|
|
| Study on Carbon Budget in Terrestrial and Marginal Sea Ecosystems of China |
|
[2008-10-31] |
The issue of global climate change has raised concern of the whole world. Scientists generally agree that the climate change will be affected by the increase in concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. To further understand the problem, it is necessary to examine the carbon budget, that is, the inventory of carbon in the oceans, atmosphere and the terrene as well as the exchange between these major carbon reservoirs. The issue has proven to be very difficult in global change studies.
A mammoth project sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will deal with the problem in China. As one of the innovation action plans newly initiated at the academy, the 70 million yuan project (or US$8.5 million) has been launched very recently. Some 300 scientists from 13 CAS institutes with different academic disciplines are involved in the project. Over the next five years, the scientists will examine such issues as: the time-space distribution patterns of carbon sources and sinks in China's ecosystems, the impact of environment factors and human activities on carbon cycle, the evolutionary trends of carbon cycle in terrestrial and marginal sea ecosystems against the background of global change, and the countermeasures and technology for enhancing carbon fixation and reducing emission from these ecosystems.
As a country noted for its six typical ecosystems of forest, grassland, farmland, wetland, fresh water and marginal sea, China is an ideal experimental platform for the studies of global carbon budget. The work is most likely to make academic breakthroughs and greatly contribute to the global change studies.
Known as Study on Carbon Budget in Terrestrial and Marginal Sea Ecosystems of China, the project will start with a systematic field observation and controlled experiment of the carbon flux and storage in the six typical ecosystems. Through an analysis of the data from the experiment and a historical examination of the carbon cycle in these ecosystems, scientists will make efforts to reveal the time-space characteristics of carbon cycle in typical ecosystems by concerning the impacts of climate, soil and human activities on processes of carbon cycling. They will also address key factors driving the processes, and hence develop models for quantitatively describing the processes. Time-space distribution of carbon sources and sinks in China's terrestrial and marginal sea ecosystems will be formulated through the interface of GIS and RS. By coupling the model with that of atmospheric circulation, the response and feedback of China's ecosystems to the global change might be detected. Finally, this work is expected to come up with countermeasures and technologies aimed at increasing the sinks of carbon and reducing the emission of carbon.
Because of the possible dire consequences of climate change, Chinese government is examining ways to control greenhouse gases emissions in the face of economic and population growth pressures. The project will provide necessary academic background information for policy makers.
|
|
|
|
|
