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Climate and Geo-Sciences pp 481–499Cite as

Modelling biospheric control of carbon fluxes between atmosphere, ocean and land in view of climatic change

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Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIC,volume 285))

Abstract

The amount of carbon in the atmosphere is less than in the terrestrial biosphere and much less than in the ocean. The level of atmospheric CO2 is the result of a delicate balance in exchange fluxes with ocean and biosphere. Climatic change has the potential to alter this balance.

A model for the global carbon cycle was used for assessment of the importance of a number of biosphere and ocean characteristics that control atmospheric CO2. This model included CO2 feed back on the exchange fluxes, but no temperature feed back.

According to this model covering previously bare land with vegetation would lower atmospheric CO2 by only 1.5 ppm for each 1012 m2(100 Mha) of land additionally covered. At the present size of the terrestrial biosphere a global doubling of longevity of soil carbon would cause a decrease of 65 ppm of atmospheric CO2.

The accumulated net biospheric release of carbon to the atmosphere during the last 120 years is estimated at about 30 Gt C. This figure is consistent with measured data of carbon isotopes and with data of atmospheric CO2.

Marine photosynthesis is responsible for building up high phosphate and carbonate levels in the deep sea by precipitation of organic material. Marine photosynthesis is mostly limited by phosphate in the surface waters, and therefore an increase in total phosphate in the sea would lower atmospheric CO2. Precipitated fraction and phosphate content of organic material are equally important.

The present difference in chemical composition between the Atlantic ocean on one hand and the Indian and Pacific oceans on the other can be explained by a much larger mixing rate between deep and surface water in the Atlantic ocean. Reducing this mixing rate in the Atlantic to that in the Pacific, would cause atmospheric CO2 to drop by 25 ppm within a few hundred years time. Similarly, a sudden increase in mixing rate at the glacial-interglacial transitions could explain the strong and fast rise in atmospheric CO2.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural University, P.O. Box 430, 6708PD, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    J. Goudriaan

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  1. J. Goudriaan
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut d’Astronomie et de Géophysique Georges Lemaître, Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    A. Berger

  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

    S. Schneider

  3. Centre des Faibles Radioactivités, Laboratoire Mixte CNRS-CEA, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    J. Cl. Duplessy

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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Goudriaan, J. (1989). Modelling biospheric control of carbon fluxes between atmosphere, ocean and land in view of climatic change. In: Berger, A., Schneider, S., Duplessy, J.C. (eds) Climate and Geo-Sciences. NATO ASI Series, vol 285. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2446-8_28

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2446-8_28

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-0412-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2446-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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