Carbon fluxes from tropical deforestation and regrowth are highly uncertain components of the contemporary carbon budget, due in part to the lack of spatially explicit and consistent information on changes in forest area. We estimate fluxes for the 1980s and 1990s using subpixel estimates of percent tree cover derived from coarse (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Very ...

The terrestrial carbon dioxide (CO2) budget interacts with the Earth’s climate system on diurnal to centennial and longer time scales, making it critical for climatic prediction and stabilization. Atmospheric observations and global syntheses of CO2 data indicate that the terrestrial biosphere is one the major sources of interannual variability, but the underlying mechanisms operating on differ...

Abstract Current estimates of the global land carbon sink contain substantial uncertainties on interannual timescales which contribute to a non-closure in budget (GCB) any given year. This imbalance (BIM) partly arises due use imperfect models are missing or misrepresenting processes. One such omission is separate treatment downward direct and diffuse solar radiation photosynthesis. Here we eva...

Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are tightly linked to the depth at which sinking particulate organic carbon (POC) is remineralised in the ocean. Rapid attenuation of downward POC flux typically occurs in the upper mesopelagic (top few hundred metres of the water column), with much slower loss rates deeper in the ocean. Currently, we lack understanding of the processes that drive POC attenu...

The paving of the way for a new climate agreement has turned out to be extremely challenging. The negotiators struggle to make the required emissions reductions binding under international law and to agree on burden-sharing amongst nations. Despite the fact that the G8 (Major Economics Forum 2009 ) as well as the Copenhagen Accord (UNFCCC 2010 ) refer to the 2°C target, the current pledges of t...