current pH and OA conditions. We conclude that OA and high current velocity may lead to favourable growth scenarios for Z. noltei populations, increasing their productivity, non-structural carbohydrate concentrations and DOC release. Our results add new dimensions to predictions on how seagrass ecosystems will respond to climate change, with important

234Th as tracer of organic carbon export in Bransfield Strait, Antarctic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliveira, Joselene de; Vieira, Lucia Helena; Duarte, Celina Lopes

2011-01-01

The element thorium has multiple isotopes that have emerged collectively as a powerful set of tracers for particle associated processes in the oceans. The production of 2 34T h from 2 38U , coupled with the conservative behavior of 2 38U in seawater, makes the source of 2 34T h easy to characterize. Because of its very particle reactive behavior, 2 34T h is removed from a parcel of water in only two ways, through decay and through particle flux. Therefore, a steady-state 1D activity balance can be used to calculate its flux. This work presents results of a collaborative research on organic carbon fluxes distribution in the Bransfield Strait. Macro-nutrients, micro nutrients and chlorophyll-a distributions were used to examine the pathway sources. 2 34T h was used as a tracer of organic carbon fluxes distribution in the Bransfield Strait in order to evaluate its influence in the CO 2 drawdown, since POC export via sinking particles is the primary mechanism of carbon sequestration in the Southern Ocean. Fluxes up to 15274 dmp m-2 d-1 were estimated, the highest value observed in Station 09 at 794 m depth. POC exported fluxes derived from the disequilibrium 2 34T h/ 2 38U model varied from 0.6 to 16000 mmol C m -2 d -1 . (author)

Could a secular increase in organic burial explain the rise of oxygen? Insights from a geological carbon cycle model constrained by the carbon isotope record

Science.gov (United States)

Krissansen-Totton, J.; Kipp, M.; Catling, D. C.

2017-12-01

The stable isotopes of carbon in marine sedimentary rock provide a window into the evolution of the Earth system. Conventionally, a relatively constant carbon isotope ratio in marine sedimentary rocks has been interpreted as implying constant organic carbon burial relative to total carbon burial. Because organic carbon burial corresponds to net oxygen production from photosynthesis, it follows that secular changes in the oxygen source flux cannot explain the dramatic rise of oxygen over Earth history. Instead, secular declines in oxygen sink fluxes are often invoked as causes for the rise of oxygen. However, constant fractional organic burial is difficult to reconcile with tentative evidence for low phosphate concentrations in the Archean ocean, which would imply lower marine productivity and—all else being equal—less organic carbon burial than today. The conventional interpretation of the carbon isotope record rests on the untested assumption that the isotopic ratio of carbon inputs into the ocean reflect mantle isotopic values throughout Earth history. In practice, differing rates of carbonate and organic weathering will allow for changes in isotopic inputs, as suggested by [1] and [2]. However, these inputs can not vary freely because large changes in isotopic inputs would induce secular trends in carbon reservoirs, which are not observed in the isotope record. We apply a geological carbon cycle model to all Earth history, tracking carbon isotopes in crustal, mantle, and ocean reservoirs. Our model is constrained by the carbon isotope record such that we can determine the extent to which large changes in organic burial are permitted. We find both constant organic burial and 3-5 fold increases in organic burial since 4.0 Ga can be reconciled with the carbon isotope record. Changes in the oxygen source flux thus need to be reconsidered as a possible contributor to Earth's oxygenation. [1] L. A. Derry, Organic carbon cycling and the lithosphere, in Treatise on

Improved automation of dissolved organic carbon sampling for organic-rich surface waters.

Science.gov (United States)

Grayson, Richard P; Holden, Joseph

2016-02-01

In-situ UV-Vis spectrophotometers offer the potential for improved estimates of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fluxes for organic-rich systems such as peatlands because they are able to sample and log DOC proxies automatically through time at low cost. In turn, this could enable improved total carbon budget estimates for peatlands. The ability of such instruments to accurately measure DOC depends on a number of factors, not least of which is how absorbance measurements relate to DOC and the environmental conditions. Here we test the ability of a S::can Spectro::lyser™ for measuring DOC in peatland streams with routinely high DOC concentrations. Through analysis of the spectral response data collected by the instrument we have been able to accurately measure DOC up to 66 mg L(-1), which is more than double the original upper calibration limit for this particular instrument. A linear regression modelling approach resulted in an accuracy >95%. The greatest accuracy was achieved when absorbance values for several different wavelengths were used at the same time in the model. However, an accuracy >90% was achieved using absorbance values for a single wavelength to predict DOC concentration. Our calculations indicated that, for organic-rich systems, in-situ measurement with a scanning spectrophotometer can improve fluvial DOC flux estimates by 6 to 8% compared with traditional sampling methods. Thus, our techniques pave the way for improved long-term carbon budget calculations from organic-rich systems such as peatlands. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Soil organic matter dynamics and the global carbon cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Post, W.M.; Emanuel, W.R.; King, A.W.

1992-01-01

The large size and potentially long residence time of the soil organic matter pool make it an important component of the global carbon cycle. Net terrestrial primary production of about 60 Pg C·yr -1 is, over a several-year period of time, balanced by an equivalent flux of litter production and subsequent decomposition of detritus and soil organic matter. We will review many of the major factors that influence soil organic matter dynamics that need to be explicitly considered in development of global estimates of carbon turnover in the world's soils. We will also discuss current decomposition models that are general enough to be used to develop a representation of global soil organic matter dynamics

Speleothem records of acid sulphate deposition and organic carbon mobilisation

Science.gov (United States)

Wynn, Peter; Fairchild, Ian; Bourdin, Clement; Baldini, James; Muller, Wolfgang; Hartland, Adam; Bartlett, Rebecca

2017-04-01

Dramatic increases in measured surface water DOC in recent decades have been variously attributed to either temperature rise, or destabilisation of long-term soil carbon pools following sulphur peak emissions status. However, whilst both drivers of DOC dynamics are plausible, they remain difficult to test due to the restricted nature of the available records of riverine DOC flux (1978 to present), and the limited availability of SO2 emissions inventory data at the regional scale. Speleothems offer long term records of both sulphur and carbon. New techniques to extract sulphur concentrations and isotopes from speleothem calcite have enabled archives of pollution history and environmental acidification to be reconstructed. Due to the large dynamic range in sulphur isotopic values from end member sources (marine aerosol +21 ‰ to continental biogenic emissions -30 ‰) and limited environmental fractionation under oxidising conditions, sulphur isotopes form an ideal tracer of industrial pollution and environmental acidification in the palaeo-record. We couple this acidification history to the carbon record, using organic matter fluorescence and trace metals. Trace metal ratios and abundance can be used to infer the type and size of organic ligand and are therefore sensitive to changes in temperature as a driver of organic carbon processing and biodegradation. This allows fluorescent properties and ratios of trace metals in speleothem carbonate to be used to represent both the flux of organic carbon into the cave as well as the degradation pathway. Here we present some of the first results of this work, exploring sulphur acidification as a mechanistic control on carbon solubility and export throughout the twentieth century.

Carbon Dioxide Transfer Through Sea Ice: Modelling Flux in Brine Channels

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, L.; Mitchelson-Jacob, G.; Hardman-Mountford, N.

2010-12-01

For many years sea ice was thought to act as a barrier to the flux of CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere. However, laboratory-based and in-situ observations suggest that while sea ice may in some circumstances reduce or prevent transfer (e.g. in regions of thick, superimposed multi-year ice), it may also be highly permeable (e.g. thin, first year ice) with some studies observing significant fluxes of CO2. Sea ice covered regions have been observed to act both as a sink and a source of atmospheric CO2 with the permeability of sea ice and direction of flux related to sea ice temperature and the presence of brine channels in the ice, as well as seasonal processes such as whether the ice is freezing or thawing. Brine channels concentrate dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) as well as salinity and as these dense waters descend through both the sea ice and the surface ocean waters, they create a sink for CO2. Calcium carbonate (ikaite) precipitation in the sea ice is thought to enhance this process. Micro-organisms present within the sea ice will also contribute to the CO2 flux dynamics. Recent evidence of decreasing sea ice extent and the associated change from a multi-year ice to first-year ice dominated system suggest the potential for increased CO2 flux through regions of thinner, more porous sea ice. A full understanding of the processes and feedbacks controlling the flux in these regions is needed to determine their possible contribution to global CO2 levels in a future warming climate scenario. Despite the significance of these regions, the air-sea CO2 flux in sea ice covered regions is not currently included in global climate models. Incorporating this carbon flux system into Earth System models requires the development of a well-parameterised sea ice-air flux model. In our work we use the Los Alamos sea ice model, CICE, with a modification to incorporate the movement of CO2 through brine channels including the addition of DIC processes and ice algae production to

Soil organic matter dynamics and CO2 fluxes in relation to landscape scale processes: linking process understanding to regional scale carbon mass-balances

Science.gov (United States)

Van Oost, Kristof; Nadeu, Elisabet; Wiaux, François; Wang, Zhengang; Stevens, François; Vanclooster, Marnik; Tran, Anh; Bogaert, Patrick; Doetterl, Sebastian; Lambot, Sébastien; Van wesemael, Bas

2014-05-01

In this paper, we synthesize the main outcomes of a collaborative project (2009-2014) initiated at the UCL (Belgium). The main objective of the project was to increase our understanding of soil organic matter dynamics in complex landscapes and use this to improve predictions of regional scale soil carbon balances. In a first phase, the project characterized the emergent spatial variability in soil organic matter storage and key soil properties at the regional scale. Based on the integration of remote sensing, geomorphological and soil analysis techniques, we quantified the temporal and spatial variability of soil carbon stock and pool distribution at the local and regional scales. This work showed a linkage between lateral fluxes of C in relation with sediment transport and the spatial variation in carbon storage at multiple spatial scales. In a second phase, the project focused on characterizing key controlling factors and process interactions at the catena scale. In-situ experiments of soil CO2 respiration showed that the soil carbon response at the catena scale was spatially heterogeneous and was mainly controlled by the catenary variation of soil physical attributes (soil moisture, temperature, C quality). The hillslope scale characterization relied on advanced hydrogeophysical techniques such as GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar), EMI (Electromagnetic induction), ERT (Electrical Resistivity Tomography), and geophysical inversion and data mining tools. Finally, we report on the integration of these insights into a coupled and spatially explicit model and its application. Simulations showed that C stocks and redistribution of mass and energy fluxes are closely coupled, they induce structured spatial and temporal patterns with non negligible attached uncertainties. We discuss the main outcomes of these activities in relation to sink-source behavior and relevance of erosion processes for larger-scale C budgets.

Estimating soil labile organic carbon and potential turnover rates using a sequential fumigation–incubation procedure.

Science.gov (United States)

X.M. Zoua; H.H. Ruanc; Y. Fua; X.D. Yanga; L.Q. Sha

2005-01-01

Labile carbon is the fraction of soil organic carbon with most rapid turnover times and its oxidation drives the flux of CO2 between soils and atmosphere. Available chemical and physical fractionation methods for estimating soil labile organic carbon are indirect and lack a clear biological definition. We have modified the well-established Jenkinson and Powlson’s...

Carbon dioxide fluxes from an urban area in Beijing

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Tao; Wang, Yuesi

2012-03-01

A better understanding of urban carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions is important for quantifying urban contributions to the global carbon budget. From January to December 2008, CO 2 fluxes were measured, by eddy covariance at 47 m above ground on a meteorological tower in a high-density residential area in Beijing. The results showed that the urban surface was a net source of CO 2 in the atmosphere. Diurnal flux patterns were similar to those previously observed in other cities and were largely influenced by traffic volume. Carbon uptake by both urban vegetation during the growing season and the reduction of fuel consumption for domestic heating resulted in less-positive daily fluxes in the summer. The average daily flux measured in the summer was 0.48 mg m - 2 s - 1 , which was 82%, 35% and 36% lower than those in the winter, spring and autumn, respectively. The reduction of vehicles on the road during the 29th Olympic and Paralympic Games had a significant impact on CO 2 flux. The flux of 0.40 mg m - 2 s - 1 for September 2008 was approximately 0.17 mg m - 2 s - 1 lower than the flux for September 2007. Annual CO 2 emissions from the study site were estimated at 20.6 kg CO 2 m - 2 y - 1 , considerably higher than yearly emissions obtained from other urban and suburban landscapes.

A Carbon Flux Super Site. New Insights and Innovative Atmosphere-Terrestrial Carbon Exchange Measurements and Modeling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leclerc, Monique Y. [The University of Georgia Research Foundation, Athens, GA (United States)

2014-11-17

This final report presents the main activities and results of the project “A Carbon Flux Super Site: New Insights and Innovative Atmosphere-Terrestrial Carbon Exchange Measurements and Modeling” from 10/1/2006 to 9/30/2014. It describes the new AmeriFlux tower site (Aiken) at Savanna River Site (SC) and instrumentation, long term eddy-covariance, sodar, microbarograph, soil and other measurements at the site, and intensive field campaigns of tracer experiment at the Carbon Flux Super Site, SC, in 2009 and at ARM-CF site, Lamont, OK, and experiments in Plains, GA. The main results on tracer experiment and modeling, on low-level jet characteristics and their impact on fluxes, on gravity waves and their influence on eddy fluxes, and other results are briefly described in the report.

Measurement of carbon dioxide fluxes in a free-air carbon dioxide enrichment experiment using the closed flux chamber technique

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Selsted, Merete Bang; Ambus, Per; Michelsen, Anders

2011-01-01

Carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes, composing net ecosystem exchange (NEE), ecosystem respiration (ER), and soil respiration (SR) were measured in a temperate heathland exposed to elevated CO2 by the FACE (free-air carbon enrichment) technique, raising the atmospheric CO2 concentration from c. 380 μmol...

Elemental and organic carbon in aerosols over urbanized coastal region (southern Baltic Sea, Gdynia).

Science.gov (United States)

Lewandowska, Anita; Falkowska, Lucyna; Murawiec, Dominika; Pryputniewicz, Dorota; Burska, Dorota; Bełdowska, Magdalena

2010-09-15

Studies on PM 10, total particulate matter (TSP), elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) concentrations were carried out in the Polish coastal zone of the Baltic Sea, in urbanized Gdynia. The interaction between the land, the air and the sea was clearly observed. The highest concentrations of PM 10, TSP and both carbon fractions were noted in the air masses moving from southern and western Poland and Europe. The EC was generally of primary origin and its contribution to TSP and PM 10 mass was on average 2.3% and 3.7% respectively. Under low wind speed conditions local sources (traffic and industry) influenced increases in elemental carbon and PM 10 concentrations in Gdynia. Elemental carbon demonstrated a pronounced weekly cycle, yielding minimum values at the weekend and maximum values on Thursdays. The role of harbors and ship yards in creating high EC concentrations was clearly observed. Concentration of organic carbon was ten times higher than that of elemental carbon, and the average OC contribution to PM 10 mass was very high (31.6%). An inverse situation was observed when air masses were transported from over the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. These clean air masses were characterized by the lowest concentrations of all analysed compounds. Obtained results for organic and elemental carbon fluxes showed that atmospheric aerosols can be treated, along with water run-off, as a carbon source for the coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. The enrichment of surface water was more effective in the case of organic carbon (0.27+/-0.19 mmol m(-2) d(-1)). Elemental carbon fluxes were one order of magnitude smaller, on average 0.03+/-0.04 mmol m(-2) d(-1). We suggest that in some situations atmospheric carbon input can explain up to 18% of total carbon fluxes into the Baltic coastal waters. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Flux and Seasonality of Dissolved Organic Matter From the Northern Dvina (Severnaya Dvina) River, Russia

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Sarah Ellen; Shorina, Natalia; Bulygina, Ekaterina; Vorobjeva, Taisya; Chupakova, Anna; Klimov, Sergey I.; Kellerman, Anne M.; Guillemette, Francois; Shiklomanov, Alexander; Podgorski, David C.; Spencer, Robert G. M.

2018-03-01

Pan-Arctic riverine dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fluxes represent a major transfer of carbon from land-to-ocean, and past scaling estimates have been predominantly derived from the six major Arctic rivers. However, smaller watersheds are constrained to northern high-latitude regions and, particularly with respect to the Eurasian Arctic, have received little attention. In this study, we evaluated the concentration of DOC and composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) via optical parameters, biomarkers (lignin phenols), and ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry in the Northern Dvina River (a midsized high-latitude constrained river). Elevated DOC, lignin concentrations, and aromatic DOM indicators were observed throughout the year in comparison to the major Arctic rivers with seasonality exhibiting a clear spring freshet and also some years a secondary pulse in the autumn concurrent with the onset of freezing. Chromophoric DOM absorbance at a350 was strongly correlated to DOC and lignin across the hydrograph; however, the relationships did not fit previous models derived from the six major Arctic rivers. Updated DOC and lignin fluxes were derived for the pan-Arctic watershed by scaling from the Northern Dvina resulting in increased DOC and lignin fluxes (50 Tg yr-1 and 216 Gg yr-1, respectively) compared to past estimates. This leads to a reduction in the residence time for terrestrial carbon in the Arctic Ocean (0.5 to 1.8 years). These findings suggest that constrained northern high-latitude rivers are underrepresented in models of fluxes based from the six largest Arctic rivers with important ramifications for the export and fate of terrestrial carbon in the Arctic Ocean.

Water-carbon Links in a Tropical Forest: How Interbasin Groundwater Flow Affects Carbon Fluxes and Ecosystem Carbon Budgets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Genereux, David [North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States); Osburn, Christopher [North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States); Oberbauer, Steven [Florida Intl Univ., Miami, FL (United States); Oviedo Vargas, Diana [North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States); Dierick, Diego [Florida Intl Univ., Miami, FL (United States)

2017-03-27

This report covers the outcomes from a quantitative, interdisciplinary field investigation of how carbon fluxes and budgets in a lowland tropical rainforest are affected by the discharge of old regional groundwater into streams, springs, and wetlands in the forest. The work was carried out in a lowland rainforest of Costa Rica, at La Selva Biological Station. The research shows that discharge of regional groundwater high in dissolved carbon dioxide represents a significant input of carbon to the rainforest "from below", an input that is on average larger than the carbon input "from above" from the atmosphere. A stream receiving discharge of regional groundwater had greatly elevated emissions of carbon dioxide (but not methane) to the overlying air, and elevated downstream export of carbon from its watershed with stream flow. The emission of deep geological carbon dioxide from stream water elevates the carbon dioxide concentrations in air above the streams. Carbon-14 tracing revealed the presence of geological carbon in the leaves and stems of some riparian plants near streams that receive inputs of regional groundwater. Also, discharge of regional groundwater is responsible for input of dissolved organic matter with distinctive chemistry to rainforest streams and wetlands. The discharge of regional groundwater in lowland surface waters has a major impact on the carbon cycle in this and likely other tropical and non-tropical forests.

Organic matter sources, fluxes and greenhouse gas exchange in the Oubangui River (Congo River basin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Bouillon

2012-06-01

above and, occasionally, below atmospheric equilibrium. Water-atmosphere CO₂ fluxes estimated using two independent approaches averaged 105 and 204 g C m⁻² yr⁻¹, i.e. more than an order of magnitude lower than current estimates for large tropical rivers globally. Although tropical rivers are often assumed to show much higher CO₂ effluxes compared to temperate systems, we show that in situ production may be high enough to dominate the particulate organic carbon pool, and lower pCO₂ values to near equilibrium values during low discharge conditions. The total annual flux of TSM, POC, PN, DOC and DIC are 2.33 Tg yr⁻¹, 0.14 Tg C yr⁻¹, 0.014 Tg N yr⁻¹, 0.70 Tg C yr⁻¹, and 0.49 Tg C yr⁻¹, respectively. While our TSM and POC fluxes are similar to previous estimates for the Oubangui, DOC fluxes were ~30% higher and bicarbonate fluxes were ~35% lower than previous reports. DIC represented 58% of the total annual C flux, and under the assumptions that carbonate weathering represents 25% of the DIC flux and that CO₂ from respiration drives chemical weathering, this flux is equivalent to ~50% of terrestrial-derived riverine C transport.

Total and mesoscale long-range offshore transport of organic carbon from the Canary Upwelling System to the open North Atlantic

Science.gov (United States)

Lovecchio, Elisa; Gruber, Nicolas; Münnich, Matthias; Byrne, David; Lachkar, Zouhair

2017-04-01

The ocean's biological pump is often simplified to a purely vertical process. Nevertheless, the horizontal transport of organic carbon can be substantial, especially in coastal regions such as the Canary Upwelling System (CanUS), one of the four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems, characterized by high shelf productivity and an intense lateral exchange of mass and tracers with the adjacent oligotrophic waters. Despite its importance, the magnitude of this lateral flux has not yet been constrained. Here, we quantify the lateral export of organic carbon from the CanUS to the open North Atlantic using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) coupled to a biogeochemical ecosystem module. The model is run on an Atlantic telescopic grid with a strong refinement towards the north-western African shelf, to combine an eddy-resolving resolution in the region of study with a full Atlantic basin perspective. Our results reveal that over the whole CanUS more than a third of the Net Community Production (NCP) in the nearshore 100 km is transported offshore, amounting to about 19 Tg C yr-1. The offshore transport dominates the lateral fluxes up to 1500 km into the subtropical North Atlantic, along the way adding organic carbon to the upper 100 m at rates of between 8% and 34% of the alongshore average NCP. The remineralization at depth of this extra organic carbon leads to strongly negative vertically-integrated NCP throughout the whole offshore region of the CanUS, i.e. it makes the offshore region net heterotrophic. Substantial subregional variability shapes the spatial pattern of the fluxes in the CanUS. In particular, the central subregion surrounding Cape Blanc is the most efficient in terms of collecting and laterally exporting the organic carbon, resulting in a sharp peak of watercolumn heterotrophy. A decomposition of the organic carbon fluxes into a time-mean component and a time-variable, i.e., mesoscale component reveals a large contribution of the mesoscale

Upscaling Our Approach to Peatland Carbon Sequestration: Remote Sensing as a Tool for Carbon Flux Estimation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lees, K.; Khomik, M.; Clark, J. M.; Quaife, T. L.; Artz, R.

2017-12-01

Peatlands are an important part of the Earth's carbon cycle, comprising approximately a third of the global terrestrial carbon store. However, peatlands are sensitive to climatic change and human mismanagement, and many are now degraded and acting as carbon sources. Restoration work is being undertaken at many sites around the world, but monitoring the success of these schemes can be difficult and costly using traditional methods. A landscape-scale alternative is to use satellite data in order to assess the condition of peatlands and estimate carbon fluxes. This work focuses on study sites in Northern Scotland, where parts of the largest blanket bog in Europe are being restored from forest plantations. A combination of laboratory and fieldwork has been used to assess the Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE), Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and respiration of peatland sites in different conditions, and the climatic vulnerability of key peat-forming Sphagnum species. The results from these studies have been compared with spectral data in order to evaluate the extent to which remote sensing can function as a source of information for peatland health and carbon flux models. This work considers particularly the effects of scale in calculating peatland carbon flux. Flux data includes chamber and eddy covariance measurements of carbon dioxide, and radiometric observations include both handheld spectroradiometer results and satellite images. Results suggest that despite the small-scale heterogeneity and unique ecosystem factors in blanket bogs, remote sensing can be a useful tool in monitoring peatland health and carbon sequestration. In particular, this study gives unique insights into the relationships between peatland vegetation, carbon flux and spectral reflectance.

Overview of NASA's Carbon Monitoring System Flux-Pilot Project

Science.gov (United States)

Pawson, Steven; Gunson, Michael R.; Jucks, Kenneth

2011-01-01

NASA's space-based observations of physical, chemical and biological parameters in the Earth System along with state-of-the-art modeling capabilities provide unique capabilities for analyses of the carbon cycle. The Carbon Monitoring System is developing an exploratory framework for detecting carbon in the environment and its changes, with a view towards contributing to national and international monitoring activities. The Flux-Pilot Project aims to provide a unified view of land-atmosphere and ocean-atmosphere carbon exchange, using observation-constrained models. Central to the project is the application of NASA's satellite observations (especially MODIS), the ACOS retrievals of the JAXA-GOSAT observations, and the "MERRA" meteorological reanalysis produced with GEOS-S. With a primary objective of estimating uncertainty in computed fluxes, two land- and two ocean-systems are run for 2009-2010 and compared with existing flux estimates. An transport model is used to evaluate simulated CO2 concentrations with in-situ and space-based observations, in order to assess the realism of the fluxes and how uncertainties in fluxes propagate into atmospheric concentrations that can be more readily evaluated. Finally, the atmospheric partial CO2 columns observed from space are inverted to give new estimates of surface fluxes, which are evaluated using the bottom-up estimates and independent datasets. The focus of this presentation will be on the science goals and current achievements of the pilot project, with emphasis on how policy-relevant questions help focus the scientific direction. Examples include the issue of what spatio-temporal resolution of fluxes can be detected from polar-orbiting satellites and whether it is possible to use space-based observations to separate contributions to atmospheric concentrations of (say) fossil-fuel and biological activity

Ballast minerals and the sinking carbon flux in the ocean: carbon-specific respiration rates and sinking velocity of marine snow aggregates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. H. Iversen

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Recent observations have shown that fluxes of ballast minerals (calcium carbonate, opal, and lithogenic material and organic carbon fluxes are closely correlated in the bathypelagic zones of the ocean. Hence it has been hypothesized that incorporation of biogenic minerals within marine aggregates could either protect the organic matter from decomposition and/or increase the sinking velocity via ballasting of the aggregates. Here we present the first combined data on size, sinking velocity, carbon-specific respiration rate, and composition measured directly in three aggregate types; Emiliania huxleyi aggregates (carbonate ballasted, Skeletonema costatum aggregates (opal ballasted, and aggregates made from a mix of both E. huxleyi and S. costatum (carbonate and opal ballasted. Overall average carbon-specific respiration rate was ~0.13 d⁻¹ and did not vary with aggregate type and size. Ballasting from carbonate resulted in 2- to 2.5-fold higher sinking velocities than those of aggregates ballasted by opal. We compiled literature data on carbon-specific respiration rate and sinking velocity measured in aggregates of different composition and sources. Compiled carbon-specific respiration rates (including this study vary between 0.08 d⁻¹ and 0.20 d⁻¹. Sinking velocity increases with increasing aggregate size within homogeneous sources of aggregates. When compared across different particle and aggregate sources, however, sinking velocity appeared to be independent of particle or aggregate size. The carbon-specific respiration rate per meter settled varied between 0.0002 m⁻¹ and 0.0030 m⁻¹, and decreased with increasing aggregate size. It was lower for calcite ballasted aggregates as compared to that of similar sized opal ballasted aggregates.

Global patterns of organic carbon export and sequestration in the ocean (Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists)

Science.gov (United States)

Henson, S.; Sanders, R.; Madsen, E.; Le Moigne, F.; Quartly, G.

2012-04-01

A major term in the global carbon cycle is the ocean's biological carbon pump which is dominated by sinking of small organic particles from the surface ocean to its interior. Here we examine global patterns in particle export efficiency (PEeff), the proportion of primary production that is exported from the surface ocean, and transfer efficiency (Teff), the fraction of exported organic matter that reaches the deep ocean. This is achieved through extrapolating from in situ estimates of particulate organic carbon export to the global scale using satellite-derived data. Global scale estimates derived from satellite data show, in keeping with earlier studies, that PEeff is high at high latitudes and low at low latitudes, but that Teff is low at high latitudes and high at low latitudes. However, in contrast to the relationship observed for deep biomineral fluxes in previous studies, we find that Teff is strongly negatively correlated with opal export flux from the upper ocean, but uncorrelated with calcium carbonate export flux. We hypothesise that the underlying factor governing the spatial patterns observed in Teff is ecosystem function, specifically the degree of recycling occurring in the upper ocean, rather than the availability of calcium carbonate for ballasting. Finally, our estimate of global integrated carbon export is only 50% of previous estimates. The lack of consensus amongst different methodologies on the strength of the biological carbon pump emphasises that our knowledge of a major planetary carbon flux remains incomplete.

The LandCarbon Web Application: Advanced Geospatial Data Delivery and Visualization Tools for Communication about Ecosystem Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, N.; Galey, B.; Zhu, Z.; Sleeter, B. M.; Lehmer, E.

2015-12-01

The LandCarbon web application (http://landcarbon.org) is a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and U.C. Berkeley's Geospatial Innovation Facility (GIF). The LandCarbon project is a national assessment focused on improved understanding of carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas fluxes in and out of ecosystems related to land use, using scientific capabilities from USGS and other organizations. The national assessment is conducted at a regional scale, covers all 50 states, and incorporates data from remote sensing, land change studies, aquatic and wetland data, hydrological and biogeochemical modeling, and wildfire mapping to estimate baseline and future potential carbon storage and greenhouse gas fluxes. The LandCarbon web application is a geospatial portal that allows for a sophisticated data delivery system as well as a suite of engaging tools that showcase the LandCarbon data using interactive web based maps and charts. The web application was designed to be flexible and accessible to meet the needs of a variety of users. Casual users can explore the input data and results of the assessment for a particular area of interest in an intuitive and interactive map, without the need for specialized software. Users can view and interact with maps, charts, and statistics that summarize the baseline and future potential carbon storage and fluxes for U.S. Level 2 Ecoregions for 3 IPCC emissions scenarios. The application allows users to access the primary data sources and assessment results for viewing and download, and also to learn more about the assessment's objectives, methods, and uncertainties through published reports and documentation. The LandCarbon web application is built on free and open source libraries including Django and D3. The GIF has developed the Django-Spillway package, which facilitates interactive visualization and serialization of complex geospatial raster data. The underlying LandCarbon data is available through an open application

Baseline and projected future carbon storage and greenhouse-gas fluxes in the Great Plains region of the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Bouchard, Michelle; Butman, David; Hawbaker, Todd; Li, Zhengpeng; Liu, Jinxun; Liu, Shu-Guang; McDonald, Cory; Reker, Ryan R.; Sayler, Kristi; Sleeter, Benjamin; Sohl, Terry; Stackpoole, Sarah; Wein, Anne; Zhu, Zhi-Liang; Zhu, Zhi-Liang

2011-01-01

This assessment was conducted to fulfill the requirements of section 712 of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 and to improve understanding of carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes in the Great Plains region in the central part of the United States. The assessment examined carbon storage, carbon fluxes, and other GHG fluxes (methane and nitrous oxide) in all major terrestrial ecosystems (forests, grasslands/shrublands, agricultural lands, and wetlands) and freshwater aquatic systems (rivers, streams, lakes, and impoundments) in two time periods: baseline (generally in the first half of the 2010s) and future (projections from baseline to 2050). The assessment was based on measured and observed data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and many other agencies and organizations and used remote sensing, statistical methods, and simulation models.

Monitoring carbon dioxide from space: Retrieval algorithm and flux inversion based on GOSAT data and using CarbonTracker-China

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Dongxu; Zhang, Huifang; Liu, Yi; Chen, Baozhang; Cai, Zhaonan; Lü, Daren

2017-08-01

Monitoring atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) from space-borne state-of-the-art hyperspectral instruments can provide a high precision global dataset to improve carbon flux estimation and reduce the uncertainty of climate projection. Here, we introduce a carbon flux inversion system for estimating carbon flux with satellite measurements under the support of "The Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences—Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Relevant Issues". The carbon flux inversion system is composed of two separate parts: the Institute of Atmospheric Physics Carbon Dioxide Retrieval Algorithm for Satellite Remote Sensing (IAPCAS), and CarbonTracker-China (CT-China), developed at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) measurements are used in the carbon flux inversion experiment. To improve the quality of the IAPCAS-GOSAT retrieval, we have developed a post-screening and bias correction method, resulting in 25%-30% of the data remaining after quality control. Based on these data, the seasonal variation of XCO2 (column-averaged CO2 dry-air mole fraction) is studied, and a strong relation with vegetation cover and population is identified. Then, the IAPCAS-GOSAT XCO2 product is used in carbon flux estimation by CT-China. The net ecosystem CO2 exchange is -0.34 Pg C yr-1 (±0.08 Pg C yr-1), with a large error reduction of 84%, which is a significant improvement on the error reduction when compared with in situ-only inversion.

Mapping carbon flux uncertainty and selecting optimal locations for future flux towers in the Great Plains

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Yingxin; Howard, Daniel M.; Wylie, Bruce K.; Zhang, Li

2012-01-01

Flux tower networks (e. g., AmeriFlux, Agriflux) provide continuous observations of ecosystem exchanges of carbon (e. g., net ecosystem exchange), water vapor (e. g., evapotranspiration), and energy between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. The long-term time series of flux tower data are essential for studying and understanding terrestrial carbon cycles, ecosystem services, and climate changes. Currently, there are 13 flux towers located within the Great Plains (GP). The towers are sparsely distributed and do not adequately represent the varieties of vegetation cover types, climate conditions, and geophysical and biophysical conditions in the GP. This study assessed how well the available flux towers represent the environmental conditions or "ecological envelopes" across the GP and identified optimal locations for future flux towers in the GP. Regression-based remote sensing and weather-driven net ecosystem production (NEP) models derived from different extrapolation ranges (10 and 50%) were used to identify areas where ecological conditions were poorly represented by the flux tower sites and years previously used for mapping grassland fluxes. The optimal lands suitable for future flux towers within the GP were mapped. Results from this study provide information to optimize the usefulness of future flux towers in the GP and serve as a proxy for the uncertainty of the NEP map.

Planktic foraminifer and coccolith contribution to carbonate export fluxes over the central Kerguelen Plateau

Science.gov (United States)

Rembauville, M.; Meilland, J.; Ziveri, P.; Schiebel, R.; Blain, S.; Salter, I.

2016-05-01

We report the contribution of planktic foraminifers and coccoliths to the particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) export fluxes collected over an annual cycle (October 2011/September 2012) on the central Kerguelen Plateau in the Antarctic Zone (AAZ) south of the Polar Front (PF). The seasonality of PIC flux was decoupled from surface chlorophyll a concentration and particulate organic carbon (POC) fluxes and was characterized by a late summer (February) maximum. This peak was concomitant with the highest satellite-derived sea surface PIC and corresponded to a Emiliania huxleyi coccoliths export event that accounted for 85% of the annual PIC export. The foraminifer contribution to the annual PIC flux was much lower (15%) and dominated by Turborotalita quinqueloba and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma. Foraminifer export fluxes were closely related to the surface chlorophyll a concentration, suggesting food availability as an important factor regulating the foraminifer's biomass. We compared size-normalized test weight (SNW) of the foraminifers with previously published SNW from the Crozet Islands using the same methodology and found no significant difference in SNW between sites for a given species. However, the SNW was significantly species-specific with a threefold increase from T. quinqueloba to Globigerina bulloides. The annual PIC:POC molar ratio of 0.07 was close to the mean ratio for the global ocean and lead to a low carbonate counter pump effect (~5%) compared to a previous study north of the PF (6-32%). We suggest that lowers counter pump effect south of the PF despite similar productivity levels is due to a dominance of coccoliths in the PIC fluxes and a difference in the foraminifers species assemblage with a predominance of polar species with lower SNW.

Relevance of methodological choices for accounting of land use change carbon fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Pongratz, Julia; Hansis, Eberhard; Davis, Steven

2015-04-01

To understand and potentially steer how humans shape land-climate interactions it is important to accurately attribute greenhouse gas fluxes from land use and land cover change (LULCC) in space and time. However, such accounting of carbon fluxes from LULCC generally requires choosing from multiple options of how to attribute the fluxes to regions and to LULCC activities. Applying a newly-developed and spatially-explicit bookkeeping model, BLUE ("bookkeeping of land use emissions"), we quantify LULCC carbon fluxes and attribute them to land-use activities and countries by a range of different accounting methods. We present results with respect to a Kyoto Protocol-like ``commitment'' accounting period, using land use emissions of 2008-12 as example scenario. We assess the effect of accounting methods that vary (1) the temporal evolution of carbon stocks, (2) the state of the carbon stocks at the beginning of the period, (3) the temporal attribution of carbon fluxes during the period, and (4) treatment of LULCC fluxes that occurred prior to the beginning of the period. We show that the methodological choices result in grossly different estimates of carbon fluxes for the different attribution definitions. The global net flux in the accounting period varies between 4.3 Pg(C) uptake and 15.2 Pg(C) emissions, depending on the accounting method. Regional results show different modes of variation. This finding has implications for both political and scientific considerations: Not all methodological choices are currently specified under the UNFCCC treaties on land use, land-use change and forestry. Yet, a consistent accounting scheme is crucial to assure comparability of individual LULCC activities, quantify their relevance for the global annual carbon budget, and assess the effects of LULCC policies.

Linking variability in soil solution dissolved organic carbon to climate, soil type, and vegetation type

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Camino-Serrano, Marta; Gielen, Bert; Luyssaert, Sebastiaan; Ciais, Philippe; Vicca, Sara; Guenet, Bertrand; Vos, Bruno De; Cools, Nathalie; Ahrens, Bernhard; Altaf Arain, M.; Borken, Werner; Clarke, Nicholas; Clarkson, Beverley; Cummins, Thomas; Don, Axel; Pannatier, Elisabeth Graf; Laudon, Hjalmar; Moore, Tim; Nieminen, Tiina M.; Nilsson, Mats B.; Peichl, Matthias; Schwendenmann, Luitgard; Siemens, Jan; Janssens, Ivan

2014-01-01

Lateral transport of carbon plays an important role in linking the carbon cycles of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. There is, however, a lack of information on the factors controlling one of the main C sources of this lateral flux, i.e., the concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in

Carbon fluxes from an urban tropical grassland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ng, B.J.L.; Hutyra, L.R.; Nguyen, H.; Cobb, A.R.; Kai, F.M.; Harvey, C.; Gandois, L.

2015-01-01

Turfgrass covers a large fraction of the urbanized landscape, but the carbon exchange of urban lawns is poorly understood. We used eddy covariance and flux chambers in a grassland field manipulative experiment to quantify the carbon mass balance in a Singapore tropical turfgrass. We also assessed how management and variations in environmental factors influenced CO 2 respiration. Standing aboveground turfgrass biomass was 80 gC m −2 , with a mean ecosystem respiration of 7.9 ± 1.1 μmol m −2  s −1 . The contribution of autotrophic respiration was 49–76% of total ecosystem respiration. Both chamber and eddy covariance measurements suggest the system was in approximate carbon balance. While we did not observe a significant relationship between the respiration rates and soil temperature or moisture, daytime fluxes increased during the rainy interval, indicating strong overall moisture sensitivity. Turfgrass biomass is small, but given its abundance across the urban landscape, it significantly influences diurnal CO 2 concentrations. - Highlights: • We measured urban turfgrass CO 2 respiration rates and soil characteristics. • Mean observed ecosystem respiration was 7.9 ± 1.1 μmol m −2  s −1 . • Soil temperature and moisture were largely insignificant drivers of observed flux. - We found a Singapore urban turfgrass to be approximately carbon neutral, with a mean ecosystem respiration of 7.9 ± 1.1 μmol m −2  s −1

Variations of iron flux and organic carbon remineralization in a subterranean estuary caused by interannual variations in recharge

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Moutusi; Martin, Jonathan B.; Cable, Jaye E.; Smith, Christopher G.

2013-01-01

We determine the inter-annual variations in diagenetic reaction rates of sedimentary iron (Fe ) in an east Florida subterranean estuary and evaluate the connection between metal fluxes and recharge to the coastal aquifer. Over the three-year study period (from 2004 to 2007), the amount of Fe-oxides reduced at the study site decreased from 192 g/yr to 153 g/yr and associated organic carbon (OC) remineralization decreased from 48 g/yr to 38 g/yr. These reductions occurred although the Fe-oxide reduction rates remained constant around 1 mg/cm2/yr. These results suggest that changes in flow rates of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) related to changes in precipitation may be important to fluxes of the diagenetic reaction products. Rainfall at a weather station approximately 5 km from the field area decreased from 12.6 cm/month to 8.4 cm/month from 2004 to 2007. Monthly potential evapotranspiration (PET) calculated from Thornthwaite’s method indicated potential evapotranspiration cycled from about 3 cm/month in the winter to about 15 cm/month in the summer so that net annual recharge to the aquifer decreased from 40 cm in 2004 to -10 cm in 2007. Simultaneously, with the decrease in recharge of groundwater, freshwater SGD decreased by around 20% and caused the originally 25 m wide freshwater seepage face to decrease in width by about 5 m. The smaller seepage face reduced the area under which Fe-oxides were undergoing reductive dissolution. Consequently, the observed decrease in Fe flux is controlled by hydrology of the subterranean estuary. These results point out the need to better understand linkages between temporal variations in diagenetic reactions and changes in flow within subterranean estuaries in order to accurately constrain their contribution to oceanic fluxes of solutes from subterranean estuaries.

Carbon Fluxes and Transport Along the Terrestrial Aquatic Continuum

Science.gov (United States)

Butman, D. E.; Kolka, R.; Fennel, K.; Stackpoole, S. M.; Trettin, C.; Windham-Myers, L.

2017-12-01

Terrestrial wetlands, inland surface waters, tidal wetlands and estuaries, and the coastal ocean are distinct aquatic ecosystems that integrate carbon (C) fluxes and processing among the major earth system components: the continents, oceans, and atmosphere. The development of the 2nd State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2) noted that incorporating the C cycle dynamics for these ecosystems was necessary to reconcile some of the gaps associated with the North American C budget. We present major C stocks and fluxes for Canada, Mexico and the United States. North America contains nearly 42% of the global terrestrial wetland area. Terrestrial wetlands, defined as soils that are seasonally or permanently inundated or saturated, contain significant C stocks equivalent to 174,000 Tg C in the top 40 cm of soil. While terrestrial wetlands are a C sink of approximately 64 Tg C yr-1, they also emit 21 Tg of CH4 yr-1. Inland waters are defined as lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and streams. Carbon fluxes, which include lateral C export to the coast, riverine and lacustrine CO2 emissions, and C burial in lakes and reservoirs are estimated at 507 Tg yr-1. Estuaries and tidal wetlands assimilate C and nutrients from uplands and rivers, and their total C stock is 1,323 Tg C in the top 1 m of soils and sediment. Accounting for soil accretion, lateral C flux, and CO2 assimilation and emission, tidal wetlands and estuaries are net sinks with a total flux equal to 6 Tg C yr-1. The coastal ocean and sea shelfs, defined as non-estuarine waters within 200 nautical miles (370 km) of the coast, function as net sinks, with the air-sea exchange of CO2 estimated at 150 Tg C yr-1. In total, fluxes from these four aquatic ecosystems are equal to a loss of 302 Tg C yr-1. Including these four discrete fluxes in this assessment demonstrates the importance of linking hydrology and biogeochemical cycling to evaluate the impacts of climate change and human activities on carbon fluxes across the

Regional variations in the fluxes of foraminifera carbonate, coccolithophorid carbonate and biogenic opal in the northern Indian Ocean

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Ramaswamy, V.; Gaye, B.

Mass fluxes of diatom opal, planktonic foraminifera carbonate and coccolithophorid carbonate were measured with time-series sediment traps at six sites in the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Equatorial Indian Ocean (EIOT). The above fluxes were...

Evaluations of carbon fluxes estimated by top-down and bottom-up approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Murakami, K.; Sasai, T.; Kato, S.; Hiraki, K.; Maksyutov, S. S.; Yokota, T.; Nasahara, K.; Matsunaga, T.

2013-12-01

There are two types of estimating carbon fluxes using satellite observation data, and these are referred to as top-down and bottom-up approaches. Many uncertainties are however still remain in these carbon flux estimations, because the true values of carbon flux are still unclear and estimations vary according to the type of the model (e.g. a transport model, a process based model) and input data. The CO2 fluxes in these approaches are estimated by using different satellite data such as the distribution of CO2 concentration in the top-down approach and the land cover information (e.g. leaf area, surface temperature) in the bottom-up approach. The satellite-based CO2 flux estimations with reduced uncertainty can be used efficiently for identifications of large emission area and carbon stocks of forest area. In this study, we evaluated the carbon flux estimates from two approaches by comparing with each other. The Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) has been observing atmospheric CO2 concentrations since 2009. GOSAT L4A data product is the monthly CO2 flux estimations for 64 sub-continental regions and is estimated by using GOSAT FTS SWIR L2 XCO2 data and atmospheric tracer transport model. We used GOSAT L4A CO2 flux as top-down approach estimations and net ecosystem productions (NEP) estimated by the diagnostic type biosphere model BEAMS as bottom-up approach estimations. BEAMS NEP is only natural land CO2 flux, so we used GOSAT L4A CO2 flux after subtraction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions and oceanic CO2 flux. We compared with two approach in temperate north-east Asia region. This region is covered by grassland and crop land (about 60 %), forest (about 20 %) and bare ground (about 20 %). The temporal variation for one year period was indicated similar trends between two approaches. Furthermore we show the comparison of CO2 flux estimations in other sub-continental regions.

Partitioning of net carbon dioxide flux measured by automatic transparent chamber

Science.gov (United States)

Dyukarev, EA

2018-03-01

Mathematical model was developed for describing carbon dioxide fluxes at open sedge-sphagnum fen during growing season. The model was calibrated using the results of observations from automatic transparent chamber and it allows us to estimate autotrophic, heterotrophic and ecosystem respiration fluxes, gross and net primary vegetation production, and the net carbon balance.

Methane and Carbon Dioxide Concentrations and Fluxes in Amazon Floodplains

Science.gov (United States)

Melack, J. M.; MacIntyre, S.; Forsberg, B.; Barbosa, P.; Amaral, J. H.

2016-12-01

Field studies on the central Amazon floodplain in representative aquatic habitats (open water, flooded forests, floating macrophytes) combine measurements of methane and carbon dioxide concentrations and fluxes to the atmosphere over diel and seasonal times with deployment of meteorological sensors and high-resolution thermistors and dissolved oxygen sondes. A cavity ringdown spectrometer is used to determine gas concentrations, and floating chambers and bubble collectors are used to measure fluxes. To further understand fluxes, we measured turbulence as rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy based on microstructure profiling. These results allow calculations of vertical mixing within the water column and of air-water exchanges using surface renewal models. Methane and carbon dioxide fluxes varied as a function of season, habitat and water depth. High CO2 fluxes at high water are related to high pCO2; low pCO2 levels at low water result from increased phytoplankton uptake. CO2 fluxes are highest at turbulent open water sites, and pCO2 is highest in macrophyte beds. Fluxes and pCH4 are high in macrophyte beds.

The NASA Carbon Airborne Flux Experiment (CARAFE): instrumentation and methodology

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfe, Glenn M.; Kawa, S. Randy; Hanisco, Thomas F.; Hannun, Reem A.; Newman, Paul A.; Swanson, Andrew; Bailey, Steve; Barrick, John; Thornhill, K. Lee; Diskin, Glenn; DiGangi, Josh; Nowak, John B.; Sorenson, Carl; Bland, Geoffrey; Yungel, James K.; Swenson, Craig A.

2018-03-01

The exchange of trace gases between the Earth's surface and atmosphere strongly influences atmospheric composition. Airborne eddy covariance can quantify surface fluxes at local to regional scales (1-1000 km), potentially helping to bridge gaps between top-down and bottom-up flux estimates and offering novel insights into biophysical and biogeochemical processes. The NASA Carbon Airborne Flux Experiment (CARAFE) utilizes the NASA C-23 Sherpa aircraft with a suite of commercial and custom instrumentation to acquire fluxes of carbon dioxide, methane, sensible heat, and latent heat at high spatial resolution. Key components of the CARAFE payload are described, including the meteorological, greenhouse gas, water vapor, and surface imaging systems. Continuous wavelet transforms deliver spatially resolved fluxes along aircraft flight tracks. Flux analysis methodology is discussed in depth, with special emphasis on quantification of uncertainties. Typical uncertainties in derived surface fluxes are 40-90 % for a nominal resolution of 2 km or 16-35 % when averaged over a full leg (typically 30-40 km). CARAFE has successfully flown two missions in the eastern US in 2016 and 2017, quantifying fluxes over forest, cropland, wetlands, and water. Preliminary results from these campaigns are presented to highlight the performance of this system.

Aspect as a Driver of Soil Carbon and Water Fluxes in Desert Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Sutter, L., Jr.; Barron-Gafford, G.; Sanchez-Canete, E. P.

2016-12-01

Within dryland environments, precipitation and incoming energy are the primary determinants of carbon and water cycling. We know aspect can influence how much sun energy reaches the ground surface, but how does this spatial feature of the landscape propagate into temporal moisture and carbon flux dynamics? We made parallel measurements across north and south-facing slopes to examine the effects of aspect on soil temperature and moisture and the resulting soil carbon and water flux rates within a low elevation, desert site in the Santa Catalina-Jemez Critical Zone Observatory. We coupled spatially distributed measurements at a single point in time with diel patterns of soil fluxes at singular point and in response to punctuated rain events. Reponses concerning aspect after spring El Niño rainfall events were complex, with higher cumulative carbon flux on the south-facing slope two weeks post rain, despite higher daily flux values starting on the north-facing slope ten days after the rain. Additional summer monsoon rain events and dry season measurements will give further insights into patterns under hotter conditions of periodic inter-storm drought. We will complete a year-round carbon and water flux budget of this site by measuring throughout the winter rainfall months. Ultimately, our work will illustrate the interactive effects of a range of physical factors on soil fluxes. Critical zone soil dynamics, especially within dryland environments, are very complex, but capturing the uncertainty around these flux is necessary to understand concerning vertical carbon and water exchange and storage.

Dissolved Carbon Fluxes During the 2017 Mississippi River Flood

Science.gov (United States)

Reiman, J. H.; Xu, Y. J.

2017-12-01

The Mississippi River drains approximately 3.2 million square kilometres of land and discharges about 680 cubic kilometres of water into the Northern Gulf of Mexico annually, acting as a significant medium for carbon transport from land to the ocean. A few studies have documented annual carbon fluxes in the river, however it is unclear whether floods can create riverine carbon pulses. Such information is critical in understanding the effects that extreme precipitation events may have on carbon transport under the changing climate. We hypothesize that carbon concentration and mass loading will increase in response to an increase in river discharge, creating a carbon pulse, and that the source of carbon varies from river rising to falling due to terrestrial runoff processes. This study investigated dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) loadings during the 2017 Mississippi River early-summer flood. Water samples were taken from the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge on the rising limb, crest, and falling limb of the flood. All samples were analysed for concentrations of DOC, DIC, and their respective isotopic signature (δ13C). Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) was also recorded in the field at each sampling trip. Additionally, the water samples were analysed for nutrients, dissolved metals, and suspended solids, and in-situ measurements were made on water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and specific conductance. The preliminary findings suggest that carbon species responded differently to the flood event and that δ13C values were dependent on river flood stage. This single flood event transported a large quantity of carbon, indicating that frequent large pulses of riverine carbon should be expected in the future as climate change progresses.

Examining organic carbon transport by the Orinoco River using SeaWiFS imagery

Science.gov (United States)

López, Ramón; Del Castillo, Carlos E.; Miller, Richard L.; Salisbury, Joseph; Wisser, Dominik

2012-09-01

The Orinoco River is the fourth largest in the world in terms of water discharge and organic carbon export to the ocean. River export of organic carbon is a key component of the carbon cycle and the global carbon budget. Here, we examined the seasonal transport of organic carbon by the Orinoco River into the eastern Caribbean using the conservative relationship of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in low salinity coastal waters influenced by river plumes. In situ measurements of CDOM absorption, DOC, and salinity were used to develop an empirical model for DOC concentration at the Orinoco River Plume. Satellite remote sensing reflectances were used with empirical models to determine DOC and Particulate organic carbon (POC) river transport. Our estimates of CDOM and DOC significantly correlated with in situ measurements and were within the expected ranges for the river. Total organic carbon transport by the Orinoco River during the period of 1998 to 2010 was 7.10 ×1012 g C y-1, from 5.29 × 1012 g C y-1 of DOC and 1.81 × 1012 g C y-1 of POC, representing ˜6% increase to previous published estimates. The variability in organic carbon transport responded to the seasonality in river flow more than to changes in organic carbon concentration in the river. Our results corroborate that is possible to estimate organic carbon transport using ocean color data at global scales. This is needed to reduce the uncertainties of land-ocean carbon fluxes.

Carbon Flux to the Atmosphere from Land-Use Changes: 1850 to 1990

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Houghton, R.A.

2001-02-22

The database documented in this numeric data package, a revision to a database originally published by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) in 1995, consists of annual estimates, from 1850 through 1990, of the net flux of carbon between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere resulting from deliberate changes in land cover and land use, especially forest clearing for agriculture and the harvest of wood for wood products or energy. The data are provided on a year-by-year basis for nine regions (North America, South and Central America, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, Tropical Africa, the Former Soviet Union, China, South and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Developed Region) and the globe. Some data begin earlier than 1850 (e.g., for six regions, areas of different ecosystems are provided for the year 1700) or extend beyond 1990 (e.g., fuelwood harvest in South and Southeast Asia, by forest type, is provided through 1995). The global net flux during the period 1850 to 1990 was 124 Pg of carbon (1 petagram = 10{sup 15} grams). During this period, the greatest regional flux was from South and Southeast Asia (39 Pg of carbon), while the smallest regional flux was from North Africa and the Middle East (3 Pg of carbon). For the year 1990, the global total net flux was estimated to be 2.1 Pg of carbon.

Sediment carbon and nutrient fluxes from cleared and intact temperate mangrove ecosystems and adjacent sandflats.

Science.gov (United States)

Bulmer, Richard H; Schwendenmann, Luitgard; Lohrer, Andrew M; Lundquist, Carolyn J

2017-12-01

The loss of mangrove ecosystems is associated with numerous impacts on coastal and estuarine function, including sediment carbon and nutrient cycling. In this study we compared in situ fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the sediment to the atmosphere, and fluxes of dissolved inorganic nutrients and oxygen across the sediment-water interface, in intact and cleared mangrove and sandflat ecosystems in a temperate estuary. Measurements were made 20 and 25months after mangrove clearance, in summer and winter, respectively. Sediment CO 2 efflux was over two-fold higher from cleared than intact mangrove ecosystems at 20 and 25months after mangrove clearance. The higher CO 2 efflux from the cleared site was explained by an increase in respiration of dead root material along with sediment disturbance following mangrove clearance. In contrast, sediment CO 2 efflux from the sandflat site was negligible (≤9.13±1.18mmolm -2 d -1 ), associated with lower sediment organic matter content. The fluxes of inorganic nutrients (NH 4 + , NO x and PO 4 3- ) from intact and cleared mangrove sediments were low (≤20.37±18.66μmolm -2 h - 1 ). The highest NH 4 + fluxes were measured at the sandflat site (69.21±13.49μmolm -2 h - 1 ). Lower inorganic nutrient fluxes within the cleared and intact mangrove sites compared to the sandflat site were associated with lower abundance of larger burrowing macrofauna. Further, a higher fraction of organic matter, silt and clay content in mangrove sediments may have limited nutrient exchange. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Time series measurements of carbon fluxes from a mangrove-dominated estuary

Science.gov (United States)

Volta, C.; Ho, D. T.; Friederich, G.; Del Castillo, C. E.; Engel, V. C.; Bhat, M.

2017-12-01

Mangrove ecosystems are among the most important and productive coastal ecosystems globally, and due to their high productivity and rapid carbon cycling, these ecosystems are important modulators of carbon fluxes from the land to the ocean and between the water and the atmosphere. Therefore, they may play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle and climate. Nonetheless, to date, estimates of carbon fluxes in mangrove-dominated estuaries are associated with large uncertainties, because studies have typically focused on limited spatial and temporal scales. For the first time, continuous time series measurements of temperature, salinity, CDOM, pH and pCO2 covering both the dry and the wet seasons were made in Shark River, a tidal estuary in the largest contiguous mangrove forest in North America. The measurements were made at two permanent stations along the estuarine domain, and allowed estimates of net dissolved carbon export from the Shark River to the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the CO2 emissions to the atmosphere to be made at seasonal and annual timescales. Results reveal that, compared to the dry season, the wet season was characterized by higher dissolved carbon export and CO2 emissions, due to meteorological, hydrological, and biogeochemical processes. Additionally, an analysis of relationships between hydrodynamic control factors (i.e. water discharge and water level) in the upstream freshwater marsh and carbon fluxes in the Shark River highlighted the importance of developing good water management strategies in the future. Finally, the study estimated the social cost of carbon fluxes in the Shark River estuary as a contribution to carbon accounting in mangrove ecosystems.

Carbon allocation and carbon isotope fluxes in the plant-soil-atmosphere continuum: a review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Brüggemann

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The terrestrial carbon (C cycle has received increasing interest over the past few decades, however, there is still a lack of understanding of the fate of newly assimilated C allocated within plants and to the soil, stored within ecosystems and lost to the atmosphere. Stable carbon isotope studies can give novel insights into these issues. In this review we provide an overview of an emerging picture of plant-soil-atmosphere C fluxes, as based on C isotope studies, and identify processes determining related C isotope signatures. The first part of the review focuses on isotopic fractionation processes within plants during and after photosynthesis. The second major part elaborates on plant-internal and plant-rhizosphere C allocation patterns at different time scales (diel, seasonal, interannual, including the speed of C transfer and time lags in the coupling of assimilation and respiration, as well as the magnitude and controls of plant-soil C allocation and respiratory fluxes. Plant responses to changing environmental conditions, the functional relationship between the physiological and phenological status of plants and C transfer, and interactions between C, water and nutrient dynamics are discussed. The role of the C counterflow from the rhizosphere to the aboveground parts of the plants, e.g. via CO₂ dissolved in the xylem water or as xylem-transported sugars, is highlighted. The third part is centered around belowground C turnover, focusing especially on above- and belowground litter inputs, soil organic matter formation and turnover, production and loss of dissolved organic C, soil respiration and CO₂ fixation by soil microbes. Furthermore, plant controls on microbial communities and activity via exudates and litter production as well as microbial community effects on C mineralization are reviewed. A further part of the paper is dedicated to physical interactions between soil CO₂ and the soil matrix, such as

Inorganic carbon fluxes across the vadose zone of planted and unplanted soil mesocosms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thaysen, Eike Marie; Jacques, D.; Jessen, S.

2014-01-01

The efflux of carbon dioxide (CO2) from soils influences atmospheric CO2 concentrations and thereby climate change. The partitioning of inorganic carbon (C) fluxes in the vadose zone between emission to the atmosphere and to the groundwater was investigated to reveal controlling underlying...... mechanisms. Carbon dioxide partial pressure in the soil gas (pCO(2)), alkalinity, soil moisture and temperature were measured over depth and time in unplanted and planted (barley) mesocosms. The dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) percolation flux was calculated from the pCO(2), alkalinity and the water flux...... to calculate the soil CO2 production. Carbon dioxide fluxes were modeled using the HP1 module of the Hydrus 1-D software. The average CO2 effluxes to the atmosphere from unplanted and planted mesocosm ecosystems during 78 days of experiment were 0.1 +/- 0.07 and 4.9 +/- 0.07 mu mol Cm-2 s(-1), respectively...

How Choice of Depth Horizon Influences the Estimated Spatial Patterns and Global Magnitude of Ocean Carbon Export Flux

Science.gov (United States)

Palevsky, Hilary I.; Doney, Scott C.

2018-05-01

Estimated rates and efficiency of ocean carbon export flux are sensitive to differences in the depth horizons used to define export, which often vary across methodological approaches. We evaluate sinking particulate organic carbon (POC) flux rates and efficiency (e-ratios) in a global earth system model, using a range of commonly used depth horizons: the seasonal mixed layer depth, the particle compensation depth, the base of the euphotic zone, a fixed depth horizon of 100 m, and the maximum annual mixed layer depth. Within this single dynamically consistent model framework, global POC flux rates vary by 30% and global e-ratios by 21% across different depth horizon choices. Zonal variability in POC flux and e-ratio also depends on the export depth horizon due to pronounced influence of deep winter mixing in subpolar regions. Efforts to reconcile conflicting estimates of export need to account for these systematic discrepancies created by differing depth horizon choices.

Dynamical and biogeochemical control on the decadal variability of ocean carbon fluxes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Séférian

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Several recent observation-based studies suggest that ocean anthropogenic carbon uptake has slowed down due to the impact of anthropogenic forced climate change. However, it remains unclear whether detected changes over the recent time period can be attributed to anthropogenic climate change or rather to natural climate variability (internal plus naturally forced variability alone. One large uncertainty arises from the lack of knowledge on ocean carbon flux natural variability at the decadal time scales. To gain more insights into decadal time scales, we have examined the internal variability of ocean carbon fluxes in a 1000 yr long preindustrial simulation performed with the Earth System Model IPSL-CM5A-LR. Our analysis shows that ocean carbon fluxes exhibit low-frequency oscillations that emerge from their year-to-year variability in the North Atlantic, the North Pacific, and the Southern Ocean. In our model, a 20 yr mode of variability in the North Atlantic air-sea carbon flux is driven by sea surface temperature variability and accounts for ~40% of the interannual regional variance. The North Pacific and the Southern Ocean carbon fluxes are also characterised by decadal to multi-decadal modes of variability (10 to 50 yr that account for 20–40% of the interannual regional variance. These modes are driven by the vertical supply of dissolved inorganic carbon through the variability of Ekman-induced upwelling and deep-mixing events. Differences in drivers of regional modes of variability stem from the coupling between ocean dynamics variability and the ocean carbon distribution, which is set by large-scale secular ocean circulation.

Evaluation of the DayCent model to predict carbon fluxes in French crop sites

Science.gov (United States)

Fujisaki, Kenji; Martin, Manuel P.; Zhang, Yao; Bernoux, Martial; Chapuis-Lardy, Lydie

2017-04-01

Croplands in temperate regions are an important component of the carbon balance and can act as a sink or a source of carbon, depending on pedoclimatic conditions and management practices. Therefore the evaluation of carbon fluxes in croplands by modelling approach is relevant in the context of global change. This study was part of the Comete-Global project funded by the multi-Partner call FACCE JPI. Carbon fluxes, net ecosystem exchange (NEE), leaf area index (LAI), biomass, and grain production were simulated at the site level in three French crop experiments from the CarboEurope project. Several crops were studied, like winter wheat, rapeseed, barley, maize, and sunflower. Daily NEE was measured with eddy covariance and could be partitioned between gross primary production (GPP) and total ecosystem respiration (TER). Measurements were compared to DayCent simulations, a process-based model predicting plant production and soil organic matter turnover at daily time step. We compared two versions of the model: the original one with a simplified plant module and a newer version that simulates LAI. Input data for modelling were soil properties, climate, and management practices. Simulations of grain yields and biomass production were acceptable when using optimized crop parameters. Simulation of NEE was also acceptable. GPP predictions were improved with the newer version of the model, eliminating temporal shifts that could be observed with the original model. TER was underestimated by the model. Predicted NEE was more sensitive to soil tillage and nitrogen applications than measured NEE. DayCent was therefore a relevant tool to predict carbon fluxes in French crops at the site level. The introduction of LAI in the model improved its performance.

Temporal variability in terrestrially-derived sources of particulate organic carbon in the lower Mississippi River and its upper tributaries

Science.gov (United States)

Bianchi, Thomas S.; Wysocki, Laura A.; Stewart, Mike; Filley, Timothy R.; McKee, Brent A.

2007-09-01

In this study, we examined the temporal changes of terrestrially-derived particulate organic carbon (POC) in the lower Mississippi River (MR) and in a very limited account, the upper tributaries (Upper MR, Ohio River, and Missouri River). We used for the first time a combination of lignin-phenols, bulk stable carbon isotopes, and compound-specific isotope analyses (CSIA) to examine POC in the lower MR and upper tributaries. A lack of correlation between POC and lignin phenol abundances ( Λ8) was likely due to dilution effects from autochthonous production in the river, which has been shown to be considerably higher than previously expected. The range of δ 13C values for p-hydroxycinnamic and ferulic acids in POC in the lower river do support that POM in the lower river does have a significant component of C 4 in addition to C 3 source materials. A strong correlation between δ 13C values of p-hydroxycinnamic, ferulic, and vanillyl phenols suggests a consistent input of C 3 and C 4 carbon to POC lignin while a lack of correlation between these same phenols and POC bulk δ 13C further indicates the considerable role of autochthonous carbon in the lower MR POC budget. Our estimates indicate an annual flux of POC of 9.3 × 10 8 kg y -1 to the Gulf of Mexico. Total lignin fluxes, based on Λ8 values of POC, were estimated to be 1.2 × 10 5 kg y -1. If we include the total dissolved organic carbon (DOC) flux (3.1 × 10 9 kg y -1) reported by [Bianchi T. S., Filley T., Dria K. and Hatcher, P. (2004) Temporal variability in sources of dissolved organic carbon in the lower Mississippi River. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta68, 959-967.], we get a total organic carbon flux of 4.0 × 10 9 kg y -1. This represents 0.82% of the annual total organic carbon supplied to the oceans by rivers (4.9 × 10 11 kg).

The NASA Carbon Airborne Flux Experiment (CARAFE: instrumentation and methodology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. M. Wolfe

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The exchange of trace gases between the Earth's surface and atmosphere strongly influences atmospheric composition. Airborne eddy covariance can quantify surface fluxes at local to regional scales (1–1000 km, potentially helping to bridge gaps between top-down and bottom-up flux estimates and offering novel insights into biophysical and biogeochemical processes. The NASA Carbon Airborne Flux Experiment (CARAFE utilizes the NASA C-23 Sherpa aircraft with a suite of commercial and custom instrumentation to acquire fluxes of carbon dioxide, methane, sensible heat, and latent heat at high spatial resolution. Key components of the CARAFE payload are described, including the meteorological, greenhouse gas, water vapor, and surface imaging systems. Continuous wavelet transforms deliver spatially resolved fluxes along aircraft flight tracks. Flux analysis methodology is discussed in depth, with special emphasis on quantification of uncertainties. Typical uncertainties in derived surface fluxes are 40–90 % for a nominal resolution of 2 km or 16–35 % when averaged over a full leg (typically 30–40 km. CARAFE has successfully flown two missions in the eastern US in 2016 and 2017, quantifying fluxes over forest, cropland, wetlands, and water. Preliminary results from these campaigns are presented to highlight the performance of this system.

Decoding the Secrets of Carbon Preservation and GHG Flux in Lower-Latitude Peatlands

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, C. J.; Flanagan, N. E.; Wang, H.; Ho, M.; Hodgkins, S. B.; Cooper, W. T.; Chanton, J.; Winton, S.

2017-12-01

The mechanisms regulating peat decomposition and C carbon storage in peatlands are poorly understood, particularly with regard to the importance of the biochemical compounds produced by different plant species and in turn peat quality controls on C storage and GHG flux. To examine the role of carbon quality in C accretion in northern compared to tropical peatlands we completed field and lab studies on bog peats collected in Minnesota, North Carolina, Florida and Peru to answer three fundamental questions; 1) is tropical peat more recalcitrant than northern peat 2) does the addition of aromatic and phenolic C compounds increase towards the tropics 3) do differences in the chemical structure of organic matter explain variances in carbon storage and GHG flux in tropical versus northern peatlands? Our main hypothesize is that high concentrations of phenolics and aromatic C compounds produced in shrub and tree plant communities in peatlands coupled with the fire production of biochar aromatics in peatlands may provide a dual biogeochemical latch mechanism controlling microbial decomposition of peat even under higher temperatures and seasonal drought. By comparing the peat bog soil cores collected from the MN peat bogs, NC Pocosins, FL Everglades and Peru palm swamps we find that the soils in the shrub-dominant Pocosin contain the highest phenolics, which microbial studies indicate have the strongest resistance to microbial decomposition. A chemical comparison of plant driven peat carbon quality along a north to south latitudinal gradient indicates that tropical peatlands have higher aromatic compounds, and enhanced phenolics, especially after light fires, which enhances C storage and affect GHG flux across the latitudinal gradient.

Variations of iron flux and organic carbon remineralization in a subterranean estuary caused by inter-annual variations in recharge

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Moutusi; Martin, Jonathan B.; Cable, Jaye E.; Smith, Christopher G.

2013-02-01

We determine the inter-annual variations in diagenetic reaction rates of sedimentary iron (Fe) in an east Florida subterranean estuary and evaluate the connection between metal fluxes and recharge to the coastal aquifer. Over the three years study period (from 2004 to 2007), the amount of Fe-oxides reduced at the study site decreased from 192 to 153 g/yr and associated organic carbon (OC) remineralization decreased from 48 to 38 g/yr. These reductions occurred although the Fe-oxide reduction rates remained constant around 1 mg/cm2/yr. These results suggest that changes in flow rates of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) related to changes in precipitation may be important to fluxes of the diagenetic reaction products. Rainfall at a weather station approximately 5 km from the field area decreased from 12.6 to 8.4 cm/month from 2004 to 2007. Monthly potential evapotranspiration (PET) calculated from Thornthwaite's method indicated potential evapotranspiration cycled from about 3 cm/month in the winter to about 15 cm/month in the summer so that net annual recharge to the aquifer decreased from 40 cm in 2004 to -10 cm in 2007. Simultaneously with the decrease in recharge of groundwater, freshwater SGD decreased by around 20% and caused the originally 25 m wide freshwater seepage face to decrease in width by about 5 m. The smaller seepage face reduced the area under which Fe-oxides were undergoing reductive dissolution. Consequently, the observed decrease in Fe flux is controlled by hydrology of the subterranean estuary. These results point out the need to better understand linkages between temporal variations in diagenetic reactions and changes in flow within subterranean estuaries in order to accurately constrain their contribution to oceanic fluxes of solutes from subterranean estuaries.

Fluvial organic carbon losses from oil palm plantations on tropical peat, Sarawak, Southeast Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Sarah; Page, Susan; Evans, Chris; Whelan, Mick; Gauci, Vincent; Lip Khoon, Kho

2017-04-01

Tropical peatlands are valuable stores of carbon. However, tropical peat swamp forests (TPSFs) in Southeast Asia have increasingly been converted to other land-uses. For example, more than 25% of TPSFs are now under oil palm plantations. This conversion - requiring felling and burning of trees and drainage of the peat - can enhance carbon mineralization, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) losses and can contribute significantly to global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, changing these natural carbon sinks into carbon sources. At present, relatively few scientifically sound studies provide dependable estimates of gaseous and fluvial carbon losses from oil palm plantations or from drained tropical peat in general. Here we present an annual (54 week) estimate of the export of dissolved and particulate organic carbon in water draining two oil palm estates and nearby stands of TPSF in Sarawak, Malaysia, subjected to varying degrees of past anthropogenic disturbance. Spectrophotometric techniques including SUVA254 (Specific Ultra-Violet Absorption) were used to gain insight into the aromaticity and subsequent bioavailability of the exported DOC. Water draining plantation and deforested land had a higher proportion of labile carbon compared to water draining forested areas. Preliminary data suggest a total fluvial DOC flux from plantations of ca. 190 g C m-2 year-1; nearly three times estimates from intact TPSFs (63 g C m-2 year-1). DOC accounted for between 86 % - 94 % of the total organic carbon lost (most of which was bioavailable). Wit et al. (2015) estimates that an average of 53 % of peat-derived DOC is decomposed and emitted as CO2, on a monthly basis. Based on these estimates our data suggests an additional 101 g CO2 m-2 may be emitted indirectly from fluvial organic carbon in degraded TPSFs per year. Overall, these findings emphasize the importance of including fluvial organic carbon fluxes when quantifying the impact of anthropogenic disturbance on the

CARBON STORAGE AND FLUXES IN PONDEROSA PINE AT DIFFERENT SUCCESSIONAL STAGES

Science.gov (United States)

We compared carbon storage and fluxes in young and old ponderosa pine stands in Oregon, including plant and soil storage, net primary productivity, respiration fluxes, and eddy flux estimates of net ecosystem exchange. The young site (Y site) was previously an old-growth pondero...

Satellite-Derived Distributions, Inventories and Fluxes of Dissolved and Particulate Organic Matter Along the Northeastern U.S. Continental Margin

Science.gov (United States)

Mannino, A.; Hooker, S. B.; Hyde, K.; Novak, M. G.; Pan, X.; Friedrichs, M.; Cahill, B.; Wilkin, J.

2011-01-01

Estuaries and the coastal ocean experience a high degree of variability in the composition and concentration of particulate and dissolved organic matter (DOM) as a consequence of riverine and estuarine fluxes of terrigenous DOM, sediments, detritus and nutrients into coastal waters and associated phytoplankton blooms. Our approach integrates biogeochemical measurements, optical properties and remote sensing to examine the distributions and inventories of organic carbon in the U.S. Middle Atlantic Bight and Gulf of Maine. Algorithms developed to retrieve colored DOM (CDOM), Dissolved (DOC) and Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) from NASA's MODIS-Aqua and SeaWiFS satellite sensors are applied to quantify the distributions and inventories of DOC and POC. Horizontal fluxes of DOC and POC from the continental margin to the open ocean are estimated from SeaWiFS and MODIS-Aqua distributions of DOC and POC and horizontal divergence fluxes obtained from the Northeastern North Atlantic ROMS model. SeaWiFS and MODIS imagery reveal the importance of estuarine outflow to the export of CDOM and DOC to the coastal ocean and a net community production of DOC on the shelf.

Carbon and nitrogen accumulation and fluxes on Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) slopes

Science.gov (United States)

Dontsova, K.; Volk, M.; Webb, C.; Hunt, E.; Tfaily, M. M.; Van Haren, J. L. M.; Sengupta, A.; Chorover, J.; Troch, P.; Ruiz, J.

2017-12-01

Carbon accumulation on the landscapes in organic and inorganic forms is an important sink of CO2 from the atmosphere. Formation and preservation of organic compounds is accompanied by N fixation from the atmosphere and cycling in the soil. Model slopes of Landscape Evolution Observatory present unique opportunity to examine carbon and nitrogen buildup on the landscapes during soil formation processes, such as weathering of primary minerals and microbial activity, due to low original levels of C and N, tight control over environmental conditions, and high spatial and temporal density of measurements. This presents results of inorganic and organic C and N measurements in the cores collected in LEO slopes after several years of exposure to the rainfall, as well as soil solution measurements collected through 496 samplers on each of three model slopes and in seepage. We observed significant spatially distributed accumulation of both C (organic and inorganic) and N in soil profiles. We also observed differences in the composition of organic compounds in the solid and solution phases depending on location on the slope indicating formation of heterogeneity as soils develop. This works indicates potential of physical models to help understand accumulation and fluxes of C and N on natural landscapes.

Seasonality and flux estimates of dissolved organic carbon in tidal wetlands and estuaries in the U.S. Mid- Atlantic Bight and Gulf of Mexico from ocean color

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, F.; Tzortziou, M.; Hu, C.; Najjar, R.

2016-02-01

Tidal wetlands and estuaries are dynamic features of coastal ocean and play critical roles in the global carbon cycle. Exchanges of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) between tidal wetlands and adjacent estuaries have important implications for carbon sequestration in tidal wetlands as well as biogeochemical cycling of wetlands derived material in the coastal zones. Recent studies demonstrated that the absorption coefficients of chromophoric dissolved organic matter at λ= 275 and 295 nm, which can be derived from satellite ocean color observations, can be used to accurately retrieve dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in some coastal waters. Based on a synthesis of existing field observations collected covering wide spatial and temporal variability in the Mid-Atlantic Bight and the Gulf of Mexico, here we developed and validated new empirical models to estimate coastal DOC from remotely sensed bio-optical properties of the surface water. We focused on the interfaces between tidal wetland-estuary and estuary-shelf water domains. The DOC algorithms were applied to SeaWiFs and MODIS observations to generate long-term climatological DOC distributions from 1998 to 2014. Empirical orthogonal function analysis revealed strong seasonality and spatial gradients in the satellite retrieved DOC in the tidal wetlands and estuaries. Combined with field observations and biogeochemical models, satellite retrievals can be used to scale up carbon fluxes from individual marshes and sub-estuaries to the whole estuarine system, and improve understanding of biogeochemical exchanges between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Elucidating Carbon Exchange at the Regional Scale Via Airborne Eddy Covariance Flux Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Hannun, R. A.; Wolfe, G. M.; Kawa, S. R.; Newman, P. A.; Hanisco, T. F.; Diskin, G. S.; DiGangi, J. P.; Nowak, J. B.; Barrick, J. D. W.; Thornhill, K. L., II; Noormets, A.; Vargas, R.; Clark, K. L.; Kustas, W. P.

2017-12-01

Direct flux observations from aircraft provide a unique tool for probing greenhouse gas (GHG) sources and sinks on a regional scale. Airborne eddy covariance, which relies on high-frequency, simultaneous measurements of fluctuations in concentration and vertical wind speed, is a robust method for quantifying surface-atmosphere exchange. We have assembled and flown an instrument payload onboard the NASA C-23 Sherpa aircraft capable of measuring CO2, CH4, H2O, and heat fluxes. Flights for the Carbon Airborne Flux Experiment (CARAFE) took place during September 2016 and May 2017 based out of Wallops Flight Facility, VA. Flight tracks covered a variety of ecosystems and land-use types in the Mid-Atlantic, including forests, croplands, and wetlands. Carbon fluxes are derived using eddy covariance and wavelet analysis. Our results show a strong drawdown of CO2 and near-zero CH4 emissions from crops and dry-land forest, but seasonally strong CH4 flux from wetland forest. CARAFE flux data will also be compared with observations from several flux towers along the flight path to complement the airborne measurements. We will further assess the effects of land surface type and seasonal variability in carbon exchange. Regional-scale flux observations from CARAFE supply a useful constraint for improving top-down and bottom up estimates of carbon sources and sinks.

Application of in situ observations, high frequency radars, and ocean color, to study suspended matter, particulate carbon, and dissolved organic carbon fluxes in coastal waters of the Barents Sea - the NORDFLUX project

Science.gov (United States)

Stramska, Malgorzata; Yngve Børsheim, Knut; Białogrodzka, Jagoda; Cieszyńska, Agata; Ficek, Dariusz; Wereszka, Marzena

2016-04-01

There is still a limited knowledge about suspended and dissolved matter fluxes transported from coastal regions into the open sea regions in the Arctic. The land/sea interface is environmentally important and sensitive to climate change. Important biogeochemical material entering the oceans (including carbon) passes through this interface, but too little is known about the efficiency of this transport. Our goal in the NORDFLUX program is to improve quantitative understanding of the environmental feedbacks involved in these processes through an interdisciplinary study with innovative in situ observations. Completed work includes two in situ experiments in the Norwegian fiord (Porsangerfjorden) in the summers of 2014 and 2015. Experiments used research boat for collection of water samples and in situ bio-optical data, an autonomous glider, mooring with T S sensors, and a high frequency radar system. We have used these data to derive spatial maps of water temperature, salinity, surface currents, chlorophyll fluorescence, dissolved organic matter (DOM) fluorescence, and inherent optical properties (IOPs) of the water. The interpretation of these data in terms of suspended matter concentration and composition is possible by in situ 'calibrations' using water samples from discrete hydrographic stations. Total suspended matter (TSM), particulate carbon (POC and PIC), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations together with measured water currents will allow us to estimate reservoirs and fluxes. Concentrations and fluxes will be related to physical conditions and meteorological data. An important aspect of this project is the work on regional ocean color algorithms. Global ocean color (OC) algorithms currently used by NASA do not perform sufficiently well in coastal Case 2 waters. Our data sets will allow us to derive such local algorithms. We will then use these algorithms for interpretation of OC data in terms of TSM concentrations and composition and DOC. After

Partitioning Water Vapor and Carbon Dioxide Fluxes using Correlation Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Scanlon, T. M.

2008-12-01

A variety of methods are currently available to partition water vapor fluxes (into components of transpiration and direct evaporation) and carbon dioxide fluxes (into components of photosynthesis and respiration), using chambers, isotopes, and regression modeling approaches. Here, a methodology is presented that accounts for correlations between high-frequency measurements of water vapor (q) and carbon dioxide (c) concentrations being influenced by their non-identical source-sink distributions and the relative magnitude of their constituent fluxes. Flux-variance similarity assumptions are applied separately to the stomatal and the non-stomatal exchange, and the flux components are identified by considering the q-c correlation. Water use efficiency for the vegetation, and how it varies with respect to vapor pressure deficit, is the only input needed for this approach that uses standard eddy covariance measurements. The method is demonstrated using data collected over a corn field throughout a growing season. In particular, the research focuses on the partitioning of the water flux with the aim of improving how direct evaporation is handled in soil-vegetation- atmosphere transfer models over the course of wetting and dry-down cycles.

Growth of carbon nanocone arrays on a metal catalyst: The effect of carbon flux ionization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levchenko, I.; Khachan, J.; Vladimirov, S. V.; Ostrikov, K.

2008-01-01

The growth of carbon nanocone arrays on metal catalyst particles by deposition from a low-temperature plasma is studied by multiscale Monte Carlo/surface diffusion numerical simulation. It is demonstrated that the variation in the degree of ionization of the carbon flux provides an effective control of the growth kinetics of the carbon nanocones, and leads to the formation of more uniform arrays of nanostructures. In the case of zero degree of ionization (neutral gas process), a width of the distribution of nanocone heights reaches 360 nm with the nanocone mean height of 150 nm. When the carbon flux of 75% ionization is used, the width of the distribution of nanocone heights decreases to 100 nm, i.e., by a factor of 3.6. A higher degree of ionization leads to a better uniformity of the metal catalyst saturation and the nanocone growth, thus contributing to the formation of more height-uniform arrays of carbon nanostructures.

AmeriFlux Measurement Network: Science Team Research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Law, B E

2012-12-12

Research involves analysis and field direction of AmeriFlux operations, and the PI provides scientific leadership of the AmeriFlux network. Activities include the coordination and quality assurance of measurements across AmeriFlux network sites, synthesis of results across the network, organizing and supporting the annual Science Team Meeting, and communicating AmeriFlux results to the scientific community and other users. Objectives of measurement research include (i) coordination of flux and biometric measurement protocols (ii) timely data delivery to the Carbon Dioxide Information and Analysis Center (CDIAC); and (iii) assurance of data quality of flux and ecosystem measurements contributed by AmeriFlux sites. Objectives of integration and synthesis activities include (i) integration of site data into network-wide synthesis products; and (ii) participation in the analysis, modeling and interpretation of network data products. Communications objectives include (i) organizing an annual meeting of AmeriFlux investigators for reporting annual flux measurements and exchanging scientific information on ecosystem carbon budgets; (ii) developing focused topics for analysis and publication; and (iii) developing data reporting protocols in support of AmeriFlux network goals.

Process based modelling of soil organic carbon redistribution on landscape scale

Science.gov (United States)

Schindewolf, Marcus; Seher, Wiebke; Amorim, Amorim S. S.; Maeso, Daniel L.; Jürgen, Schmidt

2014-05-01

Recent studies have pointed out the great importance of erosion processes in global carbon cycling. Continuous erosion leads to a massive loss of top soils including the loss of organic carbon accumulated over long time in the soil humus fraction. Lal (2003) estimates that 20% of the organic carbon eroded with top soils is emitted into atmosphere, due to aggregate breakdown and carbon mineralization during transport by surface runoff. Furthermore soil erosion causes a progressive decrease of natural soil fertility, since cation exchange capacity is associated with organic colloids. As a consequence the ability of soils to accumulate organic carbon is reduced proportionately to the drop in soil productivity. The colluvial organic carbon might be protected from further degradation depending on the depth of the colluvial cover and local decomposing conditions. Some colluvial sites can act as long-term sinks for organic carbon. The erosional transport of organic carbon may have an effect on the global carbon budget, however, it is uncertain, whether erosion is a sink or a source for carbon in the atmosphere. Another part of eroded soils and organic carbon will enter surface water bodies and might be transported over long distances. These sediments might be deposited in the riparian zones of river networks. Erosional losses of organic carbon will not pass over into atmosphere for the most part. But soil erosion limits substantially the potential of soils to sequester atmospheric CO2 by generating humus. The present study refers to lateral carbon flux modelling on landscape scale using the process based EROSION 3D soil loss simulation model, using existing parameter values. The selective nature of soil erosion results in a preferentially transport of fine particles while less carbonic larger particles remain on site. Consequently organic carbon is enriched in the eroded sediment compared to the origin soil. For this reason it is essential that EROSION 3D provides the

Scaling-up of CO2 fluxes to assess carbon sequestration in rangelands of Central Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Bruce K. Wylie; Tagir G. Gilmanov; Douglas A. Johnson; Nicanor Z. Saliendra; Larry L. Tieszen; Ruth Anne F. Doyle; Emilio A. Laca

2006-01-01

Flux towers provide temporal quantification of local carbon dynamics at specific sites. The number and distribution of flux towers, however, are generally inadequate to quantify carbon fluxes across a landscape or ecoregion. Thus, scaling up of flux tower measurements through use of algorithms developed from remote sensing and GIS data is needed for spatial...

Grasland Stable Isotope Flux Measurements: Three Isotopomers of Carbon Dioxide Measured by QCL Spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Zeeman, M. J.; Tuzson, B.; Eugster, W.; Werner, R. A.; Buchmann, N.; Emmenegger, L.

2007-12-01

To improve our understanding of greenhouse gas dynamics of managed ecosystems such as grasslands, we not only need to investigate the effects of management (e.g., grass cuts) and weather events (e.g., rainy days) on carbon dioxide fluxes, but also need to increase the time resolution of our measurements. Thus, for the first time, we assessed respiration and assimilation fluxes with high time resolution (5Hz) stable isotope measurements at an intensively managed farmland in Switzerland (Chamau, 400m ASL). Two different methods were used to quantify fluxes of carbon dioxide and associated fluxes of stable carbon isotopes: (1) the flux gradient method, and (2) the eddy covariance method. During a week long intensive measurement campaign, we (1) measured mixing ratios of carbon dioxide isotopomers (12C16O2, 12C16O18O, 13C16O2) with a Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL, Aerodyne Inc.) spectroscope and (2) collected air samples for isotope analyses (13C/12C) and (18O/16O) of carbon dioxide by Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS, Finnigan) every two hours, concurrently along a height profile (z = 0.05; 0.10; 0.31; 2.15m). In the following week, the QCL setup was used for closed-path eddy covariance flux measurement of the carbon dioxide isotopomers, with the air inlet located next to an open-path Infra Red Gas Analyzers (IRGA, LiCor 7500) used simultaneously for carbon dioxide measurements. During this second week, an area of grass inside the footprint was cut and harvested after several days. The first results of in-field continuous QCL measurements of carbon dioxide mixing ratios and their stable isotopic ratios show good agreement with IRGA measurements and isotope analysis of flask samples by IRMS. Thus, QCL spectroscopy is a very promising tool for stable isotope flux investigations.

Soil surface CO2 fluxes and the carbon budget of a grassland

Science.gov (United States)

Norman, J. M.; Garcia, R.; Verma, S. B.

1992-01-01

Measurements of soil surface CO2 fluxes are reported for three sites within the First International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Field Experiment (FIFE) area, and simple empirical equations are fit to the data to provide predictions of soil fluxes from environmental observations. A prototype soil chamber, used to make the flux measurements, is described and tested by comparing CO2 flux measurements to a 40-L chamber, a 1-m/cu chamber, and eddy correlation. Results suggest that flux measurements with the prototype chamber are consistent with measurements by other methods to within about 20 percent. A simple empirical equation based on 10-cm soil temperature, 0- to 10-cm soil volumetric water content, and leaf area index predicts the soil surface CO2 flux with a rms error of 1.2 micro-mol sq m/s for all three sites. Further evidence supports using this equation to evaluate soil surface CO2 during the 1987 FIFE experiment. The soil surface CO2 fluxes when averaged over 24 hours are comparable to daily gross canopy photosynthetic rates. For 6 days of data the net daily accumulation of carbon is about 0.6 g CO2 sq m/d; this is only a few percent of the daily gross accumulation of carbon by photosynthesis. As the soil became drier in 1989, the net accumulation of carbon by the prairie increased, suggesting that the soil flux is more sensitive to temperature and drought than the photosynthetic fluxes.

Organic carbon balance and net ecosystem metabolism in Chesapeake Bay

Science.gov (United States)

Kemp, W.M.; Smith, E.M.; Marvin-DiPasquale, M.; Boynton, W.R.

1997-01-01

The major fluxes of organic carbon associated with physical transport and biological metabolism were compiled, analyzed and compared for the mainstem portion of Chesapeake Bay (USA). In addition, 5 independent methods were used to calculate the annual mean net ecosystem metabolism (NEM = production - respiration) for the integrated Bay. These methods, which employed biogeochemical models, nutrient mass-balances anti summation of individual organic carbon fluxes, yielded remarkably similar estimates, with a mean NEM of +50 g C m-2 yr-1 (?? SE = 751, which is approximately 8% of the estimated annual average gross primary production. These calculations suggest a strong cross-sectional pattern in NEM throughout the Bay, wherein net heterotrophic metabolism prevails in the pelagic zones of the main channel, while net autotrophy occurs in the littoral zones which flank the deeper central area. For computational purposes, the estuary was separated into 3 regions along the land-sea gradient: (1) the oligohaline Upper Bay (11% of total area); (2) the mesohaline Mid Bay (36% of area); and (3) the polyhaline Lower Bay (53% of area). A distinct regional trend in NEM was observed along this salinity gradient, with net here(atrophy (NEM = 87 g C m-2 yr-1) in the Upper Bay, balanced metabolism in the Mid Bay and net autotrophy (NEM = +92 g C m-2 yr-1) in the Lower Bay. As a consequence of overall net autotrophy, the ratio of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) to total organic nitrogen (TON) changed from DIN:TON = 5.1 for riverine inputs to DIN:TON = 0.04 for water exported to the ocean. A striking feature of this organic C mass-balance was the relative dominance of biologically mediated metabolic fluxes compared to physical transport fluxes. The overall ratio of physical TOC inputs (1) to biotic primary production (P) was 0.08 for the whole estuary, but varied dramatically from 2.3 in the Upper Bay to 0.03 in the Mid and Lower Bay regions. Similarly, ecosystem respiration was

Determining Inorganic and Organic Carbon.

Science.gov (United States)

Koistinen, Jaana; Sjöblom, Mervi; Spilling, Kristian

2017-11-21

Carbon is the element which makes up the major fraction of lipids and carbohydrates, which could be used for making biofuel. It is therefore important to provide enough carbon and also follow the flow into particulate organic carbon and potential loss to dissolved organic forms of carbon. Here we present methods for determining dissolved inorganic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, and particulate organic carbon.

A 13C labelling study on carbon fluxes in Arctic plankton communities under elevated CO2 levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. de Kluijver

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The effect of CO2 on carbon fluxes (production, consumption, and export in Arctic plankton communities was investigated during the 2010 EPOCA (European project on Ocean Acidification mesocosm study off Ny Ålesund, Svalbard. 13C labelled bicarbonate was added to nine mesocosms with a range in pCO2 (185 to 1420 μatm to follow the transfer of carbon from dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC into phytoplankton, bacterial and zooplankton consumers, and export. A nutrient–phytoplankton–zooplankton–detritus model amended with 13C dynamics was constructed and fitted to the data to quantify uptake rates and carbon fluxes in the plankton community. The plankton community structure was characteristic for a post-bloom situation and retention food web and showed high bacterial production (∼31% of primary production, high abundance of mixotrophic phytoplankton, low mesozooplankton grazing (∼6% of primary production and low export (∼7% of primary production. Zooplankton grazing and export of detritus were sensitive to CO2: grazing decreased and export increased with increasing pCO2. Nutrient addition halfway through the experiment increased the export, but not the production rates. Although mixotrophs showed initially higher production rates with increasing CO2, the overall production of POC (particulate organic carbon after nutrient addition decreased with increasing CO2. Interestingly, and contrary to the low nutrient situation, much more material settled down in the sediment traps at low CO2. The observed CO2 related effects potentially alter future organic carbon flows and export, with possible consequences for the efficiency of the biological pump.

Carbon-carbon composite and copper-composite bond damages for high flux component controlled fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chevet, G.

2010-01-01

Plasma facing components constitute the first wall in contact with plasma in fusion machines such as Tore Supra and ITER. These components have to sustain high heat flux and consequently elevated temperatures. They are made up of an armour material, the carbon-carbon composite, a heat sink structure material, the copper chromium zirconium, and a material, the OFHC copper, which is used as a compliant layer between the carbon-carbon composite and the copper chromium zirconium. Using different materials leads to the apparition of strong residual stresses during manufacturing, because of the thermal expansion mismatch between the materials, and compromises the lasting operation of fusion machines as damage which appeared during manufacturing may propagate. The objective of this study is to understand the damage mechanisms of the carbon-carbon composite and the composite-copper bond under solicitations that plasma facing components may suffer during their life. The mechanical behaviours of carbon-carbon composite and composite-copper bond were studied in order to define the most suitable models to describe these behaviours. With these models, thermomechanical calculations were performed on plasma facing components with the finite element code Cast3M. The manufacturing of the components induces high stresses which damage the carbon-carbon composite and the composite-copper bond. The damage propagates during the cooling down to room temperature and not under heat flux. Alternative geometries for the plasma facing components were studied to reduce damage. The relation between the damage of the carbon-carbon composite and its thermal conductivity was also demonstrated. (author) [fr

Coupled organic and inorganic carbon cycling in the deep subseafloor sediment of the northeastern Bering Sea Slope (IODP Exp. 323)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wehrmann, Laura M.; Risgaard-Petersen, Nils; Schrum, Heather

2011-01-01

We studied microbially mediated diagenetic processes driven by carbon mineralization in subseafloor sediment of the northeastern Bering Sea Slope to a depth of 745 meters below seafloor (mbsf). Sites U1343, U1344 and U1345 were drilled during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 323......) and between 300 and 400 mbsf. The SMTZ at the three sites is located between 6 and 9 mbsf. The upward methane fluxes into the SMTZ are similar to fluxes in SMTZs underlying high-productivity surface waters off Chile and Namibia. Our Bering Sea results show that intense organic carbon mineralization drives...... microbially mediated carbon mineralization leaves DIC isotope composition unaffected. Ongoing carbonate formation between 300 and 400 mbsf strongly influences pore-water DIC and magnesium concentration profiles. The linked succession of organic carbon mineralization and carbonate dissolution and precipitation...

Variations in organic carbon fluxes from Long Island Sound to the Continental Shelf

Science.gov (United States)

Vlahos, P.; Whitney, M. M.

2017-12-01

Organic carbon balances for the Long Island Sound estuary over the years 2009-2012 are presented to assess the particulate and dissolved organic carbon contributions of the estuary to the adjacent shelf waters with respect to the Delaware and Chesapeake. Observations were coupled to a hydrodynamic model (ROMS) for both seasonal and annual estimates. During stratified summer periods, LIS was consistently a net exporter of OC to the continental shelf. LIS annual net carbon export however, varied with river flow. The heterotrophic or autotrophic nature of LIS also shifted seasonally and inter-annually. During the mass balance analysis period LIS ranged between net OC import from the continental shelf and heterotrophy in the lowest river flow year (2012) and net export of OC and autotrophy in the highest flow year (2011). Analysis suggests that LIS switches from net OC import to export when the annual river inputs exceed 19 km3 yr-1. Applying these thresholds to the annual river flow record suggests that net import occurred in 15% of the last 20 years and that LIS usually is a net exporter of OC (85%). Annually averaged LIS carbon export values based on river flow conditions over the last 20 yr are estimated at 56 ± 64 x 106 km3 yr-1. Analysis also suggests that LIS shifts from net heterotrophic to net autotrophic when annual river flow exceeds 26 km3 yr-1 (35% of the last 20 yr). Net heterotrophic conditions are most common, representing 65% of the last 20 yr.

Tracing the sources of organic carbon in freshwater systems

Science.gov (United States)

Glendell, Miriam; Meersmans, Jeroen; Barclay, Rachel; Yvon-Durocher, Gabriel; Barker, Sam; Jones, Richard; Hartley, Iain; Dungait, Jennifer; Quine, Timothy

2016-04-01

Quantifying the lateral fluxes of carbon from land to inland waters is critical for the understanding of the global carbon cycle and climate change mitigation. However, the crucial role of rivers in receiving, transporting and processing the equivalent of terrestrial net primary production in their watersheds has only recently been recognised. In addition, the fluxes of carbon from land to ocean, and the impact of anthropogenic perturbation, are poorly quantified. Therefore, a mechanistic understanding of the processes involved in the loss and preservation of C along the terrestrial-aquatic continuum is required to predict the present and future contribution of aquatic C fluxes to the global C budget. This pilot study examines the effect of land use on the fate of organic matter within two headwater catchments in Cornwall (UK) in order to develop a methodological framework for investigating C-cycling across the entire terrestrial-aquatic continuum. To this end, we aim to characterise the spatial heterogeneity of soil erosion driven lateral fluxes of SOC to identify areas of erosion and deposition using 137Cs radio-isotope and trace the terrestrial versus aquatic origin of C along the river reaches and in lake sediments at the catchment outlet. The 3D spatial distribution of SOC has been investigated by sampling three depth increments (i.e. 0-15cm, 15-30cm and 30-50cm) along 14 hillslope transects within two sub-catchments of ˜km2 each. In total, 80 terrestrial sites were monitored and analysed for total C and N, and bulk stable 13C/15N isotope values, while 137Cs was used to obtain a detailed understanding of the spatial - temporal variability in erosion driven lateral fluxes of SOC within the catchments. The relative contribution of terrestrial and aquatic C was examined along the river reaches as well as in lake sediments at the catchment outlet by considering n-alkane signatures. By linking the C accumulation rates in lake sediments over decadal timescales from

Evaluation of Site and Continental Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Simulations with North American Flux Tower Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Raczka, B. M.; Davis, K. J.; Regional-Interim Synthesis Participants, N.; Site Level Interim Synthesis, N.; Regional/Continental Interim Synthesis Team

2010-12-01

Terrestrial carbon models are widely used to diagnose past ecosystem-atmosphere carbon flux responses to climate variability, and are a critical component of coupled climate-carbon model used to predict global climate change. The North American Carbon Program (NACP) Interim Regional and Site Interim Synthesis activities collected a broad sampling of terrestrial carbon model results run at both regional and site level. The Regional Interim Synthesis Activity aims to determine our current knowledge of the carbon balance of North America by comparing the flux estimates provided by the various terrestrial carbon cycle models. Moving beyond model-model comparison is challenging, however, because no continental-scale reference values exist to validate modeled fluxes. This paper presents an effort to evaluate the continental-scale flux estimates of these models using North American flux tower observations brought together by the Site Interim Synthesis Activity. Flux towers present a standard for evaluation of the modeled fluxes, though this evaluation is challenging because of the mismatch in spatial scales between the spatial resolution of continental-scale model runs and the size of a flux tower footprint. We compare model performance with flux tower observations at monthly and annual integrals using the statistical criteria of normalized standard deviation, correlation coefficient, centered root mean square deviation and chi-squared. Models are evaluated individually and according to common model characteristics including spatial resolution, photosynthesis, soil carbon decomposition and phenology. In general all regional models are positively biased for GPP, Re and NEE at both annual and monthly time scales. Further analysis links this result to a positive bias in many solar radiation reanalyses. Positively biased carbon fluxes are also observed for enzyme-kinetic models and models using no nitrogen limitation for soil carbon decomposition. While the former result is

Carbon stocks and flux in French forests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dupouey, Jean-Luc; Pignard, Gerome; Badeau, Vincent; Thimonier, A.; Dhote, Jean-Francois; Nepveu, G.; Berges, L.; Augusto, L.; Belkacem, S.; Nys, C.

2000-01-01

Forests contain most of the carbon stored in the earth's biomass (81 %) and could play a role in CO 2 mitigation to a certain extent. We estimate French forest carbon stocks in biomass to be 860 MtC on 14.5 million hectares of forests, and 1,140 MtC in forest soils. Total carbon in the 14.5 million hectares of French forests is estimated at 2,000 MtC. Average annual flux for the 1979/91 period is 10.5 MtC/y, i.e. 10 % of national fossil fuel emissions. The main causes of this net carbon uptake are the rapid increase of forest area, increasing productivity due to environmental changes, ageing or, in some localized areas, more intensive silviculture practices. These carbon sinks are not offset by the harvesting level which remains low on average (61 % of the annual volume growth). Forestry carbon mitigation options applicable in France are discussed. The need for global economic and ecological budgets (including carbon stocks, soil fertility and biodiversity) of the possible alternatives is stressed. (authors)

The "Carbon Data Explorer": Web-Based Space-Time Visualization of Modeled Carbon Fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Billmire, M.; Endsley, K. A.

2014-12-01

The visualization of and scientific "sense-making" from large datasets varying in both space and time is a challenge; one that is still being addressed in a number of different fields. The approaches taken thus far are often specific to a given academic field due to the unique questions that arise in different disciplines, however, basic approaches such as geographic maps and time series plots are still widely useful. The proliferation of model estimates of increasing size and resolution further complicates what ought to be a simple workflow: Model some geophysical phenomen(on), obtain results and measure uncertainty, organize and display the data, make comparisons across trials, and share findings. A new tool is in development that is intended to help scientists with the latter parts of that workflow. The tentatively-titled "Carbon Data Explorer" (http://spatial.mtri.org/flux-client/) enables users to access carbon science and related spatio-temporal science datasets over the web. All that is required to access multiple interactive visualizations of carbon science datasets is a compatible web browser and an internet connection. While the application targets atmospheric and climate science datasets, particularly spatio-temporal model estimates of carbon products, the software architecture takes an agnostic approach to the data to be visualized. Any atmospheric, biophysical, or geophysical quanity that varies in space and time, including one or more measures of uncertainty, can be visualized within the application. Within the web application, users have seamless control over a flexible and consistent symbology for map-based visualizations and plots. Where time series data are represented by one or more data "frames" (e.g. a map), users can animate the data. In the "coordinated view," users can make direct comparisons between different frames and different models or model runs, facilitating intermodal comparisons and assessments of spatio-temporal variability. Map

The Labrador Sea during the Last Glacial Maximum: Calcite dissolution or low biogenic carbonate fluxes?

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, Nicole; de Vernal, Anne; Mucci, Alfonso; Filippova, Alexandra; Kienast, Markus

2017-04-01

Low concentrations of biogenic carbonate characterize the sediments deposited in the Labrador Sea during the last glaciation. This may reflect poor calcite preservation and/or low biogenic carbonate productivity and fluxes. Regional bottom water ventilation was reduced during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), so the calcite lysocline might have been shallower than at present in the deep Labrador Sea making dissolution of calcite shells in the deep Labrador Sea possible. To address the issue, a multi-proxy approach based on micropaleontological counts (coccoliths, foraminifers, palynomorphs) and biogeochemical analyses (alkenones) was applied in the investigation of core HU2008-029-004-PC recovered in the northwestern Labrador Sea. Calcite dissolution indices based on the relative abundance benthic foraminifera shells to their organic linings as well as on fragmentation of planktonic foraminifera shells were used to evaluate changes in calcite dissolution/ preservation since the LGM. In addition, the ratio of the concentrations of coccoliths, specifically of the alkenone-producer Emiliania huxleyi, and alkenones (Emiliania huxleyi: alkenones) was explored as a potential new proxy of calcite dissolution. A sharp increase in coccoliths, foraminifers and organic linings from nearly none to substantial concentrations at 12 ka, reflect a jump to significantly greater biogenic fluxes at the glacial-interglacial transition. Furthermore, conventional dissolution indices (shells/linings of benthic foraminifera and fragmentation of planktic foraminifers) reveal that dissolution is not likely responsible for the lower glacial abundances of coccoliths and foraminifers. Only the low Emiliania huxleyi: alkenones ratios in glacial sediments could be interpreted as evidence of increased dissolution during the LGM. Given the evidence of allochthonous alkenone input into the glacial Labrador Sea, the latter observations must be treated with caution. Overall, the records indicate that

Tree age, disturbance history, and carbon stocks and fluxes in subalpine Rocky Mountain forests

Science.gov (United States)

J.B. Bradford; R.A. Birdsey; L.A. Joyce; M.G. Ryan

2008-01-01

Forest carbon stocks and fluxes vary with forest age, and relationships with forest age are often used to estimate fluxes for regional or national carbon inventories. Two methods are commonly used to estimate forest age: observed tree age or time since a known disturbance. To clarify the relationships between tree age, time since disturbance and forest carbon storage...

Assessment of the potential of urban organic carbon dynamics to off-set urban anthropogenic emissions

Science.gov (United States)

Gottschalk, P.; Churkina, G.; Wattenbach, M.; Cubasch, U.

2010-12-01

The impact of urban systems on current and future global carbon emissions has been a focus of several studies. Many mitigation options in terms of increasing energy efficiency are discussed. However, apart from technical mitigation potential urban systems also have a considerable biogenic potential to mitigate carbon through an optimized management of organic carbon pools of vegetation and soil. Berlin city area comprises almost 50% of areas covered with vegetation or largely covered with vegetation. This potentially offers various areas for carbon mitigation actions. To assess the mitigation potentials our first objective is to estimate how large current vegetation and soil carbon stocks of Berlin are. We use publicly available forest and soil inventories to calculate soil organic carbon of non-pervious areas and forest standing biomass carbon. This research highlights data-gaps and assigns uncertainty ranges to estimated carbon resources. The second objective is to assess the carbon mitigation potential of Berlin’s vegetation and soils using a biogeochemical simulation model. BIOME-BGC simulates carbon-, nitrogen- and water-fluxes of ecosystems mechanistically. First, its applicability for Berlin forests is tested at selected sites. A spatial application gives an estimate of current net carbon fluxes. The application of such a model allows determining the sensitivity of key ecosystem processes (e.g. carbon gains through photosynthesis, carbon losses through decomposition) towards external drivers. This information can then be used to optimise forest management in terms of carbon mitigation. Initial results of Berlin’s current carbon stocks and its spatial distribution and preliminary simulations results will be presented.

Improving SWAT for simulating water and carbon fluxes of forest ecosystems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Qichun; Zhang, Xuesong

2016-01-01

As a widely used watershed model for assessing impacts of anthropogenic and natural disturbances on water quantity and quality, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has not been extensively tested in simulating water and carbon fluxes of forest ecosystems. Here, we examine SWAT simulations of evapotranspiration (ET), net primary productivity (NPP), net ecosystem exchange (NEE), and plant biomass at ten AmeriFlux forest sites across the U.S. We identify unrealistic radiation use efficiency (Bio-E), large leaf to biomass fraction (Bio-LEAF), and missing phosphorus supply from parent material weathering as the primary causes for the inadequate performance of the default SWAT model in simulating forest dynamics. By further revising the relevant parameters and processes, SWAT's performance is substantially improved. Based on the comparison between the improved SWAT simulations and flux tower observations, we discuss future research directions for further enhancing model parameterization and representation of water and carbon cycling for forests. - Graphical abstract: Evaluating and improving SWAT simulations of water and carbon cycling over ten AmeriFlux sites across the United States. - Highlights: • The default forest parameterization in SWAT results in inadequate simulations of water and carbon. • Radiation use efficiency, leaf to biomass fraction, and parent material weathering processes are modified. • Revised SWAT provides improved simulations of evapotranspiration and net ecosystem exchange

Improving SWAT for simulating water and carbon fluxes of forest ecosystems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Qichun [Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Lab, College Park, MD 20740 (United States); Zhang, Xuesong, E-mail: xuesong.zhang@pnnl.gov [Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Lab, College Park, MD 20740 (United States); Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States)

2016-11-01

As a widely used watershed model for assessing impacts of anthropogenic and natural disturbances on water quantity and quality, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has not been extensively tested in simulating water and carbon fluxes of forest ecosystems. Here, we examine SWAT simulations of evapotranspiration (ET), net primary productivity (NPP), net ecosystem exchange (NEE), and plant biomass at ten AmeriFlux forest sites across the U.S. We identify unrealistic radiation use efficiency (Bio-E), large leaf to biomass fraction (Bio-LEAF), and missing phosphorus supply from parent material weathering as the primary causes for the inadequate performance of the default SWAT model in simulating forest dynamics. By further revising the relevant parameters and processes, SWAT's performance is substantially improved. Based on the comparison between the improved SWAT simulations and flux tower observations, we discuss future research directions for further enhancing model parameterization and representation of water and carbon cycling for forests. - Graphical abstract: Evaluating and improving SWAT simulations of water and carbon cycling over ten AmeriFlux sites across the United States. - Highlights: • The default forest parameterization in SWAT results in inadequate simulations of water and carbon. • Radiation use efficiency, leaf to biomass fraction, and parent material weathering processes are modified. • Revised SWAT provides improved simulations of evapotranspiration and net ecosystem exchange.

Remote sensing mapping of carbon and energy fluxes over forests

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roerink, G.J.; Wit, de A.J.W.; Pelgrum, H.; Mücher, C.A.

2001-01-01

This report presents the results of the EU project "Carbon and water fluxes of Mediterranean forests and impacts of land use/cover changes". The objectives of the project can be summarized as follows: (I) surface energy balance mapping using remote sensing, (ii) carbon uptake mapping using remote

Estimates of direct biological transport of radioactive waste in the deep sea with special reference to organic carbon budgets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowe, G.T.; Shepherd, J.; Needler, G.; Hargrave, B.; Marietta, M.

1986-01-01

Calculations can be made for the maximum theoretical transport of pollutants such as radionuclides by movement of organisms out of a deep-sea benthic boundary layer dump site based on a presumption of a steady state organic carbon budget and estimated biological concentration factors. A calculated flux rate depends on the difference between a limiting input of organic matter and that carbon used by the biota or accumulating in the sediment. On average, the potential biological mass transport is low compared to physical transport. Exceptions to this generalization are possible in the far field after spatial gradients are obliterated or if natural mass migrations or periodic spawning concentrations occur in the near field. Biologically mediated fluxes of contaminants due to mixing of sediments by bioturbation or vertical flux due to scavenging by sinking particles are significant for movements of pollutants to and from sediments. These pathways contribute to the direct input of contaminants into food webs which may contain harvestable species. These fluxes are unimportant for mass transfers in the ocean but they determine the exposure of critical groups to contaminants

Using High Spatio-Temporal Optical Remote Sensing to Monitor Dissolved Organic Carbon in the Arctic River Yenisei

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierre-Alexis Herrault

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In Arctic regions, a major concern is the release of carbon from melting permafrost that could greatly exceed current human carbon emissions. Arctic rivers drain these organic-rich watersheds (Ob, Lena, Yenisei, Mackenzie, Yukon but field measurements at the outlets of these great Arctic rivers are constrained by limited accessibility of sampling sites. In particular, the highest dissolved organic carbon (DOC fluxes are observed throughout the ice breakup period that occurs over a short two to three-week period in late May or early June during the snowmelt-generated peak flow. The colored fraction of dissolved organic carbon (DOC which absorbs UV and visible light is designed as chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM. It is highly correlated to DOC in large arctic rivers and streams, allowing for remote sensing to monitor DOC concentrations from satellite imagery. High temporal and spatial resolutions remote sensing tools are highly relevant for the study of DOC fluxes in a large Arctic river. The high temporal resolution allows for correctly assessing this highly dynamic process, especially the spring freshet event (a few weeks in May. The high spatial resolution allows for assessing the spatial variability within the stream and quantifying DOC transfer during the ice break period when the access to the river is almost impossible. In this study, we develop a CDOM retrieval algorithm at a high spatial and a high temporal resolution in the Yenisei River. We used extensive DOC and DOM spectral absorbance datasets from 2014 and 2015. Twelve SPOT5 (Take5 and Landsat 8 (OLI images from 2014 and 2015 were examined for this investigation. Relationships between CDOM and spectral variables were explored using linear models (LM. Results demonstrated the capacity of a CDOM algorithm retrieval to monitor DOC fluxes in the Yenisei River during a whole open water season with a special focus on the peak flow period. Overall, future Sentinel2/Landsat8

Lateral transport of soil carbon and land−atmosphere CO2 flux induced by water erosion in China

Science.gov (United States)

Yue, Yao; Ni, Jinren; Ciais, Philippe; Piao, Shilong; Wang, Tao; Huang, Mengtian; Borthwick, Alistair G. L.; Li, Tianhong; Wang, Yichu; Chappell, Adrian; Van Oost, Kristof

2016-01-01

Soil erosion by water impacts soil organic carbon stocks and alters CO2 fluxes exchanged with the atmosphere. The role of erosion as a net sink or source of atmospheric CO2 remains highly debated, and little information is available at scales larger than small catchments or regions. This study attempts to quantify the lateral transport of soil carbon and consequent land−atmosphere CO2 fluxes at the scale of China, where severe erosion has occurred for several decades. Based on the distribution of soil erosion rates derived from detailed national surveys and soil carbon inventories, here we show that water erosion in China displaced 180 ± 80 Mt C⋅y−1 of soil organic carbon during the last two decades, and this resulted a net land sink for atmospheric CO2 of 45 ± 25 Mt C⋅y−1, equivalent to 8–37% of the terrestrial carbon sink previously assessed in China. Interestingly, the “hotspots,” largely distributed in mountainous regions in the most intensive sink areas (>40 g C⋅m−2⋅y−1), occupy only 1.5% of the total area suffering water erosion, but contribute 19.3% to the national erosion-induced CO2 sink. The erosion-induced CO2 sink underwent a remarkable reduction of about 16% from the middle 1990s to the early 2010s, due to diminishing erosion after the implementation of large-scale soil conservation programs. These findings demonstrate the necessity of including erosion-induced CO2 in the terrestrial budget, hence reducing the level of uncertainty. PMID:27247397

Lateral transport of soil carbon and land-atmosphere CO2 flux induced by water erosion in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Yue, Yao; Ni, Jinren; Ciais, Philippe; Piao, Shilong; Wang, Tao; Huang, Mengtian; Borthwick, Alistair G L; Li, Tianhong; Wang, Yichu; Chappell, Adrian; Van Oost, Kristof

2016-06-14

Soil erosion by water impacts soil organic carbon stocks and alters CO2 fluxes exchanged with the atmosphere. The role of erosion as a net sink or source of atmospheric CO2 remains highly debated, and little information is available at scales larger than small catchments or regions. This study attempts to quantify the lateral transport of soil carbon and consequent land-atmosphere CO2 fluxes at the scale of China, where severe erosion has occurred for several decades. Based on the distribution of soil erosion rates derived from detailed national surveys and soil carbon inventories, here we show that water erosion in China displaced 180 ± 80 Mt C⋅y(-1) of soil organic carbon during the last two decades, and this resulted a net land sink for atmospheric CO2 of 45 ± 25 Mt C⋅y(-1), equivalent to 8-37% of the terrestrial carbon sink previously assessed in China. Interestingly, the "hotspots," largely distributed in mountainous regions in the most intensive sink areas (>40 g C⋅m(-2)⋅y(-1)), occupy only 1.5% of the total area suffering water erosion, but contribute 19.3% to the national erosion-induced CO2 sink. The erosion-induced CO2 sink underwent a remarkable reduction of about 16% from the middle 1990s to the early 2010s, due to diminishing erosion after the implementation of large-scale soil conservation programs. These findings demonstrate the necessity of including erosion-induced CO2 in the terrestrial budget, hence reducing the level of uncertainty.

Modeling and Predicting Carbon and Water Fluxes Using Data-Driven Techniques in a Forest Ecosystem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xianming Dou

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Accurate estimation of carbon and water fluxes of forest ecosystems is of particular importance for addressing the problems originating from global environmental change, and providing helpful information about carbon and water content for analyzing and diagnosing past and future climate change. The main focus of the current work was to investigate the feasibility of four comparatively new methods, including generalized regression neural network, group method of data handling (GMDH, extreme learning machine and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS, for elucidating the carbon and water fluxes in a forest ecosystem. A comparison was made between these models and two widely used data-driven models, artificial neural network (ANN and support vector machine (SVM. All the models were evaluated based on the following statistical indices: coefficient of determination, Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency, root mean square error and mean absolute error. Results indicated that the data-driven models are capable of accounting for most variance in each flux with the limited meteorological variables. The ANN model provided the best estimates for gross primary productivity (GPP and net ecosystem exchange (NEE, while the ANFIS model achieved the best for ecosystem respiration (R, indicating that no single model was consistently superior to others for the carbon flux prediction. In addition, the GMDH model consistently produced somewhat worse results for all the carbon flux and evapotranspiration (ET estimations. On the whole, among the carbon and water fluxes, all the models produced similar highly satisfactory accuracy for GPP, R and ET fluxes, and did a reasonable job of reproducing the eddy covariance NEE. Based on these findings, it was concluded that these advanced models are promising alternatives to ANN and SVM for estimating the terrestrial carbon and water fluxes.

Numerical cell model investigating cellular carbon fluxes in Emiliania huxleyi.

Science.gov (United States)

Holtz, Lena-Maria; Wolf-Gladrow, Dieter; Thoms, Silke

2015-01-07

Coccolithophores play a crucial role in the marine carbon cycle and thus it is interesting to know how they will respond to climate change. After several decades of research the interplay between intracellular processes and the marine carbonate system is still not well understood. On the basis of experimental findings given in literature, a numerical cell model is developed that describes inorganic carbon fluxes between seawater and the intracellular sites of calcite precipitation and photosynthetic carbon fixation. The implemented cell model consists of four compartments, for each of which the carbonate system is resolved individually. The four compartments are connected to each other via H(+), CO2, and HCO3(-) fluxes across the compartment-confining membranes. For CO2 accumulation around RubisCO, an energy-efficient carbon concentrating mechanism is proposed that relies on diffusive CO2 uptake. At low external CO2 concentrations and high light intensities, CO2 diffusion does not suffice to cover the carbon demand of photosynthesis and an additional uptake of external HCO3(-) becomes essential. The model is constrained by data of Emiliania huxleyi, the numerically most abundant coccolithophore species in the present-day ocean. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Geochemistry and Flux of Terrigenous Dissolved Organic Matter to the Arctic Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer, R. G.; Mann, P. J.; Hernes, P. J.; Tank, S. E.; Striegl, R. G.; Dyda, R. Y.; Peterson, B. J.; McClelland, J. W.; Holmes, R. M.

2011-12-01

Rivers draining into the Arctic Ocean exhibit high concentrations of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and recent studies indicate that DOC export is changing due to climatic warming and alteration in permafrost condition. The fate of exported DOC in the Arctic Ocean is of key importance for understanding the regional carbon cycle and remains a point of discussion in the literature. As part of the Arctic Great Rivers Observatory (Arctic-GRO) project, samples were collected for DOC, chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and lignin phenols from the Ob', Yenisey, Lena, Kolyma, Mackenzie and Yukon rivers in 2009 - 2010. DOC and lignin concentrations were elevated during the spring freshet and measurements related to DOC composition indicated an increasing contribution from terrestrial vascular plant sources at this time of year (e.g. lignin carbon-normalized yield, CDOM spectral slope, SUVA254, humic-like fluorescence). CDOM absorption was found to correlate strongly with both DOC (r2=0.83) and lignin concentration (r2=0.92) across the major arctic rivers. Utilizing these relationships we modeled loads for DOC and lignin export from high-resolution CDOM measurements (daily across the freshet) to derive improved flux estimates, particularly from the dynamic spring discharge maxima period when the majority of DOC and lignin export occurs. The new load estimates for DOC and lignin are higher than previous evaluations, emphasizing that if these are more representative of current arctic riverine export, terrigenous DOC is transiting through the Arctic Ocean at a faster rate than previously thought. It is apparent that higher resolution sampling of arctic rivers is exceptionally valuable with respect to deriving accurate fluxes and we highlight the potential of CDOM in this role for future studies and the applicability of in-situ CDOM sensors.

Organic carbon sedimentation rates in Asian mangrove coastal ecosystems estimated by 210PB chronology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tateda, Y.; Wattayakorn, G.; Nhan, D.D.; Kasuya, Y.

2004-01-01

Organic carbon balance estimation of mangrove coastal ecosystem is important for understanding of Asian coastal carbon budget/flux calculation in global carbon cycle modelling which is powerful tool for the prediction of future greenhouse gas effect and evaluation of countermeasure preference. Especially, the organic carbon accumulation rate in mangrove ecosystem was reported to be important sink of carbon as well as that in boreal peat accumulation. For the estimation of 10 3 years scale organic carbon accumulation rates in mangrove coastal ecosystems, 14 C was used as long term chronological tracer, being useful in pristine mangrove forest reserve area. While in case of mangrove plantation of in coastal area, the 210 Pb is suitable for the estimation of decades scale estimation by its half-life. Though it has possibility of bio-/physical- turbation effect in applying 210 Pb chronology that is offset in case of 10 3 years scale estimation, especially in Asian mangrove ecosystem where the anthropogenic physical turbation by coastal fishery is vigorous.In this paper, we studied the organic carbon and 210 Pb accumulation rates in subtropical mangrove coastal ecosystems in Japan, Vietnam and Thailand with 7 Be analyses to make sure the negligible effect of above turbation effects on organic carbon accumulation. We finally concluded that 210 Pb was applicable to estimate organic carbon accumulation rates in these ecosystems even though the physical-/bio-turbation is expected. The measured organic carbon accumulation rates using 210 Pb in mangrove coastal ecosystems of Japan, Vietnam and Thailand were 0.067 4.0 t-C ha -1 y -1 . (author)

Riverine export of dissolved organic carbon to the Gulf of Maine

Science.gov (United States)

Huntington, T. G.; Aiken, G.

2013-12-01

Land-to-sea carbon transport of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is an important part of the carbon cycle that can affect long-term carbon sequestration, satellite-derived ocean color metrics, and ocean primary productivity and biogeochemistry. Using continuous discharge data and discrete sampling we estimated DOC fluxes from rivers covering about 68% of the watershed that drains to the Gulf of Maine (GoM) for water years (October through September) 2011 and 2012. Estimates for rivers entering the GoM in the USA were made using LOADEST regression software that fits a seasonally-adjusted concentration discharge relation to the data. The basin area-weighted 95% confidence limits about the LOADEST mean fluxes averaged 8.1% for the lower limit and 8.9% for the upper limit. Estimates for rivers entering the GoM in Canada were obtained from previously published estimates. Carbon yield tends to increase from southwest (35 to 36 kg C/ha/yr) to a maximum of 76 kg C/ha/yr for the Penobscot River and then decline further to the northeast (61 kg C/ha/yr in the St. John River and 41 kg C/ha/yr in the rest of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia). The area-weighted average carbon yield for all measured basins was 54.5 kg C/ha/yr. The variation in carbon yield is most closely associated with the amount of runoff and wetland area within a river basin. Simple area-weighted extrapolation to the entire GoM basin resulted in an estimate of 9.8 x 105 metric tons C per year for the WY2011 and WY2012 period. Runoff is the dominant control on intra and inter-annual variation in DOC flux because runoff varies much more than DOC concentration at these temporal scales. Runoff is usually low during the winter, peaks in the spring during snowmelt, decreases to a minimum in late summer and increases again in the fall when transpiration decreases. DOC concentration is low during the winter and snowmelt-dominated spring period, generally increases through the summer, and peaks during the fall. DOC flux to

Effect of biological activated carbon pre-treatment to control organic fouling in the microfiltration of biologically treated secondary effluent.

Science.gov (United States)

Pramanik, Biplob Kumar; Roddick, Felicity A; Fan, Linhua

2014-10-15

Biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration was investigated as a pre-treatment for reducing the organic fouling of a microfiltration membrane (0.1 μm polyvinylidene fluoride) in the treatment of a biologically treated secondary effluent (BTSE) from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. BAC treatment of the BTSE resulted in a marked improvement in permeate flux, which was attributed to the effective removal of organic foulants and particulates. Although the BAC removed significantly less dissolved organic carbon than the granular activated carbon (GAC) treatment which was used as a control for comparison, it led to a markedly greater flux. This was attributed to the effective removal of the very high molecular weight substances such as biopolymers by the BAC through biodegradation and adsorption of those molecules on the biofilm. Size exclusion chromatography showed the BAC treatment led to approximately 30% reduction in these substances, whereas the GAC did not greatly remove these molecules. The BAC treatment led to a greater reduction of loosely-attached and firmly-attached membrane surface foulant, and this was confirmed by attenuated total reflection-fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. This study demonstrated the potential of BAC pre-treatment for reducing organic fouling and thus improving flux for the microfiltration of BTSE. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-Flux Carbon Molecular Sieve Membranes for Gas Separation.

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Hannes; Voss, Hartwig; Kaltenborn, Nadine; Kämnitz, Susanne; Wollbrink, Alexander; Feldhoff, Armin; Caro, Jürgen; Roitsch, Stefan; Voigt, Ingolf

2017-06-26

Carbon membranes have great potential for highly selective and cost-efficient gas separation. Carbon is chemically stable and it is relative cheap. The controlled carbonization of a polymer coating on a porous ceramic support provides a 3D carbon material with molecular sieving permeation performance. The carbonization of the polymer blend gives turbostratic carbon domains of randomly stacked together sp 2 hybridized carbon sheets as well as sp 3 hybridized amorphous carbon. In the evaluation of the carbon molecular sieve membrane, hydrogen could be separated from propane with a selectivity of 10 000 with a hydrogen permeance of 5 m 3 (STP)/(m 2 hbar). Furthermore, by a post-synthesis oxidative treatment, the permeation fluxes are increased by widening the pores, and the molecular sieve carbon membrane is transformed from a molecular sieve carbon into a selective surface flow carbon membrane with adsorption controlled performance and becomes selective for carbon dioxide. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The flux of organic matter through a peatland ecosystem: The role of cellulose, lignin, and their control of the ecosystem oxidation state

Science.gov (United States)

Worrall, Fred; Moody, Catherine S.; Clay, Gareth D.; Burt, Tim P.; Rose, Rob

2017-07-01

This study used thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to study the transit of organic C through a peatland ecosystem. The biomass, litter, peat soil profile, particulate organic matter (POM), and dissolved organic matter (DOM) fluxes were sampled from the Moor House National Nature Reserve, a peat-covered catchment in northern England where both the dry matter and carbon budget for the catchment were known. The study showed that although TGA traces showed distinct differences between organic matter reservoirs and fluxes, the traces could not readily be associated with particular functionalities or elemental properties. The TGA trace shows that polysaccharides are preferentially removed by humification and degradation with residual peat being dominated by lignin compositions. The DOM is derived from the degradation of lignin while the POM is derived from erosion of the peat profile. The carbon lost as gases (CO2 and CH4) was estimated to be composed of 92 to 95% polysaccharide carbon. The composition of the organic matter lost from the peat ecosystem means that the oxidative ratio (OR) of the ecosystem experienced by the atmosphere was between 0.96 and 0.99: currently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change uses an OR value of 1.1 for all ecosystems.

Pools and fluxes of organic matter in a boreal landscape: implications for a safety assessment of a repository for nuclear waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumblad, Linda; Söderbäck, Björn; Löfgren, Anders; Lindborg, Tobias; Wijnbladh, Erik; Kautsky, Ulrik

2006-12-01

To provide information necessary for a license application for a deep repository for spent nuclear fuel, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co is carrying out site investigations, including extensive studies of different parts of the surface ecosystems, at two sites in Sweden. Here we use the output from detailed modeling of the carbon dynamics in the terrestrial, limnic and marine ecosystems to describe and compare major pools and fluxes of organic matter in the Simpevarp area, situated on the southeast coast of Sweden. In this study, organic carbon is used as a proxy for radionuclides incorporated into organic matter. The results show that the largest incorporation of carbon into living tissue occurs in terrestrial catchments. Carbon is accumulated in soil or sediments in all ecosystems, but the carbon pool reaches the highest values in shallow near-land marine basins. The marine basins, especially the outer basins, are dominated by large horizontal water fluxes that transport carbon and any associated contaminants into the Baltic Sea. The results suggest that the near-land shallow marine basins have to be regarded as focal points for accumulation of radionuclides in the Simpevarp area, as they receive a comparatively large amount of carbon as discharge from terrestrial catchments, having a high NPP and a high detrital accumulation in sediments. These focal points may constitute a potential risk for exposure to humans in a future landscape as, due to post-glacial land uplift, previous accumulation bottoms are likely to be used for future agricultural purposes.

Influence of Beaver-Induced Complexity on Storage of Organic Carbon and Sediment in Colorado Mountain Streams

Science.gov (United States)

Laurel, D.; Wohl, E.

2016-12-01

Beaver meadows (complexes of multiple different aged beaver dams and ponds) influence the storage of water, sediment, and nutrients. Although beaver meadows compose only a small fraction of catchment area, they provide a potentially large role in retaining these fluxes in mountain watersheds. Multiple dams and ponds in beaver meadows increase overbank flows leading to an anastomosing stream channel planform, and deposition of fine sediment along with particulate organic carbon. An earlier study estimated a range of cumulative carbon stored in 27 beaver meadows east of the continental divide in Rocky Mountain National Park. Storage ranged from 735,800 to 2.8 x 106 Mg carbon, with the high value estimating storage if all the meadows had active beaver (historic conditions pre-European settlement) and the lower value estimating current conditions where many of the meadows are abandoned. We combined geomorphic surveys, soil depth probing by rebar, and soil cores analyzed for carbon content to investigate the influence of beaver activity, meadow size, and meadow placement within the drainage on catchment-scale fluxes of fine sediment and organic carbon. We found carbon storage in floodplain soils to be highly variable across both active and abandoned meadows; however, active beaver meadows store more carbon on average than abandoned meadows. In addition, active meadows with high levels of beaver activity (multiple colonies) stored greater volumes of fine sediment behind dams and in ponds. These results have implications for the restoration potential of abandoned beaver meadows in mountain environments to store greater volumes of sediment and more organic carbon if beaver are successfully reintroduced.

Spatiotemporal variations in CO2 flux in a fringing reef simulated using a novel carbonate system dynamics model

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, A.; Yamamoto, T.; Nadaoka, K.; Maeda, Y.; Miyajima, T.; Tanaka, Y.; Blanco, A. C.

2013-03-01

A carbonate system dynamics (CSD) model was developed in a fringing reef on the east coast of Ishigaki Island, southwest Japan, by incorporating organic and inorganic carbon fluxes (photosynthesis and calcification), air-sea gas exchanges, and benthic cover of coral and seagrass into a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The CSD model could reproduce temporal variations in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity in coral zones, but not in seagrass meadows. The poor reproduction in seagrass meadows can be attributed to significant contributions of submarine groundwater discharge as well as misclassification of remotely sensed megabenthos in this area. In comparison with offshore areas, the reef acted as a CO2 sink during the observation period when it was averaged over 24 h. The CSD model also indicated large spatiotemporal differences in the carbon dioxide (CO2) sink/source, possibly related to hydrodynamic features such as effective offshore seawater exchange and neap/spring tidal variation. This suggests that the data obtained from a single point observation may lead to misinterpretation of the overall trend and thus should be carefully considered. The model analysis also showed that the advective flux of DIC from neighboring grids is several times greater than local biological flux of DIC and is three orders of magnitude greater than the air-sea gas flux at the coral zone. Sensitivity tests in which coral or seagrass covers were altered revealed that the CO2 sink potential was much more sensitive to changes in coral cover than seagrass cover.

Quantification of net carbon flux from plastic greenhouse vegetable cultivation: A full carbon cycle analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yan; Xu Hao; Wu Xu; Zhu Yimei; Gu Baojing; Niu Xiaoyin; Liu Anqin; Peng Changhui; Ge Ying; Chang Jie

2011-01-01

Plastic greenhouse vegetable cultivation (PGVC) has played a vital role in increasing incomes of farmers and expanded dramatically in last several decades. However, carbon budget after conversion from conventional vegetable cultivation (CVC) to PGVC has been poorly quantified. A full carbon cycle analysis was used to estimate the net carbon flux from PGVC systems based on the combination of data from both field observations and literatures. Carbon fixation was evaluated at two pre-selected locations in China. Results suggest that: (1) the carbon sink of PGVC is 1.21 and 1.23 Mg C ha -1 yr -1 for temperate and subtropical area, respectively; (2) the conversion from CVC to PGVC could substantially enhance carbon sink potential by 8.6 times in the temperate area and by 1.3 times in the subtropical area; (3) the expansion of PGVC usage could enhance the potential carbon sink of arable land in China overall. - Highlights: → We used full carbon (C) cycle analysis to estimate the net C flux from cultivation. → The plastic greenhouse vegetable cultivation system in China can act as a C sink. → Intensified agricultural practices can generate C sinks. → Expansion of plastic greenhouse vegetable cultivation can enhance regional C sink. - The conversion from conventional vegetable cultivation to plastic greenhouse vegetable cultivation could substantially enhance carbon sink potential by 8.6 and 1.3 times for temperate and subtropical area, respectively.

A case study of carbon fluxes from land change in the southwest Brazilian Amazon

Science.gov (United States)

Barrett, K.; Rogan, J.; Eastman, J.R.

2009-01-01

Worldwide, land change is responsible for one-fifth of anthropogenic carbon emissions. In Brazil, three-quarters of carbon emissions originate from land change. This study represents a municipal-scale study of carbon fluxes from vegetation in Rio Branco, Brazil. Land-cover maps of pasture, forest, and secondary growth from 1993, 1996, 1999, and 2003 were produced using an unsupervised classification method (overall accuracy = 89%). Carbon fluxes from land change over the decade of imagery were estimated from transitions between land-cover categories for each time interval. This article presents new methods for estimating emissions reductions from carbon stored in the vegetation that replaces forests (e.g., pasture) and sequestration by new (>10-15 years) forests, which reduced gross emissions by 16, 15, and 22% for the period of 1993-1996, 1996-1999, and 1999-2003, respectively. The methods used in the analysis are broadly applicable and provide a comprehensive characterization of regional-scale carbon fluxes from land change.

Impact of mountain pine beetle induced mortality on forest carbon and water fluxes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

E Reed, David; Ewers, Brent E; Pendall, Elise

2014-01-01

Quantifying impacts of ecological disturbance on ecosystem carbon and water fluxes will improve predictive understanding of biosphere—atmosphere feedbacks. Tree mortality caused by mountain pine bark beetles (Dendroctonus ponderosae) is hypothesized to decrease photosynthesis and water flux to the atmosphere while increasing respiration at a rate proportional to mortality. This work uses data from an eddy-covariance flux tower in a bark beetle infested lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forest to test ecosystem responses during the outbreak. Analyses were conducted on components of carbon (C) and water fluxes in response to disturbance and environmental factors (solar radiation, soil water content and vapor pressure deficit). Maximum CO 2 uptake did not change as tree basal area mortality increased from 30 to 78% over three years of beetle disturbance. Growing season evapotranspiration varied among years while ecosystem water use efficiency (the ratio of net CO 2 uptake to water vapor loss) did not change. Between 2009 and 2011, canopy water conductance increased from 98.6 to 151.7 mmol H 2 O m −2 s −1 . Ecosystem light use efficiency of photosynthesis increased, with quantum yield increasing by 16% during the outbreak as light increased below the mature tree canopy and illuminated remaining vegetation more. Overall net ecosystem productivity was correlated with water flux and hence water availability. Average weekly ecosystem respiration, derived from light response curves and standard Ameriflux protocols for CO 2 flux partitioning into respiration and gross ecosystem productivity, did not change as mortality increased. Separate effects of increased respiration and photosynthesis efficiency largely canceled one another out, presumably due to increased diffuse light in the canopy and soil organic matter decomposition resulting in no change in net CO 2 exchange. These results agree with an emerging consensus in the literature demonstrating CO 2 and H 2 O dynamics

Seasonal analyses of carbon dioxide and energy fluxes above an oil palm plantation using the eddy covariance method

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Anis; Haniff Harun, Mohd; Yusup, Yusri

2017-04-01

A study presents the measurements of carbon dioxide and latent and sensible heat fluxes above a mature oil palm plantation on mineral soil in Keratong, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia. The sampling campaign was conducted over an 25-month period, from September 2013 to February 2015 and May 2016 to November 2016, using the eddy covariance method. The main aim of this work is to assess carbon dioxide and energy fluxes over this plantation at different time scales, seasonal and diurnal, and determine the effects of season and relevant meteorological parameters on the latter fluxes. Energy balance closure analyses gave a slope between latent and sensible heat fluxes and total incoming energy to be 0.69 with an R2 value of 0.86 and energy balance ratio of 0.80. The averaged net radiation was 108 W m-2. The results show that at the diurnal scale, carbon dioxide, latent and sensible heat fluxes exhibited a clear diurnal trend where carbon dioxide flux was at its minimum - 3.59 μmol m-2 s-1 in the mid-afternoon and maximum in the morning while latent and sensible behaved conversely to the carbon dioxide flux. The average carbon dioxide flux was - 0.37 μmol m-2 s-1. At the seasonal timescale, carbon dioxide fluxes did not show any apparent trend except during the Northeast Monsoon where the highest variability of the monthly means of carbon dioxide occurred.

Impact of climatic change on ocean carbon fluxes. Role of the decadal variability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seferian, Roland

2013-01-01

Since the industrial revolution, oceans have absorbed roughly one quarter of the anthropogenic emissions of CO 2 , slowing down climate change. The evolution of the ocean carbon sink, paralleled to the anthropogenic CO 2 emissions, is ruled by the CO 2 as well as climate. Influence of atmospheric CO 2 in the recent evolution of the ocean carbon sink is well understood whilst this is not the case for the climate's one. Indeed, some authors claim that the recent variations of the ocean CO 2 sink can be attributed to climate change, whereas some others suggest that these latter are controlled by a decadal variability, which is poorly understood. In this thesis, we address question relative to the role of the decadal variability of the ocean carbon fluxes through the mean of numerical modeling. On one hand, we have demonstrated that ocean carbon fluxes exhibit decadal fluctuations within the high latitudes oceans. These fluctuations displays modes of 10 to 50-year long which account for 20 to 40% of the year-to-year variability. Thanks to Detection and Attribution methods applied to RECCAP project's reconstructions (1960-2005), we have then assessed whether the occurrence of fluctuations at decadal time scale could hamper the detection of the climate contribution to the recent evolution of ocean carbon fluxes. We have shown that the climate contribution is indeed not detected in the high latitude oceans due to the presence of decadal mode of variability. In the low latitude oceans instead, the weaker fluctuations of ocean carbon fluxes at decadal time scale favor the detection of climate influence in the recent variations of the CO 2 fluxes. (author) [fr

Magnitude and Uncertainty of Carbon Pools and Fluxes in the US Forests

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, N.; Saatchi, S. S.; Fore, A.; Yu, Y.; Woodall, C. W.; Ganguly, S.; Nemani, R. R.; Hagen, S.; Birdsey, R.; Brown, S.; Salas, W.; Johnson, K. D.

2015-12-01

Sassan Saatchi1,2, Stephan Hagen3, Christopher Woodall4 , Sangram Ganguly,5 Nancy Harris6, Sandra Brown7, Timothy Pearson7, Alexander Fore1, Yifan Yu1, Rama Nemani5, Gong Zhang5, William Salas4, Roger Cooke81 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA2 Institute of Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA3 Applied Geosolutions, 55 Main Street Suit 125, Newmarket, NH 03857, USA4 USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA5 NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA6 Forests Program, World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, 20002, USA7 Winrock International, Ecosystem Services Unit, Arlington, VA 22202, USA8 Risk Analysis Resources for the Future, Washington DC 20036-1400Assessment of the carbon sinks and sources associated with greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes across the US forestlands is a priority of the national climate mitigation policy. However, estimates of fluxes from the land sector are less precise compared to other sectors because of the large sources of uncertainty in quantifying the carbon pools, emissions, and removals associated with anthropogenic (land use) and natural changes in the US forestlands. As part of the NASA's Carbon Monitoring System, we developed a methodology based on a combination of ground inventory and space observations to develop spatially refined carbon pools and fluxes including the gross emissions and sequestration of carbon at each 1-ha land unit across the forestlands in the continental United States (CONUS) for the period of 2006-2010. Here, we provide the magnitude and uncertainty of multiple pools and fluxes of the US forestlands and outline the observational requirements to reduce the uncertainties for developing national climate mitigation policies based on the carbon sequestration capacity of the US forest lands. Keywords: forests, carbon pools, greenhouse gas, land use, attribution

Evaluation of NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) Flux Pilot: Terrestrial CO2 Fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, J. B.; Polhamus, A.; Bowman, K. W.; Collatz, G. J.; Potter, C. S.; Lee, M.; Liu, J.; Jung, M.; Reichstein, M.

2011-12-01

NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) flux pilot project combines NASA's Earth System models in land, ocean and atmosphere to track surface CO2 fluxes. The system is constrained by atmospheric measurements of XCO2 from the Japanese GOSAT satellite, giving a "big picture" view of total CO2 in Earth's atmosphere. Combining two land models (CASA-Ames and CASA-GFED), two ocean models (ECCO2 and NOBM) and two atmospheric chemistry and inversion models (GEOS-5 and GEOS-Chem), the system brings together the stand-alone component models of the Earth System, all of which are run diagnostically constrained by a multitude of other remotely sensed data. Here, we evaluate the biospheric land surface CO2 fluxes (i.e., net ecosystem exchange, NEE) as estimated from the atmospheric flux inversion. We compare against the prior bottom-up estimates (e.g., the CASA models) as well. Our evaluation dataset is the independently derived global wall-to-wall MPI-BGC product, which uses a machine learning algorithm and model tree ensemble to "scale-up" a network of in situ CO2 flux measurements from 253 globally-distributed sites in the FLUXNET network. The measurements are based on the eddy covariance method, which uses observations of co-varying fluxes of CO2 (and water and energy) from instruments on towers extending above ecosystem canopies; the towers integrate fluxes over large spatial areas (~1 km2). We present global maps of CO2 fluxes and differences between products, summaries of fluxes by TRANSCOM region, country, latitude, and biome type, and assess the time series, including timing of minimum and maximum fluxes. This evaluation shows both where the CMS is performing well, and where improvements should be directed in further work.

Short-term dissolved organic carbon dynamics reflect water management and precipitation patterns in a subtropical estuary

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Regier

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Estuaries significantly impact the global carbon cycle by regulating the exchange of organic matter, primarily in the form of dissolved organic carbon (DOC, between terrestrial and marine carbon pools. Estuarine DOC dynamics are complex as tides and other hydrological and climatic drivers can affect carbon fluxes on short and long time scales. While estuarine and coastal DOC dynamics have been well studied, variations on short time scales are less well constrained. Recent advancements in sonde technology enable autonomous in situ collection of high frequency DOC data using fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM as a proxy, dramatically improving our capacity to characterize rapid changes in DOC, even in remote ecosystems. This study utilizes high-frequency fDOM measurements to untangle rapid and complex hydrologic drivers of DOC in the Shark River estuary, the main drainage of Everglades National Park, Florida. Non-conservative mixing of fDOM along the salinity gradient suggested mangrove inputs accounted for 6% of the total DOC pool. Average changes in fDOM concentrations through individual tidal cycles ranged from less than 10% to greater than 50% and multi-day trends greater than 100% change in fDOM concentration were observed. Salinity and water level both inversely correlated to fDOM at sub-hourly and daily resolutions, while freshwater controls via precipitation and water management were observed at diel to monthly time-scales. In particular, the role of water management in rapidly shifting estuarine salinity gradients and DOC export regimes at sub-weekly time-scales was evident. Additionally, sub-hourly spikes in ebb-tide fDOM indicated rapid exchange of DOC between mangrove sediments and the river channel. DOC fluxes calculated from high-resolution fDOM measurements were compared to monthly DOC measurements with high-resolution fluxes considerably improving accuracy of fluxes (thereby constraining carbon budgets. This study provides

Changing fluxes of carbon and other solutes from the Mekong River.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Siyue; Bush, Richard T

2015-11-02

Rivers are an important aquatic conduit that connects terrestrial sources of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and other elements with oceanic reservoirs. The Mekong River, one of the world's largest rivers, is firstly examined to explore inter-annual fluxes of dissolved and particulate constituents during 1923-2011 and their associated natural or anthropogenic controls. Over this period, inter-annual fluxes of dissolved and particulate constituents decrease, while anthropogenic activities have doubled the relative abundance of SO4(2-), Cl(-) and Na(+). The estimated fluxes of solutes from the Mekong decrease as follows (Mt/y): TDS (40.4) > HCO3(-) (23.4) > Ca(2+) (6.4) > SO4(2-) (3.8) > Cl(-) (1.74)~Na(+) (1.7) ~ Si (1.67) > Mg(2+) (1.2) > K(+ 0.5). The runoff, land cover and lithological composition significantly contribute to dissolved and particulate yields globally. HCO3(-) and TDS yields are readily predicted by runoff and percent of carbonate, while TSS yield by runoff and population density. The Himalayan Rivers, including the Mekong, are a disproportionally high contributor to global riverine carbon and other solute budgets, and are of course underlined. The estimated global riverine HCO3(-) flux (Himalayan Rivers included) is 34,014 × 10(9) mol/y (0.41 Pg C/y), 3915 Mt/y for solute load, including HCO3(-), and 13,553 Mt/y for TSS. Thereby this study illustrates the importance of riverine solute delivery in global carbon cycling.

BOREAS TGB-5 Dissolved Organic Carbon Data from NSA Beaver Ponds

Science.gov (United States)

Bourbonniere, Rick; Hall, Forrest G. (Editor); Conrad, Sara K. (Editor)

2000-01-01

The BOReal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study Trace Gas Biogeochemistry (BOREAS TGB-5) team collected several data sets related to carbon and trace gas fluxes and concentrations in the Northern Study Area (NSA). This data set contains concentrations of dissolved organic and inorganic carbon species from water samples collected at various NSA sites. In particular, this set covers the NSA Tower Beaver Pond Site and the NSA Gillam Road Beaver Pond Site, including data from all visits to open water sampling locations during the BOREAS field campaigns from April to September 1994. The data are provided in tabular ASCII files.

Hidden cycle of dissolved organic carbon in the deep ocean.

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Follett, Christopher L; Repeta, Daniel J; Rothman, Daniel H; Xu, Li; Santinelli, Chiara

2014-11-25

Marine dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a large (660 Pg C) reactive carbon reservoir that mediates the oceanic microbial food web and interacts with climate on both short and long timescales. Carbon isotopic content provides information on the DOC source via δ(13)C and age via Δ(14)C. Bulk isotope measurements suggest a microbially sourced DOC reservoir with two distinct components of differing radiocarbon age. However, such measurements cannot determine internal dynamics and fluxes. Here we analyze serial oxidation experiments to quantify the isotopic diversity of DOC at an oligotrophic site in the central Pacific Ocean. Our results show diversity in both stable and radio isotopes at all depths, confirming DOC cycling hidden within bulk analyses. We confirm the presence of isotopically enriched, modern DOC cocycling with an isotopically depleted older fraction in the upper ocean. However, our results show that up to 30% of the deep DOC reservoir is modern and supported by a 1 Pg/y carbon flux, which is 10 times higher than inferred from bulk isotope measurements. Isotopically depleted material turns over at an apparent time scale of 30,000 y, which is far slower than indicated by bulk isotope measurements. These results are consistent with global DOC measurements and explain both the fluctuations in deep DOC concentration and the anomalous radiocarbon values of DOC in the Southern Ocean. Collectively these results provide an unprecedented view of the ways in which DOC moves through the marine carbon cycle.

How can mountaintop CO2 observations be used to constrain regional carbon fluxes?

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Lin, John C.; Mallia, Derek V.; Wu, Dien; Stephens, Britton B.

2017-05-01

Despite the need for researchers to understand terrestrial biospheric carbon fluxes to account for carbon cycle feedbacks and predict future CO2 concentrations, knowledge of these fluxes at the regional scale remains poor. This is particularly true in mountainous areas, where complex meteorology and lack of observations lead to large uncertainties in carbon fluxes. Yet mountainous regions are often where significant forest cover and biomass are found - i.e., areas that have the potential to serve as carbon sinks. As CO2 observations are carried out in mountainous areas, it is imperative that they are properly interpreted to yield information about carbon fluxes. In this paper, we present CO2 observations at three sites in the mountains of the western US, along with atmospheric simulations that attempt to extract information about biospheric carbon fluxes from the CO2 observations, with emphasis on the observed and simulated diurnal cycles of CO2. We show that atmospheric models can systematically simulate the wrong diurnal cycle and significantly misinterpret the CO2 observations, due to erroneous atmospheric flows as a result of terrain that is misrepresented in the model. This problem depends on the selected vertical level in the model and is exacerbated as the spatial resolution is degraded, and our results indicate that a fine grid spacing of ˜ 4 km or less may be needed to simulate a realistic diurnal cycle of CO2 for sites on top of the steep mountains examined here in the American Rockies. In the absence of higher resolution models, we recommend coarse-scale models to focus on assimilating afternoon CO2 observations on mountaintop sites over the continent to avoid misrepresentations of nocturnal transport and influence.

Potential for long-term transfer of dissolved organic carbon from riparian zones to streams in boreal catchments.

Science.gov (United States)

Ledesma, José L J; Grabs, Thomas; Bishop, Kevin H; Schiff, Sherry L; Köhler, Stephan J

2015-08-01

Boreal regions store most of the global terrestrial carbon, which can be transferred as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to inland waters with implications for both aquatic ecology and carbon budgets. Headwater riparian zones (RZ) are important sources of DOC, and often just a narrow 'dominant source layer' (DSL) within the riparian profile is responsible for most of the DOC export. Two important questions arise: how long boreal RZ could sustain lateral DOC fluxes as the sole source of exported carbon and how its hydromorphological variability influences this role. We estimate theoretical turnover times by comparing carbon pools and lateral exports in the DSL of 13 riparian profiles distributed over a 69 km(2) catchment in northern Sweden. The thickness of the DSL was 36 ± 18 (average ± SD) cm. Thus, only about one-third of the 1-m-deep riparian profile contributed 90% of the lateral DOC flux. The 13 RZ exported 8.7 ± 6.5 g C m(-2) year(-1) , covering the whole range of boreal stream DOC exports. The variation could be explained by local hydromorphological characteristics including RZ width (R(2) = 0.90). The estimated theoretical turnover times were hundreds to a few thousands of years, that is there is a potential long-lasting supply of DOC. Estimates of net ecosystem production in the RZ suggest that lateral fluxes, including both organic and inorganic C, could be maintained without drawing down the riparian pools. This was supported by measurements of stream DO(14) C that indicated modern carbon as the predominant fraction exported, including streams disturbed by ditching. The transfer of DOC into boreal inland waters from new and old carbon sources has a major influence on surface water quality and global carbon balances. This study highlights the importance of local variations in RZ hydromorphology and DSL extent for future DOC fluxes under a changing climate. © 2015 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Quantifying and predicting historical and future patterns of carbon fluxes from the North American Continent to Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, H.; Zhang, B.; Xu, R.; Yang, J.; Yao, Y.; Pan, S.; Lohrenz, S. E.; Cai, W. J.; He, R.; Najjar, R. G.; Friedrichs, M. A. M.; Hofmann, E. E.

2017-12-01

Carbon export through river channels to coastal waters is a fundamental component of the global carbon cycle. Changes in the terrestrial environment, both natural (e.g., climatic change, enriched CO2 concentration, and elevated ozone concentration) and anthropogenic (e.g, deforestation, cropland expansion, and urbanization) have greatly altered carbon production, stocks, decomposition, movement and export from land to river and ocean systems. However, the magnitude and spatiotemporal patterns of lateral carbon fluxes from land to oceans and the underlying mechanisms responsible for these fluxes remain far from certain. Here we applied a process-based land model with explicit representation of carbon processes in stream and rivers (Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model: DLEM 2.0) to examine how changes in climate, land use, atmospheric CO2, and nitrogen deposition have affected the carbon fluxes from North American continent to Ocean during 1980-2015. Our simulated results indicated that terrestrial carbon export shows substantially spatial and temporal variability. Of the five sub-regions (Arctic coast, Pacific coast, Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic coast, and Great lakes), the Arctic sub-region provides the highest DOC flux, whereas the Gulf of Mexico sub-region provided the highest DIC flux. However, terrestrial carbon export to the arctic oceans showed increasing trends for both DOC and DIC, whereas DOC and DIC export to the Gulf of Mexico decreased in the recent decades. Future pattern of riverine carbon fluxes would be largely dependent on the climate change and land use scenarios.

SIERRA-Flux: Measuring Regional Surface Fluxes of Carbon Dioxide, Methane, and Water Vapor from an Unmanned Aircraft System

Science.gov (United States)

Fladeland; Yates, Emma Louise; Bui, Thaopaul Van; Dean-Day, Jonathan; Kolyer, Richard

2011-01-01

The Eddy-Covariance Method for quantifying surface-atmosphere fluxes is a foundational technique for measuring net ecosystem exchange and validating regional-to-global carbon cycle models. While towers or ships are the most frequent platform for measuring surface-atmosphere exchange, experiments using aircraft for flux measurements have yielded contributions to several large-scale studies including BOREAS, SMACEX, RECAB by providing local-to-regional coverage beyond towers. The low-altitude flight requirements make airborne flux measurements particularly dangerous and well suited for unmanned aircraft.

Assessing FPAR Source and Parameter Optimization Scheme in Application of a Diagnostic Carbon Flux Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Turner, D P; Ritts, W D; Wharton, S; Thomas, C; Monson, R; Black, T A

2009-02-26

The combination of satellite remote sensing and carbon cycle models provides an opportunity for regional to global scale monitoring of terrestrial gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, and net ecosystem production. FPAR (the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by the plant canopy) is a critical input to diagnostic models, however little is known about the relative effectiveness of FPAR products from different satellite sensors nor about the sensitivity of flux estimates to different parameterization approaches. In this study, we used multiyear observations of carbon flux at four eddy covariance flux tower sites within the conifer biome to evaluate these factors. FPAR products from the MODIS and SeaWiFS sensors, and the effects of single site vs. cross-site parameter optimization were tested with the CFLUX model. The SeaWiFs FPAR product showed greater dynamic range across sites and resulted in slightly reduced flux estimation errors relative to the MODIS product when using cross-site optimization. With site-specific parameter optimization, the flux model was effective in capturing seasonal and interannual variation in the carbon fluxes at these sites. The cross-site prediction errors were lower when using parameters from a cross-site optimization compared to parameter sets from optimization at single sites. These results support the practice of multisite optimization within a biome for parameterization of diagnostic carbon flux models.

Potential for using remote sensing to estimate carbon fluxes across northern peatlands - A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lees, K J; Quaife, T; Artz, R R E; Khomik, M; Clark, J M

2018-02-15

Peatlands store large amounts of terrestrial carbon and any changes to their carbon balance could cause large changes in the greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of the Earth's atmosphere. There is still much uncertainty about how the GHG dynamics of peatlands are affected by climate and land use change. Current field-based methods of estimating annual carbon exchange between peatlands and the atmosphere include flux chambers and eddy covariance towers. However, remote sensing has several advantages over these traditional approaches in terms of cost, spatial coverage and accessibility to remote locations. In this paper, we outline the basic principles of using remote sensing to estimate ecosystem carbon fluxes and explain the range of satellite data available for such estimations, considering the indices and models developed to make use of the data. Past studies, which have used remote sensing data in comparison with ground-based calculations of carbon fluxes over Northern peatland landscapes, are discussed, as well as the challenges of working with remote sensing on peatlands. Finally, we suggest areas in need of future work on this topic. We conclude that the application of remote sensing to models of carbon fluxes is a viable research method over Northern peatlands but further work is needed to develop more comprehensive carbon cycle models and to improve the long-term reliability of models, particularly on peatland sites undergoing restoration. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analyzing the causes and spatial pattern of the European 2003 carbon flux anomaly using seven models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Vetter

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Globally, the year 2003 is associated with one of the largest atmospheric CO₂ rises on record. In the same year, Europe experienced an anomalously strong flux of CO₂ from the land to the atmosphere associated with an exceptionally dry and hot summer in Western and Central Europe. In this study we analyze the magnitude of this carbon flux anomaly and key driving ecosystem processes using simulations of seven terrestrial ecosystem models of different complexity and types (process-oriented and diagnostic. We address the following questions: (1 how large were deviations in the net European carbon flux in 2003 relative to a short-term baseline (1998–2002 and to longer-term variations in annual fluxes (1980 to 2005, (2 which European regions exhibited the largest changes in carbon fluxes during the growing season 2003, and (3 which ecosystem processes controlled the carbon balance anomaly .

In most models the prominence of 2003 anomaly in carbon fluxes declined with lengthening of the reference period from one year to 16 years. The 2003 anomaly for annual net carbon fluxes ranged between 0.35 and –0.63 Pg C for a reference period of one year and between 0.17 and –0.37 Pg C for a reference period of 16 years for the whole Europe.

In Western and Central Europe, the anomaly in simulated net ecosystem productivity (NEP over the growing season in 2003 was outside the 1σ variance bound of the carbon flux anomalies for 1980–2005 in all models. The estimated anomaly in net carbon flux ranged between –42 and –158 Tg C for Western Europe and between 24 and –129 Tg C for Central Europe depending on the model used. All models responded to a dipole pattern of the climate anomaly in 2003. In Western and Central Europe NEP was reduced due to heat and drought. In contrast, lower than normal temperatures and higher air humidity decreased NEP over Northeastern Europe. While models agree on the sign of changes in

Fluxes and budget of organic matter in the benthic boundary layer over the northwestern Mediterranean margin

Science.gov (United States)

Buscail, R.; Pocklington, R.; Daumas, R.; Guidi, L.

1990-09-01

Sediment traps were deployed at depths of 26 and 645 m at two stations on the continental margin of the Gulf of Lions (northwestern Mediterranean). During the same period, surficial sediments were sampled by box corer. The material collected by bottom sediment traps and in corresponding surface sediments was analysed for total organic carbon, hydrolysable organic carbon, nitrogen, sugars, amino acids and lignin-derived compounds. Seasonal variations in organic inputs and the difference between particles from bottom layers and sediment were compared. For the continental shelf station, the annual averages of organic compound fluxes were found to be: 552 mg m -2 d -1 (orgC), 183 mg m -2 d -1 (N), 283 mg m -2 d -1 (hydrolysable orgC), 181 mg m -2 d -1 (Ceq. glucose) and 478 mg m -2 d -1 (amino acids). These values would have to be reduced by half if the large fluxes of autumn, due to resuspension during storm events, were excluded. For the slope, the average annual fluxes were evaluated as: 92.7 mg m -2 d -1 (orgC); 9.4 mg m -2 d -1 (N); 74.1 mg m -2 d -1 (hydrolysable orgC); 11.8 mg m -2 d -1 (Ceq.glucose); and 68.2 mg m -2 d -1 (amino acids). The values obtained for material trapped over the shelf are 4-7 times (orgC and amino acids) and 15-19 times (sugars and nitrogen) higher than for the slope. In contrast, the content in organic compounds of surficial sediments on the slope is 2-3 times higher than that of the shelf deposits. Budgets of orgC transformation at the sediment-water interface were based on calculations which include bottom orgC fluxes, sedimentation rates and orgC content for the first centimetre of deposits. For the continental shelf area, 5.3 g m -2 y -1 have accumulated and 16.7 g m -2 y -1 are mineralized. For the canyon and adjacent slope, the figures are 0.4 and 0.6 g m -2 y -1, respectively. Over the upper adjacent slope, the major part of organic matter is transported by advective processes, which contribute to the sediment interface

Role of sulfate reduction and methane production by organic carbon degradation ineutrophic fjord sediments (Limfjorden, Denmark)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Bo Barker; Parkes, R. John

2010-01-01

, accompanied by peaks in sulfide (4-6 mmol L21) and high dissolved inorganic carbon (30-50 mmol L21). Pore-water acetate concentrations were 2-10 mmol L21. 14C-acetate was oxidized to 14CO2 in the sulfate zone and reduced to 14CH4 at and below the SMT. CO2 reduction was the predominant pathway....... A comparison of the burial flux of organic carbon below the sulfate zone and the returning flux of methane indicated that the diffusion modeling of pore-water sulfate strongly underestimated in situ SRRs, whereas the 35S data may have overestimated the rates at depth. Modeled and measured SRR could...

Redistribution of carbon flux in Torulopsis glabrata by altering vitamin and calcium level.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Liming; Li, Yin; Zhu, Yang; Du, Guocheng; Chen, Jian

2007-01-01

Manipulation of cofactor (thiamine, biotin and Ca(2+)) levels as a potential tool to redistribute carbon flux was studied in Torulopsis glabrata. With sub-optimization of vitamin in fermentation medium, the carbon flux was blocked at the key node of pyruvate, and 69 g/L pyruvate was accumulated. Increasing the concentrations of thiamine and biotin could selectively open the valve of carbon flux from pyruvate to pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, the pyruvate carboxylase (PC) pathway and the channel into the TCA cycle, leading to the over-production of alpha-ketoglutarate. In addition, the activity of PC was enhanced with Ca(2+) present in fermentation medium. By combining high concentration's vitamins and CaCO(3) as the pH buffer, a batch culture was conducted in a 7-L fermentor, with the pyruvate concentration decreased to 21.8 g/L while alpha-ketoglutarate concentration increased to 43.7 g/L. Our study indicated that the metabolic flux could be redistributed to overproduce desired metabolites with manipulating the cofactor levels. Furthermore, the manipulation of vitamin level provided an alternative tool to realize metabolic engineering goals.

Aged riverine particulate organic carbon in four UK catchments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adams, Jessica L.; Tipping, Edward; Bryant, Charlotte L.; Helliwell, Rachel C.; Toberman, Hannah; Quinton, John

2015-01-01

The riverine transport of particulate organic matter (POM) is a significant flux in the carbon cycle, and affects macronutrients and contaminants. We used radiocarbon to characterise POM at 9 riverine sites of four UK catchments (Avon, Conwy, Dee, Ribble) over a one-year period. High-discharge samples were collected on three or four occasions at each site. Suspended particulate matter (SPM) was obtained by centrifugation, and the samples were analysed for carbon isotopes. Concentrations of SPM and SPM organic carbon (OC) contents were also determined, and were found to have a significant negative correlation. For the 7 rivers draining predominantly rural catchments, PO 14 C values, expressed as percent modern carbon absolute (pMC), varied little among samplings at each site, and there was no significant difference in the average values among the sites. The overall average PO 14 C value for the 7 sites of 91.2 pMC corresponded to an average age of 680 14 C years, but this value arises from the mixing of differently-aged components, and therefore significant amounts of organic matter older than the average value are present in the samples. Although topsoil erosion is probably the major source of the riverine POM, the average PO 14 C value is appreciably lower than topsoil values (which are typically 100 pMC). This is most likely explained by inputs of older subsoil OC from bank erosion, or the preferential loss of high- 14 C topsoil organic matter by mineralisation during riverine transport. The significantly lower average PO 14 C of samples from the River Calder (76.6 pMC), can be ascribed to components containing little or no radiocarbon, derived either from industrial sources or historical coal mining, and this effect is also seen in the River Ribble, downstream of its confluence with the Calder. At the global scale, the results significantly expand available information for PO 14 C in rivers draining catchments with low erosion rates. - Highlights: �

A regional high-resolution carbon flux inversion of North America for 2004

Science.gov (United States)

Schuh, A. E.; Denning, A. S.; Corbin, K. D.; Baker, I. T.; Uliasz, M.; Parazoo, N.; Andrews, A. E.; Worthy, D. E. J.

2010-05-01

Resolving the discrepancies between NEE estimates based upon (1) ground studies and (2) atmospheric inversion results, demands increasingly sophisticated techniques. In this paper we present a high-resolution inversion based upon a regional meteorology model (RAMS) and an underlying biosphere (SiB3) model, both running on an identical 40 km grid over most of North America. Current operational systems like CarbonTracker as well as many previous global inversions including the Transcom suite of inversions have utilized inversion regions formed by collapsing biome-similar grid cells into larger aggregated regions. An extreme example of this might be where corrections to NEE imposed on forested regions on the east coast of the United States might be the same as that imposed on forests on the west coast of the United States while, in reality, there likely exist subtle differences in the two areas, both natural and anthropogenic. Our current inversion framework utilizes a combination of previously employed inversion techniques while allowing carbon flux corrections to be biome independent. Temporally and spatially high-resolution results utilizing biome-independent corrections provide insight into carbon dynamics in North America. In particular, we analyze hourly CO2 mixing ratio data from a sparse network of eight towers in North America for 2004. A prior estimate of carbon fluxes due to Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Ecosystem Respiration (ER) is constructed from the SiB3 biosphere model on a 40 km grid. A combination of transport from the RAMS and the Parameterized Chemical Transport Model (PCTM) models is used to forge a connection between upwind biosphere fluxes and downwind observed CO2 mixing ratio data. A Kalman filter procedure is used to estimate weekly corrections to biosphere fluxes based upon observed CO2. RMSE-weighted annual NEE estimates, over an ensemble of potential inversion parameter sets, show a mean estimate 0.57 Pg/yr sink in North America

Forest inventory-based estimation of carbon stocks and flux in California forests in 1990.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeremy S. Fried; Xiaoping. Zhou

2008-01-01

Estimates of forest carbon stores and flux for California circa 1990 were modeled from forest inventory data in support of California’s legislatively mandated greenhouse gas inventory. Reliable estimates of live-tree carbon stores and flux on timberlands outside of national forest could be calculated from periodic inventory data collected in the 1980s and 1990s;...

Soil organic carbon redistribution by water erosion--the role of CO2 emissions for the carbon budget.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiang; Cammeraat, Erik L H; Romeijn, Paul; Kalbitz, Karsten

2014-01-01

A better process understanding of how water erosion influences the redistribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) is sorely needed to unravel the role of soil erosion for the carbon (C) budget from local to global scales. The main objective of this study was to determine SOC redistribution and the complete C budget of a loess soil affected by water erosion. We measured fluxes of SOC, dissolved organic C (DOC) and CO2 in a pseudo-replicated rainfall-simulation experiment. We characterized different C fractions in soils and redistributed sediments using density fractionation and determined C enrichment ratios (CER) in the transported sediments. Erosion, transport and subsequent deposition resulted in significantly higher CER of the sediments exported ranging between 1.3 and 4.0. In the exported sediments, C contents (mg per g soil) of particulate organic C (POC, C not bound to soil minerals) and mineral-associated organic C (MOC) were both significantly higher than those of non-eroded soils indicating that water erosion resulted in losses of C-enriched material both in forms of POC and MOC. The averaged SOC fluxes as particles (4.7 g C m(-2) yr(-1)) were 18 times larger than DOC fluxes. Cumulative emission of soil CO2 slightly decreased at the erosion zone while increased by 56% and 27% at the transport and depositional zone, respectively, in comparison to non-eroded soil. Overall, CO2 emission is the predominant form of C loss contributing to about 90.5% of total erosion-induced C losses in our 4-month experiment, which were equal to 18 g C m(-2). Nevertheless, only 1.5% of the total redistributed C was mineralized to CO2 indicating a large stabilization after deposition. Our study also underlines the importance of C losses by particles and as DOC for understanding the effects of water erosion on the C balance at the interface of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

The assessment of water vapour and carbon dioxide fluxes above arable crops - a comparison of methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schaaf, S.; Daemmgen, U.; Burkart, S. [Federal Agricultural Research Centre, Inst. of Agroecology, Braunschweig (Germany); Gruenhage, L. [Justus-Liebig-Univ., Inst. for Plant Ecology, Giessen (Germany)

2005-04-01

Vertical fluxes of water vapour and carbon dioxide obtained from gradient, eddy covariance (closed and open path systems) and chamber measurements above arable crops were compared with the directly measured energy balance and the harvested net biomass carbon. The gradient and chamber measurements were in the correct order of magnitude, whereas the closed path eddy covariance system showed unacceptably small fluxes. Correction methods based on power spectra analysis yielded increased fluxes. However, the energy balance could not be closed satisfactorily. The application of the open path system proved to be successful. The SVAT model PLATIN which had been adapted to various arable crops was able to depict the components of the energy balance adequately. Net carbon fluxes determined with the corrected closed path data sets, chamber, and SVAT model equal those of the harvested carbon. (orig.)

Carbon nanotube/carbon nanotube composite AFM probes prepared using ion flux molding

Science.gov (United States)

Chesmore, Grace; Roque, Carrollyn; Barber, Richard

The performance of carbon nanotube-carbon nanotube composite (CNT/CNT composite) atomic force microscopy (AFM) probes is compared to that of conventional Si probes in AFM tapping mode. The ion flux molding (IFM) process, aiming an ion beam at the CNT probe, aligns the tip to a desired angle. The result is a relatively rigid tip that is oriented to offset the cantilever angle. Scans using these probes reveal an improvement in image accuracy over conventional tips, while allowing higher aspect ratio imaging of 3D surface features. Furthermore, the lifetimes of CNT-CNT composite tips are observed to be longer than both conventional tips and those claimed for other CNT technologies. Novel applications include the imaging of embiid silk. Supported by the Clare Boothe Luce Research Scholars Award and Carbon Design Innovations.

Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Scoping Workshop on Terrestrial and Coastal Carbon Fluxes in the Gulf of Mexico, St. Petersburg, FL, May 6-8, 2008

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Robbins, L.L.; Coble, P.G.; Clayton, T.D.; Cai, W.J.

2009-01-01

Despite their relatively small surface area, ocean margins may have a significant impact on global biogeochemical cycles and, potentially, the global air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide. Margins are characterized by intense geochemical and biological processing of carbon and other elements and exchange large amounts of matter and energy with the open ocean. The area-specific rates of productivity, biogeochemical cycling, and organic/inorganic matter sequestration are high in coastal margins, with as much as half of the global integrated new production occurring over the continental shelves and slopes (Walsh, 1991; Doney and Hood, 2002; Jahnke, in press). However, the current lack of knowledge and understanding of biogeochemical processes occurring at the ocean margins has left them largely ignored in most of the previous global assessments of the oceanic carbon cycle (Doney and Hood, 2002). A major source of North American and global uncertainty is the Gulf of Mexico, a large semi-enclosed subtropical basin bordered by the United States, Mexico, and Cuba. Like many of the marginal oceans worldwide, the Gulf of Mexico remains largely unsampled and poorly characterized in terms of its air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide and other carbon fluxes. In May 2008, the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Scoping Workshop on Terrestrial and Coastal Carbon Fluxes in the Gulf of Mexico was held in St. Petersburg, FL, to address the information gaps of carbon fluxes associated with the Gulf of Mexico and to offer recommendations to guide future research. The meeting was attended by over 90 participants from over 50 U.S. and Mexican institutions and agencies. The Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry program (OCB; http://www.us-ocb.org/) sponsored this workshop with support from the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the University of South Florida. The goal of

Interannual variation of carbon fluxes from three contrasting evergreen forests: the role of forest dynamics and climate.

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Sierra, Carlos A; Loescher, Henry W; Harmon, Mark E; Richardson, Andrew D; Hollinger, David Y; Perakis, Steven S

2009-10-01

Interannual variation of carbon fluxes can be attributed to a number of biotic and abiotic controls that operate at different spatial and temporal scales. Type and frequency of disturbance, forest dynamics, and climate regimes are important sources of variability. Assessing the variability of carbon fluxes from these specific sources can enhance the interpretation of past and current observations. Being able to separate the variability caused by forest dynamics from that induced by climate will also give us the ability to determine if the current observed carbon fluxes are within an expected range or whether the ecosystem is undergoing unexpected change. Sources of interannual variation in ecosystem carbon fluxes from three evergreen ecosystems, a tropical, a temperate coniferous, and a boreal forest, were explored using the simulation model STANDCARB. We identified key processes that introduced variation in annual fluxes, but their relative importance differed among the ecosystems studied. In the tropical site, intrinsic forest dynamics contributed approximately 30% of the total variation in annual carbon fluxes. In the temperate and boreal sites, where many forest processes occur over longer temporal scales than those at the tropical site, climate controlled more of the variation among annual fluxes. These results suggest that climate-related variability affects the rates of carbon exchange differently among sites. Simulations in which temperature, precipitation, and radiation varied from year to year (based on historical records of climate variation) had less net carbon stores than simulations in which these variables were held constant (based on historical records of monthly average climate), a result caused by the functional relationship between temperature and respiration. This suggests that, under a more variable temperature regime, large respiratory pulses may become more frequent and high enough to cause a reduction in ecosystem carbon stores. Our results

Interannual variation of carbon fluxes from three contrasting evergreen forests: The role of forest dynamics and climate

Science.gov (United States)

Sierra, C.A.; Loescher, H.W.; Harmon, M.E.; Richardson, A.D.; Hollinger, D.Y.; Perakis, S.S.

2009-01-01

Interannual variation of carbon fluxes can be attributed to a number of biotic and abiotic controls that operate at different spatial and temporal scales. Type and frequency of disturbance, forest dynamics, and climate regimes are important sources of variability. Assessing the variability of carbon fluxes from these specific sources can enhance the interpretation of past and current observations. Being able to separate the variability caused by forest dynamics from that induced by climate will also give us the ability to determine if the current observed carbon fluxes are within an expected range or whether the ecosystem is undergoing unexpected change. Sources of interannual variation in ecosystem carbon fluxes from three evergreen ecosystems, a tropical, a temperate coniferous, and a boreal forest, were explored using the simulation model STANDCARB. We identified key processes that introduced variation in annual fluxes, but their relative importance differed among the ecosystems studied. In the tropical site, intrinsic forest dynamics contributed ?? 30% of the total variation in annual carbon fluxes. In the temperate and boreal sites, where many forest processes occur over longer temporal scales than those at the tropical site, climate controlled more of the variation among annual fluxes. These results suggest that climate-related variability affects the rates of carbon exchange differently among sites. Simulations in which temperature, precipitation, and radiation varied from year to year (based on historical records of climate variation) had less net carbon stores than simulations in which these variables were held constant (based on historical records of monthly average climate), a result caused by the functional relationship between temperature and respiration. This suggests that, under a more variable temperature regime, large respiratory pulses may become more frequent and high enough to cause a reduction in ecosystem carbon stores. Our results also show

Rerouting of carbon flux in a glycogen mutant of cyanobacteria assessed via isotopically non-stationary 13 C metabolic flux analysis.

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Hendry, John I; Prasannan, Charulata; Ma, Fangfang; Möllers, K Benedikt; Jaiswal, Damini; Digmurti, Madhuri; Allen, Doug K; Frigaard, Niels-Ulrik; Dasgupta, Santanu; Wangikar, Pramod P

2017-10-01

Cyanobacteria, which constitute a quantitatively dominant phylum, have attracted attention in biofuel applications due to favorable physiological characteristics, high photosynthetic efficiency and amenability to genetic manipulations. However, quantitative aspects of cyanobacterial metabolism have received limited attention. In the present study, we have performed isotopically non-stationary 13 C metabolic flux analysis (INST- 13 C-MFA) to analyze rerouting of carbon in a glycogen synthase deficient mutant strain (glgA-I glgA-II) of the model cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002. During balanced photoautotrophic growth, 10-20% of the fixed carbon is stored in the form of glycogen via a pathway that is conserved across the cyanobacterial phylum. Our results show that deletion of glycogen synthase gene orchestrates cascading effects on carbon distribution in various parts of the metabolic network. Carbon that was originally destined to be incorporated into glycogen gets partially diverted toward alternate storage molecules such as glucosylglycerol and sucrose. The rest is partitioned within the metabolic network, primarily via glycolysis and tricarboxylic acid cycle. A lowered flux toward carbohydrate synthesis and an altered distribution at the glucose-1-phosphate node indicate flexibility in the network. Further, reversibility of glycogen biosynthesis reactions points toward the presence of futile cycles. Similar redistribution of carbon was also predicted by Flux Balance Analysis. The results are significant to metabolic engineering efforts with cyanobacteria where fixed carbon needs to be re-routed to products of interest. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 2298-2308. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cellulase activity and dissolved organic carbon release from lignocellulose macrophyte-derived in four trophic conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flávia Bottino

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Considering the importance of lignocellulose macrophyte-derived for the energy flux in aquatic ecosystems and the nutrient concentrations as a function of force which influences the decomposition process, this study aims to relate the enzymatic activity and lignocellulose hydrolysis in different trophic statuses. Water samples and two macrophyte species were collected from the littoral zone of a subtropical Brazilian Reservoir. A lignocellulosic matrix was obtained using aqueous extraction of dried plant material (≈40 °C. Incubations for decomposition of the lignocellulosic matrix were prepared using lignocelluloses, inoculums and filtered water simulating different trophic statuses with the same N:P ratio. The particulate organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon (POC and DOC, respectively were quantified, the cellulase enzymatic activity was measured by releasing reducing sugars and immobilized carbon was analyzed by filtration. During the cellulose degradation indicated by the cellulase activity, the dissolved organic carbon daily rate and enzyme activity increased. It was related to a fast hydrolysable fraction of cellulose that contributed to short-term carbon immobilization (ca. 10 days. After approximately 20 days, the dissolved organic carbon and enzyme activity were inversely correlated suggesting that the respiration of microorganisms was responsible for carbon mineralization. Cellulose was an important resource in low nutrient conditions (oligotrophic. However, the detritus quality played a major role in the lignocelluloses degradation (i.e., enzyme activity and carbon release.

Changes to the Carbon and Energy fluxes in a Northern Peatland with Thawing Permafrost

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Harder, S. R.; Roulet, N. T.; Crill, P. M.; Strachan, I. B.

2017-12-01

The maintenance of thaw of high carbon density landscapes in the permafrost region ultimately depends of how the energy balance is partitioned as temperatures and precipitation change, yet there are comparatively few energy balance studies, especially in peatlands that contain permafrost. While permafrost peatlands are currently net sinks of carbon, as Arctic temperatures rise and permafrost thaws, the future of these ecosystems and their capacity for carbon uptake is in question. Since 2012 we have been measuring the spatially integrated CO2, energy and water vapour fluxes from the Stordalen peatland (68°22'N, 19°03'E) using eddy covariance (EC). The Stordalen peatland is a heterogeneous peatland in the discontinuous permafrost zone where permafrost thaw is actively occurring, resulting in large changes to the landscape from year to year. Areas where permafrost is present are elevated by up to 1.5 m compared to the areas where permafrost has thawed causing differences in water table depth, peat temperatures, snow distribution, vegetation community and therefore in the carbon and energy fluxes. Our EC tower is located on the edge of a permafrost peat plateau (or palsa) where one fetch measures fluxes from an area underlain by permafrost and the other fetch sees the portion of the peatland where the permafrost has thawed. Within each sector, we have an array of soil temperature and water content sensors to determine the physical characteristics of each fetch. Extensive vegetation surveys (based on plant functional types or PFTs) have also been conducted to run a footprint analysis on the flux data to complete a comparative analysis of the magnitude and variability of the carbon and energy exchanges from PFT. The footprint analysis allows us to explain the difference in energy and carbon fluxes by examining the ecological, biogeochemical and physical characteristics within each footprint. We see distinctly different energy partitioning between the fetches

Evaluation of statistical protocols for quality control of ecosystem carbon dioxide fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Jorge F. Perez-Quezada; Nicanor Z. Saliendra; William E. Emmerich; Emilio A. Laca

2007-01-01

The process of quality control of micrometeorological and carbon dioxide (CO2) flux data can be subjective and may lack repeatability, which would undermine the results of many studies. Multivariate statistical methods and time series analysis were used together and independently to detect and replace outliers in CO2 flux...

Multi-proxy approach (Thorium-234, excess Barium) of export and remineralisation fluxes of carbon and biogenic elements associated with the oceanic biological pump

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lemaitre, Nolwenn

2017-01-01

The main objective of this thesis is to improve our understanding of the different controls that affect the oceanic biological carbon pump. Particulate export and remineralisation fluxes were investigated using the thorium-234 ( 234 Th) and biogenic barium (Baxs) proxies. In the North Atlantic, the highest particulate organic carbon (POC) export fluxes were associated to biogenic (biogenic silica or calcium carbonate) and lithogenic minerals, ballasting the particles. Export efficiency was generally low (≤ 10%) and inversely related to primary production, highlighting a phase lag between production and export. The highest transfer efficiencies, i.e. the fraction of POC that reached 400 m, were driven by sinking particles ballasted by calcite or lithogenic minerals. The regional variation of meso-pelagic remineralisation was attributed to changes in bloom intensity, phytoplankton cell size, community structure and physical forcing (down-welling). Carbon remineralisation balanced, or even exceeded, POC export, highlighting the impact of meso-pelagic remineralisation on the biological pump with a near-zero, deep carbon sequestration for spring 2014. Export of trace metals appeared strongly influenced by lithogenic material advected from the margins. However, at open ocean stations not influenced by lithogenic matter, trace metal export rather depended on phytoplankton activity and biomass. A last part of this work focused on export of biogenic silica, particulate nitrogen and iron near the Kerguelen Island. This area is characterized by a natural iron-fertilization that increases export fluxes. Inside the fertilized area, flux variability is related to phytoplankton community composition. (author)

Improving SWAT for simulating water and carbon fluxes of forest ecosystems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Qichun; Zhang, Xuesong

2016-11-01

As a widely used watershed model for assessing impacts of anthropogenic and natural disturbances on water quantity and quality, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has not been extensively tested in simulating water and carbon fluxes of forest ecosystems. Here, we examine SWAT simulations of evapotranspiration (ET), net primary productivity (NPP), net ecosystem exchange (NEE), and plant biomass at ten AmeriFlux forest sites across the U.S. We identify unrealistic radiation use efficiency (Bio_E), large leaf to biomass fraction (Bio_LEAF), and missing phosphorus supply from parent material weathering as the primary causes for the inadequate performance of the default SWAT model in simulating forest dynamics. By further revising the relevant parameters and processes, SWAT’s performance is substantially improved. Based on the comparison between the improved SWAT simulations and flux tower observations, we discuss future research directions for further enhancing model parameterization and representation of water and carbon cycling for forests.

Metabolic fluxes in the central carbon metabolism of Dinoroseobacter shibae and Phaeobacter gallaeciensis, two members of the marine Roseobacter clade

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Rabus Ralf

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In the present work the central carbon metabolism of Dinoroseobacter shibae and Phaeobacter gallaeciensis was studied at the level of metabolic fluxes. These two strains belong to the marine Roseobacter clade, a dominant bacterial group in various marine habitats, and represent surface-associated, biofilm-forming growth (P. gallaeciensis and symbiotic growth with eukaryotic algae (D. shibae. Based on information from recently sequenced genomes, a rich repertoire of pathways has been identified in the carbon core metabolism of these organisms, but little is known about the actual contribution of the various reactions in vivo. Results Using 13C labelling techniques in specifically designed experiments, it could be shown that glucose-grown cells of D. shibae catabolise the carbon source exclusively via the Entner-Doudoroff pathway, whereas alternative routes of glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway are obviously utilised for anabolic purposes only. Enzyme assays confirmed this flux pattern and link the lack of glycolytic flux to the absence of phosphofructokinase activity. The previously suggested formation of phosphoenolpyruvate from pyruvate during mixotrophic CO2 assimilation was found to be inactive under the conditions studied. Moreover, it could be shown that pyruvate carboxylase is involved in CO2 assimilation and that the cyclic respiratory mode of the TCA cycle is utilised. Interestingly, the use of intracellular pathways was highly similar for P. gallaeciensis. Conclusion The present study reveals the first insight into pathway utilisation within the Roseobacter group. Fluxes through major intracellular pathways of the central carbon metabolism, which are closely linked to the various important traits found for the Roseobacter clade, could be determined. The close similarity of fluxes between the two physiologically rather different species might provide the first indication of more general key properties among

Nacre-Templated Synthesis of Highly Dispersible Carbon Nanomeshes for Layered Membranes with High-Flux Filtration and Sensing Properties.

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Kong, Meng; Li, Mingjie; Shang, Ruoxu; Wu, Jingyu; Yan, Peisong; Xu, Dongmei; Li, Chaoxu

2018-01-24

Marine shells not only represent a rapidly accumulating type of fishery wastes but also offer a unique sort of hybrid nanomaterials produced greenly and massively in nature. The elaborate "brick and mortar" structures of nacre enabled the synthesis of carbon nanomeshes with <1 nm thickness, hierarchical porosity, and high specific surface area through pyrolysis, in which two-dimensional (2D) organic layers served as the carbonaceous precursor and aragonite platelets as the hard template. Mineral bridges within 2D organic layers templated the formation of mesh pores of 20-70 nm. In contrast to other hydrophobic carbon nanomaterials, these carbon nanomeshes showed super dispersibility in diverse solvents and thus processability for membranes through filtration, patterning, spray-coating, and ink-writing. The carbon membranes with layered structures were capable of serving not only for high-flux filtration and continuous flow absorption but also for electrochemical and strain sensing with high sensitivity. Thus, utilization of marine shells, on one hand, relieves the environmental concern of shellfish waste, on the other hand, offers a facile, green, low-cost, and massive approach to synthesize unique carbon nanomeshes alternative to graphene nanomeshes and applicable in environmental adsorption, filtration, wearable sensors, and flexible microelectronics.

Inverse carbon dioxide flux estimates for the Netherlands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meesters, A.G.C.A.; Tolk, L.F.; Dolman, A.J. [Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Peters, W.; Hutjes, R.W.A.; Vellinga, O.S.; Elbers, J.A. [Department Meteorology and Air Quality, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen (Netherlands); Vermeulen, A.T. [Biomass, Coal and Environmental Research, Energy research Center of the Netherlands ECN, Petten (Netherlands); Van der Laan, S.; Neubert, R.E.M.; Meijer, H.A.J. [Centre for Isotope Research, Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen (Netherlands)

2012-10-26

CO2 fluxes for the Netherlands and surroundings are estimated for the year 2008, from concentration measurements at four towers, using an inverse model. The results are compared to direct CO2 flux measurements by aircraft, for 6 flight tracks over the Netherlands, flown multiple times in each season. We applied the Regional Atmospheric Mesoscale Modeling system (RAMS) coupled to a simple carbon flux scheme (including fossil fuel), which was run at 10 km resolution, and inverted with an Ensemble Kalman Filter. The domain had 6 eco-regions, and inversions were performed for the four seasons separately. Inversion methods with pixel-dependent and -independent parameters for each eco-region were compared. The two inversion methods, in general, yield comparable flux averages for each eco-region and season, whereas the difference from the prior flux may be large. Posterior fluxes co-sampled along the aircraft flight tracks are usually much closer to the observations than the priors, with a comparable performance for both inversion methods, and with best performance for summer and autumn. The inversions showed more negative CO2 fluxes than the priors, though the latter are obtained from a biosphere model optimized using the Fluxnet database, containing observations from more than 200 locations worldwide. The two different crop ecotypes showed very different CO2 uptakes, which was unknown from the priors. The annual-average uptake is practically zero for the grassland class and for one of the cropland classes, whereas the other cropland class had a large net uptake, possibly because of the abundance of maize there.

Vulnerability of permafrost carbon to global warming. Part I: model description and role of heat generated by organic matter decomposition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khvorostyanov, D.V.; Ciais, G. (Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et l' Environnement, Saclay (France)); Krinner, G. (Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Geophysique de l' Environnement, St Martin d' Heres (France)). e-mail: Dimitry.Khvorostiyanov@lsce.ipsl.fr; Heimann, M. (Max-Planck Inst. of Biogeochemistry, Jena (DE)); Zimov, S.A. (Northeast Science Station, Cherskii (RU))

2008-07-01

We constructed a new model to study the sensitivity of permafrost carbon stocks to future climate warming. The one-dimensional model solves an equation for diffusion of heat penetrating from the overlying atmosphere and takes into account additional in situ heat production by active soil microorganisms. Decomposition of frozen soil organic matter and produced CO{sub 2} and methane fluxes result from an interplay of soil heat conduction and phase transitions, respiration, methanogenesis and methanotrophy processes. Respiration and methanotrophy consume soil oxygen and thus can only develop in an aerated top-soil column. In contrast, methanogenesis is not limited by oxygen and can be sustained within the deep soil, releasing sufficient heat to further thaw in depth the frozen carbon-rich soil organic matter. Heat production that accompanies decomposition and methanotrophy can be an essential process providing positive feedback to atmospheric warming through self-sustaining transformation of initially frozen soil carbon into CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4}. This supplementary heat becomes crucial, however, only under certain climate conditions. Oxygen limitation to soil respiration slows down the process, so that the mean flux of carbon released during the phase of intense decomposition is more than two times less than without oxygen limitation. Taking into account methanogenesis increases the mean carbon flux by 20%. Part II of this study deals with mobilization of frozen carbon stock in transient climate change scenarios with more elaborated methane module, which makes it possible to consider more general cases with various site configurations. Part I (this manuscript) studies mobilization of 400 GtC carbon stock of the Yedoma in response to a stepwise rapid warming focusing on the role of supplementary heat that is released to the soil during decomposition of organic matter

Moss and soil contributions to the annual net carbon flux of a maturing boreal forest

Science.gov (United States)

Harden, J.W.; O'Neill, K. P.; Trumbore, S.E.; Veldhuis, H.; Stocks, B.J.

1997-01-01

We used input and decomposition data from 14C studies of soils to determine rates of vertical accumulation of moss combined with carbon storage inventories on a sequence of burns to model how carbon accumulates in soils and moss after a stand-killing fire. We used soil drainage - moss associations and soil drainage maps of the old black spruce (OBS) site at the BOREAS northern study area (NSA) to areally weight the contributions of each moderately well drained, feathermoss areas; poorly drained sphagnum - feathermoss areas; and very poorly drained brown moss areas to the carbon storage and flux at the OBS NSA site. On this very old (117 years) complex of black spruce, sphagnum bog veneer, and fen systems we conclude that these systems are likely sequestering 0.01-0.03 kg C m-2 yr-' at OBS-NSA today. Soil drainage in boreal forests near Thompson, Manitoba, controls carbon storage and flux by controlling moss input and decomposition rates and by controlling through fire the amount and quality of carbon left after burning. On poorly drained soils rich in sphagnum moss, net accumulation and long-term storage of carbon is higher than on better drained soils colonized by feathermosses. The carbon flux of these contrasting ecosystems is best characterized by soil drainage class and stand age, where stands recently burned are net sources of CO2, and maturing stands become increasingly stronger sinks of atmospheric CO2. This approach to measuring carbon storage and flux presents a method of scaling to larger areas using soil drainage, moss cover, and stand age information.

Effects of wind farm construction on concentrations and fluxes of dissolved organic carbon and suspended sediment from peat catchments at Braes of Doune, central Scotland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Grieve

2008-07-01

Full Text Available This paper assesses the impacts of disturbance associated with the construction of a wind farm on fluxes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC and suspended sediment from a blanket peat catchment in central Scotland during the period immediately following completion of construction. Six streams draining the site were sampled on six dates from October 2006, when construction was completed, and an additional three control streams to the west of the site were sampled on the same dates. Turbidity and stage were recorded semi-continuously in the two largest streams (one disturbed and one control, which were also sampled during storm events. Absorbance (400 nm and DOC concentrations were determined on all samples, and suspended sediment was determined on the event samples. Absorbance and DOC were closely correlated in both the disturbed and undisturbed streams, with slightly greater absorbance per unit DOC in the disturbed streams. DOC concentrations in disturbed tributaries were always greater than those in undisturbed streams, with mean differences ranging from 2 to around 5 mg L-1. DOC and stage were positively correlated during events with maximum concentrations in excess of 30 mg L 1 at peak flow. Suspended sediment concentrations were markedly elevated in the disturbed stream with maximum concentrations at peak flow some 4–5 times greater than in the control. The colour of the sediment suggested that it was highly organic in nature at peak flow, and suspended particulate organic carbon represented a further loss of C from the site. Using flow-weighted mean DOC concentrations calculated for the storms monitored in autumn 2007, dissolved carbon losses can be estimated for the catchments of the disturbed and control streams. From these data the additional DOC loss related to disturbance associated with the wind farm is estimated at 5 g m-2.

Benthic flux of dissolved organic matter from lake sediment at different redox conditions and the possible effects of biogeochemical processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Liyang; Choi, Jung Hyun; Hur, Jin

2014-09-15

The benthic fluxes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), chromophoric and fluorescent dissolved organic matter (CDOM and FDOM) were studied for the sediment from an artificial lake, based on laboratory benthic chamber experiments. Conservative estimates for the benthic flux of DOC were 71 ± 142 and 51 ± 101 mg m(-2) day(-1) at hypoxic and oxic conditions, respectively. Two humic-like (C1 and C2), one tryptophan-like (C3), and one microbial humic-like (C4) components were identified from the samples using fluorescence excitation emission matrices and parallel factor analysis (EEM-PARAFAC). During the incubation period, C3 was removed while C4 was accumulated in the overlying water with no significant difference in the trends between the redox conditions. The humification index (HIX) increased with time. The combined results for C3, C4 and HIX suggested that microbial transformation may be an important process affecting the flux behaviors of DOM. In contrast, the overall accumulations of CDOM, C1, and C2 in the overlying water occurred only for the hypoxic condition, which was possibly explained by their enhanced photo-degradation and sorption to redox-sensitive minerals under the oxic condition. Our study demonstrated significant benthic flux of DOM in lake sediment and also the possible involvement of biogeochemical transformation in the processes, providing insight into carbon cycling in inland waters. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Soil Organic Carbon Redistribution by Water Erosion – The Role of CO2 Emissions for the Carbon Budget

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiang; Cammeraat, Erik L. H.; Romeijn, Paul; Kalbitz, Karsten

2014-01-01

A better process understanding of how water erosion influences the redistribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) is sorely needed to unravel the role of soil erosion for the carbon (C) budget from local to global scales. The main objective of this study was to determine SOC redistribution and the complete C budget of a loess soil affected by water erosion. We measured fluxes of SOC, dissolved organic C (DOC) and CO2 in a pseudo-replicated rainfall-simulation experiment. We characterized different C fractions in soils and redistributed sediments using density fractionation and determined C enrichment ratios (CER) in the transported sediments. Erosion, transport and subsequent deposition resulted in significantly higher CER of the sediments exported ranging between 1.3 and 4.0. In the exported sediments, C contents (mg per g soil) of particulate organic C (POC, C not bound to soil minerals) and mineral-associated organic C (MOC) were both significantly higher than those of non-eroded soils indicating that water erosion resulted in losses of C-enriched material both in forms of POC and MOC. The averaged SOC fluxes as particles (4.7 g C m−2 yr−1) were 18 times larger than DOC fluxes. Cumulative emission of soil CO2 slightly decreased at the erosion zone while increased by 56% and 27% at the transport and depositional zone, respectively, in comparison to non-eroded soil. Overall, CO2 emission is the predominant form of C loss contributing to about 90.5% of total erosion-induced C losses in our 4-month experiment, which were equal to 18 g C m−2. Nevertheless, only 1.5% of the total redistributed C was mineralized to CO2 indicating a large stabilization after deposition. Our study also underlines the importance of C losses by particles and as DOC for understanding the effects of water erosion on the C balance at the interface of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. PMID:24802350

Cycling of organic carbon in the ocean: use of naturally occuring radiocarbon as a long and short term tracer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, P.M.; Linick, T.W.

1975-01-01

The natural radiocarbon activities of surface, bathypelagic and benthic marine organisms have been measured for samples collected from the north central, north eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean and from the Ross Sea in Antarctica. These measurements show that 1961-1962 bomb-carbon-14 has been incorporated into the bathypelagic specimens in varying amounts. Thus, pollutants introduced into surface waters of the oceans may be removed more or less rapidly from the euphotic zone into the deep water depending upon particular food chain mechanisms. These results are discussed in relation to the cycling of disolved organic carbon, the flux of particulate organic carbon through the seawater column into the sediments, and to the oxidation rates of organic matter in the deep sea. (author)

Urban Evapotranspiration and Carbon Dioxide Flux in Miami - Dade, Florida

Science.gov (United States)

Bernier, T.; Hopper, W.

2010-12-01

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) concentrations are leading indicators of secular climate change. With increasing awareness of the consequences of climate change, methods for monitoring this change are becoming more important daily. Of particular interest is the carbon dioxide exchange between natural and urban landscapes and the correlation of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Monitoring Evapotranspiration (ET) is important for assessments of water availability for growing populations. ET is surprisingly understudied in the hydrologic cycle considering ET removes as much as 80 to over 100% of precipitation back into the atmosphere as water vapor. Lack of understanding in spatial and temporal ET estimates can limit the credibility of hydrologic water budgets designed to promote sustainable water use and resolve water-use conflicts. Eddy covariance (EC) methods are commonly used to estimate ET and CO2 fluxes. The EC platform consist of a (CSAT) 3-D Sonic Anemometer and a Li-Cor Open Path CO2/ H2O Analyzer. Measurements collected at 10 Hz create a very large data sets. A EC flux tower located in the Snapper Creek Well Field as part of a study to estimate ET for the Miami Dade County Water and Sewer project. Data has been collected from December 17, 2009 to August 30, 2010. QA/QC is performed with the EdiRe data processing software according to Ameri-flux protocols. ET estimates along with other data--latent-heat flux, sensible-heat flux, rainfall, air temperature, wind speed and direction, solar irradiance, net radiation, soil-heat flux and relative humidity--can be used to aid in the development of water management policies and regulations. Currently, many financial institutions have adopted an understanding about baseline environmental monitoring. The “Equator Principle” is an example of a voluntary standard for managing social and environmental risk in project financing and has changed the way in which projects are financed.

Dissolved organic carbon in rainwater from areas heavily impacted by sugar cane burning

Science.gov (United States)

Coelho, C. H.; Francisco, J. G.; Nogueira, R. F. P.; Campos, M. L. A. M.

This work reports on rainwater dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from Ribeirão Preto (RP) and Araraquara over a period of 3 years. The economies of these two cities, located in São Paulo state (Brazil), are based on agriculture and related industries, and the region is strongly impacted by the burning of sugar cane foliage before harvesting. Highest DOC concentrations were obtained when air masses traversed sugar cane fields burned on the same day as the rain event. Significant increases in the DOC volume weighted means (VWM) during the harvest period, for both sites, and a good linear correlation ( r = 0.83) between DOC and K (a biomass burning marker) suggest that regional scale organic carbon emissions prevail over long-range transport. The DOC VWMs and standard deviations were 272 ± 22 μmol L -1 ( n = 193) and 338 ± 40 μmol L -1 ( n = 80) for RP and Araraquara, respectively, values which are at least two times higher than those reported for other regions influenced by biomass burning, such as the Amazon. These high DOC levels are discussed in terms of agricultural activities, particularly the large usage of biogenic fuels in Brazil, as well as the analytical method used in this work, which includes volatile organic carbon when reporting DOC values. Taking into account rainfall volume, estimated annual rainwater DOC fluxes for RP (4.8 g C m -2 yr -1) and Araraquara (5.4 g C m -2 yr -1) were close to that previously found for the Amazon region (4.8 g C m -2 yr -1). This work also discusses whether previous calculations of the global rainwater carbon flux may have been underestimated, since they did not consider large inputs from biomass combustion sources, and suffered from a possible analytical bias.

Southern Ocean Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen Fluxes Detected by SOCCOM Biogeochemical Profiling Floats

Science.gov (United States)

Sarmiento, J. L.; Bushinksy, S.; Gray, A. R.

2016-12-01

The Southern Ocean is known to play an important role in the global carbon cycle, yet historically our measurements of this remote region have been sparse and heavily biased towards summer. Here we present new estimates of air-sea fluxes of carbon dioxide and oxygen calculated with measurements from autonomous biogeochemical profiling floats. At high latitudes in and southward of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, we find a significant flux of CO2 from the ocean to the atmosphere during 2014-2016, which is particularly enhanced during winter months. These results suggest that previous estimates may be biased towards stronger Southern Ocean CO2 uptake due to undersampling in winter. We examine various implications of having a source of CO2 that is higher than previous estimates. We also find that CO2:O2 flux ratios north of the Subtropical Front are positive, consistent with the fluxes being driven by changes in solubility, while south of the Polar Front biological processes and upwelling of deep water combine to produce a negative CO2:O2 flux ratio.

Deposition and Burial Efficiency of Terrestrial Organic Carbon Exported from Small Mountainous Rivers to the Continental Margin, Southwest of Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, F.; Lin, S.; Wang, C.; Huh, C.

2007-12-01

Terrestrial organic carbon exported from small mountainous river to the continental margin may play an important role in global carbon cycle and it?|s biogeochemical process. A huge amount of suspended materials from small rivers in southwestern Taiwan (104 million tons per year) could serve as major carbon source to the adjacent ocean. However, little is know concerning fate of this terrigenous organic carbon. The purpose of this study is to calculate flux of terrigenous organic carbon deposited in the continental margin, offshore southwestern Taiwan through investigating spatial variation of organic carbon content, organic carbon isotopic compositions, organic carbon deposition rate and burial efficiency. Results show that organic carbon compositions in sediment are strongly influenced by terrestrial material exported from small rivers in the region, Kaoping River, Tseng-wen River and Er-jan Rver. In addition, a major part of the terrestrial materials exported from the Kaoping River may bypass shelf region and transport directly into the deep sea (South China Sea) through the Kaoping Canyon. Organic carbon isotopic compositions with lighter carbon isotopic values are found near the Kaoping River and Tseng-wen River mouth and rapidly change from heavier to lighter values through shelf to slope. Patches of lighter organic carbon isotopic compositions with high organic carbon content are also found in areas west of Kaoping River mouth, near the Kaoshiung city. Furthermore, terrigenous organic carbons with lighter isotopic values are found in the Kaoping canyon. A total of 0.028 Mt/yr of terrestrial organic carbon was found in the study area, which represented only about 10 percent of all terrestrial organic carbon deposited in the study area. Majority (~90 percent) of the organic carbon exported from the Kaoping River maybe directly transported into the deep sea (South China Sea) and become a major source of organic carbon in the deep sea.

Aged riverine particulate organic carbon in four UK catchments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adams, Jessica L., E-mail: jesams@ceh.ac.uk [Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster, LA1 4AP (United Kingdom); Tipping, Edward, E-mail: et@ceh.ac.uk [Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster, LA1 4AP (United Kingdom); Bryant, Charlotte L., E-mail: charlotte.bryant@glasgow.ac.uk [NERC Radiocarbon Facility, East Kilbride G75 0QF, Scotland (United Kingdom); Helliwell, Rachel C., E-mail: rachel.helliwell@hutton.ac.uk [The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH Scotland (United Kingdom); Toberman, Hannah, E-mail: hannahtoberman@hotmail.com [Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster, LA1 4AP (United Kingdom); School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP (United Kingdom); Quinton, John, E-mail: j.quinton@lancaster.ac.uk [Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ (United Kingdom)

2015-12-01

The riverine transport of particulate organic matter (POM) is a significant flux in the carbon cycle, and affects macronutrients and contaminants. We used radiocarbon to characterise POM at 9 riverine sites of four UK catchments (Avon, Conwy, Dee, Ribble) over a one-year period. High-discharge samples were collected on three or four occasions at each site. Suspended particulate matter (SPM) was obtained by centrifugation, and the samples were analysed for carbon isotopes. Concentrations of SPM and SPM organic carbon (OC) contents were also determined, and were found to have a significant negative correlation. For the 7 rivers draining predominantly rural catchments, PO{sup 14}C values, expressed as percent modern carbon absolute (pMC), varied little among samplings at each site, and there was no significant difference in the average values among the sites. The overall average PO{sup 14}C value for the 7 sites of 91.2 pMC corresponded to an average age of 680 {sup 14}C years, but this value arises from the mixing of differently-aged components, and therefore significant amounts of organic matter older than the average value are present in the samples. Although topsoil erosion is probably the major source of the riverine POM, the average PO{sup 14}C value is appreciably lower than topsoil values (which are typically 100 pMC). This is most likely explained by inputs of older subsoil OC from bank erosion, or the preferential loss of high-{sup 14}C topsoil organic matter by mineralisation during riverine transport. The significantly lower average PO{sup 14}C of samples from the River Calder (76.6 pMC), can be ascribed to components containing little or no radiocarbon, derived either from industrial sources or historical coal mining, and this effect is also seen in the River Ribble, downstream of its confluence with the Calder. At the global scale, the results significantly expand available information for PO{sup 14}C in rivers draining catchments with low erosion rates

Changes of Organic Carbon Quantity and Quality in Temperate Forest Soils

Science.gov (United States)

Kühnel, Anna; Satwika Lestari, Annisa; Schubert, Alfred; Wiesmeier, Martin; Spörlein, Peter; Schilling, Bernd; Kögel-Knabner, Ingrid

2017-04-01

Climate change will have profound impacts on organic matter stocks and thus on the functionality of soils. Soil organic carbon (SOC) content in soil is mainly regulated by the fluxes of organic matter which are highly associated with the aboveground and root litter production and their decompositions into CO2 by soil microorganism. The predicted rising temperatures in Bavaria might lead to an increased decomposition and release of soil carbon into the atmosphere, which would deteriorate a number of important soil functions. Here, we present an assessment of SOC stocks in three temperate forest sites over the last 30 years. Soil to a depth of 30 cm was analysed with density fractionation to evaluate SOC stocks and distribution in different pools. Additionally, tree-aboveground organic carbon (OC) stocks were measured to assess their influence on SOC. SOC stocks decreased between 1988 and 2004 and increased between 2004 and 2016. OC changes of litter + O layer and mineral soil differed. Highest changes of SOC occurred in the light fractions, followed by the mineral fractions. Tree-aboveground biomass, stand composition, and changing climate had an influence on SOC stocks. Precipitation change was correlated with the litter + O layer OC stocks. Further studies on the changes of each SOC fraction and the influence of other edaphic factors are needed to better understand the changes in SOC stocks and quality.

Relative linkages of peatland methane and carbon dioxide fluxes with climatic, environmental and ecological parameters and their inter-comparison

Science.gov (United States)

Banerjee, Tirtha; Hommeltenberg, Janina; Roy, Avipsa; De Roo, Frederik; Mauder, Matthias

2016-04-01

Although methane (CH4) is the second most important greenhouse gas (GHG) after CO2, about 80% of its global production is biogenic (wetlands, enteric fermentation and water disposal from animals) contrary to major anthropogenic sources of most other GHGs. Although on a shorter time scale, global emissions of methane are greater (10 year time frame) or about 80% (20 year time frame) of those of carbon dioxide in terms of their influence on global warming, methane emissions have been studied much less than CO2 emissions. Lakes, reservoirs and wetlands are estimated to contribute about 15-40% to the global methane source budget, which is higher than total oceanic CH4 emission. Half of the world's wetlands are represented by peatlands which cover 3% of the global total land area. Peatlands have a thick water-logged organic soil layer (peat) made up of dead and decaying plant material. Moreover, they are carbon rich, containing twice as much stock as the entire forest biomass of the world (550 Gt carbon). When disturbed, they can become significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The organic carbon exposed to air due to various mechanisms can release CH4 or CO2 in the atmosphere. Thus the nature of vegetation cover, radiation environment, wind turbulence, soil characteristics, water table depth etc. are expected to be important forcings that influence the emission of CH4 or CO2 in the shorter time scale. However, long term climate change can also influence these governing factors themselves over a larger time scale, which in turn can influence the wetland GHG emissions. Thus developing a predictive framework and long term source appropriation for wetland CH4 or CO2 warrants an identification of the major environmental forcings on the CH4 or CO2 flux. In the present work, we use a simple and systematic data-analytics approach to determine the relative linkages of different climate and environmental variables with the canopy level half-hourly CH4 or CO2 fluxes over a

Steel slag carbonation in a flow-through reactor system: the role of fluid-flux.

Science.gov (United States)

Berryman, Eleanor J; Williams-Jones, Anthony E; Migdisov, Artashes A

2015-01-01

Steel production is currently the largest industrial source of atmospheric CO2. As annual steel production continues to grow, the need for effective methods of reducing its carbon footprint increases correspondingly. The carbonation of the calcium-bearing phases in steel slag generated during basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steel production, in particular its major constituent, larnite {Ca2SiO4}, which is a structural analogue of olivine {(MgFe)2SiO4}, the main mineral subjected to natural carbonation in peridotites, offers the potential to offset some of these emissions. However, the controls on the nature and efficiency of steel slag carbonation are yet to be completely understood. Experiments were conducted exposing steel slag grains to a CO2-H2O mixture in both batch and flow-through reactors to investigate the impact of temperature, fluid flux, and reaction gradient on the dissolution and carbonation of steel slag. The results of these experiments show that dissolution and carbonation of BOF steel slag are more efficient in a flow-through reactor than in the batch reactors used in most previous studies. Moreover, they show that fluid flux needs to be optimized in addition to grain size, pressure, and temperature, in order to maximize the efficiency of carbonation. Based on these results, a two-stage reactor consisting of a high and a low fluid-flux chamber is proposed for CO2 sequestration by steel slag carbonation, allowing dissolution of the slag and precipitation of calcium carbonate to occur within a single flow-through system. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Cellulase activity and dissolved organic carbon release from lignocellulose macrophyte-derived in four trophic conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bottino, Flávia; Cunha-Santino, Marcela Bianchessi; Bianchini, Irineu

2016-01-01

Considering the importance of lignocellulose macrophyte-derived for the energy flux in aquatic ecosystems and the nutrient concentrations as a function of force which influences the decomposition process, this study aims to relate the enzymatic activity and lignocellulose hydrolysis in different trophic statuses. Water samples and two macrophyte species were collected from the littoral zone of a subtropical Brazilian Reservoir. A lignocellulosic matrix was obtained using aqueous extraction of dried plant material (≈40°C). Incubations for decomposition of the lignocellulosic matrix were prepared using lignocelluloses, inoculums and filtered water simulating different trophic statuses with the same N:P ratio. The particulate organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon (POC and DOC, respectively) were quantified, the cellulase enzymatic activity was measured by releasing reducing sugars and immobilized carbon was analyzed by filtration. During the cellulose degradation indicated by the cellulase activity, the dissolved organic carbon daily rate and enzyme activity increased. It was related to a fast hydrolysable fraction of cellulose that contributed to short-term carbon immobilization (ca. 10 days). After approximately 20 days, the dissolved organic carbon and enzyme activity were inversely correlated suggesting that the respiration of microorganisms was responsible for carbon mineralization. Cellulose was an important resource in low nutrient conditions (oligotrophic). However, the detritus quality played a major role in the lignocelluloses degradation (i.e., enzyme activity) and carbon release. Copyright © 2016 Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Changes of soil carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide fluxes in relation to land use/cover management.

Science.gov (United States)

Kooch, Yahya; Moghimian, Negar; Bayranvand, Mohammad; Alberti, Giorgio

2016-06-01

Conversions of land use/cover are associated with changes in soil properties and biogeochemical cycling, with implications for carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and trace gas fluxes. In an attempt to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the significance of different land uses (Alnus subcordata plantation, Taxodium distichum plantation, agriculture, and deforested areas) on soil features and on the dynamics of greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes at local scale, this study was carried out in Mazandaran province, northern Iran. Sixteen samples per land use, from the top 10 cm of soil, were taken, from which bulk density, texture, water content, pH, organic C, total N, microbial biomass of C and N, and earthworm density/biomass were determined. In addition, the seasonal changes in the fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) were monitored over a year. Our results indicated that the different land uses were different in terms of soil properties and GHG fluxes. Even though the amount of the GHG varied widely during the year, the highest CO2 and CH4 fluxes (0.32 mg CO2 m(-2) day(-1) and 0.11 mg CH4 m(-2) day(-1), respectively) were recorded in the deforested areas. N2O flux was higher in Alnus plantation (0.18 mg N2O m(-2) day(-1)) and deforested areas (0.17 mg N2O m(-2) day(-1)) than at agriculture site (0.05 mg N2O m(-2) day(-1)) and Taxodium plantation (0.03 mg N2O m(-2) day(-1)). This study demonstrated strong impacts of land use change on soil-atmosphere trace gas exchanges and provides useful observational constraints for top-down and bottom-up biogeochemistry models.

Carbon fluxes and the carbon budget in agroecosystems on agro-gray soils of the forest-steppe in the Baikal region

Science.gov (United States)

Pomazkina, L. V.; Sokolova, L. G.; Zvyagintseva, E. N.

2013-06-01

Field studies devoted to the transformation of the carbon cycle in agroecosystems on agro-gray soils (including soils contaminated with fluorides from aluminum smelters) in dependence on the changes in the hydrothermic conditions were performed for the first time within the framework of the long-term (1996-2010) soil monitoring in the forest-steppe zone of the Baikal region. The major attention was paid to the impact of the environmental factors on the synthesis and microbial destruction of organic carbon compounds. Certain differences in the fluxes and budget of carbon were found for the plots with cereal and row crops and for the permanent and annual fallow plots. The adverse effect of fluorides manifested itself in the enhanced C-CO2 emission under unfavorable water and temperature conditions. The long-term average C-CO2 emission from the soils contaminated with fluorides in agroecosystems with wheat after fallow was higher than that from the uncontaminated soil (179 and 198 g of C/m2, respectively) and higher than that in the agroecosystems with a potato monoculture (129 and 141 g of C/m2, respectively). At the same time, no significant variations in the content of the carbon of the microbial biomass (Cmicr) in dependence on the environmental factors were found. The utilization of carbon for respiration and for growth of the soil microorganisms on the contaminated soil were unbalanced in particular years and for the entire period of the observations. The ratio between the fluxes of the net mineralized and re-immobilized carbon was used for the integral assessment of the functioning regime of the agroecosystems and the loads on them. Independently from the soil contamination with fluorides, the loads on the agroecosystems with wheat were close to the maximum permissible value, and the loads on the agroecosystems with potatoes were permissible. It was shown that the carbon deficit in the uncontaminated soils was similar under the wheat and potatoes (-30 and -28 g

A coupled carbon and plant hydraulic model to predict ecosystem carbon and water flux responses to disturbance and environmental change

Science.gov (United States)

Mackay, D. S.; Ewers, B. E.; Roberts, D. E.; McDowell, N. G.; Pendall, E.; Frank, J. M.; Reed, D. E.; Massman, W. J.; Mitra, B.

2011-12-01

Changing climate drivers including temperature, humidity, precipitation, and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations directly control land surface exchanges of CO2 and water. In a profound way these responses are modulated by disturbances that are driven by or exacerbated by climate change. Predicting these changes is challenging given that the feedbacks between environmental controls, disturbances, and fluxes are complex. Flux data in areas of bark beetle outbreaks in the western U.S.A. show differential declines in carbon and water flux in response to the occlusion of xylem by associated fungi. For example, bark beetle infestation at the GLEES AmeriFlux site manifested in a decline in summer water use efficiency to 60% in the year after peak infestation compared to previous years, and no recovery of carbon uptake following a period of high vapor pressure deficit. This points to complex feedbacks between disturbance and differential ecosystem reaction and relaxation responses. Theory based on plant hydraulics and extending to include links to carbon storage and exhaustion has potential for explaining these dynamics with simple, yet rigorous models. In this spirit we developed a coupled model that combines an existing model of canopy water and carbon flow, TREES [e.g., Loranty et al., 2010], with the Sperry et al., [1998] plant hydraulic model. The new model simultaneously solves carbon uptake and losses along with plant hydraulics, and allows for testing specific hypotheses on feedbacks between xylem dysfunction, stomatal and non-stomatal controls on photosynthesis and carbon allocation, and autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration. These are constrained through gas exchange, root vulnerability to cavitation, sap flux, and eddy covariance data in a novel model complexity-testing framework. Our analysis focuses on an ecosystem gradient spanning sagebrush to subalpine forests. Our modeling results support hypotheses on feedbacks between hydraulic dysfunction and 1) non

Self-organized critical behavior in pinned flux lattices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pla, O.; Nori, F.

1991-01-01

We study the response of pinned fluxed lattices, under small perturbations in the driving force, below and close to the pinning-depinning transition. For driving Lorentz forces below F c (the depinning force at which the whole flux lattice slides), the system has instabilities against small force increases, with a power-law distribution characteristic of self-organized criticality. Specifically, D(d)∼d -1,3 , where d is the displacement of a flux line after a very small force increase. We also study the initial stages of the motion of the lattice once the driving force overcomes the pinning forces

Abundant carbon substrates drive extremely high sulfate reduction rates and methane fluxes in Prairie Pothole Wetlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Dalcin Martins, Paula; Hoyt, David W; Bansal, Sheel; Mills, Christopher T; Tfaily, Malak; Tangen, Brian A; Finocchiaro, Raymond G; Johnston, Michael D; McAdams, Brandon C; Solensky, Matthew J; Smith, Garrett J; Chin, Yu-Ping; Wilkins, Michael J

2017-08-01

Inland waters are increasingly recognized as critical sites of methane emissions to the atmosphere, but the biogeochemical reactions driving such fluxes are less well understood. The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America is one of the largest wetland complexes in the world, containing millions of small, shallow wetlands. The sediment pore waters of PPR wetlands contain some of the highest concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and sulfur species ever recorded in terrestrial aquatic environments. Using a suite of geochemical and microbiological analyses, we measured the impact of sedimentary carbon and sulfur transformations in these wetlands on methane fluxes to the atmosphere. This research represents the first study of coupled geochemistry and microbiology within the PPR and demonstrates how the conversion of abundant labile DOC pools into methane results in some of the highest fluxes of this greenhouse gas to the atmosphere ever reported. Abundant DOC and sulfate additionally supported some of the highest sulfate reduction rates ever measured in terrestrial aquatic environments, which we infer to account for a large fraction of carbon mineralization in this system. Methane accumulations in zones of active sulfate reduction may be due to either the transport of free methane gas from deeper locations or the co-occurrence of methanogenesis and sulfate reduction. If both respiratory processes are concurrent, any competitive inhibition of methanogenesis by sulfate-reducing bacteria may be lessened by the presence of large labile DOC pools that yield noncompetitive substrates such as methanol. Our results reveal some of the underlying mechanisms that make PPR wetlands biogeochemical hotspots, which ultimately leads to their critical, but poorly recognized role in regional greenhouse gas emissions. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Abundant carbon substrates drive extremely high sulfate reduction rates and methane fluxes in Prairie Pothole Wetlands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dalcin Martins, Paula [Microbiology Department, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA; Hoyt, David W. [Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Richland WA 99350 USA; Bansal, Sheel [United States Geological Survey - Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown ND 58401 USA; Mills, Christopher T. [United States Geological Survey, Crustal Geophysics and Geochemistry Science Center, Building 20, Denver Federal Center Denver CO 80225 USA; Tfaily, Malak [Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Richland WA 99350 USA; Tangen, Brian A. [United States Geological Survey - Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown ND 58401 USA; Finocchiaro, Raymond G. [United States Geological Survey - Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown ND 58401 USA; Johnston, Michael D. [School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA; McAdams, Brandon C. [School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA; Solensky, Matthew J. [United States Geological Survey - Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown ND 58401 USA; Smith, Garrett J. [Microbiology Department, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA; Chin, Yu-Ping [School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA; Wilkins, Michael J. [Microbiology Department, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA; School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA

2017-02-23

Inland waters are increasingly recognized as critical sites of methane emissions to the atmosphere, but the biogeochemical reactions driving such fluxes are less well understood. The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America is one of the largest wetland complexes in the world, containing millions of small, shallow wetlands. The sediment pore waters of PPR wetlands contain some of the highest concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and sulfur species ever recorded in terrestrial aquatic environments. Using a suite of geochemical and microbiological analyses we measured the impact of sedimentary carbon and sulfur transformations in these wetlands on methane fluxes to the atmosphere. This research represents the first study of coupled geochemistry and microbiology within the PPR, and demonstrates how the conversion of abundant labile DOC pools into methane results in some of the highest fluxes of this greenhouse gas to the atmosphere ever reported. Abundant DOC and sulfate additionally supported some of the highest sulfate reduction rates ever measured in terrestrial aquatic environments, which we infer to account for a large fraction of carbon mineralization in this system. Methane accumulations in zones of active sulfate reduction may be due to either the transport of free methane gas from deeper locations, or the co-occurrence of methanogenesis and sulfate reduction. If both respiratory processes are concurrent, any competitive inhibition of methanogenesis by sulfate-reducing bacteria may be lessened by the presence of large labile DOC pools that yield non-competitive substrates such as methanol. Our results reveal some of the underlying mechanisms that make PPR wetlands biogeochemical hotspots, which ultimately leads to their critical, but poorly recognized role in regional greenhouse gas emissions.

Sedimentary record of water column trophic conditions and sediment carbon fluxes in a tropical water reservoir (Valle de Bravo, Mexico).

Science.gov (United States)

Carnero-Bravo, Vladislav; Merino-Ibarra, Martín; Ruiz-Fernández, Ana Carolina; Sanchez-Cabeza, Joan Albert; Ghaleb, Bassam

2015-03-01

Valle de Bravo (VB) is the main water reservoir of the Cutzamala hydraulic system, which provides 40% of the drinking water consumed in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area and exhibits symptoms of eutrophication. Nutrient (C, N and P) concentrations were determined in two sediment cores to reconstruct the water column trophic evolution of the reservoir and C fluxes since its creation in 1947. Radiometric methods ((210)Pb and (137)Cs) were used to obtain sediment chronologies, using the presence of pre-reservoir soil layers in one of the cores as an independent chronological marker. Mass accumulation rates ranged from 0.12 to 0.56 g cm(-2) year(-1) and total organic carbon (TOC) fluxes from 122 to 380 g m(-2) year(-1). Total N ranged 4.9-48 g m(-2) year(-1), and total P 0.6-4.2 g m(-2) year(-1). The sedimentary record shows that all three (C, N and P) fluxes increased significantly after 1991, in good agreement with the assessed trophic evolution of VB and with historic and recent real-time measurements. In the recent years (1992-2006), the TOC flux to the bottom of VB (average 250 g m(-2) year(-1), peaks 323 g m(-2) year(-1)) is similar to that found in highly eutrophic reservoirs and impoundments. Over 1/3 of the total C burial since dam construction, circa 70,000 t, has occurred in this recent period. These results highlight the usefulness of the reconstruction of carbon and nutrient fluxes from the sedimentary record to assess carbon burial and its temporal evolution in freshwater ecosystems.

Importance of lateral flux and its percolation depth on organic carbon export in Arctic tundra soil: Implications from a soil leaching experiment: Changes of OC in Arctic Soil Leachate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Xiaowen [Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville Florida USA; Hutchings, Jack A. [Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville Florida USA; Bianchi, Thomas S. [Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville Florida USA; Liu, Yina [Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Arellano, Ana R. [Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville Florida USA; Schuur, Edward A. G. [Center for Ecosystem Science and Society and Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff Arizona USA; Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville Florida USA

2017-04-01

Temperature rise in the Arctic is causing deepening of active layers and resulting in the mobilization of deep permafrost dissolved organic matter (DOM). However, the mechanisms of DOM mobilization from Arctic soils, especially upper soil horizons which are drained most frequently through a year, are poorly understood. Here, we conducted a short-term leaching experiment on surface and deep organic active layer soils, from the Yukon River basin, to examine the effects of DOM transport on bulk and molecular characteristics. Our data showed a net release of DOM from surface soils equal to an average of 5% of soil carbon. Conversely, deep soils percolated with surface leachates retained up to 27% of bulk DOM-while releasing fluorescent components (up to 107%), indicating selective release of aromatic components (e.g. lignin, tannin), while retaining non-chromophoric components, as supported by spectrofluorometric and ultra high resolution mass spectroscopic techniques. Our findings highlight the importance of the lateral flux of DOM on ecosystem carbon balance as well as processing of DOM transport through organic active layer soils en route to rivers and streams. This work also suggests the potential role of leachate export as an important mechanism of C losses from Arctic soils, in comparison with the more traditional pathway from soil to atmosphere in a warming Arctic.

Implications of elevated CO2 on pelagic carbon fluxes in an Arctic mesocosm study – an elemental mass balance approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Czerny

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Recent studies on the impacts of ocean acidification on pelagic communities have identified changes in carbon to nutrient dynamics with related shifts in elemental stoichiometry. In principle, mesocosm experiments provide the opportunity of determining temporal dynamics of all relevant carbon and nutrient pools and, thus, calculating elemental budgets. In practice, attempts to budget mesocosm enclosures are often hampered by uncertainties in some of the measured pools and fluxes, in particular due to uncertainties in constraining air–sea gas exchange, particle sinking, and wall growth. In an Arctic mesocosm study on ocean acidification applying KOSMOS (Kiel Off-Shore Mesocosms for future Ocean Simulation, all relevant element pools and fluxes of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus were measured, using an improved experimental design intended to narrow down the mentioned uncertainties. Water-column concentrations of particulate and dissolved organic and inorganic matter were determined daily. New approaches for quantitative estimates of material sinking to the bottom of the mesocosms and gas exchange in 48 h temporal resolution as well as estimates of wall growth were developed to close the gaps in element budgets. However, losses elements from the budgets into a sum of insufficiently determined pools were detected, and are principally unavoidable in mesocosm investigation. The comparison of variability patterns of all single measured datasets revealed analytic precision to be the main issue in determination of budgets. Uncertainties in dissolved organic carbon (DOC, nitrogen (DON and particulate organic phosphorus (POP were much higher than the summed error in determination of the same elements in all other pools. With estimates provided for all other major elemental pools, mass balance calculations could be used to infer the temporal development of DOC, DON and POP pools. Future elevated pCO2 was found to enhance net autotrophic community carbon

Millennial-scale changes in atmospheric CO2 levels linked to the Southern Ocean carbon isotope gradient and dust flux

Science.gov (United States)

Ziegler, Martin; Diz, Paula; Hall, Ian R.; Zahn, Rainer

2013-06-01

The rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations observed at the end of glacial periods has, at least in part, been attributed to the upwelling of carbon-rich deep water in the Southern Ocean. The magnitude of outgassing of dissolved CO2, however, is influenced by the biological fixation of upwelled inorganic carbon and its transfer back to the deep sea as organic carbon. The efficiency of this biological pump is controlled by the extent of nutrient utilization, which can be stimulated by the delivery of iron by atmospheric dust particles. Changes in nutrient utilization should be reflected in the δ13C gradient between intermediate and deep waters. Here we use the δ13C values of intermediate- and bottom-dwelling foraminifera to reconstruct the carbon isotope gradient between thermocline and abyssal water in the subantarctic zone of the South Atlantic Ocean over the past 360,000 years. We find millennial-scale oscillations of the carbon isotope gradient that correspond to changes in dust flux and atmospheric CO2 concentrations as reported from Antarctic ice cores. We interpret this correlation as a relationship between the efficiency of the biological pump and fertilization by dust-borne iron. As the correlation is exponential, we suggest that the sensitivity of the biological pump to dust-borne iron fertilization may be increased when the background dust flux is low.

Regional patterns of labile organic carbon flux in North American Arctic Margin (NAAM) as reflected by redox sensitive-elements distributions in sediments

Science.gov (United States)

Gobeil, C.; Kuzyk, Z. Z. A.; Goni, M. A.; Macdonald, R. W.

2016-02-01

Concentrations of elements (S, Mn, Mo, U, Cd, Re) providing insights on organic C metabolized through oxidative processes at the sea floor were measured in 27 sediment cores collected along a section extending from the North Bering Sea to Davis Strait via the Canadian Archipelago. Sedimentary distributions and accumulation rates of these elements were used to i) document the relative importance of aerobic versus anaerobic degradation of organic C in NAAM sediments, ii) infer variations in water column carbon flux and iii) estimate the importance of this margin as a sink for key elements in the Arctic and global ocean. Distributions of Mn, total S and reduced inorganic S demonstrated that most sediments along the NAAM had relatively thick (>1 cm) surface oxic layers, underlain by sediments with weakly reducing conditions and limited sulphate reduction. Strongly reducing conditions accompanied by substantial sedimentary pyrite burial occurred only in certain subregions, including the Bering-Chukchi Shelves, shallow portions of Barrow Canyon. Estimated accumulation rates of authigenic S, Mo, Cd and U, and total Re displayed marked spatial variability that was related to sedimentary redox conditions induced by the supply of labile C to the seabed, as shown by significant relationships between the accumulation rates and vertical C flux, estimated from regional primary production values and water depth at the coring sites. High primary production combined with shallow water columns drive elevated rates of authigenic trace element accumulation in sediments from the Bering-Chukchi Shelves whereas low production combined with moderately deep conditions drive low rates of accumulation in sediments in the Beaufort Shelf, Davis Strait and Canadian Archipelago. Using the average authigenic trace element accumulation rates in sediments from the various regions, we submit that the shelves along the NAAM margin are important sinks in global marine biogeochemical budgets.

Estimation of net ecosystem carbon exchange for the conterminous United States by combining MODIS and AmeriFlux data

Science.gov (United States)

Jingfeng Xiao; Qianlai Zhuang; Dennis D. Baldocchi; Beverly E. Law; Andrew D. Richardson; Jiquan Chen; Ram Oren; Gegory Starr; Asko Noormets; Siyan Ma; Sashi B. Verma; Sonia Wharton; Steven C. Wofsy; Paul V. Bolstad; Sean P. Burns; David R. Cook; Peter S. Curtis; Bert G. Drake; Matthias Falk; MArc L. Fischer; David R. Foster; Lianhong Gu; Julian L. Hadley; David Y. Hollinger; Gabriel G. Katul; Marcy Litvak; Timothy Martin; Roser Matamala; Steve McNulty; Tilden P. Meyers; Russell K. Monson; J. William Munger; Walter C. Oechel; Kyaw Tha Paw U; Hans Peter Schmid; Russell L. Scott; Ge Sun; Andrew E. Suyker; Margaret S. Torn

2008-01-01

Eddy covariance flux towers provide continuous measurements of net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) for a wide range of climate and biome types. However, these measurements only represent the carbon fluxes at the scale of the tower footprint. To quantify the net exchange of carbon dioxide between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere for regions or continents,...

Dynamics of submarine groundwater discharge and associated fluxes of dissolved nutrients, carbon, and trace gases to the coastal zone (Okatee River estuary, South Carolina)

Science.gov (United States)

Porubsky, W.P.; Weston, N.B.; Moore, W.S.; Ruppel, C.; Joye, S.B.

2014-01-01

Multiple techniques, including thermal infrared aerial remote sensing, geophysical and geological data, geochemical characterization and radium isotopes, were used to evaluate the role of groundwater as a source of dissolved nutrients, carbon, and trace gases to the Okatee River estuary, South Carolina. Thermal infrared aerial remote sensing surveys illustrated the presence of multiple submarine groundwater discharge sites in Okatee headwaters. Significant relationships were observed between groundwater geochemical constituents and 226Ra activity in groundwater with higher 226Ra activity correlated to higher concentrations of organics, dissolved inorganic carbon, nutrients, and trace gases to the Okatee system. A system-level radium mass balance confirmed a substantial submarine groundwater discharge contribution of these constituents to the Okatee River. Diffusive benthic flux measurements and potential denitrification rate assays tracked the fate of constituents in creek bank sediments. Diffusive benthic fluxes were substantially lower than calculated radium-based submarine groundwater discharge inputs, showing that advection of groundwater-derived nutrients dominated fluxes in the system. While a considerable potential for denitrification in tidal creek bank sediments was noted, in situ denitrification rates were nitrate-limited, making intertidal sediments an inefficient nitrogen sink in this system. Groundwater geochemical data indicated significant differences in groundwater chemical composition and radium activity ratios between the eastern and western sides of the river; these likely arose from the distinct hydrological regimes observed in each area. Groundwater from the western side of the Okatee headwaters was characterized by higher concentrations of dissolved organic and inorganic carbon, dissolved organic nitrogen, inorganic nutrients and reduced metabolites and trace gases, i.e. methane and nitrous oxide, than groundwater from the eastern side

Methane Flux and Authigenic Carbonate in Shallow Sediments Overlying Methane Hydrate Bearing Strata in Alaminos Canyon, Gulf of Mexico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph P. Smith

2014-09-01

Full Text Available In June 2007 sediment cores were collected in Alaminos Canyon, Gulf of Mexico across a series of seismic data profiles indicating rapid transitions between the presence of methane hydrates and vertical gas flux. Vertical profiles of dissolved sulfate, chloride, calcium, magnesium, and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC concentrations in porewaters, headspace methane, and solid phase carbonate concentrations were measured at each core location to investigate the cycling of methane-derived carbon in shallow sediments overlying the hydrate bearing strata. When integrated with stable carbon isotope ratios of DIC, geochemical results suggest a significant fraction of the methane flux at this site is cycled into the inorganic carbon pool. The incorporation of methane-derived carbon into dissolved and solid inorganic carbon phases represents a significant sink in local carbon cycling and plays a role in regulating the flux of methane to the overlying water column at Alaminos Canyon. Targeted, high-resolution geochemical characterization of the biogeochemical cycling of methane-derived carbon in shallow sediments overlying hydrate bearing strata like those in Alaminos Canyon is critical to quantifying methane flux and estimating methane hydrate distributions in gas hydrate bearing marine sediments.

Towards a better understanding of microbial carbon flux in the sea

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Gasol, J.M.; Pinhassi, J.; Alonso-Sáez, L.; Ducklow, H.; Herndl, G. J.; Koblížek, Michal; Labrenz, M.; Luo, Y.; Morán, X. A. G.; Reinthaler, T.; Simon, M.

2008-01-01

Roč. 53, - (2008), s. 21-38 ISSN 0948-3055 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50200510 Keywords : carbon flux * microbioal ecology * ocean Subject RIV: EE - Microbiology, Virology Impact factor: 2.190, year: 2008

Greenhouse gas flux dynamics in wetlands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silvola, J; Alm, J; Saarnio, S [Joensuu Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Biology; Martikainen, P J [National Public Health Inst., Kuopio (Finland). Dept. of Environmental Microbiology

1997-12-31

Two important greenhouse gases, CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4}, are closely connected to the carbon cycling of wetlands. Although virgin wetlands are mostly carbon accumulating ecosystems, major proportion of the CO{sub 2} bound annually in photosynthesis is released back to the atmosphere. Main portion of the carbon cycling in wetlands is quite fast while a small proportion of carbon diffusing from soil is released from organic matter, which may be ten thousand years old. Methane is formed in the anaerobic layers of wetlands, from where it is released gradually to the atmosphere. The decomposition in anaerobic conditions is very slow, which means that usually only a few percent of the annual carbon cycling takes place as methane. Research on CO{sub 2} fluxes of different virgin and managed peatlands was the main topic of this project during the first phase of SILMU. The measurements were made during two seasons in varying conditions in c. 30 study sites. In the second phase of SILMU the research topics were the spatial and temporal variation of CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} fluxes, the relationships between vegetation and gas fluxes as well as carbon balance studies in wetlands at some intensive sites

Greenhouse gas flux dynamics in wetlands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silvola, J.; Alm, J.; Saarnio, S. [Joensuu Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Biology; Martikainen, P.J. [National Public Health Inst., Kuopio (Finland). Dept. of Environmental Microbiology

1996-12-31

Two important greenhouse gases, CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4}, are closely connected to the carbon cycling of wetlands. Although virgin wetlands are mostly carbon accumulating ecosystems, major proportion of the CO{sub 2} bound annually in photosynthesis is released back to the atmosphere. Main portion of the carbon cycling in wetlands is quite fast while a small proportion of carbon diffusing from soil is released from organic matter, which may be ten thousand years old. Methane is formed in the anaerobic layers of wetlands, from where it is released gradually to the atmosphere. The decomposition in anaerobic conditions is very slow, which means that usually only a few percent of the annual carbon cycling takes place as methane. Research on CO{sub 2} fluxes of different virgin and managed peatlands was the main topic of this project during the first phase of SILMU. The measurements were made during two seasons in varying conditions in c. 30 study sites. In the second phase of SILMU the research topics were the spatial and temporal variation of CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} fluxes, the relationships between vegetation and gas fluxes as well as carbon balance studies in wetlands at some intensive sites

Quantifying aboveground forest carbon pools and fluxes from repeat LiDAR surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Andrew T. Hudak; Eva K. Strand; Lee A. Vierling; John C. Byrne; Jan U. H. Eitel; Sebastian Martinuzzi; Michael J. Falkowski

2012-01-01

Sound forest policy and management decisions to mitigate rising atmospheric CO2 depend upon accurate methodologies to quantify forest carbon pools and fluxes over large tracts of land. LiDAR remote sensing is a rapidly evolving technology for quantifying aboveground biomass and thereby carbon pools; however, little work has evaluated the efficacy of repeat LiDAR...

Precipitation as driver of carbon fluxes in 11 African ecosystems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Merbold, L.; Ardo, J.; Arneth, A.; Scholes, R.J.; Nouvellon, Y.; Grandcourt, de A.; Archibald, S.; Bonnefonds, J.M.; Boulain, N.; Bruemmer, C.; Brueggemann, N.; Cappelaere, B.; Ceschia, E.; El-Khidir, H.A.M.; El-Tahir, B.A.; Falk, U.; Lloyd, J.; Kergoat, L.; Dantec, Le V.; Mougin, E.; Muchinda, M.; Mukelabai, M.M.; Ramier, D.; Roupsard, O.; Timouk, F.; Veenendaal, E.M.; Kutsch, W.L.

2009-01-01

This study reports carbon and water fluxes between the land surface and atmosphere in eleven different ecosystems types in Sub-Saharan Africa, as measured using eddy covariance (EC) technology in the first two years of the CarboAfrica network operation. The ecosystems for which data were available

High-flux water desalination with interfacial salt sieving effect in nanoporous carbon composite membranes

KAUST Repository

Chen, Wei; Chen, Shuyu; Liang, Tengfei; Zhang, Qiang; Fan, Zhongli; Yin, Hang; Huang, Kuo-Wei; Zhang, Xixiang; Lai, Zhiping; Sheng, Ping

2018-01-01

Freshwater flux and energy consumption are two important benchmarks for the membrane desalination process. Here, we show that nanoporous carbon composite membranes, which comprise a layer of porous carbon fibre structures grown on a porous ceramic

Hydro-climatic forcing of dissolved organic carbon in two boreal lakes of Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Diodato, Nazzareno; Higgins, Scott; Bellocchi, Gianni; Fiorillo, Francesco; Romano, Nunzio; Guadagno, Francesco M

2016-11-15

The boreal forest of the northern hemisphere represents one of the world's largest ecozones and contains nearly one third of the world's intact forests and terrestrially stored carbon. Long-term variations in temperature and precipitation have been implied in altering carbon cycling in forest soils, including increased fluxes to receiving waters. In this study, we use a simple hydrologic model and a 40-year dataset (1971-2010) of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from two pristine boreal lakes (ELA, Canada) to examine the interactions between precipitation and landscape-scale controls of DOC production and export from forest catchments to surface waters. Our results indicate that a simplified hydrologically-based conceptual model can enable the long-term temporal patterns of DOC fluxes to be captured within boreal landscapes. Reconstructed DOC exports from forested catchments in the period 1901-2012 follow largely a sinusoidal pattern, with a period of about 37years and are tightly linked to multi-decadal patterns of precipitation. By combining our model with long-term precipitation estimates, we found no evidence of increasing DOC transport or in-lake concentrations through the 20th century. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Marine ecosystem modeling beyond the box: using GIS to study carbon fluxes in a coastal ecosystem.

Science.gov (United States)

Wijnbladh, Erik; Jönsson, Bror Fredrik; Kumblad, Linda

2006-12-01

Studies of carbon fluxes in marine ecosystems are often done by using box model approaches with basin size boxes, or highly resolved 3D models, and an emphasis on the pelagic component of the ecosystem. Those approaches work well in the ocean proper, but can give rise to considerable problems when applied to coastal systems, because of the scale of certain ecological niches and the fact that benthic organisms are the dominant functional group of the ecosystem. In addition, 3D models require an extensive modeling effort. In this project, an intermediate approach based on a high resolution (20x20 m) GIS data-grid has been developed for the coastal ecosystem in the Laxemar area (Baltic Sea, Sweden) based on a number of different site investigations. The model has been developed in the context of a safety assessment project for a proposed nuclear waste repository, in which the fate of hypothetically released radionuclides from the planned repository is estimated. The assessment project requires not only a good understanding of the ecosystem dynamics at the site, but also quantification of stocks and flows of matter in the system. The data-grid was then used to set up a carbon budget describing the spatial distribution of biomass, primary production, net ecosystem production and thus where carbon sinks and sources are located in the area. From these results, it was clear that there was a large variation in ecosystem characteristics within the basins and, on a larger scale, that the inner areas are net producing and the outer areas net respiring, even in shallow phytobenthic communities. Benthic processes had a similar or larger influence on carbon fluxes as advective processes in inner areas, whereas the opposite appears to be true in the outer basins. As many radionuclides are expected to follow the pathways of organic matter in the environment, these findings enhance our abilities to realistically describe and predict their fate in the ecosystem.

Marine Ecosystem Modeling Beyond the Box: Using GIS to Study Carbon Fluxes in a Coastal Ecosystem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wijnbladh, Erik; Joensson, Bror Fredrik; Kumblad, Linda

2006-01-01

Studies of carbon fluxes in marine ecosystems are often done by using box model approaches with basin size boxes, or highly resolved 3D models, and an emphasis on the pelagic component of the ecosystem. Those approaches work well in the ocean proper, but can give rise to considerable problems when applied to coastal systems, because of the scale of certain ecological niches and the fact that benthic organisms are the dominant functional group of the ecosystem. In addition, 3D models require an extensive modeling effort. In this project, an intermediate approach based on a high resolution (20x20 m) GIS data-grid has been developed for the coastal ecosystem in the Laxemar area (Baltic Sea, Sweden) based on a number of different site investigations. The model has been developed in the context of a safety assessment project for a proposed nuclear waste repository, in which the fate of hypothetically released radionuclides from the planned repository is estimated. The assessment project requires not only a good understanding of the ecosystem dynamics at the site, but also quantification of stocks and flows of matter in the system. The data-grid was then used to set up a carbon budget describing the spatial distribution of biomass, primary production, net ecosystem production and thus where carbon sinks and sources are located in the area. From these results, it was clear that there was a large variation in ecosystem characteristics within the basins and, on a larger scale, that the inner areas are net producing and the outer areas net respiring, even in shallow phyto benthic communities. Benthic processes had a similar or larger influence on carbon fluxes as advective processes in inner areas, whereas the opposite appears to be true in the outer basins. As many radionuclides are expected to follow the pathways of organic matter in the environment, these findings enhance our abilities to realistically describe and predict their fate in the ecosystem

Particle flux and temperature dependence of carbon impurity production from an inertially-cooled limiter in tore supra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeMichelis, C.; Monier-Garbet, P.; Guilhem, D.

1998-01-01

A visible endoscope system and an infrared camera system have been used to study the flux of carbon from an inertially-cooled graphite limiter in Tore Supra. From the variation in the carbon flux with plasma parameters new data have been obtained describing the dependence of radiation enhanced sublimation (RES) and chemical sputtering on incident ion flux. Other characteristics of RES under plasma operation conditions have also been studied. The dependence of RES on incident deuterium particle flux density is found to be in reasonable agreement with the expected particle flux scaling over a range of particle fluxes varying by a factor ∼ 25, extending the present scaling to higher flux density values. Chemical sputtering has been observed, but only in regions of the limiter with low incident deuterium fluxes. Values inferred for the chemical sputtering yield are similar to those measured with a temperature controlled test limiter in Textor. (author)

Aeolian nutrient fluxes following wildfire in sagebrush steppe: implications for soil carbon storage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. J. Hasselquist

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Pulses of aeolian transport following fire can profoundly affect the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in semi-arid and arid ecosystems. Our objective was to determine horizontal nutrient fluxes occurring in the saltation zone during an episodic pulse of aeolian transport that occurred following a wildfire in a semi-arid sagebrush steppe ecosystem in southern Idaho, USA. We also examined how temporal trends in nutrient fluxes were affected by changes in particle sizes of eroded mass as well as nutrient concentrations associated with different particle size classes. In the burned area, total carbon (C and nitrogen (N fluxes were as high as 235 g C m⁻¹ d⁻¹ and 19 g N m⁻¹ d⁻¹ during the first few months following fire, whereas C and N fluxes were negligible in an adjacent unburned area throughout the study. Temporal variation in C and N fluxes following fire was largely attributable to the redistribution of saltation-sized particles. Total N and organic C concentrations in the soil surface were significantly lower in the burned relative to the unburned area one year after fire. Our results show how an episodic pulse of aeolian transport following fire can affect the spatial distribution of soil C and N, which, in turn, can have important implications for soil C storage. These findings demonstrate how an ecological disturbance can exacerbate a geomorphic process and highlight the need for further research to better understand the role aeolian transport plays in the biogeochemical cycling of C and N in recently burned landscapes.

Dissolved organic matter and lake metabolism: Biogeochemistry and controls of nutrient flux dynamics to fresh waters. Technical progress report, January 1, 1990--December 31, 1991

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wetzel, R.G.

1992-12-31

The land-water interface region consists of two major components: the wetland, and the down-gradient adjacent littoral floating-leaved and submersed, macrophyte communities. Because of the importance of very high production and nutrient turnover of attached microbiota, a major emphasis of this investigation was placed upon these biota and their metabolic capacities for assimilation and release of organic compounds and nutrient retention and cycling. Examination of the capacities of wetland littoral communities to regulate fluxes of nutrients and organic compounds often has been limited to input-output analyses. These input-output data are an integral part of these investigations, but most of the research effort concentrated on the biotic and metabolic mechanisms that control fluxes and retention capacities and their effects upon biota in the down-gradient waters. The important regulatory capacities of dissolved organic compounds on enzyme reactivity was examined experimentally and coupled to the wetland-littoral organic carbon flux budgets.

Distinguishing the drivers of trends in land carbon fluxes and plant volatile emissions over the past 3 decades

Science.gov (United States)

Yue, X.; Unger, N.; Zheng, Y.

2015-10-01

The terrestrial biosphere has experienced dramatic changes in recent decades. Estimates of historical trends in land carbon fluxes remain uncertain because long-term observations are limited on the global scale. Here, we use the Yale Interactive terrestrial Biosphere (YIBs) model to estimate decadal trends in land carbon fluxes and emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and to identify the key drivers for these changes during 1982-2011. Driven by hourly meteorology from WFDEI (WATCH forcing data methodology applied to ERA-Interim data), the model simulates an increasing trend of 297 Tg C a-2 in gross primary productivity (GPP) and 185 Tg C a-2 in the net primary productivity (NPP). CO2 fertilization is the main driver for the flux changes in forest ecosystems, while meteorology dominates the changes in grasslands and shrublands. Warming boosts summer GPP and NPP at high latitudes, while drought dampens carbon uptake in tropical regions. North of 30° N, increasing temperatures induce a substantial extension of 0.22 day a-1 for the growing season; however, this phenological change alone does not promote regional carbon uptake and BVOC emissions. Nevertheless, increases of leaf area index at peak season accounts for ~ 25 % of the trends in GPP and isoprene emissions at the northern lands. The net land sink shows statistically insignificant increases of only 3 Tg C a-2 globally because of simultaneous increases in soil respiration. Global BVOC emissions are calculated using two schemes. With the photosynthesis-dependent scheme, the model predicts increases of 0.4 Tg C a-2 in isoprene emissions, which are mainly attributed to warming trends because CO2 fertilization and inhibition effects offset each other. Using the MEGAN (Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature) scheme, the YIBs model simulates global reductions of 1.1 Tg C a-2 in isoprene and 0.04 Tg C a-2 in monoterpene emissions in response to the CO2 inhibition effects. Land use

Organic carbon content of tropical zooplankton

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Nair, V.R.

In the Zuari and Mandovi estuaries variations in organic carbon of zooplankton are 26.4-38.8 and 24-39.9% of dry weight respectively. Maximum carbon content of estuarine zooplankton is observed in November. Organic carbon in nearshore and oceanic...

Impacts of revised PFTs on JULES simulated carbon and moisture fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Harper, Anna; Cox, Peter; Sitch, Stephen; Mercado, Lina; Luke, Catherine; Jupp, Tim; Wiltshire, Andy; Jones, Chris; Friedlingstein, Pierre

2013-04-01

JULES is the land surface model in the Hadley Centre GCM, which is used for investigations of climate and climate change. We analyze the impacts on the simulated carbon and moisture fluxes of extending the PFTs in a manner consistent with observed leaf traits. The model currently represents global vegetation with five PFTs (needleleaf and broadleaf trees, C3 and C4 grasses, and shrubs). We add three new PFTs to delineate between deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. Since the inception of JULES in the late 90's, a tremendous amount of new data linking leaf traits and potential photosynthesis is available. We use data from the TRY plant trait data base to revise the relationships between leaf area, leaf lifespan, leaf nitrogen content, and Vcmax. In addition, JULES now includes a canopy radiation scheme based on fractions of sunlit and shaded leaves at 10 levels in the canopy. This results in a vertical distribution of nitrogren and Vcmax through the canopy and enables multilayer scaling from leaf to canopy level photosynthesis. The scheme is more physically realistic than previous canopy radiation schemes, but remains to be evaluated outside of the Tropics. Within the constraints of observed values, we optimize new parameter values related to the canopy radiation and photosynthesis, using optimization software developed at the University of Exeter. Impacts on simulated GPP, respiration, and latent heat flux are examined. In particular, we are interested in a better understanding of carbon cycle dynamics in tropical forests. Using data from TRY, carbon fluxes are improved across all PFTs compared to observations from Fluxnet tower sites. We adopt a regional analysis to compare JULES fluxes in certain regions (e.g. tropical forests, and boreal and tropical shrub-dominated landscapes).

A microbial biogeochemistry network for soil carbon and nitrogen cycling and methane flux: model structure and application to Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, X.; Song, C.; Wang, Y.; Ricciuto, D. M.; Lipson, D.; Shi, X.; Zona, D.; Song, X.; Yuan, F.; Oechel, W. C.; Thornton, P. E.

2017-12-01

A microbial model is introduced for simulating microbial mechanisms controlling soil carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical cycling and methane fluxes. The model is built within the CN (carbon-nitrogen) framework of Community Land Model 4.5, named as CLM-Microbe to emphasize its explicit representation of microbial mechanisms to biogeochemistry. Based on the CLM4.5, three new pools were added: bacteria, fungi, and dissolved organic matter. It has 11 pools and 34 transitional processes, compared with 8 pools and 9 transitional flow in the CLM4.5. The dissolve organic carbon was linked with a new microbial functional group based methane module to explicitly simulate methane production, oxidation, transport and their microbial controls. Comparing with CLM4.5-CN, the CLM-Microbe model has a number of new features, (1) microbial control on carbon and nitrogen flows between soil carbon/nitrogen pools; (2) an implicit representation of microbial community structure as bacteria and fungi; (3) a microbial functional-group based methane module. The model sensitivity analysis suggests the importance of microbial carbon allocation parameters on soil biogeochemistry and microbial controls on methane dynamics. Preliminary simulations validate the model's capability for simulating carbon and nitrogen dynamics and methane at a number of sites across the globe. The regional application to Asia has verified the model in simulating microbial mechanisms in controlling methane dynamics at multiple scales.

Settling barium fluxes in the Arabian Sea: Critical evaluation of relationship with export production

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Nair, T.M.B.; Ittekkot, V.; Shankar, R.; Guptha, M.V.S.

observations show a strong linear correlation between Ba sub(excess) fluxes and biogenic opal and organic carbon (C sub(org)) fluxes, indicating a biogenic origin of particulate Ba. However, the correlation between biogenic and Ba sub(excess) fluxes...

Parallel measurements of organic and elemental carbon dry (PM1, PM2.5) and wet (rain, snow, mixed) deposition into the Baltic Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Witkowska, Agnieszka; Lewandowska, Anita; Falkowska, Lucyna M

2016-03-15

Parallel studies on organic and elemental carbon in PM1 and PM2.5 aerosols and in wet deposition in various forms of its occurrence were conducted in the urbanised coastal zone of the Baltic Sea. The carbon load introduced into the sea water was mainly affected by the form of precipitation. Dry deposition load of carbon was on average a few orders of magnitude smaller than wet deposition. The suspended organic carbon was more effectively removed from the air with rain than snow, while an inverse relationship was found for elemental carbon. However the highest flux of water insoluble organic carbon was recorded in precipitation of a mixed nature. The atmospheric cleaning of highly dissolved organic carbon was observed to be the most effective on the first day of precipitation, while the hydrophobic elemental carbon was removed more efficiently when the precipitation lasted longer than a day. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Variability of carbon and water fluxes following climate extremes over a tropical forest in southwestern Amazonia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcelo Zeri

Full Text Available The carbon and water cycles for a southwestern Amazonian forest site were investigated using the longest time series of fluxes of CO2 and water vapor ever reported for this site. The period from 2004 to 2010 included two severe droughts (2005 and 2010 and a flooding year (2009. The effects of such climate extremes were detected in annual sums of fluxes as well as in other components of the carbon and water cycles, such as gross primary production and water use efficiency. Gap-filling and flux-partitioning were applied in order to fill gaps due to missing data, and errors analysis made it possible to infer the uncertainty on the carbon balance. Overall, the site was found to have a net carbon uptake of ≈5 t C ha(-1 year(-1, but the effects of the drought of 2005 were still noticed in 2006, when the climate disturbance caused the site to become a net source of carbon to the atmosphere. Different regions of the Amazon forest might respond differently to climate extremes due to differences in dry season length, annual precipitation, species compositions, albedo and soil type. Longer time series of fluxes measured over several locations are required to better characterize the effects of climate anomalies on the carbon and water balances for the whole Amazon region. Such valuable datasets can also be used to calibrate biogeochemical models and infer on future scenarios of the Amazon forest carbon balance under the influence of climate change.

High-flux water desalination with interfacial salt sieving effect in nanoporous carbon composite membranes

KAUST Repository

Chen, Wei

2018-03-05

Freshwater flux and energy consumption are two important benchmarks for the membrane desalination process. Here, we show that nanoporous carbon composite membranes, which comprise a layer of porous carbon fibre structures grown on a porous ceramic substrate, can exhibit 100% desalination and a freshwater flux that is 3-20 times higher than existing polymeric membranes. Thermal accounting experiments demonstrated that the carbon composite membrane saved over 80% of the latent heat consumption. Theoretical calculations combined with molecular dynamics simulations revealed the unique microscopic process occurring in the membrane. When the salt solution is stopped at the openings to the nanoscale porous channels and forms a meniscus, the vapour can rapidly transport across the nanoscale gap to condense on the permeate side. This process is driven by the chemical potential gradient and aided by the unique smoothness of the carbon surface. The high thermal conductivity of the carbon composite membrane ensures that most of the latent heat is recovered.

High-flux water desalination with interfacial salt sieving effect in nanoporous carbon composite membranes

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Wei; Chen, Shuyu; Liang, Tengfei; Zhang, Qiang; Fan, Zhongli; Yin, Hang; Huang, Kuo-Wei; Zhang, Xixiang; Lai, Zhiping; Sheng, Ping

2018-04-01

Freshwater flux and energy consumption are two important benchmarks for the membrane desalination process. Here, we show that nanoporous carbon composite membranes, which comprise a layer of porous carbon fibre structures grown on a porous ceramic substrate, can exhibit 100% desalination and a freshwater flux that is 3-20 times higher than existing polymeric membranes. Thermal accounting experiments demonstrated that the carbon composite membrane saved over 80% of the latent heat consumption. Theoretical calculations combined with molecular dynamics simulations revealed the unique microscopic process occurring in the membrane. When the salt solution is stopped at the openings to the nanoscale porous channels and forms a meniscus, the vapour can rapidly transport across the nanoscale gap to condense on the permeate side. This process is driven by the chemical potential gradient and aided by the unique smoothness of the carbon surface. The high thermal conductivity of the carbon composite membrane ensures that most of the latent heat is recovered.

BOREAS TGB-12 Soil Carbon and Flux Data of NSA-MSA in Raster Format

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Forrest G. (Editor); Knapp, David E. (Editor); Rapalee, Gloria; Davidson, Eric; Harden, Jennifer W.; Trumbore, Susan E.; Veldhuis, Hugo

2000-01-01

The BOREAS TGB-12 team made measurements of soil carbon inventories, carbon concentration in soil gases, and rates of soil respiration at several sites. This data set provides: (1) estimates of soil carbon stocks by horizon based on soil survey data and analyses of data from individual soil profiles; (2) estimates of soil carbon fluxes based on stocks, fire history, drain-age, and soil carbon inputs and decomposition constants based on field work using radiocarbon analyses; (3) fire history data estimating age ranges of time since last fire; and (4) a raster image and an associated soils table file from which area-weighted maps of soil carbon and fluxes and fire history may be generated. This data set was created from raster files, soil polygon data files, and detailed lab analysis of soils data that were received from Dr. Hugo Veldhuis, who did the original mapping in the field during 1994. Also used were soils data from Susan Trumbore and Jennifer Harden (BOREAS TGB-12). The binary raster file covers a 733-km 2 area within the NSA-MSA.

Carbon Fluxes at the AmazonFACE Research Site

Science.gov (United States)

Norby, R.; De Araujo, A. C.; Cordeiro, A. L.; Fleischer, K.; Fuchslueger, L.; Garcia, S.; Hofhansl, F.; Garcia, M. N.; Grandis, A.; Oblitas, E.; Pereira, I.; Pieres, N. M.; Schaap, K.; Valverde-Barrantes, O.

2017-12-01

The free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experiment to be implemented in the Amazon rain forest requires strong pretreatment characterization so that eventual responses to elevated CO2 can be detected against a background of substantial species diversity and spatial heterogeneity. Two 30-m diameter plots have been laid out for initial characterization in a 30-m tall, old-growth, terra firme forest. Intensive measurements have been made of aboveground tree growth, leaf area, litter production, and fine-root production; these data sets together support initial estimates of plot-scale net primary productivity (NPP). Leaf-level measurements of photosynthesis throughout the canopy and over a daily time course in both the wet and dry season, coupled with meterological monitoring, support an initial estimate of gross primary productivity (GPP) and carbon-use efficiency (CUE = NPP/GPP). Monthly monitoring of CO2 efflux from the soil, partitioned into autotrophic and heterotrophic components, supports an estimate of net ecosystem production (NEP). Our estimate of NPP in the two plots (1.2 and 1.4 kg C m-2 yr-1) is 16-38% greater than previously reported for the site, primarily due to our more complete documentation of fine-root production, including root production deeper than 30 cm. The estimate of CUE of the ecosystem (0.52) is greater than most others in Amazonia; this discrepancy reflects large uncertainty in GPP, which derived from just two days of measurement, or to underestimates of the fine-root component of NPP in previous studies. Estimates of NEP (0 and 0.14 kg C m-2 yr-1) are generally consistent with a landscape-level estimate from flux tower data. Our C flux estimates, albeit very preliminary, provide initial benchmarks for a 12-model a priori evaluation of this forest. The model means of GPP, NPP, and NEP are mostly consistent with our field measurements. Predictions of C flux responses to elevated CO2 from the models become hypotheses to be tested in the FACE

Rates and fluxes of centennial-scale carbon storage in the fine-grained sediments from the central South Yellow Sea and Min-Zhe belt, East China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jianghai; Xiao, Xi; Zhou, Qianzhi; Xu, Xiaoming; Zhang, Chenxi; Liu, Jinzhong; Yuan, Dongliang

2018-01-01

The global carbon cycle has played a key role in mitigating global warming and climate change. Long-term natural and anthropogenic processes influence the composition, sources, burial rates, and fluxes of carbon in sediments on the continental shelf of China. In this study, the rates, fluxes, and amounts of carbon storage at the centennial scale were estimated and demonstrated using the case study of three fine-grained sediment cores from the central South Yellow Sea area (SYSA) and Min-Zhe belt (MZB), East China Sea. Based on the high-resolution temporal sequences of total carbon (TC) and total organic carbon (TOC) contents, we reconstructed the annual variations of historical marine carbon storage, and explored the influence of terrestrial and marine sources on carbon burial at the centennial scale. The estimated TC storage over 100 years was 1.18×108 t in the SYSA and 1.45×109 t in the MZB. The corrected TOC storage fluxes at the centennial scale ranged from 17 to 28 t/(km2·a)in the SYSA and from 56 to 148 t/(km2·a) in the MZB. The decrease of terrestrial materials and the increase of marine primary production suggest that the TOC buried in the sediments in the SYSA and MZB was mainly derived from the marine autogenetic source. In the MZB, two depletion events occurred in TC and TOC storage from 1985 to 1987 and 2003 to 2006, which were coeval with the water impoundment in the Gezhouba and Three Gorges dams, respectively. The high-resolution records of the carbon storage rates and fluxes in the SYSA and MZB reflect the synchronous responses to human activities and provide an important reference for assessing the carbon sequestration capacity of the marginal seas of China.

Measurement of boron and carbon fluxes in cosmic rays with the PAMELA experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adriani, O.; Bongi, M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence (Italy); Barbarino, G. C. [Department of Physics, University of Naples " Federico II," I-80126 Naples (Italy); Bazilevskaya, G. A. [Lebedev Physical Institute, RU-119991 Moscow (Russian Federation); Bellotti, R.; Bruno, A. [Department of Physics, University of Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy); Boezio, M.; Bonvicini, V.; Carbone, R. [INFN, Sezione di Trieste, I-34149 Trieste (Italy); Bogomolov, E. A. [Ioffe Physical Technical Institute, RU-194021 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation); Bottai, S. [INFN, Sezione di Florence, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence (Italy); Cafagna, F. [INFN, Sezione di Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy); Campana, D. [INFN, Sezione di Naples, I-80126 Naples (Italy); Carlson, P. [KTH, Department of Physics, and the Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, AlbaNova University Centre, SE-10691 Stockholm (Sweden); Casolino, M.; De Donato, C.; De Santis, C.; De Simone, N. [INFN, Sezione di Rome " Tor Vergata," I-00133 Rome (Italy); Castellini, G. [IFAC, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence (Italy); Danilchenko, I. A. [National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, RU-115409 Moscow (Russian Federation); and others

2014-08-20

The propagation of cosmic rays inside our galaxy plays a fundamental role in shaping their injection spectra into those observed at Earth. One of the best tools to investigate this issue is the ratio of fluxes for secondary and primary species. The boron-to-carbon (B/C) ratio, in particular, is a sensitive probe to investigate propagation mechanisms. This paper presents new measurements of the absolute fluxes of boron and carbon nuclei as well as the B/C ratio from the PAMELA space experiment. The results span the range 0.44-129 GeV/n in kinetic energy for data taken in the period 2006 July to 2008 March.

Changes in ocean circulation and carbon storage are decoupled from air-sea CO2 fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Marinov, I.; Gnanadesikan, A.

2011-02-01

The spatial distribution of the air-sea flux of carbon dioxide is a poor indicator of the underlying ocean circulation and of ocean carbon storage. The weak dependence on circulation arises because mixing-driven changes in solubility-driven and biologically-driven air-sea fluxes largely cancel out. This cancellation occurs because mixing driven increases in the poleward residual mean circulation result in more transport of both remineralized nutrients and heat from low to high latitudes. By contrast, increasing vertical mixing decreases the storage associated with both the biological and solubility pumps, as it decreases remineralized carbon storage in the deep ocean and warms the ocean as a whole.

Changes in ocean circulation and carbon storage are decoupled from air-sea CO2 fluxes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Gnanadesikan

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The spatial distribution of the air-sea flux of carbon dioxide is a poor indicator of the underlying ocean circulation and of ocean carbon storage. The weak dependence on circulation arises because mixing-driven changes in solubility-driven and biologically-driven air-sea fluxes largely cancel out. This cancellation occurs because mixing driven increases in the poleward residual mean circulation result in more transport of both remineralized nutrients and heat from low to high latitudes. By contrast, increasing vertical mixing decreases the storage associated with both the biological and solubility pumps, as it decreases remineralized carbon storage in the deep ocean and warms the ocean as a whole.

KoFlux: Korean Regional Flux Network in AsiaFlux

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, J.

2002-12-01

AsiaFlux, the Asian arm of FLUXNET, held the Second International Workshop on Advanced Flux Network and Flux Evaluation in Jeju Island, Korea on 9-11 January 2002. In order to facilitate comprehensive Asia-wide studies of ecosystem fluxes, the meeting launched KoFlux, a new Korean regional network of long-term micrometeorological flux sites. For a successful assessment of carbon exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, an accurate measurement of surface fluxes of energy and water is one of the prerequisites. During the 7th Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Asian Monsoon Experiment (GAME) held in Nagoya, Japan on 1-2 October 2001, the Implementation Committee of the Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP) was established. One of the immediate tasks of CEOP was and is to identify the reference sites to monitor energy and water fluxes over the Asian continent. Subsequently, to advance the regional and global network of these reference sites in the context of both FLUXNET and CEOP, the Korean flux community has re-organized the available resources to establish a new regional network, KoFlux. We have built up domestic network sites (equipped with wind profiler and radiosonde measurements) over deciduous and coniferous forests, urban and rural rice paddies and coastal farmland. As an outreach through collaborations with research groups in Japan, China and Thailand, we also proposed international flux sites at ecologically and climatologically important locations such as a prairie on the Tibetan plateau, tropical forest with mixed and rapid land use change in northern Thailand. Several sites in KoFlux already begun to accumulate interesting data and some highlights are presented at the meeting. The sciences generated by flux networks in other continents have proven the worthiness of a global array of micrometeorological flux towers. It is our intent that the launch of KoFlux would encourage other scientists to initiate and

Beyond annual budgets: carbon flux at different temporal scales in fire-prone Siberian Scots pine forests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wirth, C.; Czimczik, C.I.; Schulze, E.D.

2002-01-01

Along four chronosequences of fire-prone Siberian Scots pine forests we compared net primary production (NPP) and two different mass-based estimates of net ecosystem productivity (NEP C and NEP S ). NEP C quantifies changes in carbon pools along the chronosequences, whereas NEP S estimates the short-term stand-level carbon balance in intervals between fires. The chronosequences differed in the mean return interval of surface fires (unburned or moderately burned, 40 yr; heavily burned, 25 yr) and site quality (lichen versus Vaccinium type). Of the Vaccinium type (higher site quality) only a moderately burned chronosequence was studied. NEP C was derived from the rate of changes of two major carbon pools along the chronosequence time axes: (1) decomposition of old coarse woody debris (CWD) left from the previous generation after stand-replacing fire, and (2) accumulation of new carbon in biomass, CWD and soil organic layer by the regenerating stand. Young stands of all chronosequences were losing carbon at rates of -4 to -19 mol C/m 2 /yr (-48 to -228 g C/m 2 /yr). Depending on initial CWD pools and site-specific accumulation rates the stands became net carbon sinks after 12 yr (Vaccinium type) to 24 yr (lichen type) following the stand-replacing fire and offset initial carbon losses after 27 and 70 yr, respectively. Highest NEP C was reached in the unburned chronosequence (10.8 mol C/m 2 /yr or 130 g C/m 2 /yr). Maximum NEP C in the burned chronosequences ranged from 1.8 to 5.1 mol C/m 2 /yr (22 to 61 g C/m 2 /yr) depending on site quality and fire regime. Around a stand age of 200 yr NEP C was 1.6 ± 0.6 mol C/m 2 /yr (19 ± 7 g C/m 2 /yr) across all chronosequences. NEP S represents the current stand-level carbon accumulation in intervals between recurring surface fires and can be viewed as a mass-based analogue of net ecosystem exchange measured with flux towers. It was estimated based on measurements of current woody NPP, modelled decomposition of measured CWD

User-Friendly Predictive Modeling of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Fluxes and Carbon Storage in Tidal Wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

Ishtiaq, K. S.; Abdul-Aziz, O. I.

2015-12-01

We developed user-friendly empirical models to predict instantaneous fluxes of CO2 and CH4 from coastal wetlands based on a small set of dominant hydro-climatic and environmental drivers (e.g., photosynthetically active radiation, soil temperature, water depth, and soil salinity). The dominant predictor variables were systematically identified by applying a robust data-analytics framework on a wide range of possible environmental variables driving wetland greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. The method comprised of a multi-layered data-analytics framework, including Pearson correlation analysis, explanatory principal component and factor analyses, and partial least squares regression modeling. The identified dominant predictors were finally utilized to develop power-law based non-linear regression models to predict CO2 and CH4 fluxes under different climatic, land use (nitrogen gradient), tidal hydrology and salinity conditions. Four different tidal wetlands of Waquoit Bay, MA were considered as the case study sites to identify the dominant drivers and evaluate model performance. The study sites were dominated by native Spartina Alterniflora and characterized by frequent flooding and high saline conditions. The model estimated the potential net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) both in gC/m2 and metric tonC/hectare by up-scaling the instantaneous predicted fluxes to the growing season and accounting for the lateral C flux exchanges between the wetlands and estuary. The entire model was presented in a single Excel spreadsheet as a user-friendly ecological engineering tool. The model can aid the development of appropriate GHG offset protocols for setting monitoring plans for tidal wetland restoration and maintenance projects. The model can also be used to estimate wetland GHG fluxes and potential carbon storage under various IPCC climate change and sea level rise scenarios; facilitating an appropriate management of carbon stocks in tidal wetlands and their incorporation into a

Carbon Flux Through the Giant Barrel Sponge Xestospongia testudinaria in the Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Wooster, Michael K.

2017-11-01

Sponges have important ecological functions on coral reefs because they are regionally abundant, competitively dominant, and process large volumes of seawater. The sponge loop hypothesis proposes that sponges consume dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and then releases the carbon as shed cellular detritus back to the reef benthos. Within this context, we examined the carbon flux mediated by the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia testudinaria, on reefs in the Red Sea, where sponge abundance is comparatively low relative to coral reefs elsewhere, such as the Caribbean. Seawater samples were collected from the incurrent and excurrent (In-Ex) flow of 40 sponges from inshore, mid-shelf, and offshore reefs between 18° and 22°N latitude off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Concentrations of DOC and living particulate organic carbon (LPOC) were significantly higher in incurrent (ambient) seawater on inshore reefs than mid-shelf and offshore reefs. Consistent with studies of X. muta in the Caribbean, the diet of X. testudinaria is comprised primarily of DOC; mean values of the nutritional components across all sites were 60.5% DOC, 35.7% detritus, and 3.8% LPOC. Taking into account the specific filtration rates of nutritional components and oxygen consumption of sponges across the inshore-offshore gradient, there is evidence (1) of a threshold concentration of DOC below which sponges cease to be net consumers of DOC, and (2) that sponges on offshore reefs are food-limited. Contrary to the sponge loop hypothesis, there was no evidence that X. testudinaria, returned DOC to the benthos in the form of detritus, but was, instead, a net consumer of detritus from the water column. Unlike the cryptic, interstitial sponges that were studied to advance the sponge-loop hypothesis, emergent sponges may have an alternate pathway for returning DOC to the benthos by converting it to sponge biomass rather than sponge detritus.

Tracing the link between plant volatile organic compound emissions and CO2 fluxes and by stable isotopes

Science.gov (United States)

Werner, Christiane; Wegener, Frederik; Jardine, Kolby

2015-04-01

The vegetation exerts a large influence on the atmosphere through the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the emission and uptake of the greenhouse gas CO2. Despite the enormous importance, processes controlling plant carbon allocation into primary and secondary metabolism, such as photosynthetic carbon uptake, respiratory CO2 emission and VOC synthesis, remains unclear. Moreover, vegetation-atmosphere CO2 exchange is associated with a large isotopic imprint due to photosynthetic carbon isotope discrimination and 13C-fractionation during respiratory CO2 release1. The latter has been proposed to be related to carbon partitioning in the metabolic branching points of the respiratory pathways and secondary metabolism, which are linked via a number of interfaces including the central metabolite pyruvate. Notably, it is a known substrate in a large array of secondary pathways leading to the biosynthesis of many volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as volatile isoprenoids, oxygenated VOCs, aromatics, fatty acid oxidation products, which can be emitted by plants. Here we investigate the linkage between VOC emissions, CO2 fluxes and associated isotope effects based on simultaneous real-time measurements of stable carbon isotope composition of branch respired CO2 (CRDS) and VOC fluxes (PTR-MS). We utilized positionally specific 13C-labeled pyruvate branch feeding experiments in the mediterranean shrub (Halimium halimifolium) to trace the partitioning of C1, C2, and C3 carbon atoms of pyruvate into VOCs versus CO2 emissions in the light and in the dark. In the light, we found high emission rates of a large array of VOC including volatile isoprenoids, oxygenated VOCs, green leaf volatiles, aromatics, sulfides, and nitrogen containing VOCs. These observations suggest that in the light, H. halimifolium dedicates a high carbon flux through secondary biosynthetic pathways including the pyruvate dehydrogenase bypass, mevalonic acid, MEP/DOXP, shikimic acid, and

Migrant biomass and respiratory carbon flux by zooplankton and micronekton in the subtropical northeast Atlantic Ocean (Canary Islands)

Science.gov (United States)

Ariza, A.; Garijo, J. C.; Landeira, J. M.; Bordes, F.; Hernández-León, S.

2015-05-01

Diel Vertical Migration (DVM) in marine ecosystems is performed by zooplankton and micronekton, promoting a poorly accounted export of carbon to the deep ocean. Major efforts have been made to estimate carbon export due to gravitational flux and to a lesser extent, to migrant zooplankton. However, migratory flux by micronekton has been largely neglected in this context, due to its time-consuming and difficult sampling. In this paper, we evaluated gravitational and migratory flux due to the respiration of zooplankton and micronekton in the northeast subtropical Atlantic Ocean (Canary Islands). Migratory flux was addressed by calculating the biomass of migrating components and measuring the electron transfer system (ETS) activity in zooplankton and dominant species representing micronekton (Euphausia gibboides, Sergia splendens and Lobianchia dofleini). Our results showed similar biomass in both components. The main taxa contributing to DVM within zooplankton were juvenile euphausiids, whereas micronekton were mainly dominated by fish, followed by adult euphausiids and decapods. The contribution to respiratory flux of zooplankton (3.4 ± 1.9 mg C m-2 d-1) was similar to that of micronekton (2.9 ± 1.0 mg C m-2 d-1). In summary, respiratory flux accounted for 53% (range 23-71) of the gravitational flux measured at 150 m depth (11.9 ± 5.8 mg C m-2 d-1). However, based on larger migratory ranges and gut clearance rates, micronekton are expected to be the dominant component that contributes to carbon export in deeper waters. Micronekton estimates in this paper as well as those in existing literature, although variable due to regional differences and difficulties in calculating their biomass, suggest that carbon fluxes driven by this community are important for future models of the biological carbon pump.

A Mechanistically Informed User-Friendly Model to Predict Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Fluxes and Carbon Storage from Coastal Wetlands

Science.gov (United States)

Abdul-Aziz, O. I.; Ishtiaq, K. S.

2015-12-01

We present a user-friendly modeling tool on MS Excel to predict the greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes and estimate potential carbon sequestration from the coastal wetlands. The dominant controls of wetland GHG fluxes and their relative mechanistic linkages with various hydro-climatic, sea level, biogeochemical and ecological drivers were first determined by employing a systematic data-analytics method, including Pearson correlation matrix, principal component and factor analyses, and exploratory partial least squares regressions. The mechanistic knowledge and understanding was then utilized to develop parsimonious non-linear (power-law) models to predict wetland carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes based on a sub-set of climatic, hydrologic and environmental drivers such as the photosynthetically active radiation, soil temperature, water depth, and soil salinity. The models were tested with field data for multiple sites and seasons (2012-13) collected from the Waquoit Bay, MA. The model estimated the annual wetland carbon storage by up-scaling the instantaneous predicted fluxes to an extended growing season (e.g., May-October) and by accounting for the net annual lateral carbon fluxes between the wetlands and estuary. The Excel Spreadsheet model is a simple ecological engineering tool for coastal carbon management and their incorporation into a potential carbon market under a changing climate, sea level and environment. Specifically, the model can help to determine appropriate GHG offset protocols and monitoring plans for projects that focus on tidal wetland restoration and maintenance.

Latest Permian carbonate carbon isotope variability traces heterogeneous organic carbon accumulation and authigenic carbonate formation

Science.gov (United States)

Schobben, Martin; van de Velde, Sebastiaan; Gliwa, Jana; Leda, Lucyna; Korn, Dieter; Struck, Ulrich; Vinzenz Ullmann, Clemens; Hairapetian, Vachik; Ghaderi, Abbas; Korte, Christoph; Newton, Robert J.; Poulton, Simon W.; Wignall, Paul B.

2017-11-01

Bulk-carbonate carbon isotope ratios are a widely applied proxy for investigating the ancient biogeochemical carbon cycle. Temporal carbon isotope trends serve as a prime stratigraphic tool, with the inherent assumption that bulk micritic carbonate rock is a faithful geochemical recorder of the isotopic composition of seawater dissolved inorganic carbon. However, bulk-carbonate rock is also prone to incorporate diagenetic signals. The aim of the present study is to disentangle primary trends from diagenetic signals in carbon isotope records which traverse the Permian-Triassic boundary in the marine carbonate-bearing sequences of Iran and South China. By pooling newly produced and published carbon isotope data, we confirm that a global first-order trend towards depleted values exists. However, a large amount of scatter is superimposed on this geochemical record. In addition, we observe a temporal trend in the amplitude of this residual δ13C variability, which is reproducible for the two studied regions. We suggest that (sub-)sea-floor microbial communities and their control on calcite nucleation and ambient porewater dissolved inorganic carbon δ13C pose a viable mechanism to induce bulk-rock δ13C variability. Numerical model calculations highlight that early diagenetic carbonate rock stabilization and linked carbon isotope alteration can be controlled by organic matter supply and subsequent microbial remineralization. A major biotic decline among Late Permian bottom-dwelling organisms facilitated a spatial increase in heterogeneous organic carbon accumulation. Combined with low marine sulfate, this resulted in varying degrees of carbon isotope overprinting. A simulated time series suggests that a 50 % increase in the spatial scatter of organic carbon relative to the average, in addition to an imposed increase in the likelihood of sampling cements formed by microbial calcite nucleation to 1 out of 10 samples, is sufficient to induce the observed signal of carbon

Latest Permian carbonate carbon isotope variability traces heterogeneous organic carbon accumulation and authigenic carbonate formation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Schobben

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Bulk-carbonate carbon isotope ratios are a widely applied proxy for investigating the ancient biogeochemical carbon cycle. Temporal carbon isotope trends serve as a prime stratigraphic tool, with the inherent assumption that bulk micritic carbonate rock is a faithful geochemical recorder of the isotopic composition of seawater dissolved inorganic carbon. However, bulk-carbonate rock is also prone to incorporate diagenetic signals. The aim of the present study is to disentangle primary trends from diagenetic signals in carbon isotope records which traverse the Permian–Triassic boundary in the marine carbonate-bearing sequences of Iran and South China. By pooling newly produced and published carbon isotope data, we confirm that a global first-order trend towards depleted values exists. However, a large amount of scatter is superimposed on this geochemical record. In addition, we observe a temporal trend in the amplitude of this residual δ13C variability, which is reproducible for the two studied regions. We suggest that (sub-sea-floor microbial communities and their control on calcite nucleation and ambient porewater dissolved inorganic carbon δ13C pose a viable mechanism to induce bulk-rock δ13C variability. Numerical model calculations highlight that early diagenetic carbonate rock stabilization and linked carbon isotope alteration can be controlled by organic matter supply and subsequent microbial remineralization. A major biotic decline among Late Permian bottom-dwelling organisms facilitated a spatial increase in heterogeneous organic carbon accumulation. Combined with low marine sulfate, this resulted in varying degrees of carbon isotope overprinting. A simulated time series suggests that a 50 % increase in the spatial scatter of organic carbon relative to the average, in addition to an imposed increase in the likelihood of sampling cements formed by microbial calcite nucleation to 1 out of 10 samples, is sufficient to induce the

Water- and plant-mediated responses of ecosystem carbon fluxes to warming and nitrogen addition on the Songnen grassland in northeast China.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Jiang

Full Text Available Understanding how grasslands are affected by a long-term increase in temperature is crucial to predict the future impact of global climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. Additionally, it is not clear how the effects of global warming on grassland productivity are going to be altered by increased N deposition and N addition.In-situ canopy CO(2 exchange rates were measured in a meadow steppe subjected to 4-year warming and nitrogen addition treatments. Warming treatment reduced net ecosystem CO(2 exchange (NEE and increased ecosystem respiration (ER; but had no significant impacts on gross ecosystem productivity (GEP. N addition increased NEE, ER and GEP. However, there were no significant interactions between N addition and warming. The variation of NEE during the four experimental years was correlated with soil water content, particularly during early spring, suggesting that water availability is a primary driver of carbon fluxes in the studied semi-arid grassland.Ecosystem carbon fluxes in grassland ecosystems are sensitive to warming and N addition. In the studied water-limited grassland, both warming and N addition influence ecosystem carbon fluxes by affecting water availability, which is the primary driver in many arid and semiarid ecosystems. It remains unknown to what extent the long-term N addition would affect the turn-over of soil organic matter and the C sink size of this grassland.

Modelling the 13C and 12C isotopes of inorganic and organic carbon in the Baltic Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Gustafsson, Erik; Mörth, Carl-Magnus; Humborg, Christoph; Gustafsson, Bo G.

2015-08-01

In this study, 12C and 13C contents of all carbon containing state variables (dissolved inorganic and organic carbon, detrital carbon, and the carbon content of autotrophs and heterotrophs) have for the first time been explicitly included in a coupled physical-biogeochemical Baltic Sea model. Different processes in the carbon cycling have distinct fractionation values, resulting in specific isotopic fingerprints. Thus, in addition to simulating concentrations of different tracers, our new model formulation improves the possibility to constrain the rates of processes such as CO2 assimilation, mineralization, and air-sea exchange. We demonstrate that phytoplankton production and respiration, and the related air-sea CO2 fluxes, are to a large degree controlling the isotopic composition of organic and inorganic carbon in the system. The isotopic composition is further, but to a lesser extent, influenced by river loads and deep water inflows as well as transformation of terrestrial organic carbon within the system. Changes in the isotopic composition over the 20th century have been dominated by two processes - the preferential release of 12C to the atmosphere in association with fossil fuel burning, and the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea related to increased nutrient loads under the second half of the century.

Application of Natural Radioisotopes as Tracers of Particulate Organic Carbon Transport, Export and Burial Processes in Chukchi Sea, Arctic Ocean

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wen, Yu; Jianhua, He [Key Lab of Global Change and Marine-Atmosphere Chemistry, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen (China)

2013-07-15

To evaluate the efficiency of the biological pump and carbon sequestration content on the Arctic shelf, estimations of POC export fluxes derived from 234Th/238U disequilibrium and organic carbon burial rate from 210Pbex chronology in sediment core were made during the 3rd Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE-3), Jul 12-Sep 22, 2008. Great deficits of {sup 234}Th to {sup 238}U were observed widely over the Chukchi shelf, with an average {sup 234}Th/{sup 238}U of 0.64{+-}0.28, resulting from intense particle scavenging. The average POC export fluxes in the entire study area, shelf and slope area were 24.9 {+-} 23.3, 29.5 {+-} 23.0 and 2.1 {+-} 0.5 mmol C/m{sup 2}d, respectively, i.e. 21% of the primary production on average was exported to the benthos. An organic carbon burial rate of 517 mmol C/m{sup 2}a were estimated, accounting for 6% of the average primary production. The efficient biological pump led to 11.6{+-}9.0 T g C exported to benthos and 3.4 T g C buried permanently in the sediment per year, accounting for 0.3% of total POC export amount and 2.1% of total organic carbon burial amount of the global ocean. (author)

Genetic algorithm based adaptive neural network ensemble and its application in predicting carbon flux

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Y.; Liu, S.; Hu, Y.; Yang, J.; Chen, Q.

2007-01-01

To improve the accuracy in prediction, Genetic Algorithm based Adaptive Neural Network Ensemble (GA-ANNE) is presented. Intersections are allowed between different training sets based on the fuzzy clustering analysis, which ensures the diversity as well as the accuracy of individual Neural Networks (NNs). Moreover, to improve the accuracy of the adaptive weights of individual NNs, GA is used to optimize the cluster centers. Empirical results in predicting carbon flux of Duke Forest reveal that GA-ANNE can predict the carbon flux more accurately than Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN), Bagging NN ensemble, and ANNE. ?? 2007 IEEE.

How interactions between top-down and bottom-up controls on carbon cycling affect fluxes within and from lakes

Science.gov (United States)

Sadro, S.; Piovia-Scott, J.; Nelson, C.; Sickman, J. O.; Knapp, R.

2017-12-01

While the role of inland waters in global carbon cycling has grown clearer in recent decades, the extent to which top-down and bottom-up mechanisms interact to regulate dynamics at the catchment scale is not well understood. The degree to which lakes process, export, or store terrestrial carbon is influenced by hydrological variability, variation in the magnitude of terrestrial organic matter (t-OM) entering a system, the efficiency with which such material is metabolized by bacterioplankton, the extent to which it is incorporated into secondary consumer biomass, and by the effects of food-web structure, such as the presence or absence of top predators. However, how these processes interact to mediate carbon fluxes between terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric reservoirs remains unclear. We develop a conceptual model that explores how interactions among these factors ultimately affects carbon dynamics using data from lakes located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The Sierra are an excellent system for studies of carbon cycling because elevation-induced landscape gradients in soil development and vegetation cover provide large natural variation in terrestrial inputs to lakes, while variation in confounding factors such as lake morphometry or trophic state is comparatively small. Dissolved organic carbon concentrations increase 100 fold in lakes spanning the alpine to montane elevation gradient found in the Sierra, and fluorescence characteristics reflect an increasingly terrestrial signature with decreasing elevation. Bacterioplankton make up a large proportion of total ecosystem metabolism in these systems, and their metabolic efficiency is tightly coupled to the composition of dissolved organic matter. Stable isotope food web data (δ13C, Δ14C, and δ2H) and measurements of pCO2 from lakes indicate the magnitude of allochthony, rates if carbon cycling, and ecosystem heterotrophy all increase with the increasingly terrestrial signature of dissolved

Global Carbon Reservoir Oxidative Ratios

Science.gov (United States)

Masiello, C. A.; Gallagher, M. E.; Hockaday, W. C.

2010-12-01

Photosynthesis and respiration move carbon and oxygen between the atmosphere and the biosphere at a ratio that is characteristic of the biogeochemical processes involved. This ratio is called the oxidative ratio (OR) of photosynthesis and respiration, and is defined as the ratio of moles of O2 per moles of CO2. This O2/CO2 ratio is a characteristic of biosphere-atmosphere gas fluxes, much like the 13C signature of CO2 transferred between the biosphere and the atmosphere has a characteristic signature. OR values vary on a scale of 0 (CO2) to 2 (CH4), with most ecosystem values clustered between 0.9 and 1.2. Just as 13C can be measured for both carbon fluxes and carbon pools, OR can also be measured for fluxes and pools and can provide information about the processes involved in carbon and oxygen cycling. OR values also provide information about reservoir organic geochemistry because pool OR values are proportional to the oxidation state of carbon (Cox) in the reservoir. OR may prove to be a particularly valuable biogeochemical tracer because of its ability to couple information about ecosystem gas fluxes with ecosystem organic geochemistry. We have developed 3 methods to measure the OR of ecosystem carbon reservoirs and intercalibrated them to assure that they yield accurate, intercomparable data. Using these tools we have built a large enough database of biomass and soil OR values that it is now possible to consider the implications of global patterns in ecosystem OR values. Here we present a map of the natural range in ecosystem OR values and begin to consider its implications. One striking pattern is an apparent offset between soil and biospheric OR values: soil OR values are frequently higher than that of their source biomass. We discuss this trend in the context of soil organic geochemistry and gas fluxes.

Spatial and temporal variations in net carbon flux during HAPEX-Sahel.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moncrieff, J.B.; Monteny, B.; Verhoef, A.; Friborg, Th.; Elbers, J.; Kabat, P.; DeBruin, H.; Soegaard, H.; Jarvis, P.G.; Taupin, J.D.

1997-01-01

Micrometeorological measurements of the surface flux of carbon dioxide were made at a number of spatially separate sites within the HAPEX-Sahel experimental area. Differences in the timing of plant development caused by differences in rainfall (both quantity and frequency) over the experimental area

Acidification, not carbonation, is the major regulator of carbon fluxes in the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi.

Science.gov (United States)

Kottmeier, Dorothee M; Rokitta, Sebastian D; Rost, Björn

2016-07-01

A combined increase in seawater [CO2 ] and [H(+) ] was recently shown to induce a shift from photosynthetic HCO3 (-) to CO2 uptake in Emiliania huxleyi. This shift occurred within minutes, whereas acclimation to ocean acidification (OA) did not affect the carbon source. To identify the driver of this shift, we exposed low- and high-light acclimated E. huxleyi to a matrix of two levels of dissolved inorganic carbon (1400, 2800 μmol kg(-1) ) and pH (8.15, 7.85) and directly measured cellular O2 , CO2 and HCO3 (-) fluxes under these conditions. Exposure to increased [CO2 ] had little effect on the photosynthetic fluxes, whereas increased [H(+) ] led to a significant decline in HCO3 (-) uptake. Low-light acclimated cells overcompensated for the inhibition of HCO3 (-) uptake by increasing CO2 uptake. High-light acclimated cells, relying on higher proportions of HCO3 (-) uptake, could not increase CO2 uptake and photosynthetic O2 evolution consequently became carbon-limited. These regulations indicate that OA responses in photosynthesis are caused by [H(+) ] rather than by [CO2 ]. The impaired HCO3 (-) uptake also provides a mechanistic explanation for lowered calcification under OA. Moreover, it explains the OA-dependent decrease in photosynthesis observed in high-light grown phytoplankton. © 2016 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2016 New Phytologist Trust.

The forgotten part of carbon cycling: Organic matter storage and turnover in subsoils [SUBSOM

Science.gov (United States)

Marschner, B.

2013-12-01

In the past, carbon flux measurements and modelling have mostly considered the topsoil where C-concentrations, root densities and microbial activities are generally highest. However, depending on climate zone and land use, this soil compartment contains only 30-50% of the C-stocks of the first meter. If the deeper subsoil down to 3 m is also considered, the contribution of topsoil carbon stocks to total soil C-pools is only 20-40%. Another distinct property of subsoil organic matter is its high apparent 14C age. The 14C age of bulk soil organic matter below 30 cm depth generally increases continuously indicating mean residence times of several 103 to 104 years. Large pool size and high radiocarbon age suggest that subsoil OM has accumulated at very low rates over very long time periods and therefore appears to be very stable. In a review, several hypotheses for explaining why subsoil SOM is so seemingly old and inert are presented. Then a recently granted German research unit consisting of 9 subprojects from all soil science disciplines is introduced, which addresses these questions using field measurements of C-fluxes, 14C analyses and conducting field and lab experiments. 40-60% of soil C-pools are found below 40 cm depth (Data from Jobbagy & Jackson 2000).

Non-stationary (13)C-metabolic flux ratio analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hörl, Manuel; Schnidder, Julian; Sauer, Uwe; Zamboni, Nicola

2013-12-01

(13)C-metabolic flux analysis ((13)C-MFA) has become a key method for metabolic engineering and systems biology. In the most common methodology, fluxes are calculated by global isotopomer balancing and iterative fitting to stationary (13)C-labeling data. This approach requires a closed carbon balance, long-lasting metabolic steady state, and the detection of (13)C-patterns in a large number of metabolites. These restrictions mostly reduced the application of (13)C-MFA to the central carbon metabolism of well-studied model organisms grown in minimal media with a single carbon source. Here we introduce non-stationary (13)C-metabolic flux ratio analysis as a novel method for (13)C-MFA to allow estimating local, relative fluxes from ultra-short (13)C-labeling experiments and without the need for global isotopomer balancing. The approach relies on the acquisition of non-stationary (13)C-labeling data exclusively for metabolites in the proximity of a node of converging fluxes and a local parameter estimation with a system of ordinary differential equations. We developed a generalized workflow that takes into account reaction types and the availability of mass spectrometric data on molecular ions or fragments for data processing, modeling, parameter and error estimation. We demonstrated the approach by analyzing three key nodes of converging fluxes in central metabolism of Bacillus subtilis. We obtained flux estimates that are in agreement with published results obtained from steady state experiments, but reduced the duration of the necessary (13)C-labeling experiment to less than a minute. These results show that our strategy enables to formally estimate relative pathway fluxes on extremely short time scale, neglecting cellular carbon balancing. Hence this approach paves the road to targeted (13)C-MFA in dynamic systems with multiple carbon sources and towards rich media. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Disturbance and climate effects on carbon stocks and fluxes across western Oregon USA.

Science.gov (United States)

B.E. Law; D. Turner; J. Campbell; O.J. Sun; S. Van Tuyl; W.D. Ritts; W.B. Cohen

2004-01-01

We used a spatially nested hierarchy of field and remote-sensing observations and a process model, Biome-BGC, to produce a carbon budget for the forested region of Oregon, and to determine the relative influence of differences in climate and disturbance among the ecoregions on carbon stocks and fluxes. The simulations suggest that annual net uptake (net ecosystem...

[Organic carbon and carbon mineralization characteristics in nature forestry soil].

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Tian; Dai, Wei; An, Xiao-Juan; Pang, Huan; Zou, Jian-Mei; Zhang, Rui

2014-03-01

Through field investigation and indoor analysis, the organic carbon content and organic carbon mineralization characteristics of six kinds of natural forest soil were studied, including the pine forests, evergreen broad-leaved forest, deciduous broad-leaved forest, mixed needle leaf and Korean pine and Chinese pine forest. The results showed that the organic carbon content in the forest soil showed trends of gradual decrease with the increase of soil depth; Double exponential equation fitted well with the organic carbon mineralization process in natural forest soil, accurately reflecting the mineralization reaction characteristics of the natural forest soil. Natural forest soil in each layer had the same mineralization reaction trend, but different intensity. Among them, the reaction intensity in the 0-10 cm soil of the Korean pine forest was the highest, and the intensities of mineralization reaction in its lower layers were also significantly higher than those in the same layers of other natural forest soil; comparison of soil mineralization characteristics of the deciduous broad-leaved forest and coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest found that the differences of litter species had a relatively strong impact on the active organic carbon content in soil, leading to different characteristics of mineralization reaction.

Organic electrochemistry and carbon electrodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weinberg, N.

1983-01-01

Carbons are often used in organic electrosynthesis and are critical as anodes or cathodes to certain reactions. Too often the surface properties of carbons have been left uncharacterized in relation to the reaction; however, these physical and chemical properties of carbons are important to the nature of the products, and the selectivity. Examples presented include the Kolbe reaction, the oxidation of aromatics in presence of carboxylate salts, electrofluorination of organics, acetamidation of aromatics, the hydrodimerization of formaldehyde and the oxidation of carbon fibers. These reactions apparently involve special surface characteristics: structure, surface area, stabilized surface sites, and the presence or absence of significant ''oxide'' functionality

Carbon Monitoring System Flux for Fossil Fuel L4 V1 (CMSFluxFossilfuel) at GES DISC

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This dataset provides the Carbon Flux for Fossil Fuel. The NASA Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) is designed to make significant contributions in characterizing,...

Accounting for urban biogenic fluxes in regional carbon budgets.

Science.gov (United States)

Hardiman, Brady S; Wang, Jonathan A; Hutyra, Lucy R; Gately, Conor K; Getson, Jackie M; Friedl, Mark A

2017-08-15

Many ecosystem models incorrectly treat urban areas as devoid of vegetation and biogenic carbon (C) fluxes. We sought to improve estimates of urban biomass and biogenic C fluxes using existing, nationally available data products. We characterized biogenic influence on urban C cycling throughout Massachusetts, USA using an ecosystem model that integrates improved representation of urban vegetation, growing conditions associated with urban heat island (UHI), and altered urban phenology. Boston's biomass density is 1/4 that of rural forests, however 87% of Massachusetts' urban landscape is vegetated. Model results suggest that, kilogram-for-kilogram, urban vegetation cycles C twice as fast as rural forests. Urban vegetation releases (R E ) and absorbs (GEE) the equivalent of 11 and 14%, respectively, of anthropogenic emissions in the most urban portions of the state. While urban vegetation in Massachusetts fully sequesters anthropogenic emissions from smaller cities in the region, Boston's UHI reduces annual C storage by >20% such that vegetation offsets only 2% of anthropogenic emissions. Asynchrony between temporal patterns of biogenic and anthropogenic C fluxes further constrains the emissions mitigation potential of urban vegetation. However, neglecting to account for biogenic C fluxes in cities can impair efforts to accurately monitor, report, verify, and reduce anthropogenic emissions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fluxes of Methane and Carbon Dioxide from a Subarctic Lake

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jammet, Mathilde Manon

) and carbon dioxide (CO2) with the atmosphere. Yet uncertainties in the magnitude and drivers of these fluxes remain, partly due to a lack of direct observations covering all seasons of the year, but also because of the diversity in measurement methods that often miss components of the transport processes......Ongoing climate warming is expected to affect the carbon functioning of subarctic ecosystems. Lakes and wetlands, which are common ecosystems of the high northern latitudes, are of utmost interest in this context because they exchange large amounts of the climate-forcing gases methane (CH4......-out and the release of CH4 and CO2 was established. These results underline the crucial importance of shoulder seasons in the annual carbon emissions from seasonally frozen lakes. Overall, the lake was an important annual source of carbon to the atmosphere, partially compensating the higher, annual sink function...

Changes in Soil Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in Response to Altered Above- and Belowground Vegetation Inputs

Science.gov (United States)

Marañón-Jiménez, S.; Schuetze, C.; Cuntz, M.; García-Quirós, I.; Dienstbach, L.; Schrumpf, M.; Rebmann, C.

2016-12-01

The stimulation of vegetation productivity in response to rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations can potentially compensate climate change feedbacks. However, this will depend on the allocation of C resources of vegetation into biomass production versus root exudates and on the feedbacks with soil microorganisms. These dynamic adjustments of vegetation will result on changes in above- and belowground productivity and on the amount of C exported to root exudates. Consequent alteration of litter and rhizosphere detritus inputs to the soil and their interaction on controlling soil C sequestration capacity has been, however, rarely assessed. We hypothesize that above- and belowground vegetation exert a synergistic control of soil CO2 emissions, and that the activation of soil organic matter mineralization by the addition of labile organic substrates (i.e.: the priming effect) is altered by changes in the amount and in the quality of the carbon inputs. In order to elucidate these questions, different levels of litter addition were implemented on trenched (root exclusion) and non-trenched plots (with roots) in a temperate deciduous forest. Changes in the sensitivity of soil respiration to temperature and moisture were detected by measuring CO2 fluxes continuously at high temporal resolution with automatic chambers, whereas the spatial and seasonal variability was determined using portable chambers. Annual changes in soil carbon and nitrogen stocks provide additional information on the soil carbon sequestration in response to above- and belowground inputs. Both roots and litter inputs significantly enhanced soil CO2 effluxes soon after the implementation of the experiment. We detected synergistic effects between roots and litter inputs on soil CO2 emissions: When roots were present, carbon mineralized in response to litter addition was much higher than the total amount of carbon added in litter (ca. 170 g C m-2 y-1). Preliminary results of this study suggest that labile

Carbon stocks and fluxes in tropical lowland dipterocarp rainforests in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philippe Saner

Full Text Available Deforestation in the tropics is an important source of carbon C release to the atmosphere. To provide a sound scientific base for efforts taken to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+ good estimates of C stocks and fluxes are important. We present components of the C balance for selectively logged lowland tropical dipterocarp rainforest in the Malua Forest Reserve of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Total organic C in this area was 167.9 Mg C ha⁻¹±3.8 (SD, including: Total aboveground (TAGC: 55%; 91.9 Mg C ha⁻¹±2.9 SEM and belowground carbon in trees (TBGC: 10%; 16.5 Mg C ha⁻¹±0.5 SEM, deadwood (8%; 13.2 Mg C ha⁻¹±3.5 SEM and soil organic matter (SOM: 24%; 39.6 Mg C ha⁻¹±0.9 SEM, understory vegetation (3%; 5.1 Mg C ha⁻¹±1.7 SEM, standing litter (<1%; 0.7 Mg C ha⁻¹±0.1 SEM and fine root biomass (<1%; 0.9 Mg C ha⁻¹±0.1 SEM. Fluxes included litterfall, a proxy for leaf net primary productivity (4.9 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹±0.1 SEM, and soil respiration, a measure for heterotrophic ecosystem respiration (28.6 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹±1.2 SEM. The missing estimates necessary to close the C balance are wood net primary productivity and autotrophic respiration.Twenty-two years after logging TAGC stocks were 28% lower compared to unlogged forest (128 Mg C ha⁻¹±13.4 SEM; a combined weighted average mean reduction due to selective logging of -57.8 Mg C ha⁻¹ (with 95% CI -75.5 to -40.2. Based on the findings we conclude that selective logging decreased the dipterocarp stock by 55-66%. Silvicultural treatments may have the potential to accelerate the recovery of dipterocarp C stocks to pre-logging levels.

Organic carbon organic matter and bulk density relationships in arid ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Soil organic matter (SOM) and soil organic carbon (SOC) constitute usually a small portion of soil, but they are one of the most important components of ecosystems. Bulk density (dB or BD) value is necessary to convert organic carbon (OC) content per unit area. Relationships between SOM, SOC and BD were established ...

Relationships between carbon fluxes and environmental factors in a drip-irrigated, film-mulched cotton field in arid region

OpenAIRE

Li, Xiaoyu; Liu, Lijuan; Yang, Huijin; Li, Yan

2018-01-01

Environmental factors and human activities play important roles in carbon fixation and emissions generated from croplands. Eddy covariance measurements in a drip-irrigated, film-mulched cotton field were used to analyze the relationships between carbon fluxes and environmental factors in Wulanwusu, northern Xinjiang, an arid region of Northwest China. Our results showed that the cumulative net carbon flux (NEE) was -304.8 g C m-2 (a strong sink) over the whole cotton growing season in 2012, w...

[Effects of brackish water irrigation on soil enzyme activity, soil CO2 flux and organic matter decomposition].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qian-qian; Wang, Fei; Liu, Tao; Chu, Gui-xin

2015-09-01

Brackish water irrigation utilization is an important way to alleviate water resource shortage in arid region. A field-plot experiment was set up to study the impact of the salinity level (0.31, 3.0 or 5.0 g · L(-1) NaCl) of irrigated water on activities of soil catalase, invertase, β-glucosidase, cellulase and polyphenoloxidase in drip irrigation condition, and the responses of soil CO2 flux and organic matter decomposition were also determined by soil carbon dioxide flux instrument (LI-8100) and nylon net bag method. The results showed that in contrast with fresh water irrigation treatment (CK), the activities of invertase, β-glucosidase and cellulase in the brackish water (3.0 g · L(-1)) irrigation treatment declined by 31.7%-32.4%, 29.7%-31.6%, 20.8%-24.3%, respectively, while soil polyphenoloxidase activity was obviously enhanced with increasing the salinity level of irrigated water. Compared to CK, polyphenoloxidase activity increased by 2.4% and 20.5%, respectively, in the brackish water and saline water irrigation treatments. Both soil microbial biomass carbon and microbial quotient decreased with increasing the salinity level, whereas, microbial metabolic quotient showed an increasing tendency with increasing the salinity level. Soil CO2 fluxes in the different treatments were in the order of CK (0.31 g · L(-1)) > brackish water irrigation (3.0 g · L(-1)) ≥ saline water irrigation (5.0 g · L(-1)). Moreover, CO2 flux from plastic film mulched soil was always much higher than that from no plastic film mulched soil, regardless the salinity of irrigated water. Compared with CK, soil CO2 fluxes in the saline water and brackish water treatments decreased by 29.8% and 28.2% respectively in the boll opening period. The decomposition of either cotton straw or alfalfa straw in the different treatments was in the sequence of CK (0.31 g · L(-1)) > brackish water irrigation (3.0 g · L(-1)) > saline water treatment (5.0 g · L(-1)). The organic matter

Relationship between Organic Carbon Runoff to River and Land Cover

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, G. S.; Lee, S. G.; Lim, C. H.; Lee, W.; Yoo, S.; Kim, S. J.; Heo, S.; Lee, W. K.

2017-12-01

Carbon is an important unit in understanding the ecosystem and energy circulation. Each ecosystem, land, water, and atmosphere, is interconnected through the exchange of energy and organic carbon. In the rivers, primary producers utilize the organic carbon from the land. Understanding the organic carbon uptake into the river is important for understanding the mechanism of river ecosystems. The main organic carbon source of the river is land. However, it is difficult to observe the amount of organic carbon runoff to the river. Therefore, an indirect method should be used to estimate the amount of organic carbon runoff to the river. The organic carbon inflow is caused by the runoff of organic carbon dissolved in water or the inflow of organic carbon particles by soil loss. Therefore, the hydrological model was used to estimate organic carbon runoff through the flow of water. The land cover correlates with soil respiration, soil loss, and so on, and the organic carbon runoff coefficient will be estimated to the river by land cover. Using the organic carbon concentration from water quality data observed at each point in the river, we estimate the amount of organic carbon released from the land. The reason is that the runoff from the watershed converges into the rivers in the watershed, the watershed simulation is conducted based on the water quality data observation point. This defines a watershed that affects organic carbon observation sites. The flow rate of each watershed is calculated by the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool), and the total organic carbon runoff is calculated by using flow rate and organic carbon concentration. This is compared with the factors related to the amount of organic carbon such as land cover, soil loss, and soil organic carbon, and spatial analysis is carried out to estimate the organic carbon runoff coefficient per land cover.

Acidity controls on dissolved organic carbon mobility in organic soils

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Evans, Ch. D.; Jones, T.; Burden, A.; Ostle, N.; Zielinski, P.; Cooper, M.; Peacock, M.; Clark, J.; Oulehle, Filip; Cooper, D.; Freeman, Ch.

2012-01-01

Roč. 18, č. 11 (2012), s. 3317-3331 ISSN 1354-1013 Institutional support: RVO:67179843 Keywords : acidity * dissolved organic carbon * organic soil * peat * podzol * soil carbon * sulphur Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 6.910, year: 2012

Distinguishing the drivers of trends in land carbon fluxes and plant volatile emissions over the past three decades

Science.gov (United States)

Yue, X.; Unger, N.; Zheng, Y.

2015-08-01

The terrestrial biosphere has experienced dramatic changes in recent decades. Estimates of historical trends in land carbon fluxes remain uncertain because long-term observations are limited on the global scale. Here, we use the Yale Interactive terrestrial Biosphere (YIBs) model to estimate decadal trends in land carbon fluxes and emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and to identify the key drivers for these changes during 1982-2011. Driven with hourly meteorology from WFDEI (WATCH Forcing Data methodology applied to ERA-Interim data), the model simulates an increasing trend of 297 Tg C a-2 in gross primary productivity (GPP) and 185 Tg C a-2 in the net primary productivity (NPP). CO2 fertilization is the main driver for the flux changes in forest ecosystems, while meteorology dominates the changes in grasslands and shrublands. Warming boosts summer GPP and NPP at high latitudes, while drought dampens carbon uptake in tropical regions. North of 30° N, increasing temperatures induce a substantial extension of 0.22 day a-1 for the growing season; however, this phenological change alone does not promote regional carbon uptake and BVOC emissions. Nevertheless, increases of LAI at peak season accounts for ~ 25 % of the trends in GPP and isoprene emissions at the northern lands. The net land sink shows statistically insignificant increases of only 3 Tg C a-2 globally because of simultaneous increases in soil respiration. In contrast, driven with alternative meteorology from MERRA (Modern Era-Retrospective Analysis), the model predicts significant increases of 59 Tg C a-2 in the land sink due to strengthened uptake in the Amazon. Global BVOC emissions are calculated using two schemes. With the photosynthesis-dependent scheme, the model predicts increases of 0.4 Tg C a-2 in isoprene emissions, which are mainly attributed to warming trends because CO2 fertilization and inhibition effects offset each other. Using the MEGAN (Model of Emissions of Gases

A method for assessing carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of the United States under present conditions and future scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Bergamaschi, Brian A.; Bernknopf, Richard; Clow, David; Dye, Dennis; Faulkner, Stephen; Forney, William; Gleason, Robert; Hawbaker, Todd; Liu, Jinxun; Liu, Shu-Guang; Prisley, Stephen; Reed, Bradley; Reeves, Matthew; Rollins, Matthew; Sleeter, Benjamin; Sohl, Terry; Stackpoole, Sarah; Stehman, Stephen; Striegl, Robert G.; Wein, Anne; Zhu, Zhi-Liang; Zhu, Zhi-Liang

2010-01-01

, nongovernmental organizations, and the science community. Using the method described in this document, the assessment can be completed in approximately 3 to 4 years. The primary deliverables will be assessment reports containing tables, charts, and maps that will present the estimated GHG parameters annually for 2001 through 2050 by ecosystem, pool, and scenario. The results will permit the evaluation of a range of policies, mitigation options, and research topics, such as the demographic, LULC-change, or climate-change effects on carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and GHG fluxes in ecosystems.

Carbon dioxide and methane fluxes from arctic mudboils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, K.S.; Humphreys, E.R.

2010-01-01

Carbon-rich ecosystems in the Arctic have large stores of soil carbon. However, small changes in climate have the potential to change the carbon (C) balance. This study examined how changes in ecosystem structure relate to differences in the exchange of greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ), between the atmosphere and soil. In particular, it examined low-center mudboils to determine the influence that this distinct form of patterned ground in the Arctic may have on the overall C balance of Tundra ecosystems. The net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide (NEE) was measured along with methane efflux along a 35-m transect intersecting two mudboils in a wet sedge fen in Canada's Southern Arctic during the summer of 2008. Mudboil features revealed significant variations in vegetation, soil temperature and thaw depth, and soil organic matter content along this transect. Variations in NEE were attributed to changes in the amount of vascular vegetation, but CO 2 and CH 4 effluxes were similar among the two mudboil and the sedge fen sampling areas. The study showed that vegetation played a key role in limiting temporal variations in CH 4 effluxes through plant mediated transport in both mudboil and sedge fen sampling areas. The negligible vascular plant colonization in one of the mudboils was likely due to more active frost heave processes. Growth and decomposition of cryptogamic organisms along with inflow of dissolved organic C and warmer soil temperatures may have been the cause of the rather high CO 2 and CH 4 efflux in this mudboil area.

Organic carbon spiralling in stream ecosystems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Newbold, J D; Mulholland, P J; Elwood, J W; O' Neill, R V

1982-01-01

The term spiralling has been used to describe the combined processes of cycling and longitudinal transport in streams. As a measure or organic carbon spiralling, we introduced organic carbon turnover length, S, defined as the average or expected downstream distance travelled by a carbon atom between its entry or fixation in the stream and its oxidation. Using a simple model for organic carbon dynamics in a stream, we show that S is closely related to fisher and Likens' ecosystem efficiency. Unlike efficiency, however, S is independent of the length of the study reach, and values of S determined in streams of differing lengths can be compared. Using data from three different streams, we found the relationship between S and efficiency to agree closely with the model prediction. Hypotheses of stream functioning are discussed in the context of organic carbeon spiralling theory.

Thermodynamic constrains on the flux of organic matter through a peatland ecosystem

Science.gov (United States)

Worrall, Fred; Moody, Catherine; Clay, Gareth; Kettridge, Nick; Burt, Tim

2017-04-01

The transformations and transitions of organic matter into, through and out of a peatland ecosystem must obey the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Beer and Blodau (Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, 2007, 71, 12, 2989-3002) showed that the evolution of CH4 in peatlands was constrained by equilibrium occurring at depth in the peat as the pore water became a closed system. However, that study did not consider the transition in the solid components of the organic matter flux through the entire ecosystem. For this study, organic matter samples were taken from each organic matter reservoir and fluvial transfer pathway and analysed the samples by elemental analysis and bomb calorimetry. The samples analysed were: above- and below-ground biomass, heather, mosses, sedges, plant litter layer, peat soil, and monthly samples of particulate and dissolved organic matter. All organic matter samples were taken from a 100% peat catchment within Moor House National Nature Reserve in the North Pennines, UK, and collected samples were compared to standards of lignin, cellulose, and plant protein. It was possible to calculate ∆H_f^OM ∆S_f^OM and ∆G_f^OM for each of the samples and standards. By assuming that each thermodynamic property can be expressed per g C and that any increase in ∆G_f^OM can be balanced by the production of CO2, DOM or CH4 then it is possible to predict the consequences of the fixation of 1 g of carbon in a peatland soil. The value of ∆G_f^OMincreases from glucose to components of the biomass: 1g of C fixed as glucose by photosynthesis would result in 0.68 g C as biomass and 0.32 g C as CO2. The transition from biomass to litter could occur spontaneously but the transition from surface to 1m depth in the peat profile would release 0.18 g C as CO2 per 1 g of carbon entering the peat profile. Therefore, for every 1 g of carbon fixed from photosynthesis then 0.44g of C would be released as CO2 and 0.54 g C would be present at 1 m depth. Alternatively, if DOM only

Variability in carbon dioxide fluxes for dense urban, suburban and woodland environments in southern England

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Helen; Kotthaus, Simone; Grimmond, C. Sue; Bjorkegren, Alex; Wilkinson, Matt; Morrison, Will; Evans, Jon; Morison, James; Christen, Andreas

2014-05-01

The net exchange of carbon dioxide between the surface and atmosphere can be measured using the eddy covariance technique. Fluxes from a dense urban environment (central London), a suburban landscape (Swindon) and a woodland ecosystem (Alice Holt) are compared. All sites are located in southern England and experience similar climatic and meteorological conditions, yet have very different land cover. The signatures of anthropogenic and biogenic processes are explored at various (daily, seasonal and annual) timescales. Particular emphasis is placed on identifying the mixture of controls that determine the flux. In summer, there are clear similarities between the suburban and woodland sites, as the diurnal behaviour is dominated by photosynthetic uptake. In winter, however, vegetation is largely dormant and human activity determines the pattern of fluxes at the urban and suburban sites. Emissions from building heating augment the net release of carbon dioxide in cold months. Road use is a major contributor to the total emissions, and the diurnal cycle in the observed fluxes reflects this: in central London roads are busy throughout the day, whereas in Swindon a double-peaked rush-hour signal is evident. The net exchange of carbon dioxide is estimated for each site and set in context with other studies around the world. Central London has the smallest proportion of vegetation and largest emissions amongst study sites in the literature to date. Although Swindon's appreciable vegetation fraction helps to offset the anthropogenic emissions, even in summertime the 24h total flux is usually positive, indicating carbon release. Comparison of these three sites in a similar region demonstrates the effects of increasing urban density and changing land use on the atmosphere. Findings are relevant in terms of characterising the behaviour of urban surfaces and for quantifying the impact of anthropogenic activities.

Quantifying Fast and Slow Responses of Terrestrial Carbon Exchange across a Water Availability Gradient in North American Flux Sites

Science.gov (United States)

Biederman, J. A.; Scott, R. L.; Goulden, M.

2014-12-01

Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and severity of water limitation, altering terrestrial ecosystems and their carbon exchange with the atmosphere. Here we compare site-level temporal sensitivity of annual carbon fluxes to interannual variations in water availability against cross-site spatial patterns over a network of 19 eddy covariance flux sites. This network represents one order of magnitude in mean annual productivity and includes western North American desert shrublands and grasslands, savannahs, woodlands, and forests with continuous records of 4 to 12 years. Our analysis reveals site-specific patterns not identifiable in prior syntheses that pooled sites. We interpret temporal variability as an indicator of ecosystem response to annual water availability due to fast-changing factors such as leaf stomatal response and microbial activity, while cross-site spatial patterns are used to infer ecosystem adjustment to climatic water availability through slow-changing factors such as plant community and organic carbon pools. Using variance decomposition, we directly quantify how terrestrial carbon balance depends on slow- and fast-changing components of gross ecosystem production (GEP) and total ecosystem respiration (TER). Slow factors explain the majority of variance in annual net ecosystem production (NEP) across the dataset, and their relative importance is greater at wetter, forest sites than desert ecosystems. Site-specific offsets from spatial patterns of GEP and TER explain one third of NEP variance, likely due to slow-changing factors not directly linked to water, such as disturbance. TER and GEP are correlated across sites as previously shown, but our site-level analysis reveals surprisingly consistent linear relationships between these fluxes in deserts and savannahs, indicating fast coupling of TER and GEP in more arid ecosystems. Based on the uncertainty associated with slow and fast factors, we suggest a framework for improved

The carbon commute: Effects of urbanization on dissolved organic carbon quality on a suburban New England river network

Science.gov (United States)

Balch, E.; Robison, A.; Wollheim, W. M.

2017-12-01

Understanding anthropogenic influence on the sources and fluxes of carbon is necessary for interpreting the carbon cycle and contaminant transport throughout a river system. As urbanization increases worldwide, it is critical to understand how urbanization affects the carbon cycle so that we may be able to predict future changes. Rivers act as both transporters of terrestrial dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to coastal regions, and active transformers of DOC. The character (lability) of the carbon found within a river network is influenced by its sources and fluxes, as determined by the ecological processes, land use, and discharge, which vary throughout the network. We have characterized DOC quantity and quality throughout a suburban New England river network (Ipswich River, MA) in an attempt to provide a detailed picture of how DOC quality varies within a network, and how urbanization influences these changes. We conducted a synoptic survey of 45 sites over two hydrologically similar days in the Ipswich River network in northeast Massachusetts, USA. We collected discrete grab samples for DOC quantity and quality analyses. We also collected dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and nutrients (major anions and cations) as an extension of the synoptic survey. We plan to determine the source of the DOC by using excitation-emission matrices (EEMs), and specific UV absorption (SUVA) at 254 nm. These analyses will provide us with a detailed picture of how DOC quality varies within a network, and how urbanization influences these changes. Using land use data of the Ipswich River watershed, we are able to model the changes in DOC quality throughout the network. In highly urbanized headwaters, through the progressively more forested and wetland dominated main stem reaches, we expect to see the imprint of urbanization throughout the network due to its decreased lability. Studying the imprint of urbanization on DOC throughout a river network helps us complete our understanding of

Carbon isotope ratios of organic matter in Bering Sea settling particles. Extremely high remineralization of organic carbon derived from diatoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yasuda, Saki; Akagi, Tasuku; Naraoka, Hiroshi; Kitajima, Fumio; Takahashi, Kozo

2016-01-01

The carbon isotope ratios of organic carbon in settling particles collected in the highly-diatom-productive Bering Sea were determined. Wet decomposition was employed to oxidize relatively fresh organic matter. The amount of unoxidised organic carbon in the residue following wet decomposition was negligible. The δ 13 C of organic carbon in the settling particles showed a clear relationship against SiO 2 /CaCO 3 ratio of settling particles: approximately -26‰ and -19‰ at lower and higher SiO 2 /CaCO 3 ratios, respectively. The δ 13 C values were largely interpreted in terms of mixing of two major plankton sources. Both δ 13 C and compositional data can be explained consistently only by assuming that more than 98% of diatomaceous organic matter decays and that organic matter derived from carbonate-shelled plankton may remain much less remineralized. A greater amount of diatom-derived organic matter is discovered to be trapped with the increase of SiO 2 /CaCO 3 ratio of the settling particles. The ratio of organic carbon to inorganic carbon, known as the rain ratio, therefore, tends to increase proportionally with the SiO 2 /CaCO 3 ratio under an extremely diatom-productive condition. (author)

SEASONAL SOIL FLUXES OF CARBON MONOXIDE IN BURNED AND UNBURNED BRAZILIAN SAVANNAS

Science.gov (United States)

Soil-atmosphere fluxes of carbon monoxide (CO) were measured from September 1999 through November 2000 in savanna areas in central Brazil (Cerrado) under different fire regimes using transparent and opaque static chambers. Studies focused on two vegetation types, cerrado stricto...

Fast nanostructured carbon microparticle synthesis by one-step high-flux plasma processing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aussems, D. U. B.; Bystrov, K.; Dogan, I.; Arnas, C.; Cabié, M.; Neisius, T.; Rasinski, M.; Zoethout, E.; Lipman, P.; van de Sanden, M. C. M.; Morgan, T. W.

2017-01-01

This study demonstrates a fast one-step synthesis method for nanostructured carbon microparticles on graphite samples using high-flux plasma exposure. These structures are considered as potential candidates for energy applications such as Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors. The samples were

Fast nanostructured carbon microparticle synthesis by one-step high-flux plasma processing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aussems, D.U.B.; Bystrov, K.E.; Doǧan, I.; Arnas, C.; Cabié, M.; Neisius, T.; Rasinski, M.; Lipman, P.J.L.; van de Sanden, M.C.M.; Morgan, T.W.

This study demonstrates a fast one-step synthesis method for nanostructured carbon microparticles on graphite samples using high-flux plasma exposure. These structures are considered as potential candidates for energy applications such as Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors. The samples were

Mobility of organic carbon from incineration residues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ecke, Holger; Svensson, Malin

2008-01-01

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) may affect the transport of pollutants from incineration residues when landfilled or used in geotechnical construction. The leaching of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash and air pollution control residue (APC) from the incineration of waste wood was investigated. Factors affecting the mobility of DOC were studied in a reduced 2 6-1 experimental design. Controlled factors were treatment with ultrasonic radiation, full carbonation (addition of CO 2 until the pH was stable for 2.5 h), liquid-to-solid (L/S) ratio, pH, leaching temperature and time. Full carbonation, pH and the L/S ratio were the main factors controlling the mobility of DOC in the bottom ash. Approximately 60 weight-% of the total organic carbon (TOC) in the bottom ash was available for leaching in aqueous solutions. The L/S ratio and pH mainly controlled the mobilization of DOC from the APC residue. About 93 weight-% of TOC in the APC residue was, however, not mobilized at all, which might be due to a high content of elemental carbon. Using the European standard EN 13 137 for determination of total organic carbon (TOC) in MSWI residues is inappropriate. The results might be biased due to elemental carbon. It is recommended to develop a TOC method distinguishing between organic and elemental carbon

State-Space Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon Stock

Science.gov (United States)

Ogunwole, Joshua O.; Timm, Luis C.; Obidike-Ugwu, Evelyn O.; Gabriels, Donald M.

2014-04-01

Understanding soil spatial variability and identifying soil parameters most determinant to soil organic carbon stock is pivotal to precision in ecological modelling, prediction, estimation and management of soil within a landscape. This study investigates and describes field soil variability and its structural pattern for agricultural management decisions. The main aim was to relate variation in soil organic carbon stock to soil properties and to estimate soil organic carbon stock from the soil properties. A transect sampling of 100 points at 3 m intervals was carried out. Soils were sampled and analyzed for soil organic carbon and other selected soil properties along with determination of dry aggregate and water-stable aggregate fractions. Principal component analysis, geostatistics, and state-space analysis were conducted on the analyzed soil properties. The first three principal components explained 53.2% of the total variation; Principal Component 1 was dominated by soil exchange complex and dry sieved macroaggregates clusters. Exponential semivariogram model described the structure of soil organic carbon stock with a strong dependence indicating that soil organic carbon values were correlated up to 10.8m.Neighbouring values of soil organic carbon stock, all waterstable aggregate fractions, and dithionite and pyrophosphate iron gave reliable estimate of soil organic carbon stock by state-space.

Exploring the ecosystem engineering ability of Red Sea shallow benthic habitats using stocks and fluxes in carbon biogeochemistry

KAUST Repository

Baldry, Kimberlee

2017-12-01

The coastal ocean is a marginal region of the global ocean, but is home to metabolically intense ecosystems which increase the structural complexity of the benthos. These ecosystems have the ability to alter the carbon chemistry of surrounding waters through their metabolism, mainly through processes which directly release or consume carbon dioxide. In this way, coastal habitats can engineer their environment by acting as sources or sinks of carbon dioxide and altering their environmental chemistry from the regional norm. In most coastal water masses, it is difficult to resolve the ecosystem effect on coastal carbon biogeochemistry due to the mixing of multiple offshore end members, complex geography or the influence of variable freshwater inputs. The Red Sea provides a simple environment for the study of ecosystem processes at a coastal scale as it contains only one offshore end-member and negligible freshwater inputs due to the arid climate of adjacent land. This work explores the ability of three Red Sea benthic coastal habitats (coral reefs, seagrass meadows and mangrove forests) to create characteristic ecosystem end-members, which deviate from the biogeochemistry of offshore source waters. This is done by both calculating non-conservative deviations in carbonate stocks collected over each ecosystem, and by quantifying net carbonate fluxes (in seagrass meadows and mangrove forests only) using 24 hour incubations. Results illustrate that carbonate stocks over ecosystems conform to broad ecosystem trends, which are different to the offshore end-member, and are influenced by inherited properties from surrounding ecosystems. Carbonate fluxes also show ecosystem dependent trends and further illustrate the importance of sediment processes in influencing CaCO3 fluxes in blue carbon benthic habitats, which warrants further attention. These findings show the respective advantages of studying both carbonate stocks and fluxes of coastal benthic ecosystems in order to

Ecosystem carbon dioxide fluxes after disturbance in forests of North America

Science.gov (United States)

B. D. Amiro; A. G. Barr; J. G. Barr; T. A. Black; R. Bracho; al. et.

2010-01-01

[1] Disturbances are important for renewal of North American forests. Here we summarize more than 180 site years of eddy covariance measurements of carbon dioxide flux made at forest chronosequences in North America. The disturbances included standreplacing fire (Alaska, Arizona, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan) and harvest (British Columbia, Florida, New Brunswick, Oregon...

Organic carbon in glacial fjords of Chilean Patagonia

Science.gov (United States)

Pantoja, Silvio; Gutiérrez, Marcelo; Tapia, Fabián; Abarzúa, Leslie; Daneri, Giovanni; Reid, Brian; Díez, Beatriz

2016-04-01

The Southern Ice Field in Chilean Patagonia is the largest (13,000 km2) temperate ice mass in the Southern hemisphere, yearly transporting ca. 40 km3 of freshwater to fjords. This volume of fresh and cold water likely affects adjacent marine ecosystems by changing circulation, productivity, food web dynamics, and the abundance and distribution of planktonic and benthic organisms. We hypothesize that freshwater-driven availability of inorganic nutrient and transport of organic and inorganic suspended matter, as well as microbes, become a controlling factor for productivity in the fjord associated with the Baker river and Jorge Montt glacier. Both appear to be sources of silicic acid, but not of nitrate and particulate organic carbon, especially during summer, when surface PAR and glacier thawing are maximal. In contrast to Baker River, the Jorge Montt glacier is also a source of dissolved organic carbon towards a proglacial fjord and the Baker Channel, indicating that a thorough chemical description of sources (tidewater glacier and glacial river) is needed. Nitrate in fiord waters reaches ca. 15 μM at 25 m depth with no evidence of mixing up during summer. Stable isotope composition of particulate organic nitrogen reaches values as low as 3 per mil in low-salinity waters near both glacier and river. Nitrogen fixation could be depleting δ15N in organic matter, as suggested by the detection at surface waters of nif H genes belonging to diazotrophs near the Montt glacier. As diazotrophs have also been detected in other cold marine waters (e.g. Baltic Sea, Arctic Ocean) as well as glaciers and polar terrestrial waters, there is certainly a potential for both marine and freshwater microbes to contribute and have a significant impact on the Patagonian N and C budgets. Assessing the impact of freshwater on C and N fluxes and the microbial community structure in Patagonian waters will allow understanding future scenarios of rapid glacier melting. This research was funded

Carbon Dioxide and Methane Flux Related to Forest Type and Managed and Unmanaged Conditions in the Great Dismal Swamp, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Gutenberg, L. W.; Krauss, K.; Qu, J. J.; Hogan, D. M.; Zhu, Z.; Xu, C.

2017-12-01

The Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina, USA, has been greatly impacted by human use and management for the last few hundred years through logging, ditching, and draining. Today, the once dominant cedar, cypress and pocosin forest types are fragmented due to logging and environmental change. Maple-gum forest has taken over more than half the remaining area of the swamp ecosystem, which is now a National Wildlife Refuge and State Park. The peat soils and biomass store a vast quantity of carbon compared with the size of the refuge, but this store is threatened by fire and drying. This study looks at three of the main forest types in the GDS— maple-sweet gum, tall pine pocosin, and Atlantic white cedar— in terms of their carbon dioxide and methane soil flux. Using static chambers to sample soil gas flux in locally representative sites, we found that cedar sites showed a higher carbon dioxide flux rate as the soil temperature increased than maple sites, and the rate of carbon dioxide flux decreased as soil moisture increased faster in cedar sites than in maple sites. Methane flux increased as temperature increased for pocosin, but decreased with temperature for cedar and maple. All of the methane fluxes increased as soil moisture increased. Cedar average carbon dioxide flux was statistically significantly different from both maple and pocosin. These results show that soil carbon gas flux depends on soil moisture and temperature, which are factors that are changing due to human actions, as well as on forest type, which is also the result of human activity. Some of these variables may be adjustable by the managers of the land. Variables other than forest type, temperature and soil moisture/inundation may also play a role in influencing soil flux, such as stand age, tree height, composition of the peat and nutrient availability, and source of moisture as some sites are more influenced by groundwater from ditches and some more by rainfall depending on the

Spatially Explicit Simulation of Mesotopographic Controls on Peatland Hydrology and Carbon Fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Sonnentag, O.; Chen, J. M.; Roulet, N. T.

2006-12-01

A number of field carbon flux measurements, paleoecological records, and model simulations have acknowledged the importance of northern peatlands in terrestrial carbon cycling and methane emissions. An important parameter in peatlands that influences both net primary productivity, the net gain of carbon through photosynthesis, and decomposition under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, is the position of the water table. Biological and physical processes involved in peatland carbon dynamics and their hydrological controls operate at different spatial scales. The highly variable hydraulic characteristics of the peat profile and the overall shape of the peat body as defined by its surface topography at the mesoscale (104 m2) are of major importance for peatland water table dynamics. Common types of peatlands include bogs with a slightly domed centre. As a result of the convex profile, their water supply is restricted to atmospheric inputs, and water is mainly shed by shallow subsurface flow. From a modelling perspective the influence of mesotopographic controls on peatland hydrology and thus carbon balance requires that process-oriented models that examine the links between peatland hydrology, ecosystem functioning, and climate must incorporate some form of lateral subsurface flow consideration. Most hydrological and ecological modelling studies in complex terrain explicitly account for the topographic controls on lateral subsurface flow through digital elevation models. However, modelling studies in peatlands often employ simple empirical parameterizations of lateral subsurface flow, neglecting the influence of peatlands low relief mesoscale topography. Our objective is to explicitly simulate the mesotopographic controls on peatland hydrology and carbon fluxes using the Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator (BEPS) adapted to northern peatlands. BEPS is a process-oriented ecosystem model in a remote sensing framework that takes into account peatlands multi

Ecosystem carbon storage and flux in upland/peatland watersheds in northern Minnesota. Chapter 9.

Science.gov (United States)

David F. Grigal; Peter C. Bates; Randall K. Kolka

2011-01-01

Carbon (C) storage and fluxes (inputs and outputs of C per unit time) are central issues in global change. Spatial patterns of C storage on the landscape, both that in soil and in biomass, are important from an inventory perspective and for understanding the biophysical processes that affect C fluxes. Regional and national estimates of C storage are uncertain because...

A Carbon Monitoring System Approach to US Coastal Wetland Carbon Fluxes: Progress Towards a Tier II Accounting Method with Uncertainty Quantification

Science.gov (United States)

Windham-Myers, L.; Holmquist, J. R.; Bergamaschi, B. A.; Byrd, K. B.; Callaway, J.; Crooks, S.; Drexler, J. Z.; Feagin, R. A.; Ferner, M. C.; Gonneea, M. E.; Kroeger, K. D.; Megonigal, P.; Morris, J. T.; Schile, L. M.; Simard, M.; Sutton-Grier, A.; Takekawa, J.; Troxler, T.; Weller, D.; Woo, I.

2015-12-01

Despite their high rates of long-term carbon (C) sequestration when compared to upland ecosystems, coastal C accounting is only recently receiving the attention of policy makers and carbon markets. Assessing accuracy and uncertainty in net C flux estimates requires both direct and derived measurements based on both short and long term dynamics in key drivers, particularly soil accretion rates and soil organic content. We are testing the ability of remote sensing products and national scale datasets to estimate biomass and soil stocks and fluxes over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. For example, the 2013 Wetlands Supplement to the 2006 IPCC GHG national inventory reporting guidelines requests information on development of Tier I-III reporting, which express increasing levels of detail. We report progress toward development of a Carbon Monitoring System for "blue carbon" that may be useful for IPCC reporting guidelines at Tier II levels. Our project uses a current dataset of publically available and contributed field-based measurements to validate models of changing soil C stocks, across a broad range of U.S. tidal wetland types and landuse conversions. Additionally, development of biomass algorithms for both radar and spectral datasets will be tested and used to determine the "price of precision" of different satellite products. We discuss progress in calculating Tier II estimates focusing on variation introduced by the different input datasets. These include the USFWS National Wetlands Inventory, NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program, and combinations to calculate tidal wetland area. We also assess the use of different attributes and depths from the USDA-SSURGO database to map soil C density. Finally, we examine the relative benefit of radar, spectral and hybrid approaches to biomass mapping in tidal marshes and mangroves. While the US currently plans to report GHG emissions at a Tier I level, we argue that a Tier II analysis is possible due to national

Stockage de carbone et flux de gaz à effet de serre en prairie (synthèse bibliographique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jérôme, E.

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas fluxes in grassland. A review. Grassland carbon (C sequestration can play an important role in mitigating total greenhouse gas (GHG emissions of livestock production systems. An accurate inventory of livestock production system contribution to GHG emissions requires to think in terms of global budget, by considering both the GHG sources and the mitigation potential trough grassland soil carbon sequestration. There is a huge variability in C and GHG balances of grasslands that is mainly due to management practices and climatic conditions. The present article shows that, to reduce the uncertainties of the results, long term measurements at the field scale are necessary. Also, it shows the importance of taking into account the fluxes of the three main GHGs (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane into account when calculating the GHG budget. This article also highlights the need for a better understanding of the mechanisms driving the fluxes, in relation to environmental factors and management practices, in order to propose mitigation strategies able to enhance soil carbon sequestration in soils and to reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

Oxyanion flux characterization using passive flux meters: Development and field testing of surfactant-modified granular activated carbon

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jimi; Rao, P. S. C.; Poyer, Irene C.; Toole, Robyn M.; Annable, M. D.; Hatfield, K.

2007-07-01

We report here on the extension of Passive Flux Meter (PFM) applications for measuring fluxes of oxyanions in groundwater, and present results for laboratory and field studies. Granular activated carbon, with and without impregnated silver (GAC and SI-GAC, respectively), was modified with a cationic surfactant, hexadecyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA), to enhance the anion exchange capacity (AEC). Langmuir isotherm sorption maxima for oxyanions measured in batch experiments were in the following order: perchlorate >> chromate > selenate, consistent with their selectivity. Linear sorption isotherms for several alcohols suggest that surfactant modification of GAC and SI-GAC reduced (˜ 30-45%) sorption of alcohols by GAC. Water and oxyanion fluxes (perchlorate and chromate) measured by deploying PFMs packed with surfactant-modified GAC (SM-GAC) or surfactant-modified, silver-impregnated GAC (SM-SI-GAC) in laboratory flow chambers were in close agreement with the imposed fluxes. The use of SM-SI-GAC as a PFM sorbent was evaluated at a field site with perchlorate contamination of a shallow unconfined aquifer. PFMs packed with SM-SI-GAC were deployed in three existing monitoring wells with a perchlorate concentration range of ˜ 2.5 to 190 mg/L. PFM-measured, depth-averaged, groundwater fluxes ranged from 1.8 to 7.6 cm/day, while depth-averaged perchlorate fluxes varied from 0.22 to 1.7 g/m 2/day. Groundwater and perchlorate flux distributions measured in two PFM deployments closely matched each other. Depth-averaged Darcy fluxes measured with PFMs were in line with an estimate from a borehole dilution test, but much smaller than those based on hydraulic conductivity and head gradients; this is likely due to flow divergence caused by well-screen clogging. Flux-averaged perchlorate concentrations measured with PFM deployments matched concentrations in groundwater samples taken from one well, but not in two other wells, pointing to the need for additional field testing. Use of

A carbon isotope budget for an anoxic marine sediment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boehme, S.E.; Blair, N.E.

1991-01-01

A carbon isotope budget has been determined for the coastal marine site, Cape Lookout Bight, NC. Isotope measurements of methane and σCO 2 fluxing out and buried in these sediments were applied to previously measured flux data (Martens et al., in press) to predict the isotopic composition of the incoming metabolizable organic matter. Methane leaves the sediment predominantly via ebullition with an isotopic composition of -60 per mil. Less than 2% of the methane produced is buried with an average diffusional flux value of -17 per mil and a burial value of +11 per mil. The isotope budget predicts a metabolizable organic carbon isotope signature of -19.3 per mil which is in excellent agreement with the measured total organic carbon value of -19.2 ± 0.3 per mil implying that the dominant remineralization processes have been identified

Estimating carbon flux phenology with satellite-derived land surface phenology and climate drivers for different biomes: a synthesis of AmeriFlux observations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenquan Zhu

Full Text Available Carbon Flux Phenology (CFP can affect the interannual variation in Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE of carbon between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. In this study, we proposed a methodology to estimate CFP metrics with satellite-derived Land Surface Phenology (LSP metrics and climate drivers for 4 biomes (i.e., deciduous broadleaf forest, evergreen needleleaf forest, grasslands and croplands, using 159 site-years of NEE and climate data from 32 AmeriFlux sites and MODIS vegetation index time-series data. LSP metrics combined with optimal climate drivers can explain the variability in Start of Carbon Uptake (SCU by more than 70% and End of Carbon Uptake (ECU by more than 60%. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE of the estimations was within 8.5 days for both SCU and ECU. The estimation performance for this methodology was primarily dependent on the optimal combination of the LSP retrieval methods, the explanatory climate drivers, the biome types, and the specific CFP metric. This methodology has a potential for allowing extrapolation of CFP metrics for biomes with a distinct and detectable seasonal cycle over large areas, based on synoptic multi-temporal optical satellite data and climate data.

Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in Tropical Lowland Dipterocarp Rainforests in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

Science.gov (United States)

Saner, Philippe; Loh, Yen Yee; Ong, Robert C.; Hector, Andy

2012-01-01

Deforestation in the tropics is an important source of carbon C release to the atmosphere. To provide a sound scientific base for efforts taken to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) good estimates of C stocks and fluxes are important. We present components of the C balance for selectively logged lowland tropical dipterocarp rainforest in the Malua Forest Reserve of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Total organic C in this area was 167.9 Mg C ha−1±3.8 (SD), including: Total aboveground (TAGC: 55%; 91.9 Mg C ha−1±2.9 SEM) and belowground carbon in trees (TBGC: 10%; 16.5 Mg C ha−1±0.5 SEM), deadwood (8%; 13.2 Mg C ha−1±3.5 SEM) and soil organic matter (SOM: 24%; 39.6 Mg C ha−1±0.9 SEM), understory vegetation (3%; 5.1 Mg C ha−1±1.7 SEM), standing litter (logging TAGC stocks were 28% lower compared to unlogged forest (128 Mg C ha−1±13.4 SEM); a combined weighted average mean reduction due to selective logging of −57.8 Mg C ha−1 (with 95% CI −75.5 to −40.2). Based on the findings we conclude that selective logging decreased the dipterocarp stock by 55–66%. Silvicultural treatments may have the potential to accelerate the recovery of dipterocarp C stocks to pre-logging levels. PMID:22235319

Impact of biological activated carbon pre-treatment on the hydrophilic fraction of effluent organic matter for mitigating fouling in microfiltration.

Science.gov (United States)

Pramanik, Biplob Kumar; Roddick, Felicity A; Fan, Linhua

2017-07-24

The hydrophilic (HPI) fraction of effluent organic matter, which has protein and carbohydrate contents, has a high propensity to foul low-pressure membranes. Biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration was examined as a pre-treatment for reducing the fouling of a microfiltration (MF) membrane (0.1 µm PVDF) by the HPI organic fraction extracted from a biologically treated secondary effluent (BTSE). Although the BAC removed less dissolved organic carbon, carbohydrate and protein from the HPI fraction than the granular activated carbon treatment which was used for comparison, it led to better improvement in permeate flux. This was shown to be due to the removal/breakdown of the HPI fraction resulting in less deposition of these organics on the membrane, many components of which are high molecular weight biopolymers (such as protein and carbohydrate molecules) through biodegradation and adsorption of those molecules on the biofilm and activated carbon. This study established the potential of BAC pre-treatment for reducing the HPI fouling of the membrane and thus improving the performance for the MF of BTSE for water reclamation.

Carbon transport in Monterey Submarine Canyon

Science.gov (United States)

Barry, J.; Paull, C. K.; Xu, J. P.; Clare, M. A.; Gales, J. A.; Buck, K. R.; Lovera, C.; Gwiazda, R.; Maier, K. L.; McGann, M.; Parsons, D. R.; Simmons, S.; Rosenberger, K. J.; Talling, P. J.

2017-12-01

Submarine canyons are important conduits for sediment transport from continental margins to the abyss, but the rate, volume, and time scales of material transport have been measured only rarely. Using moorings with current meters, sediment traps (10 m above bottom) and optical backscatter sensors, we measured near-bottom currents, suspended sediment concentrations, and sediment properties at 1300 m depth in Monterey Canyon and at a non-canyon location on the continental slope at the same depth. Flow and water column backscatter were used to characterize "ambient" conditions when tidal currents dominated the flow field, and occasional "sediment transport events" when anomalously high down-canyon flow with sediment-laden waters arrived at the canyon mooring. The ambient sediment flux measured in sediment traps in Monterey Canyon was 350 times greater than measured at the non-canyon location. Although the organic carbon content of the canyon sediment flux during ambient periods was low (1.8 %C) compared to the slope location (4.9 %C), the ambient carbon transport in the canyon was 130 times greater than at the non-canyon site. Material fluxes during sediment transport events were difficult to measure owing to clogging of sediment traps, but minimal estimates indicate that mass transport during events exceeds ambient sediment fluxes through the canyon by nearly 3 orders of magnitude, while carbon transport is 380 times greater. Estimates of the instantaneous and cumulative flux of sediment and carbon from currents, backscatter, and sediment properties indicated that: 1) net flux is down-canyon, 2) flux is dominated by sediment transport events, and 3) organic carbon flux through 1300 m in Monterey Canyon was ca. 1500 MT C per year. The injection of 1500 MTCy-1 into the deep-sea represents ca. 260 km2 of the sediment C flux measured at the continental slope station (5.8 gCm-2y-1) and is sufficient to support a benthic community carbon demand of 5 gCm-2y-1 over 300 km2.

A global hotspot for dissolved organic carbon in hypermaritime watersheds of coastal British Columbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. A. Oliver

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The perhumid region of the coastal temperate rainforest (CTR of Pacific North America is one of the wettest places on Earth and contains numerous small catchments that discharge freshwater and high concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC directly to the coastal ocean. However, empirical data on the flux and composition of DOC exported from these watersheds are scarce. We established monitoring stations at the outlets of seven catchments on Calvert and Hecate islands, British Columbia, which represent the rain-dominated hypermaritime region of the perhumid CTR. Over several years, we measured stream discharge, stream water DOC concentration, and stream water dissolved organic-matter (DOM composition. Discharge and DOC concentrations were used to calculate DOC fluxes and yields, and DOM composition was characterized using absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC. The areal estimate of annual DOC yield in water year 2015 was 33.3 Mg C km−2 yr−1, with individual watersheds ranging from an average of 24.1 to 37.7 Mg C km−2 yr−1. This represents some of the highest DOC yields to be measured at the coastal margin. We observed seasonality in the quantity and composition of exports, with the majority of DOC export occurring during the extended wet period (September–April. Stream flow from catchments reacted quickly to rain inputs, resulting in rapid export of relatively fresh, highly terrestrial-like DOM. DOC concentration and measures of DOM composition were related to stream discharge and stream temperature and correlated with watershed attributes, including the extent of lakes and wetlands, and the thickness of organic and mineral soil horizons. Our discovery of high DOC yields from these small catchments in the CTR is especially compelling as they deliver relatively fresh, highly terrestrial organic matter directly to the coastal ocean. Hypermaritime landscapes are common on the

A global hotspot for dissolved organic carbon in hypermaritime watersheds of coastal British Columbia

Science.gov (United States)

Oliver, Allison A.; Tank, Suzanne E.; Giesbrecht, Ian; Korver, Maartje C.; Floyd, William C.; Sanborn, Paul; Bulmer, Chuck; Lertzman, Ken P.

2017-08-01

The perhumid region of the coastal temperate rainforest (CTR) of Pacific North America is one of the wettest places on Earth and contains numerous small catchments that discharge freshwater and high concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) directly to the coastal ocean. However, empirical data on the flux and composition of DOC exported from these watersheds are scarce. We established monitoring stations at the outlets of seven catchments on Calvert and Hecate islands, British Columbia, which represent the rain-dominated hypermaritime region of the perhumid CTR. Over several years, we measured stream discharge, stream water DOC concentration, and stream water dissolved organic-matter (DOM) composition. Discharge and DOC concentrations were used to calculate DOC fluxes and yields, and DOM composition was characterized using absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). The areal estimate of annual DOC yield in water year 2015 was 33.3 Mg C km-2 yr-1, with individual watersheds ranging from an average of 24.1 to 37.7 Mg C km-2 yr-1. This represents some of the highest DOC yields to be measured at the coastal margin. We observed seasonality in the quantity and composition of exports, with the majority of DOC export occurring during the extended wet period (September-April). Stream flow from catchments reacted quickly to rain inputs, resulting in rapid export of relatively fresh, highly terrestrial-like DOM. DOC concentration and measures of DOM composition were related to stream discharge and stream temperature and correlated with watershed attributes, including the extent of lakes and wetlands, and the thickness of organic and mineral soil horizons. Our discovery of high DOC yields from these small catchments in the CTR is especially compelling as they deliver relatively fresh, highly terrestrial organic matter directly to the coastal ocean. Hypermaritime landscapes are common on the British Columbia coast, suggesting that

Constraining Marsh Carbon Budgets Using Long-Term C Burial and Contemporary Atmospheric CO2 Fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Forbrich, I.; Giblin, A. E.; Hopkinson, C. S.

2018-03-01

Salt marshes are sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide that respond to environmental changes related to sea level rise and climate. Here we assess how climatic variations affect marsh-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide in the short term and compare it to long-term burial rates based on radiometric dating. The 5 years of atmospheric measurements show a strong interannual variation in atmospheric carbon exchange, varying from -104 to -233 g C m-2 a-1 with a mean of -179 ± 32 g C m-2 a-1. Variation in these annual sums was best explained by differences in rainfall early in the growing season. In the two years with below average rainfall in June, both net uptake and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index were less than in the other three years. Measurements in 2016 and 2017 suggest that the mechanism behind this variability may be rainfall decreasing soil salinity which has been shown to strongly control productivity. The net ecosystem carbon balance was determined as burial rate from four sediment cores using radiometric dating and was lower than the net uptake measured by eddy covariance (mean: 110 ± 13 g C m-2 a-1). The difference between these estimates was significant and may be because the atmospheric measurements do not capture lateral carbon fluxes due to tidal exchange. Overall, it was smaller than values reported in the literature for lateral fluxes and highlights the importance of investigating lateral C fluxes in future studies.

Inferring absorbing organic carbon content from AERONET data

Science.gov (United States)

Arola, A.; Schuster, G.; Myhre, G.; Kazadzis, S.; Dey, S.; Tripathi, S. N.

2011-01-01

Black carbon, light-absorbing organic carbon (often called "brown carbon") and mineral dust are the major light-absorbing aerosols. Currently the sources and formation of brown carbon aerosol in particular are not well understood. In this study we estimated the amount of light-absorbing organic carbon and black carbon from AERONET measurements. We find that the columnar absorbing organic carbon (brown carbon) levels in biomass burning regions of South America and Africa are relatively high (about 15-20 mg m-2 during biomass burning season), while the concentrations are significantly lower in urban areas in US and Europe. However, we estimated significant absorbing organic carbon amounts from the data of megacities of newly industrialized countries, particularly in India and China, showing also clear seasonality with peak values up to 30-35 mg m-2 during the coldest season, likely caused by the coal and biofuel burning used for heating. We also compared our retrievals with the modeled organic carbon by the global Oslo CTM for several sites. Model values are higher in biomass burning regions than AERONET-based retrievals, while the opposite is true in urban areas in India and China.

Influence of the late winter bloom on migrant zooplankton metabolism and its implications on export fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Putzeys, S.; Yebra, L.; Almeida, C.; Bécognée, P.; Hernández-León, S.

2011-12-01

Studies on carbon active fluxes due to diel migrants are scarce and critical for carbon flux models and biogeochemical estimates. We studied the temporal variability and vertical distribution of biomass, indices of feeding and respiration of the zooplanktonic community north off the Canary Islands during the end of the late winter bloom, in order to assess vertical carbon fluxes in this area. Biomass distribution during the day presented two dense layers of organisms at 0-200 m and around 500 m, whereas at night, most of the biomass concentrated in the epipelagic layer. The gut pigment flux (0.05-0.18 mgC·m - 2 ·d - 1 ) represented 0.22% of the estimated passive export flux (POC flux) while potential ingestion represented 3.91% of the POC (1.24-3.40 mgC·m - 2 ·d - 1 ). The active respiratory flux (0.50-1.36 mgC·m - 2 ·d - 1 ) was only 1.57% of the POC flux. The total carbon flux mediated by diel migrants (respiration plus potential ingestion) ranged between 3.37 and 9.22% of the POC flux; which is three-fold higher than calculating ingestion fluxes from gut pigments. Our results suggest that the fluxes by diel migrants play a small role in the downward flux of carbon in the open ocean during the post-bloom period.

Metabolic flux analysis of Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142 under mixotrophic conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Alagesan, Swathi; Gaudana, Sandeep B; Sinha, Avinash; Wangikar, Pramod P

2013-11-01

Cyanobacteria are a group of photosynthetic prokaryotes capable of utilizing solar energy to fix atmospheric carbon dioxide to biomass. Despite several "proof of principle" studies, low product yield is an impediment in commercialization of cyanobacteria-derived biofuels. Estimation of intracellular reaction rates by (13)C metabolic flux analysis ((13)C-MFA) would be a step toward enhancing biofuel yield via metabolic engineering. We report (13)C-MFA for Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142, a unicellular nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium, known for enhanced hydrogen yield under mixotrophic conditions. Rates of reactions in the central carbon metabolism under nitrogen-fixing and -non-fixing conditions were estimated by monitoring the competitive incorporation of (12)C and (13)C from unlabeled CO2 and uniformly labeled glycerol, respectively, into terminal metabolites such as amino acids. The observed labeling patterns suggest mixotrophic growth under both the conditions, with a larger fraction of unlabeled carbon in nitrate-sufficient cultures asserting a greater contribution of carbon fixation by photosynthesis and an anaplerotic pathway. Indeed, flux analysis complements the higher growth observed under nitrate-sufficient conditions. On the other hand, the flux through the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway and tricarboxylic acid cycle was greater in nitrate-deficient conditions, possibly to supply the precursors and reducing equivalents needed for nitrogen fixation. In addition, an enhanced flux through fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase possibly suggests the organism's preferred mode under nitrogen-fixing conditions. The (13)C-MFA results complement the reported predictions by flux balance analysis and provide quantitative insight into the organism's distinct metabolic features under nitrogen-fixing and -non-fixing conditions.

Temperature dependence of photodegradation of dissolved organic matter to dissolved inorganic carbon and particulate organic carbon

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Porcal, Petr; Dillon, P. J.; Molot, L. A.

2015-01-01

Roč. 10, č. 6 (2015), e0128884 E-ISSN 1932-6203 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP503/12/0781; GA ČR(CZ) GA15-09721S Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : dissolved organic carbon * particulate organic carbon * photodegradation * temperature Subject RIV: DA - Hydrology ; Limnology Impact factor: 3.057, year: 2015

Modelling the decadal trend of ecosystem carbon fluxes demonstrates the important role of functional changes in a temperate deciduous forest

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Jian; Jansson, P.E.; van der Linden, Leon

2013-01-01

Temperate forests are globally important carbon sinks and stocks. Trends in net ecosystem exchange have been observed in a Danish beech forest and this trend cannot be entirely attributed to changing climatic drivers. This study sought to clarify the mechanisms responsible for the observed trend...... for nitrogen demand during mast years is supported by the inter-annual variability in the estimated parameters. The inter-annual variability of photosynthesis parameters was fundamental to the simulation of the trend in carbon fluxes in the investigated beech forest and this demonstrates the importance......, the latent and sensible heat fluxes and the CO2 fluxes decreased the parameter uncertainty considerably compared to using CO2 fluxes as validation data alone. The fitted model was able to simulate the observed carbon fluxes well (R2=0.8, mean error=0.1gCm−2d−1) but did not reproduce the decadal (1997...

Large carbon dioxide fluxes from headwater boreal and sub-boreal streams.

Science.gov (United States)

Venkiteswaran, Jason J; Schiff, Sherry L; Wallin, Marcus B

2014-01-01

Half of the world's forest is in boreal and sub-boreal ecozones, containing large carbon stores and fluxes. Carbon lost from headwater streams in these forests is underestimated. We apply a simple stable carbon isotope idea for quantifying the CO2 loss from these small streams; it is based only on in-stream samples and integrates over a significant distance upstream. We demonstrate that conventional methods of determining CO2 loss from streams necessarily underestimate the CO2 loss with results from two catchments. Dissolved carbon export from headwater catchments is similar to CO2 loss from stream surfaces. Most of the CO2 originating in high CO2 groundwaters has been lost before typical in-stream sampling occurs. In the Harp Lake catchment in Canada, headwater streams account for 10% of catchment net CO2 uptake. In the Krycklan catchment in Sweden, this more than doubles the CO2 loss from the catchment. Thus, even when corrected for aquatic CO2 loss measured by conventional methods, boreal and sub-boreal forest carbon budgets currently overestimate carbon sequestration on the landscape.

Technical Note: Mesocosm approach to quantify dissolved inorganic carbon percolation fluxes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thaysen, Eike Marie; Jessen, S.; Ambus, Per

2014-01-01

unplanted soil. Carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO(2)), alkalinity, soil moisture and temperature were measured with depth and time, and DIC in the percolate was quantified using a sodium hydroxide trap. Results showed good reproducibility between two replicate mesocosms. The pCO(2) varied between 0.......2 and 1.1 %, and the alkalinity was 0.1-0.6 meq L-1. The measured cumulative effluent DIC flux over the 78-day experimental period was 185-196 mg L-1 m(-2) and in the same range as estimates derived from pCO(2) and alkalinity in samples extracted from the side of the mesocosm column and the drainage flux...

Changes in ocean circulation and carbon storage are decoupled from air-sea CO₂ fluxes

OpenAIRE

A. Gnanadesikan; I. Marinov

2010-01-01

The spatial distribution of the air-sea flux of carbon dioxide is a poor indicator of the underlying ocean circulation and of ocean carbon storage. The weak dependence on circulation arises because mixing-driven changes in solubility-driven and biologically-driven air-sea fluxes largely cancel out. This cancellation occurs because mixing driven increases in the poleward residual mean circulation results in more transport of both remineralized nutrients and heat from low to high latitudes. By ...

Inferring absorbing organic carbon content from AERONET data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Arola

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Black carbon, light-absorbing organic carbon (often called "brown carbon" and mineral dust are the major light-absorbing aerosols. Currently the sources and formation of brown carbon aerosol in particular are not well understood. In this study we estimated the amount of light–absorbing organic carbon and black carbon from AERONET measurements. We find that the columnar absorbing organic carbon (brown carbon levels in biomass burning regions of South America and Africa are relatively high (about 15–20 mg m⁻² during biomass burning season, while the concentrations are significantly lower in urban areas in US and Europe. However, we estimated significant absorbing organic carbon amounts from the data of megacities of newly industrialized countries, particularly in India and China, showing also clear seasonality with peak values up to 30–35 mg m⁻² during the coldest season, likely caused by the coal and biofuel burning used for heating. We also compared our retrievals with the modeled organic carbon by the global Oslo CTM for several sites. Model values are higher in biomass burning regions than AERONET-based retrievals, while the opposite is true in urban areas in India and China.

Carbonate counter pump stimulated by natural iron fertilization in the Polar Frontal Zone

Science.gov (United States)

Salter, Ian; Schiebel, Ralf; Ziveri, Patrizia; Movellan, Aurore; Lampitt, Richard; Wolff, George A.

2014-12-01

The production of organic carbon in the ocean's surface and its subsequent downward export transfers carbon dioxide to the deep ocean. This CO2 drawdown is countered by the biological precipitation of carbonate, followed by sinking of particulate inorganic carbon, which is a source of carbon dioxide to the surface ocean, and hence the atmosphere over 100-1,000 year timescales. The net transfer of CO2 to the deep ocean is therefore dependent on the relative amount of organic and inorganic carbon in sinking particles. In the Southern Ocean, iron fertilization has been shown to increase the export of organic carbon, but it is unclear to what degree this effect is compensated by the export of inorganic carbon. Here we assess the composition of sinking particles collected from sediment traps located in the Polar Frontal Zone of the Southern Ocean. We find that in high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll regions that are characterized by naturally high iron concentrations, fluxes of both organic and inorganic carbon are higher than in regions with no iron fertilization. However, the excess flux of inorganic carbon is greater than that of organic carbon. We estimate that the production and flux of carbonate in naturally iron-fertilized waters reduces the overall amount of CO2 transferred to the deep ocean by 6-32%, compared to 1-4% at the non-fertilized site. We suggest that an increased export of organic carbon, stimulated by iron availability in the glacial sub-Antarctic oceans, may have been accompanied by a strengthened carbonate counter pump.

Carbon conversion efficiency and central metabolic fluxes in developing sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) embryos.

Science.gov (United States)

Alonso, Ana P; Goffman, Fernando D; Ohlrogge, John B; Shachar-Hill, Yair

2007-10-01

The efficiency with which developing sunflower embryos convert substrates into seed storage reserves was determined by labeling embryos with [U-(14)C6]glucose or [U-(14)C5]glutamine and measuring their conversion to CO2, oil, protein and other biomass compounds. The average carbon conversion efficiency was 50%, which contrasts with a value of over 80% previously observed in Brassica napus embryos (Goffman et al., 2005), in which light and the RuBisCO bypass pathway allow more efficient conversion of hexose to oil. Labeling levels after incubating sunflower embryos with [U-(14)C4]malate indicated that some carbon from malate enters the plastidic compartment and contributes to oil synthesis. To test this and to map the underlying pattern of metabolic fluxes, separate experiments were carried out in which embryos were labeled to isotopic steady state using [1-(13)C1]glucose, [2-(13)C1]glucose, or [U-(13)C5]glutamine. The resultant labeling in sugars, starch, fatty acids and amino acids was analyzed by NMR and GC-MS. The fluxes through intermediary metabolism were then quantified by computer-aided modeling. The resulting flux map accounted well for the labeling data, was in good agreement with the observed carbon efficiency, and was further validated by testing for agreement with gas exchange measurements. The map shows that the influx of malate into oil is low and that flux through futile cycles (wasting ATP) is low, which contrasts with the high rates previously determined for growing root tips and heterotrophic cell cultures.

B33C-0612: Evaluation of Simulated Biospheric Carbon Dioxide Fluxes and Atmospheric Concentrations Using Global in Situ Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Philip, Sajeev; Johnson, Matthew S.; Potter, Christopher S.; Genovese, Vanessa

2016-01-01

Atmospheric mixing ratios of carbon dioxide (CO2) are largely controlled by anthropogenic emission sources and biospheric sources/sinks. Global biospheric fluxes of CO2 are controlled by complex processes facilitating the exchange of carbon between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. These processes which play a key role in these terrestrial ecosystem-atmosphere carbon exchanges are currently not fully understood, resulting in large uncertainties in the quantification of biospheric CO2 fluxes. Current models with these inherent deficiencies have difficulties simulating the global carbon cycle with high accuracy. We are developing a new modeling platform, GEOS-Chem-CASA by integrating the year-specific NASA-CASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach) biosphere model with the GEOS-Chem (Goddard Earth Observation System-Chemistry) chemical transport model to improve the simulation of atmosphere-terrestrial ecosystem carbon exchange. We use NASA-CASA to explicitly represent the exchange of CO2 between terrestrial ecosystem and atmosphere by replacing the baseline GEOS-Chem land net CO2 flux and forest biomass burning CO2 emissions. We will present the estimation and evaluation of these "bottom-up" land CO2 fluxes, simulated atmospheric mixing ratios, and forest disturbance changes over the last decade. In addition, we will present our initial comparison of atmospheric column-mean dry air mole fraction of CO2 predicted by the model and those retrieved from NASA's OCO-2 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2) satellite instrument and model-predicted surface CO2 mixing ratios with global in situ observations. This evaluation is the first step necessary for our future work planned to constrain the estimates of biospheric carbon fluxes through "top-down" inverse modeling, which will improve our understanding of the processes controlling atmosphere-terrestrial ecosystem greenhouse gas exchanges, especially over regions which lack in

The Net Carbon Flux due to Deforestation and Forest Re-Growth in the Brazilian Amazon: Analysis using a Process-Based Model

Science.gov (United States)

Hirsch, A. I.; Little, W. S.; Houghton, R. A.; Scott, N. A.; White, J. D.

2004-01-01

We developed a process-based model of forest growth, carbon cycling, and land cover dynamics named CARLUC (for CARbon and Land Use Change) to estimate the size of terrestrial carbon pools in terra firme (non-flooded) forests across the Brazilian Legal Amazon and the net flux of carbon resulting from forest disturbance and forest recovery from disturbance. Our goal in building the model was to construct a relatively simple ecosystem model that would respond to soil and climatic heterogeneity that allows us to study of the impact of Amazonian deforestation, selective logging, and accidental fire on the global carbon cycle. This paper focuses on the net flux caused by deforestation and forest re-growth over the period from 1970-1998. We calculate that the net flux to the atmosphere during this period reached a maximum of approx. 0.35 PgC/yr (1PgC = 1 x 10(exp I5) gC) in 1990, with a cumulative release of approx. 7 PgC from 1970- 1998. The net flux is higher than predicted by an earlier study by a total of 1 PgC over the period 1989-1 998 mainly because CARLUC predicts relatively high mature forest carbon storage compared to the datasets used in the earlier study. Incorporating the dynamics of litter and soil carbon pools into the model increases the cumulative net flux by approx. 1 PgC from 1970-1998, while different assumptions about land cover dynamics only caused small changes. The uncertainty of the net flux, calculated with a Monte-Carlo approach, is roughly 35% of the mean value (1 SD).

Estimation of net ecosystem carbon exchange for the conterminous United States by combining MODIS and AmeriFlux data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xiao, Jingfeng; Zhuang, Qianlai; Baldocchi, Dennis D.; Bolstad, Paul V.; Burns, Sean P.; Chen, Jiquan; Cook, David R.; Curtis, Peter S.; Drake, Bert G.; Foster, David R.; Gu, Lianhong; Hadley, Julian L.; Hollinger, David Y.; Katul, Gabriel G.; Law, Beverly E.; Litvak, Marcy; Ma, Siyan; Martin, Timothy A.; Matamala, Roser; McNulty, Steve; Meyers, Tilden P.; Monson, Russell K.; Munger, J. William; Noormets, Asko; Oechel, Walter C.; Oren, Ram; Richardson, Andrew D.; Schmid, Hans Peter; Scott, Russell L.; Starr, Gregory; Sun, Ge; Suyker, Andrew E.; Torn, Margaret S.; Paw, Kyaw; Verma, Shashi B.; Wharton, Sonia; Wofsy, Steven C.

2008-10-01

Eddy covariance flux towers provide continuous measurements of net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) for a wide range of climate and biome types. However, these measurements only represent the carbon fluxes at the scale of the tower footprint. To quantify the net exchange of carbon dioxide between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere for regions or continents, flux tower measurements need to be extrapolated to these large areas. Here we used remotely sensed data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) instrument on board the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Terra satellite to scale up AmeriFlux NEE measurements to the continental scale. We first combined MODIS and AmeriFlux data for representative U.S. ecosystems to develop a predictive NEE model using a modified regression tree approach. The predictive model was trained and validated using eddy flux NEE data over the periods 2000-2004 and 2005-2006, respectively. We found that the model predicted NEE well (r = 0.73, p < 0.001). We then applied the model to the continental scale and estimated NEE for each 1 km x 1 km cell across the conterminous U.S. for each 8-day interval in 2005 using spatially explicit MODIS data. The model generally captured the expected spatial and seasonal patterns of NEE as determined from measurements and the literature. Our study demonstrated that our empirical approach is effective for scaling up eddy flux NEE measurements to the continental scale and producing wall-to-wall NEE estimates across multiple biomes. Our estimates may provide an independent dataset from simulations with biogeochemical models and inverse modeling approaches for examining the spatiotemporal patterns of NEE and constraining terrestrial carbon budgets over large areas.