Seasonal resolution of global patterns in soil carbon dioxide fluxes

Conference · Tue Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America; (United States)

OSTI ID:6208134

Raich, J W; Potter, C S ^[1]

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1. Iowa State Univ., Ames (United States) NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (United States)

Soil respiration is a major flux in the global carbon cycle. Seasonal variation in soil-CO[sub 2] efflux rates is often high, yet current global summaries are generally confined to annual estimates. We have developed an empirical model that resolves temporal (monthly) and spatial (0.51 latitude-longitude) patterns of soil CO[sub 2] emissions at the global scale. Published estimates of soil respiration rates were used to derive a statistically based model. Maximum rates of soil CO[sub 2] flux increase with increasing mean monthly temperatures, but temperature alone is a poor predictor of emissions. Addition of mean monthly precipitation, along with information on soil type and texture, soil carbon contents, vegetation type and fractional wetland coverage accounted for much of the residual seasonal variation in soil CO[sub 2] fluxes. Global annual CO[sub 2] production from soils is estimated at 62-67 Pg C.

• OSTI ID: 6208134
• Report Number(s): CONF-930798--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America; (United States) Journal Volume: 74:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540220* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON CYCLE
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMISTRY
GLOBAL ASPECTS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PRECIPITATION
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOIL CHEMISTRY
SOILS
VARIATIONS