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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 8, NUMBER 1, JANUARY 1995

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
OF GENERAL INTEREST: CARBON CYCLE

Item #d95jan17

"Evidence for Interannual Variability of the Carbon Cycle from the [NOAA/CMDL] Global Air Sampling Network," T.J. Conway (CMDL, NOAA, 325 Broadway, Boulder CO 80303), P.P. Tans et al., J. Geophys. Res., 99(D11), 22,831-22,855, Nov. 20, 1994.

Extensive weekly sampling between 1981 and 1992 shows that the global CO₂ growth rate has declined from a peak of ~2.5 ppm/yr in 1987-1988 to ~0.6 ppm/yr in 1992. A 2-D model analysis indicates that the low growth rate in 1992 is mainly due to an increase in the Northern Hemisphere CO₂ sink, probably in the terrestrial biosphere. One possibility is the temperature-induced decrease in plant respiration due to cooling following the Mount Pinatubo eruption. However, the fluctuation is probably temporary, and a return to a higher growth rate is expected.

Item #d95jan18

"The Role of Deep Roots in the Hydrological and Carbon Cycles of Amazonian Forests and Pastures," D.C. Nepstad (Woods Hole Res. Ctr., POB 296, Woods Hole MA 02543), C.R. de Carvalho et al., Nature, 372(6507), 666-669, Dec. 15, 1994.

Uses rainfall, satellite and field data to estimate that half of the closed forests of Brazilian Amazonia depend on deep root systems to maintain green canopies during the dry season. As deep roots extract water they also provide carbon to the soil, and forest alteration that affects depth distributions of carbon inputs from roots may also affect net carbon storage.