Project -- NTSG Landcover
[ Go Back ]Assessment of Anthropogenic and Climatic Impacts on the Global Carbon Cycle
Using A 3-D Model Constrained by Isotopic Carbon Measurements and Remote Sensing of Vegetation
Principal Investigator: Ramakrishna Nemani
Co-Investigator: Steven W. Running
The progressive increase in global atmospheric CO2 concentration is well known. It is caused by industrial society burning more fossil fuel, which emits CO2 as a waste product, than the land and ocean photosynthetic organisms can consume in their growth processes. However, the geographic locations of sources and sinks of CO2 from terrestrial vegetation are not well understood. This project combines a computer simulation model, BIOME-BGC, with an annual global climate database to simulate the daily CO2 fluxes from terrestrial vegetation globally at 1x1degree resolution. Results of this biospheric simulation are being entered into a 3- dimensional atmospheric transport model to mimic the global distribution of the gases. These final model results will be compared with observed monthly CO2 concentrations from a global network of monitoring towers. The results of this study can have national policy implications concerning siting of fossil fuel based power plants, sponsoring of major reforestation efforts to absorb CO2, and national energy policy to curb CO2 production.
Funding: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
