A large and persistent carbon sink in the World s forests

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1201609· OSTI ID:1022698

Pan, Yude ^[1]; Birdsey, Richard A. ^[1]; Fang, Jingyun ^[2]; Houghton, Richard ^[3]; Kauppi, Pekka ^[4]; Kurz, Werner ^[5]; Phillips, Oliver ^[6]; Shvidenko, Anatoly ^[7]; Lewis, Simon ^[6]; Canadell, Josep ^[8]; Ciais, Philippe ^[9]; Jackson, Robert B ^[10]; Pacala, Stephen ^[11]; Mcguire, David ^[12]; Piao, Shilong ^[2]; Rautiainen, Aapo ^[4]; Sitch, Stephen ^[6]; Hayes, Daniel J ^[13]

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1. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service
2. Peking University
3. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Woods Hole, MA
4. University of Helsinki
5. Canadian Forest Service
6. University of Leeds, UK
7. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria
8. CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
9. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environement, France
10. Duke University
11. Princeton University
12. University of Alaska
13. ORNL

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

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1022698
• Journal Information: Science, Vol. 333, Issue 6045; ISSN 0036--8075
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CARBON
CARBON SINKS
DEFORESTATION
ECOSYSTEMS
FORESTS
FOSSIL FUELS
LAND USE