A large and persistent carbon sink in the world's forests

Yude Pan; Richard A. Birdsey; Jingyun Fang; Richard Houghton; Pekka E. Kauppi; Werner A. Kurz; Oliver L. Phillips; Anatoly Shvidenko; Simon L. Lewis; Josep G. Canadell; Philippe Ciais; Robert B. Jackson; Stephen W. Pacala; A. David McGuire; Shilong Piao; Aapo Rautiainen; Stephen Sitch; Daniel Hayes

doi:10.1126/science.1201609

A large and persistent carbon sink in the world's forests

Yude Pan, Richard A. Birdsey, Jingyun Fang, Richard Houghton, Pekka E. Kauppi, Werner A. Kurz, Oliver L. Phillips, Anatoly Shvidenko, Simon L. Lewis, Josep G. Canadell, Philippe Ciais, Robert B. Jackson, Stephen W. Pacala, A. David McGuire, Shilong Piao, Aapo Rautiainen, Stephen Sitch, Daniel Hayes

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5754 Scopus citations

Abstract

The terrestrial carbon sink has been large in recent decades, but its size and location remain uncertain. Using forest inventory data and long-term ecosystem carbon studies, we estimate a total forest sink of 2.4 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year-1) globally for 1990 to 2007. We also estimate a source of 1.3 ± 0.7 Pg C year-1 from tropical land-use change, consisting of a gross tropical deforestation emission of 2.9 ± 0.5 Pg C year-1 partially compensated by a carbon sink in tropical forest regrowth of 1.6 ± 0.5 Pg C year-1. Together, the fluxes comprise a net global forest sink of 1.1 ± 0.8 Pg C year-1, with tropical estimates having the largest uncertainties. Our total forest sink estimate is equivalent in magnitude to the terrestrial sink deduced from fossil fuel emissions and land-use change sources minus ocean and atmospheric sinks.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	988-993
Number of pages	6
Journal	Science
Volume	333
Issue number	6045
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1201609
State	Published - Aug 19 2011

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

General

Access to Document

10.1126/science.1201609

Cite this

Pan, Y., Birdsey, R. A., Fang, J., Houghton, R., Kauppi, P. E., Kurz, W. A., Phillips, O. L., Shvidenko, A., Lewis, S. L., Canadell, J. G., Ciais, P., Jackson, R. B., Pacala, S. W., McGuire, A. D., Piao, S., Rautiainen, A., Sitch, S., & Hayes, D. (2011). A large and persistent carbon sink in the world's forests. Science, 333(6045), 988-993. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1201609

@article{52c5260fd75f44ec924f28e16a85d613,

title = "A large and persistent carbon sink in the world's forests",

abstract = "The terrestrial carbon sink has been large in recent decades, but its size and location remain uncertain. Using forest inventory data and long-term ecosystem carbon studies, we estimate a total forest sink of 2.4 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year-1) globally for 1990 to 2007. We also estimate a source of 1.3 ± 0.7 Pg C year-1 from tropical land-use change, consisting of a gross tropical deforestation emission of 2.9 ± 0.5 Pg C year-1 partially compensated by a carbon sink in tropical forest regrowth of 1.6 ± 0.5 Pg C year-1. Together, the fluxes comprise a net global forest sink of 1.1 ± 0.8 Pg C year-1, with tropical estimates having the largest uncertainties. Our total forest sink estimate is equivalent in magnitude to the terrestrial sink deduced from fossil fuel emissions and land-use change sources minus ocean and atmospheric sinks.",

author = "Yude Pan and Birdsey, {Richard A.} and Jingyun Fang and Richard Houghton and Kauppi, {Pekka E.} and Kurz, {Werner A.} and Phillips, {Oliver L.} and Anatoly Shvidenko and Lewis, {Simon L.} and Canadell, {Josep G.} and Philippe Ciais and Jackson, {Robert B.} and Pacala, {Stephen W.} and McGuire, {A. David} and Shilong Piao and Aapo Rautiainen and Stephen Sitch and Daniel Hayes",

year = "2011",

month = aug,

day = "19",

doi = "10.1126/science.1201609",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "333",

pages = "988--993",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

number = "6045",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - A large and persistent carbon sink in the world's forests

AU - Pan, Yude

AU - Birdsey, Richard A.

AU - Fang, Jingyun

AU - Houghton, Richard

AU - Kauppi, Pekka E.

AU - Kurz, Werner A.

AU - Phillips, Oliver L.

AU - Shvidenko, Anatoly

AU - Lewis, Simon L.

AU - Canadell, Josep G.

AU - Ciais, Philippe

AU - Jackson, Robert B.

AU - Pacala, Stephen W.

AU - McGuire, A. David

AU - Piao, Shilong

AU - Rautiainen, Aapo

AU - Sitch, Stephen

AU - Hayes, Daniel

PY - 2011/8/19

Y1 - 2011/8/19

N2 - The terrestrial carbon sink has been large in recent decades, but its size and location remain uncertain. Using forest inventory data and long-term ecosystem carbon studies, we estimate a total forest sink of 2.4 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year-1) globally for 1990 to 2007. We also estimate a source of 1.3 ± 0.7 Pg C year-1 from tropical land-use change, consisting of a gross tropical deforestation emission of 2.9 ± 0.5 Pg C year-1 partially compensated by a carbon sink in tropical forest regrowth of 1.6 ± 0.5 Pg C year-1. Together, the fluxes comprise a net global forest sink of 1.1 ± 0.8 Pg C year-1, with tropical estimates having the largest uncertainties. Our total forest sink estimate is equivalent in magnitude to the terrestrial sink deduced from fossil fuel emissions and land-use change sources minus ocean and atmospheric sinks.

AB - The terrestrial carbon sink has been large in recent decades, but its size and location remain uncertain. Using forest inventory data and long-term ecosystem carbon studies, we estimate a total forest sink of 2.4 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year-1) globally for 1990 to 2007. We also estimate a source of 1.3 ± 0.7 Pg C year-1 from tropical land-use change, consisting of a gross tropical deforestation emission of 2.9 ± 0.5 Pg C year-1 partially compensated by a carbon sink in tropical forest regrowth of 1.6 ± 0.5 Pg C year-1. Together, the fluxes comprise a net global forest sink of 1.1 ± 0.8 Pg C year-1, with tropical estimates having the largest uncertainties. Our total forest sink estimate is equivalent in magnitude to the terrestrial sink deduced from fossil fuel emissions and land-use change sources minus ocean and atmospheric sinks.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80051879083&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=80051879083&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1126/science.1201609

DO - 10.1126/science.1201609

M3 - Article

C2 - 21764754

AN - SCOPUS:80051879083

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 333

SP - 988

EP - 993

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6045

ER -

A large and persistent carbon sink in the world's forests

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this