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Global carbon - nitrogen - phosphorus cycle interactions: A key to solving the atmospheric CO2 balance problem?If all biotic sinks of atmospheric CO2 reported were added a value of about 0.4 Gt C/yr would be found. For each category, a very high (non-conservative) estimate was used. This still does not provide a sufficient basis for achieving a balance between the sources and sinks of atmospheric CO2. The bulk of the discrepancy lies in a combination of errors in the major terms, the greatest being in a combination of errors in the major terms, the greatest being in the net biotic release and ocean uptake segments, but smaller errors or biases may exist in calculations of the rate of atmospheric CO2 increase and total fossil fuel use as well. The reason why biotic sinks are not capable of balancing the CO2 increase via nutrient-matching in the short-term is apparent from a comparison of the stoichiometry of the sources and sinks. The burning of fossil fuels and forest biomass releases much more CO2-carbon than is sequestered as organic carbon.
Document ID
19850005879
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Other
Authors
Peterson, B. J.
(Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. MA, United States)
Mellillo, J. M.
(Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. MA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
January 15, 1984
Publication Information
Publication: JPL The interaction of Global Biochemical Cycles
Subject Category
Geophysics
Accession Number
85N14188
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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