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Greenhouse gases: the mutable carbon sink.

Author(s) : TAYLOR J.

Type of article: Article

Summary

The inability to balance the global carbon cycle has led to the widespread use of the term "missing sink" or "missing carbon" to reflect the fact that the estimates of the sources of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere exceed the estimates of the sinks by about 2 gigatonnes of carbon per year. Several studies concluded that changes in the atmospheric CO2 concentration, rather than changes in climate, may produce the greatest change in net primary productivity, particularly in the tropics, and the largest biospheric sink for carbon. Predictions of future CO2 concentrations and the efficiency of policies directed at stabilizing atmospheric CO2 must remain questionable.

Details

  • Original title: Greenhouse gases: the mutable carbon sink.
  • Record ID : 1994-3226
  • Languages: English
  • Subject: Environment, General information
  • Source: Nature - vol. 366 - n. 6455
  • Publication date: 1993/12/09
  • Document available for consultation in the library of the IIR headquarters only.

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