Seasonal exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the terrestrial biosphere: extrapolation from site-specific models to regional models

Book · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:5885066

King, A W

Ecological models of the seasonal exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the terrestrial biosphere are needed in the study of changes in atmospheric CO/sub 2/ concentration. In response to this need, a set of site-specific models of seasonal terrestrial carbon dynamics was assembled from open-literature sources. The collection was chosen as a base for the development of biome-level models for each of the earth's principal terrestrial biomes or vegetation complexes. Two methods of extrapolation were tested. The first approach was a simple extrapolation that assumed relative within-biome homogeneity, and generated CO/sub 2/ source functions that differed dramatically from published estimates of CO/sub 2/ exchange. The differences were so great that the simple extrapolation was rejected as a means of incorporating site-specific models in a global CO/sub 2/ source function. The second extrapolation explicitly incorporated within-biome variability in the abiotic variables that drive seasonal biosphere-atmosphere CO/sub 2/ exchange. Simulated site-specific CO/sub 2/ dynamics were treated as a function of multiple random variables. The predicated regional CO/sub 2/ exchange is the computed expected value of simulated site-specific exchanges for that region times the area of the region. The test involved the regional extrapolation of tundra and a coniferous forest carbon exchange model. Comparisons between the CO/sub 2/ exchange estimated by extrapolation and published estimates of regional exchange for the latitude belt support the appropriateness of extrapolation by expected value.

• OSTI ID: 5885066
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
510200 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR-BIOSPHERE INTERACTIONS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON CYCLE
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CONIFERS
EXTRAPOLATION
FORESTS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
REGIONAL ANALYSIS
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
VARIATIONS