Nitrogen feedbacks increase future terrestrial ecosystem carbon uptake in an individual-based dynamic vegetation model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wårlind, D.; Smith, B.; Hickler, T.; Arneth, A.

2014-11-01

Recently a considerable amount of effort has been put into quantifying how interactions of the carbon and nitrogen cycle affect future terrestrial carbon sinks. Dynamic vegetation models, representing the nitrogen cycle with varying degree of complexity, have shown diverging constraints of nitrogen dynamics on future carbon sequestration. In this study, we use LPJ-GUESS, a dynamic vegetation model employing a detailed individual- and patch-based representation of vegetation dynamics, to evaluate how population dynamics and resource competition between plant functional types, combined with nitrogen dynamics, have influenced the terrestrial carbon storage in the past and to investigate how terrestrial carbon and nitrogen dynamics might change in the future (1850 to 2100; one representative "business-as-usual" climate scenario). Single-factor model experiments of CO2 fertilisation and climate change show generally similar directions of the responses of C-N interactions, compared to the C-only version of the model as documented in previous studies using other global models. Under an RCP 8.5 scenario, nitrogen limitation suppresses potential CO2 fertilisation, reducing the cumulative net ecosystem carbon uptake between 1850 and 2100 by 61%, and soil warming-induced increase in nitrogen mineralisation reduces terrestrial carbon loss by 31%. When environmental changes are considered conjointly, carbon sequestration is limited by nitrogen dynamics up to the present. However, during the 21st century, nitrogen dynamics induce a net increase in carbon sequestration, resulting in an overall larger carbon uptake of 17% over the full period. This contrasts with previous results with other global models that have shown an 8 to 37% decrease in carbon uptake relative to modern baseline conditions. Implications for the plausibility of earlier projections of future terrestrial C dynamics based on C-only models are discussed.

Using Biomass to Improve Site Quality and Carbon Sequestration

Treesearch

Bryce J. Stokes; Felipe G. Sanchez; Emily A. Carter

1998-01-01

The future demands on forest lands are a concern because of reduced productivity, especially on inherently poor sites, sites with long-depleted soils, or those soils that bear repeated, intensive short rotations. Forests are also an important carbon sink and, when well managed, can make even more significant contributions to sequestration and to reduction of greenhouse...

The interconnectedness between landowner knowledge, value, belief, attitude, and willingness to act: policy implications for carbon sequestration on private rangelands.

PubMed

Cook, Seth L; Ma, Zhao

2014-02-15

Rangelands can be managed to increase soil carbon and help mitigate emissions of carbon dioxide. This study assessed Utah rangeland owner's environmental values, beliefs about climate change, and awareness of and attitudes towards carbon sequestration, as well as their perceptions of potential policy strategies for promoting carbon sequestration on private rangelands. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews and a statewide survey of Utah rangeland owners, and were analyzed using descriptive and bivariate statistics. Over two-thirds of respondents reported some level of awareness of carbon sequestration and a generally positive attitude towards it, contrasting to their lack of interest in participating in a relevant program in the future. Having a positive attitude was statistically significantly associated with having more "biocentric" environmental values, believing the climate had been changing over the past 30 years, and having a stronger belief of human activities influencing the climate. Respondents valued the potential ecological benefits of carbon sequestration more than the potential financial or climate change benefits. Additionally, respondents indicated a preference for educational approaches over financial incentives. They also preferred to work with a private agricultural entity over a non-profit or government entity on improving land management practices to sequester carbon. These results suggest potential challenges for developing technically sound and socially acceptable policies and programs for promoting carbon sequestration on private rangelands. Potential strategies for overcoming these challenges include emphasizing the ecological benefits associated with sequestering carbon to appeal to landowners with ecologically oriented management objectives, enhancing the cooperation between private agricultural organizations and government agencies, and funneling resources for promoting carbon sequestration into existing land management and conservation programs that may produce carbon benefits. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling the Effects of Drought, Fire, Beetles, and Management on Future Carbon Cycling in the Western US

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buotte, P.; Law, B. E.; Hicke, J. A.; Hudiburg, T. W.; Levis, S.; Kent, J.

2017-12-01

Fire and beetle outbreaks can have substantial impacts on forest structure, composition, and function and these types of disturbances are expected to increase in the future. Therefore understanding the ecological impacts of these disturbances into the future is important. We used ecosystem process modeling to estimate the future occurrence of fire and beetle outbreaks and their impacts on forest resilience and carbon sequestration. We modified the Community Land Model (CLM4.5) to better represent forest growth and mortality in the western US through multiple avenues: 1) we increased the ecological resolution to recognize 14 forest types common to the region; 2) we improved CLM4.5's ability to handle drought stress by adding forest type-specific controls on stomatal conductance and increased rates of leaf shed during periods of low soil moisture; 3) we developed and implemented a mechanistic model of beetle population growth and subsequent tree mortality; 4) we modified the current fire module to account for more refined forest types; and 5) we developed multiple scenarios of harvest based on past harvest rates and proposed changes in land management policies. We ran CLM4.5 in offline mode with climate forcing data. We compare future forest growth rates and carbon sequestration with historical metrics to estimate the combined influence of future disturbances on forest composition and carbon sequestration in the western US.

Federal Control of Geological Carbon Sequestration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reitze, Arnold W.

The United States has economically recoverable coal reserves of about 261 billion tons, which is in excess of a 250-­year supply based on 2009 consumption rates. However, in the near future the use of coal may be legally restricted because of concerns over the effects of its combustion on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. In response, the U.S. Department of Energy is making significant efforts to help develop and implement a commercial scale program of geologic carbon sequestration that involves capturing and storing carbon dioxide emitted from coal-burning electric power plants in deep underground formations. This article explores the technical andmore » legal problems that must be resolved in order to have a viable carbon sequestration program. It covers the responsibilities of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Energy, Transportation and Interior. It discusses the use of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other applicable federal laws. Finally, it discusses the provisions related to carbon sequestration that have been included in the major bills dealing with climate change that Congress has been considering in 2009 and 2010. The article concludes that the many legal issues that exist can be resolved, but whether carbon sequestration becomes a commercial reality will depend on reducing its costs or by imposing legal requirements on fossil-fired power plants that result in the costs of carbon emissions increasing to the point that carbon sequestration becomes a feasible option.« less

Assessing carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of the United States under present conditions and future scenarios

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zhu, Zhi-Liang; Stackpoole, Sarah

2011-01-01

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) requires the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to develop a methodology and conduct an assessment of carbon storage, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse-gas (GHG) fluxes in the Nation's ecosystems. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed and published the methodology (U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5233) and has assembled an interdisciplinary team of scientists to conduct the assessment over the next three to four years, commencing in October 2010. The assessment will fulfill specific requirements of the EISA by (1) quantifying, measuring, and monitoring carbon sequestration and GHG fluxes using national datasets and science tools such as remote sensing, and biogeochemical and hydrological models, (2) evaluating a range of management and restoration activities for their effects on carbon-sequestration capacity and the reduction of GHG fluxes, and (3) assessing effects of climate change and other controlling processes (including wildland fires) on carbon uptake and GHG emissions from ecosystems.

The effect of ocean acidification on carbon storage and sequestration in seagrass beds; a global and UK context.

PubMed

Garrard, Samantha L; Beaumont, Nicola J

2014-09-15

Ocean acidification will have many negative consequences for marine organisms and ecosystems, leading to a decline in many ecosystem services provided by the marine environment. This study reviews the effect of ocean acidification (OA) on seagrasses, assessing how this may affect their capacity to sequester carbon in the future and providing an economic valuation of these changes. If ocean acidification leads to a significant increase in above- and below-ground biomass, the capacity of seagrass to sequester carbon will be significantly increased. The associated value of this increase in sequestration capacity is approximately £500 and 600 billion globally between 2010 and 2100. A proportionally similar increase in carbon sequestration value was found for the UK. This study highlights one of the few positive stories for ocean acidification and underlines that sustainable management of seagrasses is critical to avoid their continued degradation and loss of carbon sequestration capacity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interaction of ice storms and management practices on current carbon sequestration in forests with potential mitigation under future CO2 atmosphere

Treesearch

Heather R. McCarthy; Ram Oren; Hyun-Seok Kim; Kurt H. Johnsen; Chris Maier; Seth G. Pritchard; Michael A. Davis

2006-01-01

Ice storms are disturbance events with potential impacts on carbon sequestration. Common forest management practices, such as fertilization and thinning, can change wood and stand properties and thus may change vulnerability to ice storm damage. At the same time, increasing atmospheric CO2 levels may also influence ice storm vulnerability. Here...

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Grigg, Reid; McPherson, Brian; Lee, Rober

The Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration (SWP) one of seven regional partnerships sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) carried out five field pilot tests in its Phase II Carbon Sequestration Demonstration effort, to validate the most promising sequestration technologies and infrastructure concepts, including three geologic pilot tests and two terrestrial pilot programs. This field testing demonstrated the efficacy of proposed sequestration technologies to reduce or offset greenhouse gas emissions in the region. Risk mitigation, optimization of monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA) protocols, and effective outreach and communication were additional critical goals of these field validation tests. Themore » program included geologic pilot tests located in Utah, New Mexico, Texas, and a region-wide terrestrial analysis. Each geologic sequestration test site was intended to include injection of a minimum of ~75,000 tons/year CO{sub 2}, with minimum injection duration of one year. These pilots represent medium- scale validation tests in sinks that host capacity for possible larger-scale sequestration operations in the future. These validation tests also demonstrated a broad variety of carbon sink targets and multiple value-added benefits, including testing of enhanced oil recovery and sequestration, enhanced coalbed methane production and a geologic sequestration test combined with a local terrestrial sequestration pilot. A regional terrestrial sequestration demonstration was also carried out, with a focus on improved terrestrial MVA methods and reporting approaches specific for the Southwest region.« less

Pilot Studies of Geologic and Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration in the Big Sky Region, USA, and Opportunities for Commercial Scale Deployment of New Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waggoner, L. A.; Capalbo, S. M.; Talbott, J.

2007-05-01

Within the Big Sky region, including Montana, Idaho, South Dakota, Wyoming and the Pacific Northwest, industry is developing new coal-fired power plants using the abundant coal and other fossil-based resources. Of crucial importance to future development programs are robust carbon mitigation plans that include a technical and economic assessment of regional carbon sequestration opportunities. The objective of the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership (BSCSP) is to promote the development of a regional framework and infrastructure required to validate and deploy carbon sequestration technologies. Initial work compiled sources and potential sinks for carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Big Sky Region and developed the online Carbon Atlas. Current efforts couple geologic and terrestrial field validation tests with market assessments, economic analysis and regulatory and public outreach. The primary geological efforts are in the demonstration of carbon storage in mafic/basalt formations, a geology not yet well characterized but with significant long-term storage potential in the region and other parts of the world; and in the Madison Formation, a large carbonate aquifer in Wyoming and Montana. Terrestrial sequestration relies on management practices and technologies to remove atmospheric CO2 to storage in trees, plants, and soil. This indirect sequestration method can be implemented today and is on the front-line of voluntary, market-based approaches to reduce CO2 emissions. Details of pilot projects are presented including: new technologies, challenges and successes of projects and potential for commercial-scale deployment.

Land use scenarios development and impacts assessment on vegetation carbon/nitrogen sequestration in the West African Sudan savanna watershed, Benin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chabi, A.

2015-12-01

ackground: Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), being developed through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requires information on the carbon/nitrogen stocks in the plant biomass for predicting future climate under scenarios development. The development of land use scenarios in West Africa is needed to predict future impacts of change in the environment and the socio-economic status of rural communities. The study aims at developing land use scenario based on mitigation strategy to climate change as an issue of contributing for carbon and nitrogen sequestration, the condition 'food focused' as a scenario based crop production and 'financial investment' as scenario based on an economic development pathway, and to explore the possible future temporal and spatial impacts on vegetation carbon/nitrogen sequestration/emission and socio-economic status of rural communities. Preliminary results: BEN-LUDAS (Benin-Land Use DyNamic Simulator) model, carbon and nitrogen equations, remote sensing and socio-economic data were used to predict the future impacts of each scenario in the environment and human systems. The preliminary results which are under analysis will be presented soon. Conclusion: The proposed BEN-LUDAS models will help to contribute to policy decision making at the local and regional scale and to predict future impacts of change in the environment and socio-economic status of the rural communities. Keywords: Land use scenarios development, BEN-LUDAS, socio-economic status of rural communities, future impacts of change, assessment, West African Sudan savanna watershed, Benin

Soil carbon sequestration is a climate stabilization wedge: comments on Sommer and Bossio (2014).

PubMed

Lassaletta, Luis; Aguilera, Eduardo

2015-04-15

Sommer and Bossio (2014) model the potential soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in agricultural soils (croplands and grasslands) during the next 87 years, concluding that this process cannot be considered as a climate stabilization wedge. We argue, however, that the amounts of SOC potentially sequestered in both scenarios (pessimistic and optimistic) fulfil the requirements for being considered as wedge because in both cases at least 25 GtC would be sequestered during the next 50 years. We consider that it is precisely in the near future, and meanwhile other solutions are developed, when this stabilization effort is most urgent even if after some decades the sequestration rate is significantly reduced. Indirect effects of SOC sequestration on mitigation could reinforce the potential of this solution. We conclude that the sequestration of organic carbon in agricultural soils as a climate change mitigation tool still deserves important attention for scientists, managers and policy makers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developing microbe-plant interactions for applications in plant-growth promotion and disease control, production of useful compounds, remediation, and carbon sequestration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu, C.H.; Bernard, S.; Andersen, G.L.

2009-03-01

Interactions between plants and microbes are an integral part of our terrestrial ecosystem. Microbe-plant interactions are being applied in many areas. In this review, we present recent reports of applications in the areas of plant-growth promotion, biocontrol, bioactive compound and biomaterial production, remediation and carbon sequestration. Challenges, limitations and future outlook for each field are discussed.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sarmiento, Jorge L.; Chavez, Francisco; Maltrud, Matthew

The purpose of this proposal was to fund a workshop to bring together the principal investigators of all the projects that were being funded under the DOE ocean carbon sequestration research program. The primary goal of the workshop was to interchange research results, to discuss ongoing research, and to identify future research priorities. In addition, we hoped to encourage the development of synergies and collaborations between the projects and to write an EOS article summarizing the results of the meeting. Appendix A summarizes the plan of the workshop as originally proposed, Appendix B lists all the principal investigators who weremore » able to attend the workshop, Appendix C shows the meeting agenda, and Appendix D lists all the abstracts that were provided prior to the meeting. The primary outcome of the meeting was a decision to write two papers for the reviewed literature on carbon sequestration by iron fertilization, and on carbon sequestration by deep sea injection and to examine the possibility of an overview article in EOS on the topic of ocean carbon sequestration.« less

Developing microbe–plant interactions for applications in plant‐growth promotion and disease control, production of useful compounds, remediation and carbon sequestration

PubMed Central

Wu, Cindy H.; Bernard, Stéphanie M.; Andersen, Gary L.; Chen, Wilfred

2009-01-01

Summary Interactions between plants and microbes are an integral part of our terrestrial ecosystem. Microbe–plant interactions are being applied in many areas. In this review, we present recent reports of applications in the areas of plant‐growth promotion, biocontrol, bioactive compound and biomaterial production, remediation and carbon sequestration. Challenges, limitations and future outlook for each field are discussed. PMID:21255275

From sink to source: Regional variation in U.S. forest carbon futures

PubMed Central

Wear, David N.; Coulston, John W.

2015-01-01

The sequestration of atmospheric carbon (C) in forests has partially offset C emissions in the United States (US) and might reduce overall costs of achieving emission targets, especially while transportation and energy sectors are transitioning to lower-carbon technologies. Using detailed forest inventory data for the conterminous US, we estimate forests’ current net sequestration of atmospheric C to be 173 Tg yr−1, offsetting 9.7% of C emissions from transportation and energy sources. Accounting for multiple driving variables, we project a gradual decline in the forest C emission sink over the next 25 years (to 112 Tg yr−1) with regional differences. Sequestration in eastern regions declines gradually while sequestration in the Rocky Mountain region declines rapidly and could become a source of atmospheric C due to disturbances such as fire and insect epidemics. C sequestration in the Pacific Coast region stabilizes as forests harvested in previous decades regrow. Scenarios simulating climate-induced productivity enhancement and afforestation policies increase sequestration rates, but would not fully offset declines from aging and forest disturbances. Separating C transfers associated with land use changes from sequestration clarifies forests’ role in reducing net emissions and demonstrates that retention of forest land is crucial for protecting or enhancing sink strength. PMID:26558439

From sink to source: Regional variation in U.S. forest carbon futures.

PubMed

Wear, David N; Coulston, John W

2015-11-12

The sequestration of atmospheric carbon (C) in forests has partially offset C emissions in the United States (US) and might reduce overall costs of achieving emission targets, especially while transportation and energy sectors are transitioning to lower-carbon technologies. Using detailed forest inventory data for the conterminous US, we estimate forests' current net sequestration of atmospheric C to be 173 Tg yr(-1), offsetting 9.7% of C emissions from transportation and energy sources. Accounting for multiple driving variables, we project a gradual decline in the forest C emission sink over the next 25 years (to 112 Tg yr(-1)) with regional differences. Sequestration in eastern regions declines gradually while sequestration in the Rocky Mountain region declines rapidly and could become a source of atmospheric C due to disturbances such as fire and insect epidemics. C sequestration in the Pacific Coast region stabilizes as forests harvested in previous decades regrow. Scenarios simulating climate-induced productivity enhancement and afforestation policies increase sequestration rates, but would not fully offset declines from aging and forest disturbances. Separating C transfers associated with land use changes from sequestration clarifies forests' role in reducing net emissions and demonstrates that retention of forest land is crucial for protecting or enhancing sink strength.

Soil carbon management in large-scale Earth system modelling: implications for crop yields and nitrogen leaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olin, S.; Lindeskog, M.; Pugh, T. A. M.; Schurgers, G.; Wårlind, D.; Mishurov, M.; Zaehle, S.; Stocker, B. D.; Smith, B.; Arneth, A.

2015-06-01

We explore cropland management alternatives and the effect these can have on future C and N pools and fluxes using the land use-enabled dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS. Simulated crop production, cropland carbon storage, carbon sequestration and nitrogen leaching from croplands are evaluated and discussed. Compared to the version of LPJ-GUESS that does not include land use dynamics, estimates of soil carbon stocks and nitrogen leaching from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems were improved. We explore trade-offs between important ecosystem services that can be provided from agricultural fields such as crop yields, retention of nitrogen and carbon storage. These trade-offs are evaluated for current land use and climate and further explored for future conditions within the two future climate change scenarios, RCP 2.6 and 8.5. Our results show that the potential for carbon sequestration due to typical cropland management practices such as no-till and cover-crops proposed in literature is not realised, globally or over larger climatic regions. Our results highlight important considerations to be made when modelling C-N interactions in agricultural ecosystems under future environmental change, and the effects these have on terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.

Impacts of land use and climate change on carbon dynamics in south-central Senegal

USGS Publications Warehouse

Liu, Shu-Guang; Kaire, M.; Wood, Eric C.; Diallo, O.; Tieszen, Larry L.

2004-01-01

Total carbon stock in vegetation and soils was reduced 37% in south-central Senegal from 1900 to 2000. The decreasing trend will continue during the 21st century unless forest clearing is stopped, selective logging dramatically reduced, and climate change, if any, relatively small. Developing a sustainable fuelwood and charcoal production system could be the most feasible and significant carbon sequestration project in the region. If future climate changes dramatically as some models have predicted, cropland productivity will drop more than 65% around 2100, posing a serious threat to food security and the efficiency of carbon sequestration projects.

[Deposition and burial of organic carbon in coastal salt marsh: research progress].

PubMed

Cao, Lei; Song, Jin-Ming; Li, Xue-Gang; Yuan, Hua-Mao; Li, Ning; Duan, Li-Qin

2013-07-01

Coastal salt marsh has higher potential of carbon sequestration, playing an important role in mitigating global warming, while coastal saline soil is the largest organic carbon pool in the coastal salt marsh carbon budget. To study the carbon deposition and burial in this soil is of significance for clearly understanding the carbon budget of coastal salt marsh. This paper summarized the research progress on the deposition and burial of organic carbon in coastal salt marsh from the aspects of the sources of coastal salt marsh soil organic carbon, soil organic carbon storage and deposition rate, burial mechanisms of soil organic carbon, and the relationships between the carbon sequestration in coastal salt marsh and the global climate change. Some suggestions for the future related researches were put forward: 1) to further study the underlying factors that control the variability of carbon storage in coastal salt marsh, 2) to standardize the methods for measuring the carbon storage and the deposition and burial rates of organic carbon in coastal salt marsh, 3) to quantify the lateral exchange of carbon flux between coastal salt marsh and adjacent ecosystems under the effects of tide, and 4) to approach whether the effects of global warming and the increased productivity could compensate for the increase of the organic carbon decomposition rate resulted from sediment respiration. To make clear the driving factors determining the variability of carbon sequestration rate and how the organic carbon storage is affected by climate change and anthropogenic activities would be helpful to improve the carbon sequestration capacity of coastal salt marshes in China.

Carbon Storage and Sequestration in Ecosystems of the Western United States: Finings of a Recent Resource Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Z.; Bergamaschi, B. A.; Hawbaker, T. J.; Liu, S.; Sleeter, B. M.; Sohl, T. L.; Stackpoole, S. M.

2012-12-01

A new assessment was conducted covering 2.66 million km2 in the Western United States extending from the Rockies to the Pacific coastal waters, in two time periods: baseline (the first half of the 2000s) and future (projections from baseline to 2050), using in-situ and remotely sensed data together with statistical methods and simulation models. The total carbon storage in the ecosystems of the Western United States in 2005 was approximately 13,920 TgC; distributed in live biomass (38%), soil organic carbon (39%), and woody debris and other surface carbon pools (23%). Estimated mean values of major flux terms included net ecosystem production (-127.2 TgC/yr), inland lateral flux (7.2 TgC/yr) from rivers/streams to coastal areas, emissions from inland water surfaces to the atmosphere (28.2 TgC/yr), and emissions form the wildland fires (10.0 TgC/yr). Average C sequestration rates for the region were estimated: -86.6 TgC/yr in net flux for all terrestrial ecosystems, -2.4 and -2.0 TgC/yr in net burial rates in lakes and reservoirs and in the Pacific coastal waters respectively, for a total sequestration rate of -90.9 TgC/yr across all of the major ecosystems. A negative sign denotes uptake, sequestration, or a carbon sink. Most of the net carbon flux is in forests (62.2%, -72.1 gC/m2/yr), followed by grasslands/shrublands (29.6%, -16.4 gC/m2/yr), agricultural lands (7.1%, -38.3 gC/m2/yr), and wetlands (0.96%, -82.1 gC/m2/yr). Projected on the basis of future land-use and land-cover scenarios and climate projections, the total amount of carbon that potentially could be stored in the ecosystems of the Western United States in 2050 was estimated to range from 13,743 to 19,407 TgC, an increase of 1,325-3,947 TgC (or 10.7 to 25.5 %) from baseline conditions of 2005. The potential mean (averaged between 2006 and 2050) annual net carbon flux in terrestrial ecosystems was projected to range from -113.9 TgC/yr to 2.9 TgC/yr. When compared to the baseline net carbon flux estimates, the projected future carbon-sequestration rates in the Western United States represent a potential decline by 16.5 to 49 TgC/yr. The projected decline is largely associated with grasslands/shrublands and forests in the Rockies. Under future projections of climate change, the GHG combustion emissions from wildfires were projected to increase by 28 to 56 percent, relative to baseline conditions.

Uncertainty In Greenhouse Gas Emissions On Carbon Sequestration In Coastal and Freshwater Wetlands of the Mississippi River Delta: A Subsiding Coastline as a Proxy for Future Global Sea Level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

White, J. R.; DeLaune, R. D.; Roy, E. D.; Corstanje, R.

2014-12-01

The highly visible phenomenon of wetland loss in coastal Louisiana (LA) is examined through the prism of carbon accumulation, wetland loss and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Mississippi River Deltaic region experiences higher relative sea level rise due to coupled subsidence and eustatic sea level rise allowing this region to serve as a proxy for future projected golbal sea level rise. Carbon storage or sequestration in rapidly subsiding LA coastal marsh soils is based on vertical marsh accretion and areal change data. While coastal marshes sequester significant amount of carbon through vertical accretion, large amounts of carbon, previously sequested in the soil profile is lost through annual deterioration of these coastal marshes as well as through GHG emissions. Efforts are underway in Louisiana to access the carbon credit market in order to provide significant funding for coastal restoration projects. However, there is very large uncertainty on GHG emission rates related to both marsh type and temporal (daily and seasonal) effects. Very little data currently exists which addresses this uncertainty which can significantly affect the carbon credit value of a particular wetland system. We provide an analysis of GHG emission rates for coastal freshwater, brackish and and salt marshes compared to the net soil carbon sequestration rate. Results demonstrate that there is very high uncertainty on GHG emissions which can substantially alter the carbon credit value of a particular wetland system.

Vegetation carbon sequestration in Chinese forests from 2010 to 2050.

PubMed

He, Nianpeng; Wen, Ding; Zhu, Jianxing; Tang, Xuli; Xu, Li; Zhang, Li; Hu, Huifeng; Huang, Mei; Yu, Guirui

2017-04-01

Forests store a large part of the terrestrial vegetation carbon (C) and have high C sequestration potential. Here, we developed a new forest C sequestration (FCS) model based on the secondary succession theory, to estimate vegetation C sequestration capacity in China's forest vegetation. The model used the field measurement data of 3161 forest plots and three future climate scenarios. The results showed that logistic equations provided a good fit for vegetation biomass with forest age in natural and planted forests. The FCS model has been verified with forest biomass data, and model uncertainty is discussed. The increment of vegetation C storage in China's forest vegetation from 2010 to 2050 was estimated as 13.92 Pg C, while the average vegetation C sequestration rate was 0.34 Pg C yr -1 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.28-0.42 Pg C yr -1 , which differed significantly between forest types. The largest contributor to the increment was deciduous broadleaf forest (37.8%), while the smallest was deciduous needleleaf forest (2.7%). The vegetation C sequestration rate might reach its maximum around 2020, although vegetation C storage increases continually. It is estimated that vegetation C sequestration might offset 6-8% of China's future emissions. Furthermore, there was a significant negative relationship between vegetation C sequestration rate and C emission rate in different provinces of China, suggesting that developed provinces might need to compensate for undeveloped provinces through C trade. Our findings will provide valuable guidelines to policymakers for designing afforestation strategies and forest C trade in China. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Climate Controls on Carbon Sequestration in Eastern North America

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peteet, D. M.; Renik, B.; Maenza-Gmeich, T.; Kurdyla, D.; Guilderson, T.

2002-01-01

Mid-latitude forest ecosystems have been proposed as a "missing sink" today. The role of soils (including wetlands) in this proposed sink is a very important unknown. In order to make estimates of future climate change effects on carbon storage, we can examine past wetland carbon sequestration. How did past climate change affect net wetland carbon storage? We present long-term data from existing wetland sites used for paleoclimate reconstruction to assess the net carbon storage in wetland over the last 15000 years. During times of colder and wetter climate, many mid-latitude sites show increases in carbon storage, while past warmer, drier climates produced decreases in storage. Comparison among bog, fen, swamp, and tidal marsh are demonstrated for the Hudson Valley region.

Ecosystem carbon stocks and sequestration potential of federal lands across the conterminous United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tan, Zhengxi; Liu, Shuguang; Sohl, Terry L.; Wu, Yiping; Young, Claudia J.

2015-01-01

Federal lands across the conterminous United States (CONUS) account for 23.5% of the CONUS terrestrial area but have received no systematic studies on their ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics and contribution to the national C budgets. The methodology for US Congress-mandated national biological C sequestration potential assessment was used to evaluate ecosystem C dynamics in CONUS federal lands at present and in the future under three Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emission Scenarios (IPCC SRES) A1B, A2, and B1. The total ecosystem C stock was estimated as 11,613 Tg C in 2005 and projected to be 13,965 Tg C in 2050, an average increase of 19.4% from the baseline. The projected annual C sequestration rate (in kilograms of carbon per hectare per year) from 2006 to 2050 would be sinks of 620 and 228 for forests and grasslands, respectively, and C sources of 13 for shrublands. The federal lands’ contribution to the national ecosystem C budget could decrease from 23.3% in 2005 to 20.8% in 2050. The C sequestration potential in the future depends not only on the footprint of individual ecosystems but also on each federal agency’s land use and management. The results presented here update our current knowledge about the baseline ecosystem C stock and sequestration potential of federal lands, which would be useful for federal agencies to decide management practices to achieve the national greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation goal.

Ecosystem carbon stocks and sequestration potential of federal lands across the conterminous United States

PubMed Central

Tan, Zhengxi; Liu, Shuguang; Sohl, Terry L.; Wu, Yiping; Young, Claudia J.

2015-01-01

Federal lands across the conterminous United States (CONUS) account for 23.5% of the CONUS terrestrial area but have received no systematic studies on their ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics and contribution to the national C budgets. The methodology for US Congress-mandated national biological C sequestration potential assessment was used to evaluate ecosystem C dynamics in CONUS federal lands at present and in the future under three Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emission Scenarios (IPCC SRES) A1B, A2, and B1. The total ecosystem C stock was estimated as 11,613 Tg C in 2005 and projected to be 13,965 Tg C in 2050, an average increase of 19.4% from the baseline. The projected annual C sequestration rate (in kilograms of carbon per hectare per year) from 2006 to 2050 would be sinks of 620 and 228 for forests and grasslands, respectively, and C sources of 13 for shrublands. The federal lands’ contribution to the national ecosystem C budget could decrease from 23.3% in 2005 to 20.8% in 2050. The C sequestration potential in the future depends not only on the footprint of individual ecosystems but also on each federal agency’s land use and management. The results presented here update our current knowledge about the baseline ecosystem C stock and sequestration potential of federal lands, which would be useful for federal agencies to decide management practices to achieve the national greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation goal. PMID:26417074

A Survey of Measurement, Mitigation, and Verification Field Technologies for Carbon Sequestration Geologic Storage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cohen, K. K.; Klara, S. M.; Srivastava, R. D.

2004-12-01

The U.S. Department of Energy's (U.S. DOE's) Carbon Sequestration Program is developing state-of-the-science technologies for measurement, mitigation, and verification (MM&V) in field operations of geologic sequestration. MM&V of geologic carbon sequestration operations will play an integral role in the pre-injection, injection, and post-injection phases of carbon capture and storage projects to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Effective MM&V is critical to the success of CO2 storage projects and will be used by operators, regulators, and stakeholders to ensure safe and permanent storage of CO2. In the U.S. DOE's Program, Carbon sequestration MM&V has numerous instrumental roles: Measurement of a site's characteristics and capability for sequestration; Monitoring of the site to ensure the storage integrity; Verification that the CO2 is safely stored; and Protection of ecosystems. Other drivers for MM&V technology development include cost-effectiveness, measurement precision, and frequency of measurements required. As sequestration operations are implemented in the future, it is anticipated that measurements over long time periods and at different scales will be required; this will present a significant challenge. MM&V sequestration technologies generally utilize one of the following approaches: below ground measurements; surface/near-surface measurements; aerial and satellite imagery; and modeling/simulations. Advanced subsurface geophysical technologies will play a primary role for MM&V. It is likely that successful MM&V programs will incorporate multiple technologies including but not limited to: reservoir modeling and simulations; geophysical techniques (a wide variety of seismic methods, microgravity, electrical, and electromagnetic techniques); subsurface fluid movement monitoring methods such as injection of tracers, borehole and wellhead pressure sensors, and tiltmeters; surface/near surface methods such as soil gas monitoring and infrared sensors and; aerial and satellite imagery. This abstract will describe results, similarities, and contrasts for funded studies from the U.S. DOE's Carbon Sequestration Program including examples from the Sleipner North Sea Project, the Canadian Weyburn Field/Dakota Gasification Plant Project, the Frio Formation Texas Project, and Yolo County Bioreactor Landfill Project. The abstract will also address the following: How are the terms ``measurement,'' ``mitigation''and ``verification'' defined in the Program? What is the U.S. DOE's Carbon Sequestration Program Roadmap and what are the Roadmap goals for MM&V? What is the current status of MM&V technologies?

Current systematic carbon-cycle observations and the need for implementing a policy-relevant carbon observing system

Treesearch

P. Ciais; A. J. Dolman; A. Bombelli; R. Duren; A. Peregon; P. J. Rayner; C. Miller; N. Gobron; G. Kinderman; G. Marland; N. Gruber; F. Chevallier; R. J. Andres; G. Balsamo; L. Bopp; F.-M. Bréon; G. Broquet; R. Dargaville; T. J. Battin; A. Borges; H. Bovensmann; M. Buchwitz; J. Butler; J. G. Canadell; R. B. Cook; R. DeFries; R. Engelen; K. R. Gurney; C. Heinze; M. Heimann; A. Held; M. Henry; B. Law; S. Luyssaert; J. Miller; T. Moriyama; C. Moulin; R. B. Myneni; C. Nussli; M. Obersteiner; D. Ojima; Y. Pan; J.-D. Paris; S. L. Piao; B. Poulter; S. Plummer; S. Quegan; P. Raymond; M. Reichstein; L. Rivier; C. Sabine; D. Schimel; O. Tarasova; R. Valentini; R. Wang; G. van der Werf; D. Wickland; M. Williams; C. Zehner

2014-01-01

A globally integrated carbon observation and analysis system is needed to improve the fundamental understanding of the global carbon cycle, to improve our ability to project future changes, and to verify the effectiveness of policies aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration. Building an integrated carbon observation system requires...

Carbon Sequestration in Colorado's Lands: A Spatial and Policy Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandt, N.; Brazeau, A.; Browning, K.; Meier, R.

2017-12-01

Managing landscapes to enhance terrestrial carbon sequestration has significant potential to mitigate climate change. While a previous carbon baseline assessment in Colorado has been published (Conant et al, 2007), our study pulls from the existing literature to conduct an updated baseline assessment of carbon stocks and a unique review of carbon policies in Colorado. Through a multi-level spatial analysis based in GIS and informed by a literature review, we established a carbon stock baseline and ran four land use and carbon stock projection scenarios using Monte Carlo simulations. We identified 11 key policy recommendations for improving Colorado's carbon stocks, and evaluated each using Bardach's policy matrix approach (Bardach, 2012). We utilized a series of case studies to support our policy recommendations. We found that Colorado's lands have a carbon stock of 3,334 MMT CO2eq, with Forests and Woodlands holding the largest stocks, at 1,490 and 774 MMT CO2eq respectively. Avoided conversion of all Grasslands, Forests, and Wetlands in Colorado projected over 40 years would increase carbon stocks by 32 MMT CO2eq, 1,053 MMT CO2eq, and 36 MMT CO2eq, respectively. Over the 40-year study period, Forests and Woodlands areas are projected to shrink while Shrublands and Developed areas are projected to grow. Those projections suggest sizable increases in area of future wildfires and development in Colorado. We found that numerous policy opportunities to sequester carbon exist at different jurisdictional levels and across land cover types. The largest opportunities were found in state-level policies and policies impacting Forests, Grasslands, and Wetlands. The passage of statewide emission reduction legislation has the highest potential to impact carbon sequestration, although political and administrative feasibility of this option are relatively low. This study contributes to the broader field of carbon sequestration literature by examining the nexus of carbon stocks and policy at the state level, and serves as a model for future research on the role of terrestrial carbon stocks in climate change mitigation.

Toward optimal soil organic carbon sequestration with effects of agricultural management practices and climate change in Tai-Lake paddy soils of China

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Liming; Zhuang, Qianlai; He, Yujie

Understanding the impacts of climate change and agricultural management practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics is critical for implementing optimal farming practices and maintaining agricultural productivity. This study examines the influence of climate and agricultural management on carbon sequestration potentials in Tai-Lake Paddy soils of China using the DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) model, with a high-resolution soil database (1:50,000). Model simulations considered the effects of no tillage, increasing manure application, increasing/decreasing of N-fertilizer application and crop residues, water management, and climatic shifts in temperature and precipitation. We found that the carbon sequestration potential for the 2.32 Mha paddy soils of themore » Tai-Lake region varied from 4.71 to 44.31 Tg C during the period 2001-2019, with an annual average SOC changes ranged from 107 to 1005 kg C ha -1 yr -1. The sequestration potential significantly increased with increasing application of N-fertilizer, manure, conservation tillage, and crop residues. To increase soil C sequestration in this region, no-tillage and increasing of crop residue return to soils and manure application are recommended. Our analysis of climate impacts on SOC sequestration suggests that the rice paddies in this region will continue to be a carbon sink under future warming conditions. In addition, because the region’s annual precipitation (>1200 mm) is high, we also recommend reducing irrigation water use for these rice paddies to conserve freshwater in the Tai-Lake region.« less

The United States Department of Energy's Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships program: a collaborative approach to carbon management.

PubMed

Litynski, John T; Klara, Scott M; McIlvried, Howard G; Srivastava, Rameshwar D

2006-01-01

This paper reviews the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSP) concept, which is a first attempt to bring the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) carbon sequestration program activities into the "real world" by using a geographically-disposed-system type approach for the U.S. Each regional partnership is unique and covers a unique section of the U.S. and is tasked with determining how the research and development activities of DOE's carbon sequestration program can best be implemented in their region of the country. Although there is no universal agreement on the cause, it is generally understood that global warming is occurring, and many climate scientists believe that this is due, in part, to the buildup of carbon dioxide (CO(2)) in the atmosphere. This is evident from the finding presented in the National Academy of Science Report to the President on Climate Change which stated "Greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth's atmosphere as a result of human activities, causing surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures to rise. Temperatures are, in fact, rising. The changes observed over the last several decades are likely mostly due to human activities, ...". In the United States, emissions of CO(2) originate mainly from the combustion of fossil fuels for energy production, transportation, and other industrial processes. Roughly one third of U.S. anthropogenic CO(2) emissions come from power plants. Reduction of CO(2) emissions through sequestration of carbon either in geologic formations or in terrestrial ecosystems can be part of the solution to the problem of global warming. However, a number of steps must be accomplished before sequestration can become a reality. Cost effective capture and separation technology must be developed, tested, and demonstrated; a database of potential sequestration sites must be established; and techniques must be developed to measure, monitor, and verify the sequestered CO(2). Geographical differences in fossil fuel use, the industries present, and potential sequestration sinks across the United States dictate the use of a regional approach to address the sequestration of CO(2). To accommodate these differences, the DOE has created a nationwide network of seven Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSP) to help determine and implement the carbon sequestration technologies, infrastructure, and regulations most appropriate to promote CO(2) sequestration in different regions of the nation. These partnerships currently represent 40 states, three Indian Nations, four Canadian Provinces, and over 200 organizations, including academic institutions, research institutions, coal companies, utilities, equipment manufacturers, forestry and agricultural representatives, state and local governments, non-governmental organizations, and national laboratories. These partnerships are dedicated to developing the necessary infrastructure and validating the carbon sequestration technologies that have emerged from DOE's core R&D and other programs to mitigate emissions of CO(2), a potent greenhouse gas. The partnerships provide a critical link to DOE's plans for FutureGen, a highly efficient and technologically sophisticated coal-fired power plant that will produce both hydrogen and electricity with near-zero emissions. Though limited to the situation in the U.S., the paper describes for the international scientific community the approach being taken by the U.S. to prepare for carbon sequestration, should that become necessary.

Estimating the carbon budget and maximizing future carbon uptake for a temperate forest region in the U.S.

Treesearch

Scott D. Peckham; Stith T. Gower; Joseph Buongiorno

2012-01-01

Forests of the Midwest U.S. provide numerous ecosystem services. Two of these, carbon sequestration and wood production, are often portrayed as conflicting. Currently, carbon management and biofuel policies are being developed to reduce atmospheric CO2 and national dependence on foreign oil, and increase carbon storage in ecosystems. However, the biological and...

A Holocene record of climate-driven shifts in coastal carbon sequestration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mitra, Siddhartha; Zimmerman, A.R.; Hunsinger, G.B.; Willard, D.; Dunn, J.C.

2009-01-01

A sediment core collected in the mesohaline portion of Chesapeake Bay was found to contain periods of increased delivery of refractory black carbon (BC) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The BC was most likely produced by biomass combustion during four centennialscale dry periods as indicated by the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), beginning in the late Medieval Warm Period of 1100 CE. In contrast, wetter periods were associated with increased non-BC organic matter influx into the bay, likely due to greater runoff and associated nutrient delivery. In addition, an overall increase in both BC and non-BC organic matter deposition during the past millennium may reflect a shift in climate regime. The finding that carbon sequestration in the coastal zone responds to climate fluctuations at both centennial and millennial scales through fire occurrence and nutrient delivery has implications for past and future climate predictions. Drought-induced fires may lead, on longer timescales, to greater carbon sequestration and, therefore, represent a negative climate feedback. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.

[Research progress on carbon sink function of agroforestry system under climate change].

PubMed

Xie, Ting-Ting; Su, Pei-Xi; Zhou, Zi-Juan; Shan, Li-Shan

2014-10-01

As a land comprehensive utilization system, agroforestry system can absorb and fix CO2 effectively to increase carbon storage, and also reduces greenhouse effect convincingly while reaching the aim of harvest. The regulatory role in CO2 makes humans realize that agroforestry systems have significant superiority compared with single cropping systems, therefore, understanding the carbon sinks of different components in an agroforestry system and its influencing factors play an important role in studying global carbon cycle and accurate evaluation of carbon budget. This paper reviewed the concept and classification of agroforestry system, and then the carbon sequestration potentials of different components in agroforestry systems and influencing factors. It was concluded that the carbon sequestration rate of plants from different agroforestry systems in different regions are highly variable, ranging from 0.59 to 11.08 t C · hm(-2) · a(-1), and it is mainly influenced by climatic factors and the characteristics of agroforestry systems (species composition, tree density and stand age). The soil C sequestration of any agroforestry system is influenced by the amount and quality of biomass input provided by tree and nontree components of the system and the soil properties such as soil texture and soil structure. Overall the amount of carbon storage in any agroforestry system depends on the structure and function of its each component. The future studies should focus on the carbon sink functions of structurally optimized agroforestry systems, the temporal variation and spatial distribution pattern of carbon storage in agroforestry system and its carbon sequestration mechanism in a long time.

Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration in National Parks: Values for the Conterminous United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Richardson, Leslie A.; Huber, Christopher; Zhu, Zhi-Liang; Koontz, Lynne

2015-01-01

Lands managed by the National Park Service (NPS) provide a wide range of beneficial services to the American public. This study quantifies the ecosystem service value of carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems within NPS units in the conterminous United States for which data were available. Combining annual net carbon balance data with spatially explicit NPS land unit boundaries and social cost of carbon estimates, this study calculates the net metric tons of carbon dioxide sequestered annually by park unit under baseline conditions, as well as the associated economic value to society. Results show that, in aggregate, NPS lands in the conterminous United States are a net carbon sink, sequestering more than 14.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. The associated societal value of this service is estimated at approximately $582.5 million per year. While this analysis provides a broad overview of the annual value of carbon sequestration on NPS lands averaged over a five year baseline period, it should be noted that carbon fluxes fluctuate from year to year, and there can be considerable variation in net carbon balance and its associated value within a given park unit. Future research could look in-depth at the spatial heterogeneity of carbon flux within specific NPS land units.

From sink to source: Regional variation in U.S. forest carbon futures

Treesearch

Dave Wear; John W. Coulston

2015-01-01

The sequestration of atmospheric carbon (C) in forests has partially offset C emissions in the United States (US) and might reduce overall costs of achieving emission targets, especially while transportation and energy sectors are transitioning to lower-carbon technologies. Using detailed forest inventory data for the conterminous US, we estimate...

Estimating the carbon budget and maximizing future carbon uptake for a temperate forest region in the U.S.

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Forests of the Midwest U.S. provide numerous ecosystem services. Two of these, carbon sequestration and wood production, are often portrayed as conflicting. Currently, carbon management and biofuel policies are being developed to reduce atmospheric CO2 and national dependence on foreign oil, and increase carbon storage in ecosystems. However, the biological and industrial forest carbon cycles are rarely studied in a whole-system structure. The forest system carbon balance is the difference between the biological (net ecosystem production) and industrial (net emissions from forest industry) forest carbon cycles, but to date this critical whole system analysis is lacking. This study presents a model of the forest system, uses it to compute the carbon balance, and outlines a methodology to maximize future carbon uptake in a managed forest region. Results We used a coupled forest ecosystem process and forest products life cycle inventory model for a regional temperate forest in the Midwestern U.S., and found the net system carbon balance for this 615,000 ha forest was positive (2.29 t C ha-1 yr-1). The industrial carbon budget was typically less than 10% of the biological system annually, and averaged averaged 0.082 t C ha-1 yr-1. Net C uptake over the next 100-years increased by 22% or 0.33 t C ha-1 yr-1 relative to the current harvest rate in the study region under the optized harvest regime. Conclusions The forest’s biological ecosystem current and future carbon uptake capacity is largely determined by forest harvest practices that occurred over a century ago, but we show an optimized harvesting strategy would increase future carbon sequestration, or wood production, by 20-30%, reduce long transportation chain emissions, and maintain many desirable stand structural attributes that are correlated to biodiversity. Our results for this forest region suggest that increasing harvest over the next 100 years increases the strength of the carbon sink, and that carbon sequestration and wood production are not conflicting for this particular forest ecosystem. The optimal harvest strategy found here may not be the same for all forests, but the methodology is applicable anywhere sufficient forest inventory data exist. PMID:22713794

A Review of CO2 Sequestration Projects and Application in China

PubMed Central

Tang, Yong; Yang, Ruizhi; Bian, Xiaoqiang

2014-01-01

In 2008, the top CO2 emitters were China, United States, and European Union. The rapid growing economy and the heavy reliance on coal in China give rise to the continued growth of CO2 emission, deterioration of anthropogenic climate change, and urgent need of new technologies. Carbon Capture and sequestration is one of the effective ways to provide reduction of CO2 emission and mitigation of pollution. Coal-fired power plants are the focus of CO2 source supply due to their excessive emission and the energy structure in China. And over 80% of the large CO2 sources are located nearby storage reservoirs. In China, the CO2 storage potential capacity is of about 3.6 × 109 t for all onshore oilfields; 30.483 × 109 t for major gas fields between 900 m and 3500 m of depth; 143.505 × 109 t for saline aquifers; and 142.67 × 109 t for coal beds. On the other hand, planation, soil carbon sequestration, and CH4–CO2 reforming also contribute a lot to carbon sequestration. This paper illustrates some main situations about CO2 sequestration applications in China with the demonstration of several projects regarding different ways of storage. It is concluded that China possesses immense potential and promising future of CO2 sequestration. PMID:25302323

Study on the methodology of road carbon sink forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wan, Lijuan; Zhang, Yi; Cheng, Dongxiang; Huang, Yanan

2017-01-01

Advanced concepts of forest carbon sink and forestry carbon sequestration are introduced in road carbon sink forest project and the measurement and carbon monitoring of road carbon sink forest are explored. Experience and technology are accumulated and a set of the carbon sequestration forestation and carbon measurement and monitoring technology systems on both sides of road are formed. To update the green concept, improve the forestation quality along road and to enhanced sequestration and ecological efficiency, it is important to realize the traffic low carbon and energy saving and emission reduction. To use scientific planting and monitoring methods, soil properties, carbon sequestration of soil organic carbon pool, and carbon sequestration capacity of different species of trees were studied and monitored. High carbon sequestration species selection, silvicultural management, measurement of carbon sink and carbon monitoring are explored.

Carbon Cycle 2.0: Don DePaolo: Geo and Bio Sequestration

ScienceCinema

Don DePaolo:

2017-12-09

Feb. 4, 2010: Humanity emits more carbon into the atmosphere than natural processes are able to remove - an imbalance with negative consequences. Carbon Cycle 2.0 is a Berkeley Lab initiative to provide the science needed to restore this balance by integrating the Labs diverse research activities and delivering creative solutions toward a carbon-neutral energy future.

Baseline and projected future carbon storage and carbon fluxes in ecosystems of Hawai‘i

Treesearch

P.C. Selmants; C.P. Giardina; J.D. Jacobi; Zhiliang  Zhu

2017-01-01

Hawaii is unique among the United States because of its tropical climate, geographic isolation, high rates of species endemism and discontinuous land mass. The year-round warm, wet climate on the windward sides of islands and the high fertility of relatively young volcanically derived soils are ideal conditions for carbon input, storage and carbon sequestration in...

Assessment on the rates and potentials of soil organic carbon sequestration in agricultural lands in Japan using a process-based model and spatially explicit land-use change inventories - Part 2: Future potentials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yagasaki, Y.; Shirato, Y.

2014-08-01

Future potentials of the sequestration of soil organic carbon (SOC) in agricultural lands in Japan were estimated using a simulation system we recently developed to simulate SOC stock change at country-scale under varying land-use change, climate, soil, and agricultural practices, in a spatially explicit manner. Simulation was run from 1970 to 2006 with historical inventories, and subsequently to 2020 with future scenarios of agricultural activity comprised of various agricultural policy targets advocated by the Japanese government. Furthermore, the simulation was run subsequently until 2100 while forcing no temporal changes in land-use and agricultural activity to investigate duration and course of SOC stock change at country scale. A scenario with an increased rate of organic carbon input to agricultural fields by intensified crop rotation in combination with the suppression of conversion of agricultural lands to other land-use types was found to have a greater reduction of CO2 emission by enhanced soil carbon sequestration, but only under a circumstance in which the converted agricultural lands will become settlements that were considered to have a relatively lower rate of organic carbon input. The size of relative reduction of CO2 emission in this scenario was comparable to that in another contrasting scenario (business-as-usual scenario of agricultural activity) in which a relatively lower rate of organic matter input to agricultural fields was assumed in combination with an increased rate of conversion of the agricultural fields to unmanaged grasslands through abandonment. Our simulation experiment clearly demonstrated that net-net-based accounting on SOC stock change, defined as the differences between the emissions and removals during the commitment period and the emissions and removals during a previous period (base year or base period of Kyoto Protocol), can be largely influenced by variations in future climate. Whereas baseline-based accounting, defined as differences between the net emissions in the accounting period and the ex ante estimation of net business-as-usual emissions for the same period, has robustness over variations in future climate and effectiveness to factor out some of the direct human-induced effects such as changing land-use and agricultural activity. Factors affecting uncertainties in the estimation of the country-scale potential of SOC sequestration were discussed, especially those related to estimation of the rate of organic carbon input to soils under different land-use types. Our study suggested that, in order to assist decision making of policy on agriculture, land management, and mitigation of global climate change, it is also important to take account of duration and time course of SOC sequestration, supposition on land-use change pattern in future, as well as feasibility of agricultural policy planning.

Carbon sequestration pilot program : estimated land available for carbon sequestration in the national highway system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-05-01

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) established the Carbon Sequestration Pilot Program (CSPP) in 2008 to assess whether a roadside carbon sequestration effort through modified maintenance and management practices is appropriate and feasible for...

Wind Erosion Caused by Land Use Changes Significantly Reduces Ecosystem Carbon Storage and Carbon Sequestration Potentials in Grassland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, P.; Chi, Y. G.; Wang, J.; Liu, L.

2017-12-01

Wind erosion exerts a fundamental influence on the biotic and abiotic processes associated with ecosystem carbon (C) cycle. However, how wind erosion under different land use scenarios will affect ecosystem C balance and its capacity for future C sequestration are poorly quantified. Here, we established an experiment in a temperate steppe in Inner Mongolia, and simulated different intensity of land uses: control, 50% of aboveground vegetation removal (50R), 100% vegetation removal (100R) and tillage (TI). We monitored lateral and vertical carbon flux components and soil characteristics from 2013 to 2016. Our study reveals three key findings relating to the driving factors, the magnitude and consequence of wind erosion on ecosystem C balance: (1) Frequency of heavy wind exerts a fundamental control over the severity of soil erosion, and its interaction with precipitation and vegetation characteristics explained 69% variation in erosion intensity. (2) With increases in land use intensity, the lateral C flux induced by wind erosion increased rapidly, equivalent to 33%, 86%, 111% and 183% of the net ecosystem exchange of the control site under control, 50R, 100R and TI sites, respectively. (3) After three years' treatment, erosion induced decrease in fine fractions led to 31%, 43%, 85% of permanent loss of C sequestration potential in the surface 5cm soil for 50R, 100R and TI sites. Overall, our study demonstrates that lateral C flux associated with wind erosion is too large to be ignored. The loss of C-enriched fine particles not only reduces current ecosystem C content, but also results in irreversible loss of future soil C sequestration potential. The dynamic soil characteristics need be considered when projecting future ecosystem C balance in aeolian landscape. We also propose that to maintain the sustainability of grassland ecosystems, land managers should focus on implementing appropriate land use rather than rely on subsequent managements on degraded soils.

Public Review Draft: A Method for Assessing Carbon Stocks, Carbon Sequestration, and Greenhouse-Gas Fluxes in Ecosystems of the United States Under Present Conditions and Future Scenarios

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bergamaschi, Brian A.; Bernknopf, Richard; Clow, David; Dye, Dennis; Faulkner, Stephen; Forney, William; Gleason, Robert; Hawbaker, Todd; Liu, Jinxun; Liu, Shu-Guang; Prisley, Stephen; Reed, Bradley; Reeves, Matthew; Rollins, Matthew; Sleeter, Benjamin; Sohl, Terry; Stackpoole, Sarah; Stehman, Stephen; Striegl, Robert G.; Wein, Anne; Zhu, Zhi-Liang; Zhu, Zhi-Liang

2010-01-01

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), Section 712, authorizes the U.S. Department of the Interior to develop a methodology and conduct an assessment of the Nation's ecosystems focusing on carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and emissions of three greenhouse gases (GHGs): carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The major requirements include (1) an assessment of all ecosystems (terrestrial systems, such as forests, croplands, wetlands, shrub and grasslands; and aquatic ecosystems, such as rivers, lakes, and estuaries), (2) an estimation of annual potential capacities of ecosystems to increase carbon sequestration and reduce net GHG emissions in the context of mitigation strategies (including management and restoration activities), and (3) an evaluation of the effects of controlling processes, such as climate change, land use and land cover, and wildlfires. The purpose of this draft methodology for public review is to propose a technical plan to conduct the assessment. Within the methodology, the concepts of ecosystems, carbon pools, and GHG fluxes used for the assessment follow conventional definitions in use by major national and international assessment or inventory efforts. In order to estimate current ecosystem carbon stocks and GHG fluxes and to understand the potential capacity and effects of mitigation strategies, the method will use two time periods for the assessment: 2001 through 2010, which establishes a current ecosystem GHG baseline and will be used to validate the models; and 2011 through 2050, which will be used to assess future potential conditions based on a set of projected scenarios. The scenario framework is constructed using storylines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report Emission Scenarios (SRES), along with initial reference land-use and land-cover (LULC) and land-management scenarios. An additional three LULC and land-management mitigation scenarios will be constructed for each storyline to enhance carbon sequestration and reduce GHG fluxes in ecosystems. Input from regional experts and stakeholders will be solicited to construct realistic and meaningful scenarios. The methods for mapping the current LULC and ecosystem disturbances will require the extensive use of both remote-sensing data and in-situ (for example, forest inventory data) to capture and characterize landscape-change events. For future potential LULC and ecosystem disturbances, key drivers such as socioeconomic, policy, and climate assumptions will be used in addition to biophysical data. The product of these analyses will be a series of maps for each future year for each scenario. These annual maps will form the basis for estimating carbon storage and GHG emissions. For terrestrial ecosystems, carbon storage, carbon-sequestration capacities, and GHG emissions under the current and projected future conditions will be assessed using the LULC and ecosystem-disturbance estimates in map format with a spatially explicit biogeochemical ensemble modeling system that incorporates properties of management activities (such as tillage or harvesting) and properties of individual ecosystems (such as elevation, vegetation characteristics, and soil attributes). For aquatic ecosystems, carbon burial in sediments and GHG fluxes are functions of the current and projected future stream flow and sediment transports, and therefore will be assessed using empirical modeling methods. Validation and uncertainty analysis methods described in the methodology will follow established guidelines to assess the quality of the assessment results. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Level II ecoregions map (which delineates 24 ecoregions for the Nation) will be the practical instrument for developing and delivering assessment results. Consequently, the ecoregion will be the reporting unit of the assessment because the mitigation scenarios, assessment results, validation, and uncertainty analysis will be

Climate change and long-term fire management impacts on Australian savannas.

PubMed

Scheiter, Simon; Higgins, Steven I; Beringer, Jason; Hutley, Lindsay B

2015-02-01

Tropical savannas cover a large proportion of the Earth's land surface and many people are dependent on the ecosystem services that savannas supply. Their sustainable management is crucial. Owing to the complexity of savanna vegetation dynamics, climate change and land use impacts on savannas are highly uncertain. We used a dynamic vegetation model, the adaptive dynamic global vegetation model (aDGVM), to project how climate change and fire management might influence future vegetation in northern Australian savannas. Under future climate conditions, vegetation can store more carbon than under ambient conditions. Changes in rainfall seasonality influence future carbon storage but do not turn vegetation into a carbon source, suggesting that CO₂ fertilization is the main driver of vegetation change. The application of prescribed fires with varying return intervals and burning season influences vegetation and fire impacts. Carbon sequestration is maximized with early dry season fires and long fire return intervals, while grass productivity is maximized with late dry season fires and intermediate fire return intervals. The study has implications for management policy across Australian savannas because it identifies how fire management strategies may influence grazing yield, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions. This knowledge is crucial to maintaining important ecosystem services of Australian savannas. © 2014 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2014 New Phytologist Trust.

Characterization and design of the FutureGen 2.0 carbon storage site

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gilmore, Tyler; Bonneville, Alain; Sullivan, Charlotte

2016-10-01

The objective of the FutureGen 2.0 Project was to demonstrate, at the commercial scale, the technical feasibility of implementing carbon capture and storage (CCS) in a deep saline formation in Illinois, USA. Over approximately 5 years, the FutureGen Alliance conducted a detailed site-selection process and identified a site for carbon sequestration storage in Morgan County, Illinois. The storage site was fully characterized, including the collection of seismic data and the drilling and characterization of a stratigraphic borehole. The characterization data provided critical input for developing a site-specific conceptual model and subsequent numerical modeling simulations. The modeling simulations, coupled with themore » upstream designs of the pipeline and power plant supported the development of a detailed 90 percent design that included the injection wells and associated control and monitoring infrastructure. Collectively, all these data were used by the FutureGen Alliance to develop the required documentation to support the applications for four underground injection control (UIC) permits (one for each proposed well). In August 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued four, first-of-their-kind, Class VI UIC permits for carbon sequestration in the United States to the FutureGen Alliance. The information and data generated under this project have been made publically available through reports and publications, including this journal and others.« less

An Evaluation of Subsurface Microbial Activity Conditional to Subsurface Temperature, Porosity, and Permeability at North American Carbon Sequestration Sites

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wilson, B.; Mordensky, S.; Verba, Circe

Several nations, including the United States, recognize global climate change as a force transforming the global ecosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO 2) is a greenhouse gas that contributes to the evolving climate. Reduction of atmospheric CO 2 levels is a goal for many nations and carbon sequestration which traps CO 2 in the Earth’s subsurface is one method to reduce atmospheric CO 2 levels. Among the variables that must be considered in developing this technology to a national scale is microbial activity. Microbial activity or biomass can change rock permeability, alter artificial seals around boreholes, and play a key role inmore » biogeochemistry and accordingly may determine how CO 2 is sequestered underground. Certain physical parameters of a reservoir found in literature (e.g., temperature, porosity, and permeability) may indicate whether a reservoir can host microbial communities. In order to estimate which subsurface formations may host microbes, this report examines the subsurface temperature, porosity, and permeability of underground rock formations that have high potential to be targeted for CO 2 sequestration. Of the 268 North American wellbore locations from the National Carbon Sequestration Database (NATCARB; National Energy and Technology Laboratory, 2015) and 35 sites from Nelson and Kibler (2003), 96 sequestration sites contain temperature data. Of these 96 sites, 36 sites have temperatures that would be favorable for microbial survival, 48 sites have mixed conditions for supporting microbial populations, and 11 sites would appear to be unfavorable to support microbial populations. Future studies of microbe viability would benefit from a larger database with more formation parameters (e.g. mineralogy, structure, and groundwater chemistry), which would help to increase understanding of where CO 2 sequestration could be most efficiently implemented.« less

Geologic Carbon Sequestration and Biosequestration (Carbon Cycle 2.0)

ScienceCinema

DePaolo, Don

2018-05-02

Don DePaolo, Director of LBNL's Earth Sciences Division, speaks at the Carbon Cycle 2.0 kick-off symposium Feb. 3, 2010. We emit more carbon into the atmosphere than natural processes are able to remove - an imbalance with negative consequences. Carbon Cycle 2.0 is a Berkeley Lab initiative to provide the science needed to restore this balance by integrating the Labs diverse research activities and delivering creative solutions toward a carbon-neutral energy future.

Development and validation of a testing protocol for carbon sequestration using a controlled environment.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-05-01

Carbon footprints, carbon credits and associated carbon sequestration techniques are rapidly becoming part : of how environmental mitigation business is conducted, not only in Texas but globally. Terrestrial carbon : sequestration is the general term...

Deep horizons: Soil Carbon sequestration and storage potential in grassland soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torres-Sallan, Gemma; Schulte, Rogier; Lanigan, Gary J.; Byrne, Kenneth A.; Reidy, Brian; Creamer, Rachel

2016-04-01

Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) enhances soil fertility, holding nutrients in a plant-available form. It also improves aeration and water infiltration. Soils are considered a vital pool for C (Carbon) sequestration, as they are the largest pool of C after the oceans, and contain 3.5 more C than the atmosphere. SOC models and inventories tend to focus on the top 30 cm of soils, only analysing total SOC values. Association of C with microaggregates (53-250 μm) and silt and clay (<53 μm) is considered C sequestration as these fractions offer the greatest protection against mineralization. This study assessed the role of aggregation in C sequestration throughout the profile, down to 1 m depth, of 30 grassland sites divided in 6 soil types. One kg sample was collected for each horizon, sieved at 8 mm and dried at 40 °C. Through a wet sieving procedure, four aggregate sizes were isolated: large macroaggregates (>2000 μm); macroaggregates (250-2000 μm); microaggregates and silt & clay. Organic C associated to each aggregate fraction was analysed on a LECO combustion analyser. Sand-free C was calculated for each aggregate size. For all soil types, 84% of the SOC located in the first 30 cm was contained inside macroaggregates and large macroaggregates. Given that this fraction has a turnover time of 1 to 10 years, sampling at that depth only provides information on the labile fraction in soil, and does not consider the longer term C sequestration potential. Only when looking at the whole profile, two clear trends could be observed: 1) soils with a clay increase at depth had most of their C located in the silt and clay fractions, which indicate their enhanced C sequestration capacity, 2) free-draining soils had a bigger part of their SOC located in the macroaggregate fractions. These results indicate that current C inventories and models that focus on the top 30 cm, do not accurately measure soil C sequestration potential in soils, but rather the more labile fraction. However, at depth soil forming processes have been identified as a major factor influencing C sequestration potential in soils. This has a major impact in further quantifying and sustaining C sequestration into the future. Soils with a high sequestration potential at depth need to be managed to enhance the residence time to contribute to future off-setting of greenhouse gas emissions.

High-Resolution Forest Carbon Monitoring and Modeling: Continued Prototype Development and Deployment Across The Tri-state Area (MD, PA, DE), USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hurtt, G. C.; Birdsey, R.; Campbell, E.; Dolan, K. A.; Dubayah, R.; Escobar, V. M.; Finley, A. O.; Flanagan, S.; Huang, W.; Johnson, K.; Lister, A.; ONeil-Dunne, J.; Sepulveda Carlo, E.; Zhao, M.

2017-12-01

Local, national and international programs have increasing need for precise and accurate estimates of forest carbon and structure to support greenhouse gas reduction plans, climate initiatives, and other international climate treaty frameworks. In 2010 Congress directed NASA to initiate research towards the development of Carbon Monitoring Systems (CMS). In response, our team has worked to develop a robust, replicable framework to produce maps of high-resolution carbon stocks and future carbon sequestration potential. High-resolution (30m) maps of carbon stocks and uncertainty were produced by linking national 1m-resolution imagery and existing wall-to-wall airborne lidar to spatially explicit in-situ field observations such as the USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) network. These same data, characterizing forest extent and vertical structure, were used to drive a prognostic ecosystem model to predict carbon fluxes and carbon sequestration potential at unprecedented spatial resolution and scale (90m), more than 100,000 times the spatial resolution of standard global models. Through project development, the domain of this research has expanded from two counties in MD (2,181 km2), to the entire state (32,133 km2), to the tri-state region of MD, PA, and DE (157,868 km2), covering forests in four major USDA ecological providences (Eastern Broadleaf, Northeastern Mixed, Outer Coastal Plain, and Central Appalachian). Across the region, we estimate 694 Tg C (14 DE, 113 MD, 567 PA) in above ground biomass, and estimate a carbon sequestration potential more than twice that amount. Empirical biomass products enhance existing approaches though high resolution accounting for trees outside traditional forest maps. Modeling products move beyond traditional MRV, and map future afforestation and reforestation potential for carbon at local actionable spatial scales. These products are relevant to multiple stakeholder needs in the region as discussed through the Tri-sate Working Group, and are actively being used to inform the state of MD's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act. The approach is scalable, and provides a protoype framework for application in other domains and for future spaceborne lidar missions.

Fire assisted pastoralism vs. sustainable forestry--the implications of missing markets for carbon in determining optimal land use in the wet-dry tropics of Australia.

PubMed

Ockwell, David; Lovett, Jon C

2005-04-01

Using Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia as a case study, this paper combines field sampling of woody vegetation with cost-benefit analysis to compare the social optimality of fire-assisted pastoralism with sustainable forestry. Carbon sequestration is estimated to be significantly higher in the absence of fire. Integration of carbon sequestration benefits for mitigating future costs of climate change into cost-benefit analysis demonstrates that sustainable forestry is a more socially optimal land use than fire-assisted pastoralism. Missing markets for carbon, however, imply that fire-assisted pastoralism will continue to be pursued in the absence of policy intervention. Creation of markets for carbon represents a policy solution that has the potential to drive land use away from fire-assisted pastoralism towards sustainable forestry and environmental conservation.

ESTIMATING THE TERRESTIAL CARBON POOLS OF THE FORMER SOVIET UNION, CONTERMINOUS U.S., AND BRAZIL

EPA Science Inventory

Terrestrial-carbon (C) pool sizes are of interest in relation to quantifying current sources and sinks of C, and evaluating the possibilities for future C sequestration or release by the biosphere. In this study, the C pools in the terrestrial ecosystems of the former Soviet Unio...

Assessing Potential Future Carbon Dynamics with Climate Change and Fire Management in a Mountainous Landscape on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kennedy, R. S.

2010-12-01

Forests of the mountainous landscapes of the maritime Pacific Northwestern USA may have high carbon sequestration potential via their high productivity and moderate to infrequent fire regimes. With climate change, there may be shifts in incidence and severity of fire, especially in the drier areas of the region, via changes to forest productivity and hydrology, and consequent effects to C sequestration and forest structure. To explore this issue, I assessed potential effects of fire management (little fire suppression/wildland fire management/highly effective fire suppression) under two climate change scenarios on future C sequestration dynamics (amounts and spatial pattern) in Olympic National Park, WA, over a 500-year simulation period. I used the simulation platform FireBGCv2, which contains a mechanistic, individual tree succession model, a spatially explicit climate-based biophysical model that uses daily weather data, and a spatially explicit fire model incorporating ignition, spread, and effects on ecosystem components. C sequestration patterns varied over time and spatial and temporal patterns differed somewhat depending on the climate change scenario applied and the fire management methods employed. Under the more extreme climate change scenario with little fire suppression, fires were most frequent and severe and C sequestration decreased. General trends were similar under the more moderate climate change scenario, as compared to current climate, but spatial patterns differed. Both climate change scenarios under highly effective fire suppression showed about 50% of starting total C after the initial transition phase, whereas with 10% fire suppression both scenarios exhibited about 10% of starting amounts. Areas of the landscape that served as refugia for older forest under increasing frequency of high severity fire were also hotspots for C sequestration in a landscape experiencing increasing frequency of disturbance with climate change.

How will Shrub Expansion Impact Soil Carbon Sequestration in Arctic Tundra?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czimczik, C. I.; Holden, S. R.; He, Y.; Randerson, J. T.

2015-12-01

Multiple lines of evidence suggest that plant productivity, and especially shrub abundance, is increasing in the Arctic in response to climate change. This greening is substantiated by increases in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, repeat photography and field observations. The implications of a greener Arctic on carbon sequestration by tundra ecosystems remain poorly understood. Here, we explore existing datasets of plant productivity and soil carbon stocks to quantify how greening, and in particular an expansion of woody shrubs, may translate to the sequestration of carbon in arctic soils. As an estimate of carbon storage in arctic tundra soils, we used the Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database v2. As estimates of tundra type and productivity, we used the Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation map as well as the MODIS and Landsat Vegetation Continuous Fields, and MODIS GPP/NPP (MOD17) products. Preliminary findings suggest that in graminoid tundra and erect-shrub tundra higher shrub abundance is associated with greater soil carbon stocks. However, this relationship between shrub abundance and soil carbon is not apparent in prostrate-shrub tundra, or when comparing across graminoid tundra, erect-shrub tundra and prostrate-shrub tundra. Uncertainties originate from the extreme spatial (vertical and horizontal) heterogeneity of organic matter distribution in cryoturbated soils, the fact that (some) permafrost carbon stocks, e.g. yedoma, reflect previous rather than current vegetative cover, and small sample sizes, esp. in the High Arctic. Using Vegetation Continuous Fields and MODIS GPP/NPP (MOD17), we develop quantitative trajectories of soil carbon storage as a function of shrub cover and plant productivity in the Arctic (>60°N). We then compare our greening-derived carbon sequestration estimates to projected losses of carbon from thawing permafrost. Our findings will reduce uncertainties in the magnitude and timing of the carbon-climate feedback from the terrestrial Arctic, and thus provide guidance for future climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

78 FR 10003 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Notice 2009-XX (NOT-151370-08)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-12

... comments concerning Notice 2009-XX, Credit for Carbon Dioxide Sequestration under Section 45Q. [email protected] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Credit for Carbon Dioxide Sequestration under Section... carbon dioxide sequestration (CO 2 sequestration credit) under Sec. 45Q of the Internal Revenue Code...

A National Disturbance Modeling System to Support Ecological Carbon Sequestration Assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hawbaker, T. J.; Rollins, M. G.; Volegmann, J. E.; Shi, H.; Sohl, T. L.

2009-12-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is prototyping a methodology to fulfill requirements of Section 712 of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. At the core of the EISA requirements is the development of a methodology to complete a two-year assessment of current carbon stocks and other greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes, and potential increases for ecological carbon sequestration under a range of future climate changes, land-use / land-cover configurations, and policy, economic and management scenarios. Disturbances, especially fire, affect vegetation dynamics and ecosystem processes, and can also introduce substantial uncertainty and risk to the efficacy of long-term carbon sequestration strategies. Thus, the potential impacts of disturbances need to be considered under different scenarios. As part of USGS efforts to meet EISA requirements, we developed the National Disturbance Modeling System (NDMS) using a series of statistical and process-based simulation models. NDMS produces spatially-explicit forecasts of future disturbance locations and severity, and the resulting effects on vegetation dynamics. NDMS is embedded within the Forecasting Scenarios of Future Land Cover (FORE-SCE) model and informs the General Ensemble Biogeochemical Modeling System (GEMS) for quantifying carbon stocks and GHG fluxes. For fires, NDMS relies on existing disturbance histories, such as the Landsat derived Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) and Vegetation Change Tracker (VCT) data being used to update LANDFIRE fuels data. The MTBS and VCT data are used to parameterize models predicting the number and size of fires in relation to climate, land-use/land-cover change, and socioeconomic variables. The locations of individual fire ignitions are determined by an ignition probability surface and then FARSITE is used to simulate fire spread in response to weather, fuels, and topography. Following the fire spread simulations, a burn severity model is used to determine annual changes in biomass pools. Vegetation succession among LANDFIRE vegetation types is initiated using burn perimeter and severity data at the end of each annual simulation. Results from NDMS are used to update land-use/land-cover layers used by FORE-SCE and also transferred to GEMS for quantifying and updating carbon stocks and greenhouse gas fluxes. In this presentation, we present: 1) an overview of NDMS and its role in USGS's national ecological carbon sequestration assessment; 2) validation of NDMS using historic data; and 3) initial forecasts of disturbances for the southeastern United States and their impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, and post-fire carbon stocks and fluxes.

A method for assessing carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of the United States under present conditions and future scenarios

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bergamaschi, Brian A.; Bernknopf, Richard; Clow, David; Dye, Dennis; Faulkner, Stephen; Forney, William; Gleason, Robert; Hawbaker, Todd; Liu, Jinxun; Liu, Shu-Guang; Prisley, Stephen; Reed, Bradley; Reeves, Matthew; Rollins, Matthew; Sleeter, Benjamin; Sohl, Terry; Stackpoole, Sarah; Stehman, Stephen; Striegl, Robert G.; Wein, Anne; Zhu, Zhi-Liang; Zhu, Zhi-Liang

2010-01-01

he Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), Section 712, mandates the U.S. Department of the Interior to develop a methodology and conduct an assessment of the Nation’s ecosystems, focusing on carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and emissions of three greenhouse gases (GHGs): carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The major requirements include (1) an assessment of all ecosystems (terrestrial systems, such as forests, croplands, wetlands, grasslands/shrublands; and aquatic ecosystems, such as rivers, lakes, and estuaries); (2) an estimate of the annual potential capacities of ecosystems to increase carbon sequestration and reduce net GHG emissions in the context of mitigation strategies (including management and restoration activities); and (3) an evaluation of the effects of controlling processes, such as climate change, land-use and land-cover change, and disturbances such as wildfires.The concepts of ecosystems, carbon pools, and GHG fluxes follow conventional definitions in use by major national and international assessment or inventory efforts. In order to estimate current ecosystem carbon stocks and GHG fluxes and to understand the potential capacity and effects of mitigation strategies, the method will use two time periods for the assessment: 2001 through 2010, which establishes a current ecosystem carbon and GHG baseline and will be used to validate the models; and 2011 through 2050, which will be used to assess potential capacities based on a set of scenarios. The scenario framework will be constructed using storylines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES), along with both reference and enhanced land-use and land-cover (LULC) and land-management parameters. Additional LULC and land-management mitigation scenarios will be constructed for each storyline to increase carbon sequestration and reduce GHG fluxes in ecosystems. Input from regional experts and stakeholders will be solicited to construct these scenarios.The methods for mapping the current LULC and ecosystem disturbances will require the extensive use of both remote-sensing data and field-survey data (for example, forest inventories) to capture and characterize landscape-changing events. For potential LULC changes and ecosystem disturbances, key drivers such as socioeconomic and climate changes will be used in addition to the biophysical data. The result of these analyses will be a series of maps for each future year for each scenario. These annual maps will form the basis for estimating carbon storage and GHG emissions. For terrestrial ecosystems, carbon storage, carbon-sequestration capacities, and GHG emissions under the present conditions and future scenarios will be assessed using the LULC-change and ecosystem-disturbance estimates in map format with a spatially explicit biogeochemical ensemble modeling system that incorporates properties of management activities (such as tillage or harvesting) and properties of individual ecosystems (such as energy exchange, vegetation characteristics, hydrological cycling, and soil attributes). For aquatic ecosystems, carbon burial in sediments and fluxes of GHG are functions of the present and future potential stream flow and sediment transport and will be assessed using empirical hydrological modeling methods. Validation and uncertainty analysis methods described in the methodology will follow established guidelines to assess the quality of the assessment results.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Level II ecoregions map will be the practical instrument for developing and delivering assessment results. Consequently, the ecoregion (there are 22 modified ecoregions) will be the reporting unit of the assessment because the scenarios, assessment results, validation, and uncertainty analysis will be produced at that scale. The implementation of these methods will require collaborations among various Federal agencies, State agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and the science community. Using the method described in this document, the assessment can be completed in approximately 3 to 4 years. The primary deliverables will be assessment reports containing tables, charts, and maps that will present the estimated GHG parameters annually for 2001 through 2050 by ecosystem, pool, and scenario. The results will permit the evaluation of a range of policies, mitigation options, and research topics, such as the demographic, LULC-change, or climate-change effects on carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and GHG fluxes in ecosystems.

Planning for an uncertain future: Restoration to mitigate water scarcity and sustain carbon sequestration

Treesearch

Steven T. Brantley; James M. Vose; David N. Wear; Larry Band

2018-01-01

The desired future conditions of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) can be described by ecosystem structural characteristics as well as by the provision of ecosystem services. Although the desired structural characteristics of restored longleaf pine ecosystems have been described at length, these characteristics deserve a brief review here because...

Quantifying carbon sequestration in forest plantations by modeling the dynamics of above and below ground carbon pools

Treesearch

Chris A. Maier; Kurt H. Johnsen

2010-01-01

Intensive pine plantation management may provide opportunities to increase carbon sequestration in the Southeastern United States. Developing management options that increase fiber production and soil carbon sequestration require an understanding of the biological and edaphic processes that control soil carbon turnover. Belowground carbon resides primarily in three...

A review of the challenges and opportunities in estimating above ground forest biomass using tree-level models

Treesearch

Hailemariam Temesgen; David Affleck; Krishna Poudel; Andrew Gray; John Sessions

2015-01-01

Accurate biomass measurements and analyses are critical components in quantifying carbon stocks and sequestration rates, assessing potential impacts due to climate change, locating bio-energy processing plants, and mapping and planning fuel treatments. To this end, biomass equations will remain a key component of future carbon measurements and estimation. As...

Carbon sequestration potential of poplar energy crops in the Midwest, USA

Treesearch

R.S. Jr. Zalesny; W.L. Headlee; R.B. Hall; D.R. Coyle

2010-01-01

Energy use and climate change mitigation are closely linked via ecological, social, and economic factors, including carbon management. Energy supply is a key 21st century National security issue for the United States; identifying and developing woody feedstocks for transportation fuels and combined heat and power operations are a crucial component of the future...

Soil carbon management in large-scale Earth system modelling: implications for crop yields and nitrogen leaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olin, S.; Lindeskog, M.; Pugh, T. A. M.; Schurgers, G.; Wårlind, D.; Mishurov, M.; Zaehle, S.; Stocker, B. D.; Smith, B.; Arneth, A.

2015-11-01

Croplands are vital ecosystems for human well-being and provide important ecosystem services such as crop yields, retention of nitrogen and carbon storage. On large (regional to global)-scale levels, assessment of how these different services will vary in space and time, especially in response to cropland management, are scarce. We explore cropland management alternatives and the effect these can have on future C and N pools and fluxes using the land-use-enabled dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS (Lund-Potsdam-Jena General Ecosystem Simulator). Simulated crop production, cropland carbon storage, carbon sequestration and nitrogen leaching from croplands are evaluated and discussed. Compared to the version of LPJ-GUESS that does not include land-use dynamics, estimates of soil carbon stocks and nitrogen leaching from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems were improved. Our model experiments allow us to investigate trade-offs between these ecosystem services that can be provided from agricultural fields. These trade-offs are evaluated for current land use and climate and further explored for future conditions within the two future climate change scenarios, RCP (Representative Concentration Pathway) 2.6 and 8.5. Our results show that the potential for carbon sequestration due to typical cropland management practices such as no-till management and cover crops proposed in previous studies is not realised, globally or over larger climatic regions. Our results highlight important considerations to be made when modelling C-N interactions in agricultural ecosystems under future environmental change and the effects these have on terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.

[Greenhouse gas emissions, carbon leakage and net carbon sequestration from afforestation and forest management: A review.

PubMed

Liu, Bo Jie; Lu, Fei; Wang, Xiao Ke; Liu, Wei Wei

2017-02-01

Forests play an important role in climate change mitigation and concentration of CO 2 reduction in the atmosphere. Forest management, especially afforestation and forest protection, could increase carbon stock of forests significantly. Carbon sequestration rate of afforestation ranges from 0.04 to 7.52 t C·hm -2 ·a -1 , while that of forest protection is 0.33-5.20 t C·hm -2 ·a -1 . At the same time, greenhouse gas (GHG) is generated within management boundary due to the production and transportation of the materials consumed in relevant activities of afforestation and forest management. In addition, carbon leakage is also generated outside boundary from activity shifting, market effects and change of environments induced by forest management. In this review, we summarized the definition of emission sources of GHG, monitoring methods, quantity and rate of greenhouse gas emissions within boundary of afforestation and forest management. In addition, types, monitoring methods and quantity of carbon leakage outside boundary of forest management were also analyzed. Based on the reviewed results of carbon sequestration, we introduced greenhouse gas emissions within boundary and carbon leakage, net carbon sequestration as well as the countervailing effects of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon leakage to carbon sequestration. Greenhouse gas emissions within management boundary counteract 0.01%-19.3% of carbon sequestration, and such counteraction could increase to as high as 95% considering carbon leakage. Afforestation and forest management have substantial net carbon sequestration benefits, when only taking direct greenhouse gas emissions within boundary and measurable carbon leakage from activity shifting into consideration. Compared with soil carbon sequestration measures in croplands, afforestation and forest management is more advantageous in net carbon sequestration and has better prospects for application in terms of net mitigation potential. Along with the implementation of the new stage of key ecological stewardship projects in China as well as the concern on carbon benefits brought by projects, it is necessary to make efforts to increase net carbon sequestration via reducing greenhouse gas emissions and carbon leakage. Rational planning before start-up of the projects should be promoted to avoid carbon emissions due to unnecessary consumption of materials and energy. Additionally, strengthening the control and monitoring on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon leakage during the implementation of projects are also advocated.

Geochemical Impacts to Groundwater from Geologic Carbon Sequestration: Controls on pH and Inorganic Carbon Concentrations from Reaction Path and Kinetic Modeling

EPA Science Inventory

Geologic carbon sequestration has the potential to cause long-term reductions in global emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Safe and effective application of carbon sequestration technology requires an understanding of the potential risks to the quality of underground...

Hurricane impacts on US forest carbon sequestration

Treesearch

Steven G. McNulty

2002-01-01

Recent focus has been given to US forests as a sink for increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Current estimates of US Forest carbon sequestration average approximately 20 Tg (i.e. 1012 g) year. However, predictions of forest carbon sequestration often do not include the influence of hurricanes on forest carbon storage. Intense hurricanes...

Efficiency of incentives to jointly increase carbon sequestration and species conservation on a landscape

PubMed Central

Nelson, Erik; Polasky, Stephen; Lewis, David J.; Plantinga, Andrew J.; Lonsdorf, Eric; White, Denis; Bael, David; Lawler, Joshua J.

2008-01-01

We develop an integrated model to predict private land-use decisions in response to policy incentives designed to increase the provision of carbon sequestration and species conservation across heterogeneous landscapes. Using data from the Willamette Basin, Oregon, we compare the provision of carbon sequestration and species conservation under five simple policies that offer payments for conservation. We evaluate policy performance compared with the maximum feasible combinations of carbon sequestration and species conservation on the landscape for various conservation budgets. None of the conservation payment policies produce increases in carbon sequestration and species conservation that approach the maximum potential gains on the landscape. Our results show that policies aimed at increasing the provision of carbon sequestration do not necessarily increase species conservation and that highly targeted policies do not necessarily do as well as more general policies. PMID:18621703

Carbon debt of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands converted to bioenergy production.

PubMed

Gelfand, Ilya; Zenone, Terenzio; Jasrotia, Poonam; Chen, Jiquan; Hamilton, Stephen K; Robertson, G Philip

2011-08-16

Over 13 million ha of former cropland are enrolled in the US Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), providing well-recognized biodiversity, water quality, and carbon (C) sequestration benefits that could be lost on conversion back to agricultural production. Here we provide measurements of the greenhouse gas consequences of converting CRP land to continuous corn, corn-soybean, or perennial grass for biofuel production. No-till soybeans preceded the annual crops and created an initial carbon debt of 10.6 Mg CO(2) equivalents (CO(2)e)·ha(-1) that included agronomic inputs, changes in C stocks, altered N(2)O and CH(4) fluxes, and foregone C sequestration less a fossil fuel offset credit. Total debt, which includes future debt created by additional changes in soil C stocks and the loss of substantial future soil C sequestration, can be constrained to 68 Mg CO(2)e·ha(-1) if subsequent crops are under permanent no-till management. If tilled, however, total debt triples to 222 Mg CO(2)e·ha(-1) on account of further soil C loss. Projected C debt repayment periods under no-till management range from 29 to 40 y for corn-soybean and continuous corn, respectively. Under conventional tillage repayment periods are three times longer, from 89 to 123 y, respectively. Alternatively, the direct use of existing CRP grasslands for cellulosic feedstock production would avoid C debt entirely and provide modest climate change mitigation immediately. Incentives for permanent no till and especially permission to harvest CRP biomass for cellulosic biofuel would help to blunt the climate impact of future CRP conversion.

Carbon Sequestration and Peat Accretion Processes in Peatland Systems: A North-South Comparison

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richardson, C. J.; Wang, H.; Bridgham, S. D.

2012-12-01

Millions of hectares of peatlands exist in the U.S. and Canada but few comparisons have been made on the process controlling peat accretion, carbon sequestration and GHG losses across latitudinal gradients. Historic threats to carbon sequestration for these areas have been drainage and conversion to agriculture and forestry, which promotes the decomposition of the organic matter in the soil, leading to accelerated soil subsidence, severe carbon losses, and accelerated transport of C and nutrients to adjoining ecosystems. A more recent and insidious threat to the survival of peatlands worldwide is the increased temperature and drought conditions projected for many areas of global peatlands (IPCC 2007). A comparison of carbon sequestration rates and controlling processes for southeastern shrub bogs, the Florida Everglades and selected peatlands of the northern US and Canada under current climatic conditions reveals several major differences in controlling factors and rates of sequestration and carbon flux. Numerous studies have shown that drought or drainage can unlock historically stored carbon, thus releasing more CO2 ¬ and dissolved organic carbon (Blodau et al. 2004; Furukawa et al. 2005; Von Arnold et al. 2005; Hirano et al. 2007), and such effects might last for decades (Fenner & Freeman 2011). The main driver of this process is the O2 introduced by drought or drainage, which will increase the activity of phenol oxidase, then accelerate the decomposition of phenol compounds, which is generally considered the "enzymatic latch" for carbon storage in peatlands (Freeman et al. 2001). However, our recent studies in southeastern peatlands along the coast of North Carolina have found that drought or drainage does not affect CO2 emission in some southern peatlands where the initial water level is below the ground surface (unsaturated peats), as polyphenol increases rather than decreases. Our results suggest that additional controlling factors, rather than anoxia exist in unsaturated peats, allowing them to accumulate carbon, and resist decomposition and CO2 losses. The importance of native phenolic producing plant species and substrate quality are key controlling factors. Our study offers new evidence that frequently occurring summer drought or climate-induced moderate drought will not increase the loss of stored carbon in unsaturated peatlands. These findings have important ramifications concerning carbon storage and losses in peatlands under future climate change predictions.

Assessing carbon dynamics in semiarid ecosystems : Balancing potential gains with potential large rapid losses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Breshears, D. D.; Ebinger, M. H.; Unkefer, P. J.

Photosynthesis and respiration are the largest fluxes into and out of the biosphere (Molles 1999). Consequently, small changes in these fluxes can potentially produce large changes in the storage of carbon in the biosphere. Terrestrial carbon fluxes account for more than half of the carbon transferred between the atmosphere and the earth's surface (about 120 GigaTons/year), and current stores of carbon in terrestrial ecosystem are estimated at 2060 GigaTons. Increasing attention is being focused on the role of managing and sequestering carbon in the terrestrial biosphere as a means for addressing global climate change (IGBP, 1998; U.S. Department of Energy,more » 1999). Terrestrial ecosystems are widely recognized as a major biological scrubber for atmosphereic CO{sub 2} and their ability to finction as such can be increased significantly over the next 25 years through careful manipulation. The potential for terrestrial carbon gains has been the subject of much attention (Dixon et al., 1994; Masera et al. 1997; Cao and Woodward, 1998; DeLucia et al. 1999). In contrast to other strategies for reducing net carbon emissions, terrestrial sequestration has the potential for rapid implementation. Strategies that focus on soil carbon are likely to be effective because in addition to being a storage pool of carbon, soil carbon also improves site productivity through improving soil quality (e.g., water retention and nutrient availability). The carbon pool in soils is immense and highly dynamic. The flux of carbon into and out of soils is one of the largest uncertainties in the total mass balance of global carbon (NRC, 1999; La1 et al., 1998; Cambardella, 1998). Reducing these uncertainties is key to developing carbon sequestration strategies. Soil carbon pools have been greatly depleted over recent centuries, and there is potential to increase storage of carbon in these soils through effective land management. Whereas carbon in vegetation can be managed directly through land use, carbon in soils generally must be managed indirectly through manipulation of vegetation and nutrients. Land management as well as climate changes have the potential to increase soil carbon, but also could trigger large soil carbon losses. Recently, the importance of accounting for countervailing losses in assessing potential amounts of terrestrial carbon that can be sequestered has been highlighted (Schlesinger, 1999; Walker et al., 1999). Realistic assessment of terrestrial carbon sequestration strategies must consider net results of an applied strategy, not simply projected carbon gains. In addition, large, rapid losses of carbon resulting from carbon management strategies could exacerbate the global warming rather than mitigating it. Such potential losses include rapid loss of carbon in vegetation due to fire and rapid loss of soil carbon triggered by reductions in ground cover (e.g., fire, drought). Therefore, strategies for terrestrial carbon sequestration must determine how to increase terrestrial carbon while minimizing the risk of large-scale catastrophic losses. Our objectives in this paper are to (1) highlight approaches that are being considered in terms of terrestrial carbon sequestration, (2) highlight case studies for which large losses of carbon may occur, and (3) suggest future directions and application for terrestrial carbon sequestration.« less

76 FR 24007 - Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Lake Charles Carbon Capture...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-29

... Charles Carbon Capture and Sequestration Project, Lake Charles, LA AGENCY: Department of Energy. ACTION... competitive process under the Industrial Carbon Capture and Sequestration (ICCS) Program. The Lake Charles Carbon Capture and Sequestration Project (Lake Charles CCS Project) would demonstrate: (1) advanced...

Intro to Carbon Sequestration

ScienceCinema

None

2017-12-09

NETL's Carbon Sequestration Program is helping to develop technologies to capture, purify, and store carbon dioxide (CO2) in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without adversely influencing energy use or hindering economic growth. Carbon sequestration technologies capture and store CO2 that would otherwise reside in the atmosphere for long periods of time.

Models of reforestation productivity and carbon sequestration for land use and climate change adaptation planning in South Australia.

PubMed

Hobbs, Trevor J; Neumann, Craig R; Meyer, Wayne S; Moon, Travis; Bryan, Brett A

2016-10-01

Environmental management and regional land use planning has become more complex in recent years as growing world population, climate change, carbon markets and government policies for sustainability have emerged. Reforestation and agroforestry options for environmental benefits, carbon sequestration, economic development and biodiversity conservation are now important considerations of land use planners. New information has been collected and regionally-calibrated models have been developed to facilitate better regional land use planning decisions and counter the limitations of currently available models of reforestation productivity and carbon sequestration. Surveys of above-ground biomass of 264 reforestation sites (132 woodlots, 132 environmental plantings) within the agricultural regions of South Australia were conducted, and combined with spatial information on climate and soils, to develop new spatial and temporal models of plant density and above-ground biomass productivity from reforestation. The models can be used to estimate productivity and total carbon sequestration (i.e. above-ground + below-ground biomass) under a continuous range of planting designs (e.g. variable proportions of trees and shrubs or plant densities), timeframes and future climate scenarios. Representative spatial models (1 ha resolution) for 3 reforestation designs (i.e. woodlots, typical environmental planting, biodiverse environmental plantings) × 3 timeframes (i.e. 25, 45, 65 years) × 4 possible climates (i.e. no change, mild, moderate, severe warming and drying) were generated (i.e. 36 scenarios) for use within land use planning tools. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Regional and global estimates of carbon stocks and carbon sequestration capacity in forest ecosystems: A review].

PubMed

Liu, Wei-wei; Wang, Xiao-ke; Lu, Fei; Ouyang, Zhi-yun

2015-09-01

As a dominant part of terrestrial ecosystems, forest ecosystem plays an important role in absorbing atmospheric CO2 and global climate change mitigation. From the aspects of zonal climate and geographical distribution, the present carbon stocks and carbon sequestration capacity of forest ecosystem were comprehensively examined based on the review of the latest literatures. The influences of land use change on forest carbon sequestration were analyzed, and factors that leading to the uncertainty of carbon sequestration assessment in forest ecosystem were also discussed. It was estimated that the current forest carbon stock was in the range of 652 to 927 Pg C and the carbon sequestration capacity was approximately 4.02 Pg C · a(-1). In terms of zonal climate, the carbon stock and carbon sequestration capacity of tropical forest were the maximum, about 471 Pg C and 1.02-1.3 Pg C · a(-1) respectively; then the carbon stock of boreal forest was about 272 Pg C, while its carbon sequestration capacity was the minimum, approximately 0.5 Pg C · a(-1); for temperate forest, the carbon stock was minimal, around 113 to 159 Pg C and its carbon sequestration capacity was 0.8 Pg C · a(-1). From the aspect of geographical distribution, the carbon stock of forest ecosystem in South America was the largest (187.7-290 Pg C), then followed by European (162.6 Pg C), North America (106.7 Pg C), Africa (98.2 Pg C) and Asia (74.5 Pg C), and Oceania (21.7 Pg C). In addition, carbon sequestration capacity of regional forest ecosystem was summed up as listed below: Tropical South America forest was the maximum (1276 Tg C · a(-1)), then were Tropical Africa (753 Tg C · a(-1)), North America (248 Tg C · a(-1)) and European (239 Tg C · a(-1)), and East Asia (98.8-136.5 Tg C · a(-1)) was minimum. To further reduce the uncertainty in the estimations of the carbon stock and carbon sequestration capacity of forest ecosystem, comprehensive application of long-term observation, inventories, remote sensing and modeling method should be required.

An Overview of Geologic Carbon Sequestration Potential in California

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cameron Downey; John Clinkenbeard

2005-10-01

As part of the West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (WESTCARB), the California Geological Survey (CGS) conducted an assessment of geologic carbon sequestration potential in California. An inventory of sedimentary basins was screened for preliminary suitability for carbon sequestration. Criteria included porous and permeable strata, seals, and depth sufficient for critical state carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) injection. Of 104 basins inventoried, 27 met the criteria for further assessment. Petrophysical and fluid data from oil and gas reservoirs was used to characterize both saline aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs. Where available, well log or geophysical information was used to prepare basin-wide mapsmore » showing depth-to-basement and gross sand distribution. California's Cenozoic marine basins were determined to possess the most potential for geologic sequestration. These basins contain thick sedimentary sections, multiple saline aquifers and oil and gas reservoirs, widespread shale seals, and significant petrophysical data from oil and gas operations. Potential sequestration areas include the San Joaquin, Sacramento, Ventura, Los Angeles, and Eel River basins, followed by the smaller Salinas, La Honda, Cuyama, Livermore, Orinda, and Sonoma marine basins. California's terrestrial basins are generally too shallow for carbon sequestration. However, the Salton Trough and several smaller basins may offer opportunities for localized carbon sequestration.« less

A review on soil carbon accumulation due to the management change of major Brazilian agricultural activities.

PubMed

La Scala, N; De Figueiredo, E B; Panosso, A R

2012-08-01

Agricultural areas deal with enormous CO2 intake fluxes offering an opportunity for greenhouse effect mitigation. In this work we studied the potential of soil carbon sequestration due to the management conversion in major agricultural activities in Brazil. Data from several studies indicate that in soybean/maize, and related rotation systems, a significant soil carbon sequestration was observed over the year of conversion from conventional to no-till practices, with a mean rate of 0.41 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1). The same effect was observed in sugarcane fields, but with a much higher accumulation of carbon in soil stocks, when sugarcane fields are converted from burned to mechanised based harvest, where large amounts of sugarcane residues remain on the soil surface (1.8 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1)). The higher sequestration potential of sugarcane crops, when compared to the others, has a direct relation to the primary production of this crop. Nevertheless, much of this mitigation potential of soil carbon accumulation in sugarcane fields is lost once areas are reformed, or intensive tillage is applied. Pasture lands have shown soil carbon depletion once natural areas are converted to livestock use, while integration of those areas with agriculture use has shown an improvement in soil carbon stocks. Those works have shown that the main crop systems of Brazil have a huge mitigation potential, especially in soil carbon form, being an opportunity for future mitigation strategies.

NATIVE PLANTS FOR OPTIMIZING CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN RECLAIMED LANDS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

P. UNKEFER; M. EBINGER; ET AL

Carbon emissions and atmospheric concentrations are expected to continue to increase through the next century unless major changes are made in the way carbon is managed. Managing carbon has emerged as a pressing national energy and environmental need that will drive national policies and treaties through the coming decades. Addressing carbon management is now a major priority for DOE and the nation. One way to manage carbon is to use energy more efficiently to reduce our need for major energy and carbon source-fossil fuel combustion. Another way is to increase our use of low-carbon and carbon free fuels and technologies.more » A third way, and the focus of this proposal, is carbon sequestration, in which carbon is captured and stored thereby mitigating carbon emissions. Sequestration of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere has emerged as the principle means by which the US will meet its near-term international and economic requirements for reducing net carbon emissions (DOE Carbon Sequestration: State of the Science. 1999; IGBP 1998). Terrestrial carbon sequestration provides three major advantages. First, terrestrial carbon pools and fluxes are of sufficient magnitude to effectively mitigate national and even global carbon emissions. The terrestrial biosphere stores {approximately}2060 GigaTons of carbon and transfers approximately 120 GigaTons of carbon per year between the atmosphere and the earth's surface, whereas the current global annual emissions are about 6 GigaTons. Second, we can rapidly and readily modify existing management practices to increase carbon sequestration in our extensive forest, range, and croplands. Third, increasing soil carbon is without negative environment consequences and indeed positively impacts land productivity. The terrestrial carbon cycle is dependent on several interrelationships between plants and soils. Because the soil carbon pool ({approximately}1500 Giga Tons) is approximately three times that in terrestrial vegetation ({approximately}560 GigaTons), the principal focus of terrestrial sequestration efforts is to increase soil carbon. But soil carbon ultimately derives from vegetation and therefore must be managed indirectly through aboveground management of vegetation and nutrients. Hence, the response of whole ecosystems must be considered in terrestrial carbon sequestration strategies.« less

Ocean sequestration of crop residue carbon: recycling fossil fuel carbon back to deep sediments.

PubMed

Strand, Stuart E; Benford, Gregory

2009-02-15

For significant impact any method to remove CO2 from the atmosphere must process large amounts of carbon efficiently, be repeatable, sequester carbon for thousands of years, be practical, economical and be implemented soon. The only method that meets these criteria is removal of crop residues and burial in the deep ocean. We show here that this method is 92% efficient in sequestration of crop residue carbon while cellulosic ethanol production is only 32% and soil sequestration is about 14% efficient. Deep ocean sequestration can potentially capture 15% of the current global CO2 annual increase, returning that carbon backto deep sediments, confining the carbon for millennia, while using existing capital infrastructure and technology. Because of these clear advantages, we recommend enhanced research into permanent sequestration of crop residues in the deep ocean.

A Working Framework for Quantifying Carbon Sequestration in Disturbed Land Mosaics

Treesearch

Jiquan Chen; Kimberley Brosofske; Asko Noormets; Thomas R. Crow; Mary K. Bresee; James M. Le Moine; Eug& #233; nie Euskirchen; Steve V. Mather; Daolan Zheng; Daolan Zheng

2003-01-01

We propose a working framework for future studies of net carbon exchange (NCE) in disturbed landscapes at broad spatial scales based on the central idea that landscape-level NCE is determined by the land mosaic, including its age structure. Within this framework, we argue that the area-of-edge-influence (AEI), which is prevalent in many disturbed, fragmented landscapes...

Wildfire and fuel treatment effects on forest carbon dynamics in the western United States

Treesearch

Joseph C. Restiano; David L. Peterson

2013-01-01

Sequestration of carbon (C) in forests has the potential to mitigate the effects of climate change by offsetting future emissions of greenhouse gases. However, in dry temperate forests, wildfire is a natural disturbance agent with the potential to release large fluxes of C into the atmosphere. Climate-driven increases in wildfire extent and severity arc expected to...

Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration: Analysis of Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration at Three Contaminated Sites Remediated and Revitalized with Soil Amendments

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This paper provides EPA's analysis of the data to determine carbon sequestration rates at three diverse sites that differ in geography/location, weather, soil properties, type of contamination, and age.

A New Platform for Managing Soil Carbon and Soil Health

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Loisel, Julie; Malhotra, Avni; Phillips, Claire

International Soil Carbon Network Workshop; Stanford, California, 27 February to 3 March 2017. Here, workshop participants recognized the need to identify vulnerabilities and opportunities for linking SOM-C science and the societal mandate to manage soils and ecosystems for productivity and carbon sequestration in future decades. Lastly, we outlined a path to gain support for the ISCN vision of a collective soil data platform from stakeholders and partners through engagement in coming years.

A New Platform for Managing Soil Carbon and Soil Health

DOE PAGES

Loisel, Julie; Malhotra, Avni; Phillips, Claire

2017-08-25

International Soil Carbon Network Workshop; Stanford, California, 27 February to 3 March 2017. Here, workshop participants recognized the need to identify vulnerabilities and opportunities for linking SOM-C science and the societal mandate to manage soils and ecosystems for productivity and carbon sequestration in future decades. Lastly, we outlined a path to gain support for the ISCN vision of a collective soil data platform from stakeholders and partners through engagement in coming years.

78 FR 28205 - Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Lake Charles Carbon...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-14

... Lake Charles Carbon Capture and Sequestration Project (DOE/EIS-0464D) AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy...) announces the availability of the Lake Charles Carbon Capture and Sequestration Project Draft [[Page 28206... potential environmental impacts associated with the Lake Charles Carbon Capture and Sequestration Project...

An Index-Based Approach to Assessing Recalcitrance and Soil Carbon Sequestration Potential of Engineered Black Carbons (Biochars)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harvey, Omar R.; Kuo, Li-Jung; Zimmerman, Andrew R.

2012-01-10

The ability of engineered black carbons (or biochars) to resist abiotic and, or biotic degradation (herein referred to as recalcitrance) is crucial to their successful deployment as a soil carbon sequestration strategy. A new recalcitrance index, the R{sub 50}, for assessing biochar quality for carbon sequestration is proposed. The R{sub 50} is based on the relative thermal stability of a given biochar to that of graphite and was developed and evaluated with a variety of biochars (n = 59), and soot-like black carbons. Comparison of R{sub 50}, with biochar physicochemical properties and biochar-C mineralization revealed the existence of a quantifiablemore » relationship between R{sub 50} and biochar recalcitrance. As presented here, the R{sub 50} is immediately applicable to pre-land application screening of biochars into Class A (R{sub 50} {>=} 0.70), Class B (0.50 {<=} R{sub 50} < 0.70) or Class C (R{sub 50} < 0.50) recalcitrance/carbon sequestration classes. Class A and Class C biochars would have carbon sequestration potential comparable to soot/graphite and uncharred plant biomass, respectively, while Class B biochars would have intermediate carbon sequestration potential. We believe that the coupling of the R{sub 50}, to an index-based degradation, and an economic model could provide a suitable framework in which to comprehensively assess soil carbon sequestration in biochars.« less

36 CFR 230.40 - Eligible practices for cost-share assistance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... regeneration or to ensure forest establishment and carbon sequestration. (3) Forest Stand Improvement—Practices to enhance growth and quality of wood fiber, special forest products, and carbon sequestration. (4... carbon sequestration in conjunction with agriculture, forest, and other land uses. (5) Water Quality...

A ranking of net national contributions to climate change mitigation through tropical forest conservation.

PubMed

Carrasco, L R; Papworth, S K

2014-12-15

Deforestation in tropical regions causes 15% of global anthropogenic carbon emissions and reduces the mitigation potential of carbon sequestration services. A global market failure occurs as the value of many ecosystem services provided by forests is not recognised by the markets. Identifying the contribution of individual countries to tropical carbon stocks and sequestration might help identify responsibilities and facilitate debate towards the correction of the market failure through international payments for ecosystem services. We compare and rank tropical countries' contributions by estimating carbon sequestration services vs. emissions disservices. The annual value of tropical carbon sequestration services in 2010 from 88 tropical countries was estimated to range from $2.8 to $30.7 billion, using market and social prices of carbon respectively. Democratic Republic of Congo, India and Sudan contribute the highest net carbon sequestration, whereas Brazil, Nigeria and Indonesia are the highest net emitters. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interactions between carbon sequestration and shade tree diversity in a smallholder coffee cooperative in El Salvador.

PubMed

Richards, Meryl Breton; Méndez, V Ernesto

2014-04-01

Agroforestry systems have substantial potential to conserve native biodiversity and provide ecosystem services. In particular, agroforestry systems have the potential to conserve native tree diversity and sequester carbon for climate change mitigation. However, little research has been conducted on the temporal stability of species diversity and aboveground carbon stocks in these systems or the relation between species diversity and aboveground carbon sequestration. We measured changes in shade-tree diversity and shade-tree carbon stocks in 14 plots of a 35-ha coffee cooperative over 9 years and analyzed relations between species diversity and carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration was positively correlated with initial species richness of shade trees. Species diversity of shade trees did not change significantly over the study period, but carbon stocks increased due to tree growth. Our results show a potential for carbon sequestration and long-term biodiversity conservation in smallholder coffee agroforestry systems and illustrate the opportunity for synergies between biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

75 FR 33613 - Notice of the Carbon Sequestration-Geothermal Energy-Science Joint Workshop

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-14

... Sequestration--Geothermal Energy--Science Joint Workshop AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, DOE. ACTION: Notice of the Carbon Sequestration--Geothermal Energy--Science Joint Workshop... Carbon Storage and Geothermal Energy, June 15-16, 2010. Experts from industry, academia, national labs...

Options for accounting carbon sequestration in German forests

PubMed Central

Krug, Joachim; Koehl, Michael; Riedel, Thomas; Bormann, Kristin; Rueter, Sebastian; Elsasser, Peter

2009-01-01

Background The Accra climate change talks held from 21–27 August 2008 in Accra, Ghana, were part of an ongoing series of meetings leading up to the Copenhagen meeting in December 2009. During the meeting a set of options for accounting carbon sequestration in forestry on a post-2012 framework was presented. The options include gross-net and net-net accounting and approaches for establishing baselines. Results This article demonstrates the embedded consequences of Accra Accounting Options for the case study of German national GHG accounting. It presents the most current assessment of sequestration rates by forest management for the period 1990 – 2007, provides an outlook of future emissions and removals (up to the year 2042) as related to three different management scenarios, and shows that implementation of some Accra options may reverse sources to sinks, or sinks to sources. Conclusion The results of the study highlight the importance of elaborating an accounting system that would prioritize the climate convention goals, not national preferences. PMID:19650896

Options for accounting carbon sequestration in German forests.

PubMed

Krug, Joachim; Koehl, Michael; Riedel, Thomas; Bormann, Kristin; Rueter, Sebastian; Elsasser, Peter

2009-08-03

The Accra climate change talks held from 21-27 August 2008 in Accra, Ghana, were part of an ongoing series of meetings leading up to the Copenhagen meeting in December 2009. During the meeting a set of options for accounting carbon sequestration in forestry on a post-2012 framework was presented. The options include gross-net and net-net accounting and approaches for establishing baselines. This article demonstrates the embedded consequences of Accra Accounting Options for the case study of German national GHG accounting. It presents the most current assessment of sequestration rates by forest management for the period 1990 - 2007, provides an outlook of future emissions and removals (up to the year 2042) as related to three different management scenarios, and shows that implementation of some Accra options may reverse sources to sinks, or sinks to sources. The results of the study highlight the importance of elaborating an accounting system that would prioritize the climate convention goals, not national preferences.

Sequestration of flue gas CO₂ by direct gas-solid carbonation of air pollution control system residues.

PubMed

Tian, Sicong; Jiang, Jianguo

2012-12-18

Direct gas-solid carbonation reactions of residues from an air pollution control system (APCr) were conducted using different combinations of simulated flue gas to study the impact on CO₂ sequestration. X-ray diffraction analysis of APCr determined the existence of CaClOH, whose maximum theoretical CO₂ sequestration potential of 58.13 g CO₂/kg APCr was calculated by the reference intensity ratio method. The reaction mechanism obeyed a model of a fast kinetics-controlled process followed by a slow product layer diffusion-controlled process. Temperature is the key factor in direct gas-solid carbonation and had a notable influence on both the carbonation conversion and the CO₂ sequestration rate. The optimal CO₂ sequestrating temperature of 395 °C was easily obtained for APCr using a continuous heating experiment. CO₂ content in the flue gas had a definite influence on the CO₂ sequestration rate of the kinetics-controlled process, but almost no influence on the final carbonation conversion. Typical concentrations of SO₂ in the flue gas could not only accelerate the carbonation reaction rate of the product layer diffusion-controlled process, but also could improve the final carbonation conversion. Maximum carbonation conversions of between 68.6% and 77.1% were achieved in a typical flue gas. Features of rapid CO₂ sequestration rate, strong impurities resistance, and high capture conversion for direct gas-solid carbonation were proved in this study, which presents a theoretical foundation for the applied use of this encouraging technology on carbon capture and storage.

Near-term deployment of carbon capture and sequestration from biorefineries in the United States.

PubMed

Sanchez, Daniel L; Johnson, Nils; McCoy, Sean T; Turner, Peter A; Mach, Katharine J

2018-05-08

Capture and permanent geologic sequestration of biogenic CO 2 emissions may provide critical flexibility in ambitious climate change mitigation. However, most bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) technologies are technically immature or commercially unavailable. Here, we evaluate low-cost, commercially ready CO 2 capture opportunities for existing ethanol biorefineries in the United States. The analysis combines process engineering, spatial optimization, and lifecycle assessment to consider the technical, economic, and institutional feasibility of near-term carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). Our modeling framework evaluates least cost source-sink relationships and aggregation opportunities for pipeline transport, which can cost-effectively transport small CO 2 volumes to suitable sequestration sites; 216 existing US biorefineries emit 45 Mt CO 2 annually from fermentation, of which 60% could be captured and compressed for pipeline transport for under $25/tCO 2 A sequestration credit, analogous to existing CCS tax credits, of $60/tCO 2 could incent 30 Mt of sequestration and 6,900 km of pipeline infrastructure across the United States. Similarly, a carbon abatement credit, analogous to existing tradeable CO 2 credits, of $90/tCO 2 can incent 38 Mt of abatement. Aggregation of CO 2 sources enables cost-effective long-distance pipeline transport to distant sequestration sites. Financial incentives under the low-carbon fuel standard in California and recent revisions to existing federal tax credits suggest a substantial near-term opportunity to permanently sequester biogenic CO 2 This financial opportunity could catalyze the growth of carbon capture, transport, and sequestration; improve the lifecycle impacts of conventional biofuels; support development of carbon-negative fuels; and help fulfill the mandates of low-carbon fuel policies across the United States. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Near-term deployment of carbon capture and sequestration from biorefineries in the United States

PubMed Central

Johnson, Nils; McCoy, Sean T.; Turner, Peter A.; Mach, Katharine J.

2018-01-01

Capture and permanent geologic sequestration of biogenic CO2 emissions may provide critical flexibility in ambitious climate change mitigation. However, most bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) technologies are technically immature or commercially unavailable. Here, we evaluate low-cost, commercially ready CO2 capture opportunities for existing ethanol biorefineries in the United States. The analysis combines process engineering, spatial optimization, and lifecycle assessment to consider the technical, economic, and institutional feasibility of near-term carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). Our modeling framework evaluates least cost source–sink relationships and aggregation opportunities for pipeline transport, which can cost-effectively transport small CO2 volumes to suitable sequestration sites; 216 existing US biorefineries emit 45 Mt CO2 annually from fermentation, of which 60% could be captured and compressed for pipeline transport for under $25/tCO2. A sequestration credit, analogous to existing CCS tax credits, of $60/tCO2 could incent 30 Mt of sequestration and 6,900 km of pipeline infrastructure across the United States. Similarly, a carbon abatement credit, analogous to existing tradeable CO2 credits, of $90/tCO2 can incent 38 Mt of abatement. Aggregation of CO2 sources enables cost-effective long-distance pipeline transport to distant sequestration sites. Financial incentives under the low-carbon fuel standard in California and recent revisions to existing federal tax credits suggest a substantial near-term opportunity to permanently sequester biogenic CO2. This financial opportunity could catalyze the growth of carbon capture, transport, and sequestration; improve the lifecycle impacts of conventional biofuels; support development of carbon-negative fuels; and help fulfill the mandates of low-carbon fuel policies across the United States. PMID:29686063

Making carbon sequestration a paying proposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Fengxiang X.; Lindner, Jeff S.; Wang, Chuji

2007-03-01

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has increased from a preindustrial concentration of about 280 ppm to about 367 ppm at present. The increase has closely followed the increase in CO2 emissions from the use of fossil fuels. Global warming caused by increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is the major environmental challenge for the 21st century. Reducing worldwide emissions of CO2 requires multiple mitigation pathways, including reductions in energy consumption, more efficient use of available energy, the application of renewable energy sources, and sequestration. Sequestration is a major tool for managing carbon emissions. In a majority of cases CO2 is viewed as waste to be disposed; however, with advanced technology, carbon sequestration can become a value-added proposition. There are a number of potential opportunities that render sequestration economically viable. In this study, we review these most economically promising opportunities and pathways of carbon sequestration, including reforestation, best agricultural production, housing and furniture, enhanced oil recovery, coalbed methane (CBM), and CO2 hydrates. Many of these terrestrial and geological sequestration opportunities are expected to provide a direct economic benefit over that obtained by merely reducing the atmospheric CO2 loading. Sequestration opportunities in 11 states of the Southeast and South Central United States are discussed. Among the most promising methods for the region include reforestation and CBM. The annual forest carbon sink in this region is estimated to be 76 Tg C/year, which would amount to an expenditure of 11.1-13.9 billion/year. Best management practices could enhance carbon sequestration by 53.9 Tg C/year, accounting for 9.3% of current total annual regional greenhouse gas emission in the next 20 years. Annual carbon storage in housing, furniture, and other wood products in 1998 was estimated to be 13.9 Tg C in the region. Other sequestration options, including the direct injection of CO2 in deep saline aquifers, mineralization, and biomineralization, are not expected to lead to direct economic gain. More detailed studies are needed for assessing the ultimate changes to the environment and the associated indirect cost savings for carbon sequestration.

Making carbon sequestration a paying proposition.

PubMed

Han, Fengxiang X; Lindner, Jeff S; Wang, Chuji

2007-03-01

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO(2)) has increased from a preindustrial concentration of about 280 ppm to about 367 ppm at present. The increase has closely followed the increase in CO(2) emissions from the use of fossil fuels. Global warming caused by increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is the major environmental challenge for the 21st century. Reducing worldwide emissions of CO(2) requires multiple mitigation pathways, including reductions in energy consumption, more efficient use of available energy, the application of renewable energy sources, and sequestration. Sequestration is a major tool for managing carbon emissions. In a majority of cases CO(2) is viewed as waste to be disposed; however, with advanced technology, carbon sequestration can become a value-added proposition. There are a number of potential opportunities that render sequestration economically viable. In this study, we review these most economically promising opportunities and pathways of carbon sequestration, including reforestation, best agricultural production, housing and furniture, enhanced oil recovery, coalbed methane (CBM), and CO(2) hydrates. Many of these terrestrial and geological sequestration opportunities are expected to provide a direct economic benefit over that obtained by merely reducing the atmospheric CO(2) loading. Sequestration opportunities in 11 states of the Southeast and South Central United States are discussed. Among the most promising methods for the region include reforestation and CBM. The annual forest carbon sink in this region is estimated to be 76 Tg C/year, which would amount to an expenditure of $11.1-13.9 billion/year. Best management practices could enhance carbon sequestration by 53.9 Tg C/year, accounting for 9.3% of current total annual regional greenhouse gas emission in the next 20 years. Annual carbon storage in housing, furniture, and other wood products in 1998 was estimated to be 13.9 Tg C in the region. Other sequestration options, including the direct injection of CO(2) in deep saline aquifers, mineralization, and biomineralization, are not expected to lead to direct economic gain. More detailed studies are needed for assessing the ultimate changes to the environment and the associated indirect cost savings for carbon sequestration.

Assessing net carbon sequestration on urban and community forests of northern New England, USA

Treesearch

Daolan Zheng; Mark J. Ducey; Linda S. Heath

2013-01-01

Urban and community forests play an important role in the overall carbon budget of the USA. Accurately quantifying carbon sequestration by these forests can provide insight for strategic planning to mitigate greenhouse gas effects on climate change. This study provides a new methodology to estimate net forest carbon sequestration (FCS) in urban and community lands of...

Carbon dynamics and sequestration in urban turfgrass ecosystems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Urbanization is a global trend. Turfgrass covers 1.9% of land in the continental US. Here we review existing literature associated with carbon (C) pools, sequestration, and nitrous oxide emission of urban turfgrass ecosystems. Turfgrasses exhibit significant carbon sequestration (0.34–1.4 Mg ha-1 ye...

Carbon sequestration in soil by in situ catalyzed photo-oxidative polymerization of soil organic matter.

PubMed

Piccolo, Alessandro; Spaccini, Riccardo; Nebbioso, Antonio; Mazzei, Pierluigi

2011-08-01

Here we describe an innovative mechanism for carbon sequestration in soil by in situ photopolymerization of soil organic matter under biomimetic catalysis. Three different Mediterranean soils were added with a synthetic water-soluble iron-porphyrin, irradiated by solar light, and subjected first to 5 days incubation and, then, 15, and 30 wetting and drying (w/d) cycles. The in situ catalyst-assisted photopolymerization of soil organic carbon (SOC) increased water stability of soil aggregates both after 5 days incubation and 15 w/d cycles, but not after 30 w/d cycles. Particle-size distribution of all treated soils confirmed the induced soil physical improvement, by showing a concomitant lower yield of the clay-sized fraction and larger yields of either coarse sand- or fine sand-size fractions, depending on soil texture, though only after 5 days incubation. The gain in soil physical quality was reflected by the shift of OC content from small to large soil aggregates, thereby suggesting that photopolymerization stabilized OC by both chemical and physical processes. A further evidence of the carbon sequestration capacity of the photocatalytic treatment was provided by the significant reduction of CO(2) respired by all soils after both incubation and w/d cycles. Our findings suggest that "green" catalytic technologies may potentially be the bases for future practices to increase soil carbon stabilization and mitigate CO(2) emissions from arable soils.

Carbon debt of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands converted to bioenergy production

PubMed Central

Gelfand, Ilya; Zenone, Terenzio; Jasrotia, Poonam; Chen, Jiquan; Hamilton, Stephen K.; Robertson, G. Philip

2011-01-01

Over 13 million ha of former cropland are enrolled in the US Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), providing well-recognized biodiversity, water quality, and carbon (C) sequestration benefits that could be lost on conversion back to agricultural production. Here we provide measurements of the greenhouse gas consequences of converting CRP land to continuous corn, corn–soybean, or perennial grass for biofuel production. No-till soybeans preceded the annual crops and created an initial carbon debt of 10.6 Mg CO2 equivalents (CO2e)·ha−1 that included agronomic inputs, changes in C stocks, altered N2O and CH4 fluxes, and foregone C sequestration less a fossil fuel offset credit. Total debt, which includes future debt created by additional changes in soil C stocks and the loss of substantial future soil C sequestration, can be constrained to 68 Mg CO2e·ha−1 if subsequent crops are under permanent no-till management. If tilled, however, total debt triples to 222 Mg CO2e·ha−1 on account of further soil C loss. Projected C debt repayment periods under no-till management range from 29 to 40 y for corn–soybean and continuous corn, respectively. Under conventional tillage repayment periods are three times longer, from 89 to 123 y, respectively. Alternatively, the direct use of existing CRP grasslands for cellulosic feedstock production would avoid C debt entirely and provide modest climate change mitigation immediately. Incentives for permanent no till and especially permission to harvest CRP biomass for cellulosic biofuel would help to blunt the climate impact of future CRP conversion. PMID:21825117

Carbon sequestration potential of second-growth forest regeneration in the Latin American tropics

PubMed Central

Chazdon, Robin L.; Broadbent, Eben N.; Rozendaal, Danaë M. A.; Bongers, Frans; Zambrano, Angélica María Almeyda; Aide, T. Mitchell; Balvanera, Patricia; Becknell, Justin M.; Boukili, Vanessa; Brancalion, Pedro H. S.; Craven, Dylan; Almeida-Cortez, Jarcilene S.; Cabral, George A. L.; de Jong, Ben; Denslow, Julie S.; Dent, Daisy H.; DeWalt, Saara J.; Dupuy, Juan M.; Durán, Sandra M.; Espírito-Santo, Mario M.; Fandino, María C.; César, Ricardo G.; Hall, Jefferson S.; Hernández-Stefanoni, José Luis; Jakovac, Catarina C.; Junqueira, André B.; Kennard, Deborah; Letcher, Susan G.; Lohbeck, Madelon; Martínez-Ramos, Miguel; Massoca, Paulo; Meave, Jorge A.; Mesquita, Rita; Mora, Francisco; Muñoz, Rodrigo; Muscarella, Robert; Nunes, Yule R. F.; Ochoa-Gaona, Susana; Orihuela-Belmonte, Edith; Peña-Claros, Marielos; Pérez-García, Eduardo A.; Piotto, Daniel; Powers, Jennifer S.; Rodríguez-Velazquez, Jorge; Romero-Pérez, Isabel Eunice; Ruíz, Jorge; Saldarriaga, Juan G.; Sanchez-Azofeifa, Arturo; Schwartz, Naomi B.; Steininger, Marc K.; Swenson, Nathan G.; Uriarte, Maria; van Breugel, Michiel; van der Wal, Hans; Veloso, Maria D. M.; Vester, Hans; Vieira, Ima Celia G.; Bentos, Tony Vizcarra; Williamson, G. Bruce; Poorter, Lourens

2016-01-01

Regrowth of tropical secondary forests following complete or nearly complete removal of forest vegetation actively stores carbon in aboveground biomass, partially counterbalancing carbon emissions from deforestation, forest degradation, burning of fossil fuels, and other anthropogenic sources. We estimate the age and spatial extent of lowland second-growth forests in the Latin American tropics and model their potential aboveground carbon accumulation over four decades. Our model shows that, in 2008, second-growth forests (1 to 60 years old) covered 2.4 million km2 of land (28.1% of the total study area). Over 40 years, these lands can potentially accumulate a total aboveground carbon stock of 8.48 Pg C (petagrams of carbon) in aboveground biomass via low-cost natural regeneration or assisted regeneration, corresponding to a total CO2 sequestration of 31.09 Pg CO2. This total is equivalent to carbon emissions from fossil fuel use and industrial processes in all of Latin America and the Caribbean from 1993 to 2014. Ten countries account for 95% of this carbon storage potential, led by Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. We model future land-use scenarios to guide national carbon mitigation policies. Permitting natural regeneration on 40% of lowland pastures potentially stores an additional 2.0 Pg C over 40 years. Our study provides information and maps to guide national-level forest-based carbon mitigation plans on the basis of estimated rates of natural regeneration and pasture abandonment. Coupled with avoided deforestation and sustainable forest management, natural regeneration of second-growth forests provides a low-cost mechanism that yields a high carbon sequestration potential with multiple benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem services. PMID:27386528

Carbon sequestration potential of second-growth forest regeneration in the Latin American tropics.

PubMed

Chazdon, Robin L; Broadbent, Eben N; Rozendaal, Danaë M A; Bongers, Frans; Zambrano, Angélica María Almeyda; Aide, T Mitchell; Balvanera, Patricia; Becknell, Justin M; Boukili, Vanessa; Brancalion, Pedro H S; Craven, Dylan; Almeida-Cortez, Jarcilene S; Cabral, George A L; de Jong, Ben; Denslow, Julie S; Dent, Daisy H; DeWalt, Saara J; Dupuy, Juan M; Durán, Sandra M; Espírito-Santo, Mario M; Fandino, María C; César, Ricardo G; Hall, Jefferson S; Hernández-Stefanoni, José Luis; Jakovac, Catarina C; Junqueira, André B; Kennard, Deborah; Letcher, Susan G; Lohbeck, Madelon; Martínez-Ramos, Miguel; Massoca, Paulo; Meave, Jorge A; Mesquita, Rita; Mora, Francisco; Muñoz, Rodrigo; Muscarella, Robert; Nunes, Yule R F; Ochoa-Gaona, Susana; Orihuela-Belmonte, Edith; Peña-Claros, Marielos; Pérez-García, Eduardo A; Piotto, Daniel; Powers, Jennifer S; Rodríguez-Velazquez, Jorge; Romero-Pérez, Isabel Eunice; Ruíz, Jorge; Saldarriaga, Juan G; Sanchez-Azofeifa, Arturo; Schwartz, Naomi B; Steininger, Marc K; Swenson, Nathan G; Uriarte, Maria; van Breugel, Michiel; van der Wal, Hans; Veloso, Maria D M; Vester, Hans; Vieira, Ima Celia G; Bentos, Tony Vizcarra; Williamson, G Bruce; Poorter, Lourens

2016-05-01

Regrowth of tropical secondary forests following complete or nearly complete removal of forest vegetation actively stores carbon in aboveground biomass, partially counterbalancing carbon emissions from deforestation, forest degradation, burning of fossil fuels, and other anthropogenic sources. We estimate the age and spatial extent of lowland second-growth forests in the Latin American tropics and model their potential aboveground carbon accumulation over four decades. Our model shows that, in 2008, second-growth forests (1 to 60 years old) covered 2.4 million km(2) of land (28.1% of the total study area). Over 40 years, these lands can potentially accumulate a total aboveground carbon stock of 8.48 Pg C (petagrams of carbon) in aboveground biomass via low-cost natural regeneration or assisted regeneration, corresponding to a total CO2 sequestration of 31.09 Pg CO2. This total is equivalent to carbon emissions from fossil fuel use and industrial processes in all of Latin America and the Caribbean from 1993 to 2014. Ten countries account for 95% of this carbon storage potential, led by Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. We model future land-use scenarios to guide national carbon mitigation policies. Permitting natural regeneration on 40% of lowland pastures potentially stores an additional 2.0 Pg C over 40 years. Our study provides information and maps to guide national-level forest-based carbon mitigation plans on the basis of estimated rates of natural regeneration and pasture abandonment. Coupled with avoided deforestation and sustainable forest management, natural regeneration of second-growth forests provides a low-cost mechanism that yields a high carbon sequestration potential with multiple benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Assessing the Feasibility and Risks of Using Wave-Driven Upwelling Pumps to Enhance the Biological Sequestration of Carbon in Open Oceans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

White, A.; Bjorkman, K.; Grabowski, E.; Letelier, R. M.; Poulos, S.; Watkins, B.; Karl, D. M.

2008-12-01

In 1976, John D. Isaacs proposed to use wave energy to pump cold and nutrient-rich deep water into the sunlit surface layers. The motivation for this endeavor has taken many forms over the years, from energy production to fueling aquaculture to the more recent suggestion that artificial upwelling could be used to stimulate primary productivity and anthropogenic carbon sequestration in oligotrophic regions of the ocean. However, the potential for biological carbon sequestration in response to upwelling will depend on the concentration of nutrients relative to that of dissolved inorganic carbon in the water being upwelled and on the response of the marine microbial assemblage to this nutrient enrichment. In June 2008, we tested a commercially available wave pump in the vicinity of Station ALOHA, north of Oahu, Hawaii in order to assess the logistics of at-sea deployment and the survivability of the equipment in the open ocean. Our engineering test was also designed to evaluate a recently published hypothesis (Karl and Letelier, 2008, Marine Ecology Progress Series) that upwelling of water containing excess phosphate relative to nitrogen compared to the canonical "Redfield" molar ratio of 16N:1P, would generate a two-phased phytoplankton bloom and enhance carbon sequestration. In this presentation, we analyze the results of this field test within the context of pelagic biogeochemical cycles. Furthermore, we discuss the deployment of a 300m wave pump, efforts to sample a biochemical response, the engineering challenges faced and the practical and ethical implications of these results for future experiments aimed at stimulating the growth of phytoplankton in oligotrophic regions.

Sensitivity of climate mitigation strategies to natural disturbances

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Le Page, Yannick LB; Hurtt, George; Thomson, Allison M.

2013-02-19

The present and future concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide depends on both anthropogenic and natural sources and sinks of carbon. Most proposed climate mitigation strategies rely on a progressive transition to carbon12 efficient technologies to reduce industrial emissions, substantially supported by policies to maintain or enhance the terrestrial carbon stock in forests and other ecosystems. This strategy may be challenged if terrestrial sequestration capacity is affected by future climate feedbacks, but how and to what extent is little understood. Here, we show that climate mitigation strategies are highly sensitive to future natural disturbance rates (e.g. fires, hurricanes, droughts), because ofmore » potential effect of disturbances on the terrestrial carbon balance. Generally, altered disturbance rates affect the pace of societal and technological transitions required to achieve the mitigation target, with substantial consequences on the energy sector and on the global economy. Understanding the future dynamics and consequences of natural disturbances on terrestrial carbon balance is thus essential for developing robust climate mitigation strategies and policies« less

Terrestrial nitrogen–carbon cycle interactions at the global scale

PubMed Central

Zaehle, S.

2013-01-01

Interactions between the terrestrial nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) cycles shape the response of ecosystems to global change. However, the global distribution of nitrogen availability and its importance in global biogeochemistry and biogeochemical interactions with the climate system remain uncertain. Based on projections of a terrestrial biosphere model scaling ecological understanding of nitrogen–carbon cycle interactions to global scales, anthropogenic nitrogen additions since 1860 are estimated to have enriched the terrestrial biosphere by 1.3 Pg N, supporting the sequestration of 11.2 Pg C. Over the same time period, CO2 fertilization has increased terrestrial carbon storage by 134.0 Pg C, increasing the terrestrial nitrogen stock by 1.2 Pg N. In 2001–2010, terrestrial ecosystems sequestered an estimated total of 27 Tg N yr−1 (1.9 Pg C yr−1), of which 10 Tg N yr−1 (0.2 Pg C yr−1) are due to anthropogenic nitrogen deposition. Nitrogen availability already limits terrestrial carbon sequestration in the boreal and temperate zone, and will constrain future carbon sequestration in response to CO2 fertilization (regionally by up to 70% compared with an estimate without considering nitrogen–carbon interactions). This reduced terrestrial carbon uptake will probably dominate the role of the terrestrial nitrogen cycle in the climate system, as it accelerates the accumulation of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere. However, increases of N2O emissions owing to anthropogenic nitrogen and climate change (at a rate of approx. 0.5 Tg N yr−1 per 1°C degree climate warming) will add an important long-term climate forcing. PMID:23713123

Terrestrial nitrogen-carbon cycle interactions at the global scale.

PubMed

Zaehle, S

2013-07-05

Interactions between the terrestrial nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) cycles shape the response of ecosystems to global change. However, the global distribution of nitrogen availability and its importance in global biogeochemistry and biogeochemical interactions with the climate system remain uncertain. Based on projections of a terrestrial biosphere model scaling ecological understanding of nitrogen-carbon cycle interactions to global scales, anthropogenic nitrogen additions since 1860 are estimated to have enriched the terrestrial biosphere by 1.3 Pg N, supporting the sequestration of 11.2 Pg C. Over the same time period, CO2 fertilization has increased terrestrial carbon storage by 134.0 Pg C, increasing the terrestrial nitrogen stock by 1.2 Pg N. In 2001-2010, terrestrial ecosystems sequestered an estimated total of 27 Tg N yr(-1) (1.9 Pg C yr(-1)), of which 10 Tg N yr(-1) (0.2 Pg C yr(-1)) are due to anthropogenic nitrogen deposition. Nitrogen availability already limits terrestrial carbon sequestration in the boreal and temperate zone, and will constrain future carbon sequestration in response to CO2 fertilization (regionally by up to 70% compared with an estimate without considering nitrogen-carbon interactions). This reduced terrestrial carbon uptake will probably dominate the role of the terrestrial nitrogen cycle in the climate system, as it accelerates the accumulation of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere. However, increases of N2O emissions owing to anthropogenic nitrogen and climate change (at a rate of approx. 0.5 Tg N yr(-1) per 1°C degree climate warming) will add an important long-term climate forcing.

An Alternative Mechanism for Accelerated Carbon Sequestration in Concrete

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Haselbach, Liv M.; Thomle, Jonathan N.

The increased rate of carbon dioxide sequestration (carbonation) is desired in many primary and secondary life applications of concrete in order to make the life cycle of concrete structures more carbon neutral. Most carbonation rate studies have focused on concrete exposed to air under various conditions. An alternative mechanism for accelerated carbon sequestration in concrete was investigated in this research based on the pH change of waters in contact with pervious concrete which have been submerged in carbonate laden waters. The results indicate that the concrete exposed to high levels of carbonate species in water may carbonate faster than whenmore » exposed to ambient air, and that the rate is higher with higher concentrations. Validation of increased carbon dioxide sequestration was also performed via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). It is theorized that the proposed alternative mechanism reduces a limiting rate effect of carbon dioxide dissolution in water in the micro pores of the concrete.« less

Integrating science, economics and law into policy: The case of carbon sequestration in climate change policy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richards, Kenneth

Carbon sequestration, the extraction and storage of carbon from the atmosphere by biomass, could potentially provide a cost-effective means to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions. The claims on behalf of carbon sequestration may be inadvertently overstated, however. Several key observations emerge from this study. First, although carbon sequestration studies all report results in terms of dollars per ton, the definition of that term varies significantly, meaning that the results of various analyses can not be meaningfully compared. Second, when carbon sequestration is included in an energy-economy model of climate change policy, it appears that carbon sequestration could play a major, if not dominant role in a national carbon emission abatement program, reducing costs of emissions stabilization by as much as 80 percent, saving tens of billions of dollars per year. However, the results are very dependant upon landowners' perceived risk. Studies may also have overstated the potential for carbon sequestration because they have not considered the implementation process. This study demonstrates that three factors will reduce the cost-effectiveness of carbon sequestration. First, the implementation costs associated with measurement and governance of the government-private sector relation are higher than in the case of carbon source control. Second, legal constraints limit the range of instruments that the government can use to induce private landowners to expand their carbon sinks. The government will likely have to pay private parties to expand their sinks, or undertake direct government production. In either case, additional revenues will be required, introducing social costs associated with excess burden. Third, because of the very long time involved in developing carbon sinks (up to several decades) the government may not be able to make credible commitments against exactions of one type or another that would effectively reduce the value of private sector investments in carbon sinks. Consequently, the private sector will increase the rate of return required for participation, increasing the cost of this option. Carbon sequestration can still be a major factor in a national carbon emission abatement program. However, because of the interplay of science, economics and law, the most commonly prescribed environmental policy instruments--marketable allowance and taxes--have little or no direct role to play in the implementation process.

Status and potential of terrestrial carbon sequestration in West Virginia

Treesearch

Benktesh D. Sharma; Jingxin Wang

2011-01-01

Terrestrial ecosystem management offers cost-effective ways to enhance carbon (C) sequestration. This study utilized C stock and C sequestration in forest and agricultural lands, abandoned mine lands, and harvested wood products to estimate the net current annual C sequestration in West Virginia. Several management options within these components were simulated using a...

The Future of Low-Carbon Electricity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Greenblatt, Jeffery B.; Brown, Nicholas R.; Slaybaugh, Rachel

We review future global demand for electricity and major technologies positioned to supply it with minimal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: renewables (wind, solar, water, geothermal, and biomass), nuclear fission, and fossil power with CO2 capture and sequestration. We discuss two breakthrough technologies (space solar power and nuclear fusion) as exciting but uncertain additional options for low-net GHG emissions (i.e., low-carbon) electricity generation. In addition, we discuss grid integration technologies (monitoring and forecasting of transmission and distribution systems, demand-side load management, energy storage, and load balancing with low-carbon fuel substitutes). For each topic, recent historical trends and future prospects are reviewed,more » along with technical challenges, costs, and other issues as appropriate. Although no technology represents an ideal solution, their strengths can be enhanced by deployment in combination, along with grid integration that forms a critical set of enabling technologies to assure a reliable and robust future low-carbon electricity system.« less

[Characteristics of carbon storage of Inner Mongolia forests: a review].

PubMed

Yang, Hao; Hu, Zhong-Min; Zhang, Lei-Ming; Li, Sheng-Gong

2014-11-01

Forests in Inner Mongolia account for an important part of the forests in China in terms of their large area and high living standing volume. This study reported carbon storage, carbon density, carbon sequestration rate and carbon sequestration potential of forest ecosystems in Inner Mongolia using the biomass carbon data from the related literature. Through analyzing the data of forest inventory and the generalized allometric equations between volume and biomass, previous studies had reported that biomass carbon storage of the forests in Inner Mongolia was about 920 Tg C, which was 12 percent of the national forest carbon storage, the annual average growth rate was about 1.4%, and the average of carbon density was about 43 t · hm(-2). Carbon storage and carbon density showed an increasing trend over time. Coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica forest and Betula platyphylla forest had higher carbon sequestration capacities. Carbon storage was reduced due to human activities such as thinning and clear cutting. There were few studies on carbon storage of the forests in Inner Mongolia with focus on the soil, showing that the soil car- bon density increased with the stand age. Study on the carbon sequestration potential of forest ecosystems was still less. Further study was required to examine dynamics of carbon storage in forest ecosystems in Inner Mongolia, i. e., to assess carbon storage in the forest soils together with biomass carbon storage, to compute biomass carbon content of species organs as 45% in the allometric equations, to build more species-specific and site-specific allometric equations including root biomass for different dominant species, and to take into account the effects of climate change on carbon sequestration rate and carbon sequestration potential.

Integrated Mid-Continent Carbon Capture, Sequestration & Enhanced Oil Recovery Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brian McPherson

2010-08-31

A consortium of research partners led by the Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration and industry partners, including CAP CO2 LLC, Blue Source LLC, Coffeyville Resources, Nitrogen Fertilizers LLC, Ash Grove Cement Company, Kansas Ethanol LLC, Headwaters Clean Carbon Services, Black & Veatch, and Schlumberger Carbon Services, conducted a feasibility study of a large-scale CCS commercialization project that included large-scale CO{sub 2} sources. The overall objective of this project, entitled the 'Integrated Mid-Continent Carbon Capture, Sequestration and Enhanced Oil Recovery Project' was to design an integrated system of US mid-continent industrial CO{sub 2} sources with CO{sub 2} capture, and geologicmore » sequestration in deep saline formations and in oil field reservoirs with concomitant EOR. Findings of this project suggest that deep saline sequestration in the mid-continent region is not feasible without major financial incentives, such as tax credits or otherwise, that do not exist at this time. However, results of the analysis suggest that enhanced oil recovery with carbon sequestration is indeed feasible and practical for specific types of geologic settings in the Midwestern U.S.« less

Atmospheric CO2 sequestration in iron and steel slag: Consett, Co. Durham, UK.

PubMed

Mayes, William Matthew; Riley, Alex L; Gomes, Helena I; Brabham, Peter; Hamlyn, Joanna; Pullin, Huw; Renforth, Phil

2018-06-12

Carbonate formation in waste from the steel industry could constitute a non-trivial proportion of global requirements to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at potentially low cost. To constrain this potential, we examined atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestration in a >20 million tonne legacy slag deposit in northern England, UK. Carbonates formed from the drainage water of the heap had stable carbon and oxygen isotopes between -12 and -25 ‰ and -5 and -18 ‰ for δ13C and δ18O respectively, suggesting atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestration in high pH solutions. From analysis of solution saturation state, we estimate that between 280 and 2,900 tCO2 have precipitated from the drainage waters. However, by combining a thirty-seven-year dataset of the drainage water chemistry with geospatial analysis, we estimate that <1 % of the maximum carbon capture potential of the deposit may have been realised. This implies that uncontrolled deposition of slag is insufficient to maximise carbon sequestration, and there may be considerable quantities of unreacted legacy deposits available for atmospheric carbon sequestration.

Microbial Fuel Cell-driven caustic potash production from wastewater for carbon sequestration.

PubMed

Gajda, Iwona; Greenman, John; Melhuish, Chris; Santoro, Carlo; Ieropoulos, Ioannis

2016-09-01

This work reports on the novel formation of caustic potash (KOH) directly on the MFC cathode locking carbon dioxide into potassium bicarbonate salt (kalicinite) while producing, instead of consuming electrical power. Using potassium-rich wastewater as a fuel for microorganisms to generate electricity in the anode chamber, has resulted in the formation of caustic catholyte directly on the surface of the cathode electrode. Analysis of this liquid has shown to be highly alkaline (pH>13) and act as a CO2 sorbent. It has been later mineralised to kalicinite thus locking carbon dioxide into potassium bicarbonate salt. This work demonstrates an electricity generation method as a simple, cost-effective and environmentally friendly route towards CO2 sequestration that perhaps leads to a carbon negative economy. Moreover, it shows a potential application for both electricity production and nutrient recovery in the form of minerals from nutrient-rich wastewater streams such as urine for use as fertiliser in the future. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Carbon sequestration index as a determinant for climate change mitigation: Case study of Bintan Island

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wahyudi, A.'an J.; Afdal; Prayudha, Bayu; Dharmawan, I. W. E.; Irawan, Andri; Abimanyu, Haznan; Meirinawati, Hanny; Surinati, Dewi; Syukri, Agus F.; Yuliana, Chitra I.; Yuniati, Putri I.

2018-02-01

The increase of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) affects the global carbon cycle altering the atmospheric system and initiates the climate changes. There are two ways to mitigate these changes, by maintaining the greenhouse gasses below the carbon budget and by conserving the marine and terrestrial vegetation for carbon sequestration. These two strategies become variable to the carbon sequestration index (CSI) that represents the potential of a region in carbon sequestration, according to its natural capacity. As a study case, we conducted carbon sequestration research in Bintan region (Bintan Island and its surrounding), Riau Archipelago province. This research was aimed to assess the CSI and its possibility for climate change mitigation. We observed carbon sequestration of seagrass meadows and mangrove, greenhouse gas (CO2) emission (correlated to population growth, the increase of vehicles), and CSI. Bintan region has 125,849.9 ha of vegetation area and 14,879.6 ha of terrestrial and marine vegetation area, respectively. Both vegetation areas are able to sequester 0.262 Tg C yr-1 in total and marine vegetation contributes about 77.1%. Total CO2 emission in Bintan region is up to 0.273 Tg C yr-1, produced by transportation, industry and land use sectors. Therefore, CSI of the Bintan region is 0.98, which is above the global average (i.e. 0.58). This value demonstrates that the degree of sequestration is comparable to the total carbon emission. This result suggests that Bintan’s vegetation has high potential for reducing greenhouse gas effects.

Human footprint affects US carbon balance more than climate change

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bachelet, Dominique; Ferschweiler, Ken; Sheehan, Tim; Baker, Barry; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Zhu, Zhiliang

2017-01-01

The MC2 model projects an overall increase in carbon capture in conterminous United States during the 21st century while also simulating a rise in fire causing much carbon loss. Carbon sequestration in soils is critical to prevent carbon losses from future disturbances, and we show that natural ecosystems store more carbon belowground than managed systems do. Natural and human-caused disturbances affect soil processes that shape ecosystem recovery and competitive interactions between native, exotics, and climate refugees. Tomorrow's carbon budgets will depend on how land use, natural disturbances, and climate variability will interact and affect the balance between carbon capture and release.

The NatCarb geoportal: Linking distributed data from the Carbon Sequestration Regional Partnerships

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, T.R.; Rich, P.M.; Bartley, J.D.

2007-01-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) Carbon Sequestration Regional Partnerships are generating the data for a "carbon atlas" of key geospatial data (carbon sources, potential sinks, etc.) required for rapid implementation of carbon sequestration on a broad scale. The NATional CARBon Sequestration Database and Geographic Information System (NatCarb) provides Web-based, nation-wide data access. Distributed computing solutions link partnerships and other publicly accessible repositories of geological, geophysical, natural resource, infrastructure, and environmental data. Data are maintained and enhanced locally, but assembled and accessed through a single geoportal. NatCarb, as a first attempt at a national carbon cyberinfrastructure (NCCI), assembles the data required to address technical and policy challenges of carbon capture and storage. We present a path forward to design and implement a comprehensive and successful NCCI. ?? 2007 The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

Effectiveness of fuel treatments for mitigating wildfire risk and sequestering forest carbon: a case study in the Lake Tahoe Basin

Treesearch

Louise Loudermilk; Alison Stanton; Robert M. Scheller; Thomas E. Dilts; Peter J. Weisberg; Carl Skinner; Jian Yang

2014-01-01

Fuel-reduction treatments are used extensively to reduce wildfire risk and restore forest diversity and function. In the near future, increasing regulation of carbon (C) emissions may force forest managers to balance the use of fuel treatments for reducing wildfire risk against an alternative goal of C sequestration. The objective of this study was to evaluate how long...

Integrated management of carbon sequestration and biomass utilization opportunities in a changing climate: Proceedings of the 2009 National Silviculture Workshop; 2009 June 15-18; Boise, ID.

Treesearch

Theresa B. Jain; Russell T. Graham; Jonathan Sandquist

2010-01-01

Forests are important for carbon sequestration and how they are manipulated either through natural or human induced disturbances can have an effect on CO2 emissions and carbon sequestration. The 2009 National Silviculture Workshop presented scientific information and management strategies to meet a variety of objectives while simultaneously addressing carbon...

Carbon Issues Task Force Report for the Idaho Strategic Energy Alliance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Travis L. Mcling

2010-10-01

The Carbon Issues Task Force has the responsibility to evaluate emissions reduction and carbon offset credit options, geologic carbon sequestration and carbon capture, terrestrial carbon sequestration on forest lands, and terrestrial carbon sequestration on agricultural lands. They have worked diligently to identify ways in which Idaho can position itself to benefit from potential carbon-related federal legislation, including identifying opportunities for Idaho to engage in carbon sequestration efforts, barriers to development of these options, and ways in which these barriers can be overcome. These are the experts to which we will turn when faced with federal greenhouse gas-related legislation and howmore » we should best react to protect and provide for Idaho’s interests. Note that the conclusions and recommended options in this report are not intended to be exhaustive, but rather form a starting point for an informed dialogue regarding the way-forward in developing Idaho energy resources.« less

Efficiency of incentives to jointly increase carbon sequestration and species conservation on a landscape

Treesearch

Erik Nelson; Stephen Polasky; David J. Lewis; Andrew J. Plantinga; Eric Lonsdorf; Denis White; David Bael; Joshua Lawler

2008-01-01

We develop an integrated model to predict private land-use decisions in response to policy incentives designed to increase the provision of carbon sequestration and species conservation across heterogeneous landscapes. Using data from the Willamette Basin, Oregon, we compare the provision of carbon sequestration and species conservation under five simple policies that...

Bird response to future climate and forest management focused on mitigating climate change

Treesearch

Jaymi J. LeBrun; Jeffrey E. Schneiderman; Frank R. Thompson; William D. Dijak; Jacob S. Fraser; Hong S. He; Joshua J. Millspaugh

2016-01-01

Context. Global temperatures are projected to increase and affect forests and wildlife populations. Forest management can potentially mitigate climateinduced changes through promoting carbon sequestration, forest resilience, and facilitated change. Objectives. We modeled direct and indirect effects of climate change on avian...

Trends, application and future prospectives of microbial carbonic anhydrase mediated carbonation process for CCUS.

PubMed

Bhagat, C; Dudhagara, P; Tank, S

2018-02-01

Growing industrialization and the desire for a better economy in countries has accelerated the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), by more than the buffering capacity of the earth's atmosphere. Among the various GHGs, carbon dioxide occupies the first position in the anthroposphere and has detrimental effects on the ecosystem. For decarbonization, several non-biological methods of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) have been in use for the past few decades, but they are suffering from narrow applicability. Recently, CO 2 emission and its disposal related problems have encouraged the implementation of bioprocessing to achieve a zero waste economy for a sustainable environment. Microbial carbonic anhydrase (CA) catalyses reversible CO 2 hydration and forms metal carbonates that mimic the natural phenomenon of weathering/carbonation and is gaining merit for CCUS. Thus, the diversity and specificity of CAs from different micro-organisms could be explored for CCUS. In the literature, more than 50 different microbial CAs have been explored for mineral carbonation. Further, microbial CAs can be engineered for the mineral carbonation process to develop new technology. CA driven carbonation is encouraging due to its large storage capacity and favourable chemistry, allowing site-specific sequestration and reusable product formation for other industries. Moreover, carbonation based CCUS holds five-fold more sequestration capacity over the next 100 years. Thus, it is an eco-friendly, feasible, viable option and believed to be the impending technology for CCUS. Here, we attempt to examine the distribution of various types of microbial CAs with their potential applications and future direction for carbon capture. Although there are few key challenges in bio-based technology, they need to be addressed in order to commercialize the technology. © 2017 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Quantitative assessment of carbon sequestration reduction induced by disturbances in temperate Eurasian steppe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yizhao; Ju, Weimin; Groisman, Pavel; Li, Jianlong; Propastin, Pavel; Xu, Xia; Zhou, Wei; Ruan, Honghua

2017-11-01

The temperate Eurasian steppe (TES) is a region where various environmental, social, and economic stresses converge. Multiple types of disturbance exist widely across the landscape, and heavily influence carbon cycling in this region. However, a current quantitative assessment of the impact of disturbances on carbon sequestration is largely lacking. In this study, we combined the boreal ecosystem productivity simulator (BEPS), the Shiyomi grazing model, and the global fire model (Glob-FIRM) to investigate the impact of the two major types of disturbance in the TES (i.e. domestic grazing and fire) on regional carbon sequestration. Model performance was validated using satellite data and field observations. Model outputs indicate that disturbance has a significant impact on carbon sequestration at a regional scale. The annual total carbon lost due to disturbances was 7.8 TgC yr-1, accounting for 14.2% of the total net ecosystem productivity (NEP). Domestic grazing plays the dominant role in terrestrial carbon consumption, accounting for 95% of the total carbon lost from the two disturbances. Carbon losses from both disturbances significantly increased from 1999 to 2008 (R 2 = 0.82, P < 0.001 for grazing, R 2 = 0.51, P < 0.05 for fire). Heavy domestic grazing in relatively barren grasslands substantially reduced carbon sequestration, particularly in the grasslands of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the far southwest of Inner Mongolia. This spatially-explicit information has potential implications for sustainable management of carbon sequestration in the vast grassland ecosystems.

Carbon sequestration and Jerusalem artichoke biomass under nitrogen applications in coastal saline zone in the northern region of Jiangsu, China.

PubMed

Niu, Li; Manxia, Chen; Xiumei, Gao; Xiaohua, Long; Hongbo, Shao; Zhaopu, Liu; Zed, Rengel

2016-10-15

Agriculture is an important source of greenhouse gases, but can also be a significant sink. Nitrogen fertilization is effective in increasing agricultural production and carbon storage. We explored the effects of different rates of nitrogen fertilization on biomass, carbon density, and carbon sequestration in fields under the cultivation of Jerusalem artichoke as well as in soil in a coastal saline zone for two years. Five nitrogen fertilization rates were tested (in guream(-2)): 4 (N1), 8 (N2), 12 (N3), 16 (N4), and 0 (control, CK). The biomass of different organs of Jerusalem artichoke during the growth cycle was significantly higher in N2 than the other treatments. Under different nitrogen treatments, carbon density in organs of Jerusalem artichoke ranged from 336 to 419gCkg(-1). Carbon sequestration in Jerusalem artichoke was higher in treatments with nitrogen fertilization compared to the CK treatment. The highest carbon sequestration was found in the N2 treatment. Soil carbon content was higher in the 0-10cm than 10-20cm layer, with nitrogen fertilization increasing carbon content in both soil layers. The highest soil carbon sequestration was measured in the N2 treatment. Carbon sequestration in both soil and Jerusalem artichoke residue was increased by nitrogen fertilization depending on the rates in the coastal saline zone studied. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

New insights into mechanisms driving carbon allocation in tropical forests.

PubMed

Hofhansl, Florian; Schnecker, Jörg; Singer, Gabriel; Wanek, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

The proportion of carbon allocated to wood production is an important determinant of the carbon sink strength of global forest ecosystems. Understanding the mechanisms controlling wood production and its responses to environmental drivers is essential for parameterization of global vegetation models and to accurately predict future responses of tropical forests in terms of carbon sequestration. Here, we synthesize data from 105 pantropical old-growth rainforests to investigate environmental controls on the partitioning of net primary production to wood production (%WP) using structural equation modeling. Our results reveal that %WP is governed by two independent pathways of direct and indirect environmental controls. While temperature and soil phosphorus availability indirectly affected %WP via increasing productivity, precipitation and dry season length both directly increased %WP via tradeoffs along the plant economics spectrum. We provide new insights into the mechanisms driving %WP, allowing us to conclude that projected climate change could enhance %WP in less productive tropical forests, thus increasing carbon sequestration in montane forests, but adversely affecting lowland forests. © 2014 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2014 New Phytologist Trust.

Carbon Capture and Storage, 2008

ScienceCinema

None

2017-12-09

The U.S. Department of Energy is researching the safe implementation of a technology called carbon sequestration, also known as carbon capture and storage, or CCS. Based on an oilfield practice, this approach stores carbon dioxide, or CO2 generated from human activities for millennia as a means to mitigate global climate change. In 2003, the Department of Energys National Energy Technology Laboratory formed seven Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships to assess geologic formations suitable for storage and to determine the best approaches to implement carbon sequestration in each region. This video describes the work of these partnerships.

Restoration and Carbon Sequestration Potential of Sub-Humid Shrublands in a Changing Climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adhikari, A.; White, J. D.

2014-12-01

Over the past century, various anthropogenic activities have resulted into loss of more than 95% shrub cover from the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV), TX, USA. Restoration of these shrublands has been a priority for two endangered felids, ocelots and jaguarondis, that require contiguous shrub cover. While woody shrub restoration may be considered the antithesis of shrub encroachment, this type of habitat restoration also provides a substantial opportunity of increasing carbon sequestration. Restoration of these shrublands by U.S. federal refuge managers during the past three decades have resulted some successful reestablishment of native shrub communities. We assessed restoration efficacy, carbon storage capacity, and future climate change impacts using combined remote sensing and modeling techniques. We first developed a canopy identification algorithm using a spectral vegetation index from the Digital Ortho Quarter Quadrangle data to estimate individual shrub canopy area. The area was used as input into allometric equations to estimate aboveground biomass for dominant shrub species across this region. The accuracy of the automated canopy identification by the algorithm was 79% when compared to the number of visually-determined, hand-digitized shrub canopies. From this analysis, we found that naturally regenerated sites had higher average shrub densities of 174/ha when compared with 156 individuals/ha for replanted sites. However, average biomass for naturally regenerated sites (3.28 Mg C/ha) stored less biomass compared to that of replanted sites (3.71 Mg C/ha). We found that average biomass per shrub in naturally regenerated sites was lower compared to that of replanted sites (p < 0.05). Shrub density and biomass estimated from the remote sensing data was used as input for the Physiological Principles in Predicting Growth model to predict future shrub biomass for three GCM scenarios projected by IPCC (2007). Modeling showed that the LRGV may produce lower biomass per ha for the projected higher emission scenarios compared to lower emission scenarios. We conclude that restoration efforts within LRGV have contributed to increasing shrub density and sequestering carbon in tissue biomass, but future climate change is likely to reduce its carbon sequestration potential.

Quantifying and Mapping the Supply of and Demand for Carbon Storage and Sequestration Service from Urban Trees.

PubMed

Zhao, Chang; Sander, Heather A

2015-01-01

Studies that assess the distribution of benefits provided by ecosystem services across urban areas are increasingly common. Nevertheless, current knowledge of both the supply and demand sides of ecosystem services remains limited, leaving a gap in our understanding of balance between ecosystem service supply and demand that restricts our ability to assess and manage these services. The present study seeks to fill this gap by developing and applying an integrated approach to quantifying the supply and demand of a key ecosystem service, carbon storage and sequestration, at the local level. This approach follows three basic steps: (1) quantifying and mapping service supply based upon Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) processing and allometric models, (2) quantifying and mapping demand for carbon sequestration using an indicator based on local anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and (3) mapping a supply-to-demand ratio. We illustrate this approach using a portion of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area of Minnesota, USA. Our results indicate that 1735.69 million kg carbon are stored by urban trees in our study area. Annually, 33.43 million kg carbon are sequestered by trees, whereas 3087.60 million kg carbon are emitted by human sources. Thus, carbon sequestration service provided by urban trees in the study location play a minor role in combating climate change, offsetting approximately 1% of local anthropogenic carbon emissions per year, although avoided emissions via storage in trees are substantial. Our supply-to-demand ratio map provides insight into the balance between carbon sequestration supply in urban trees and demand for such sequestration at the local level, pinpointing critical locations where higher levels of supply and demand exist. Such a ratio map could help planners and policy makers to assess and manage the supply of and demand for carbon sequestration.

The nuts and bolts of carbon sequestration in forests

EPA Science Inventory

The nature of carbon in forests is discussed from the perspective of carbon trading as an incentive for conserving private forest lands. The presentation addresses carbon sequestration in forests and its significance for global warming. Carbon inventories, specifically in the are...

Carbon sequestration in the U.S. forest sector from 1990 to 2010

Treesearch

Peter B. Woodbury; James E. Smith; Linda S. Heath

2007-01-01

Forest inventory data supplemented with data from intensive research sites and models were used to estimate carbon stocks and sequestration rates in U.S. forests, including effects of land use change. Data on the production of wood products and emission from decomposition were used to estimate carbon stocks and sequestration rates in wood products and landfills. From...

New cost estimates for carbon sequestration through afforestation in the United States

Treesearch

Anne Sofie Elburg Nielsen; Andrew J. Plantinga; Ralph J. Alig

2014-01-01

This report provides new cost estimates for carbon sequestration through afforestation in the United States. We extend existing studies of carbon sequestration costs in several important ways, while ensuring the transparency of our approach. We clearly identify all components of our cost estimates so that other researchers can reconstruct our results as well as use our...

Physical and Economic Integration of Carbon Capture Methods with Sequestration Sinks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murrell, G. R.; Thyne, G. D.

2007-12-01

Currently there are several different carbon capture technologies either available or in active development for coal- fired power plants. Each approach has different advantages, limitations and costs that must be integrated with the method of sequestration and the physiochemical properties of carbon dioxide to evaluate which approach is most cost effective. For large volume point sources such as coal-fired power stations, the only viable sequestration sinks are either oceanic or geological in nature. However, the carbon processes and systems under consideration produce carbon dioxide at a variety of pressure and temperature conditions that must be made compatible with the sinks. Integration of all these factors provides a basis for meaningful economic comparisons between the alternatives. The high degree of compatibility between carbon dioxide produced by integrated gasification combined cycle technology and geological sequestration conditions makes it apparent that this coupling currently holds the advantage. Using a basis that includes complete source-to-sink sequestration costs, the relative cost benefit of pre-combustion IGCC compared to other post-combustion methods is on the order of 30%. Additional economic benefits arising from enhanced oil recovery revenues and potential sequestration credits further improve this coupling.

Payments for carbon sequestration to alleviate development pressure in a rapidly urbanizing region

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, Jordan W.; Dorning, Monica; Shoemaker, Douglas A.; Méley, Andréanne; Dupey, Lauren; Meentemeyer, Ross K.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine individuals' willingness to enroll in voluntary payments for carbon sequestration programs through the use of a discrete choice experiment delivered to forest owners living in the rapidly urbanizing region surrounding Charlotte, North Carolina. We examined forest owners' willingness to enroll in payments for carbon sequestration policies under different levels of financial incentives (annual revenue), different contract lengths, and different program administrators (e.g., private companies versus a state or federal agency). We also examined the influence forest owners' sense of place had on their willingness to enroll in hypothetical programs. Our results showed a high level of ambivalence toward participating in payments for carbon sequestration programs. However, both financial incentives and contract lengths significantly influenced forest owners' intent to enroll. Neither program administration nor forest owners' sense of place influenced intent to enroll. Although our analyses indicated that payments from carbon sequestration programs are not currently competitive with the monetary returns expected from timber harvest or property sales, certain forest owners might see payments for carbon sequestration programs as a viable option for offsetting increasing tax costs as development encroaches and property values rise.

Soil carbon stocks and carbon sequestration rates in seminatural grassland in Aso region, Kumamoto, Southern Japan.

PubMed

Toma, Yo; Clifton-Brown, John; Sugiyama, Shinji; Nakaboh, Makoto; Hatano, Ryusuke; Fernández, Fabián G; Ryan Stewart, J; Nishiwaki, Aya; Yamada, Toshihiko

2013-06-01

Global soil carbon (C) stocks account for approximately three times that found in the atmosphere. In the Aso mountain region of Southern Japan, seminatural grasslands have been maintained by annual harvests and/or burning for more than 1000 years. Quantification of soil C stocks and C sequestration rates in Aso mountain ecosystem is needed to make well-informed, land-use decisions to maximize C sinks while minimizing C emissions. Soil cores were collected from six sites within 200 km(2) (767-937 m asl.) from the surface down to the k-Ah layer established 7300 years ago by a volcanic eruption. The biological sources of the C stored in the Aso mountain ecosystem were investigated by combining C content at a number of sampling depths with age (using (14) C dating) and δ(13) C isotopic fractionation. Quantification of plant phytoliths at several depths was used to make basic reconstructions of past vegetation and was linked with C-sequestration rates. The mean total C stock of all six sites was 232 Mg C ha(-1) (28-417 Mg C ha(-1) ), which equates to a soil C sequestration rate of 32 kg C ha(-1)  yr(-1) over 7300 years. Mean soil C sequestration rates over 34, 50 and 100 years were estimated by an equation regressing soil C sequestration rate against soil C accumulation interval, which was modeled to be 618, 483 and 332 kg C ha(-1)  yr(-1) , respectively. Such data allows for a deeper understanding in how much C could be sequestered in Miscanthus grasslands at different time scales. In Aso, tribe Andropogoneae (especially Miscanthus and Schizoachyrium genera) and tribe Paniceae contributed between 64% and 100% of soil C based on δ(13) C abundance. We conclude that the seminatural, C4 -dominated grassland system serves as an important C sink, and worthy of future conservation. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Environmental drivers of deadwood dynamics in woodlands and forests

Treesearch

M. Garbarino; R. Marzano; John Shaw; J. N. Long

2015-01-01

Deadwood dynamics play a key role in many forest ecosystems. Understanding the mechanisms involved in the accumulation and depletion of deadwood can enhance our understanding of fundamental processes such as carbon sequestration and disturbance regimes, allowing better predictions of future changes related to alternative management and climate scenarios. A...

Biochar: What is the future for industrial production and world usage?

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Biochar has gained world attention as a soil amendment to increase carbon sequestration, improve fertility levels and bolster soil water retention. Unfortunately, the amount of biochar needed for field application rates to achieve these results can be in the tons per hectare range. There is concer...

Section 4: Evaluation of carbon management requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

The chapters in this section are perhaps the broadest of the book. They discuss the integrated set of factors that affect carbon management in general. Roed-Larsen and Flach start the section with a detailed summary of current accreditation schemes. Verification of carbon credits is critical for validation of monetary sequestration incentives. Commercial-scale geologic sequestration will likely not advance unless such financial incentives are implemented. The type of incentive also is critical. For example, in the one country where a carbon tax is in place, Norway, commercial geologic sequestration has been underway since 1996. In other countries, where a cap-and-trade system is in place, and of course in countries where no incentives are offered, no commercial carbon sequestration is taking place.

Restoring tides to reduce methane emissions in impounded wetlands: A new and potent Blue Carbon climate change intervention

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kroeger, Kevin D.; Crooks, Stephen; Moseman-Valtierra, Serena; Tang, Jianwu

2017-01-01

Coastal wetlands are sites of rapid carbon (C) sequestration and contain large soil C stocks. Thus, there is increasing interest in those ecosystems as sites for anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission offset projects (sometimes referred to as “Blue Carbon”), through preservation of existing C stocks or creation of new wetlands to increase future sequestration. Here we show that in the globally-widespread occurrence of diked, impounded, drained and tidally-restricted salt marshes, substantial methane (CH4) and CO2 emission reductions can be achieved through restoration of disconnected saline tidal flows. Modeled climatic forcing indicates that tidal restoration to reduce emissions has a much greater impact per unit area than wetland creation or conservation to enhance sequestration. Given that GHG emissions in tidally-restricted, degraded wetlands are caused by human activity, they are anthropogenic emissions, and reducing them will have an effect on climate that is equivalent to reduced emission of an equal quantity of fossil fuel GHG. Thus, as a landuse-based climate change intervention, reducing CH4 emissions is an entirely distinct concept from biological C sequestration projects to enhance C storage in forest or wetland biomass or soil, and will not suffer from the non-permanence risk that stored C will be returned to the atmosphere.

Carbon Sequestration Estimation of Street Trees Based on Point Cloud from Vehicle-Borne Laser Scanning System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Y.; Hu, Q.

2017-09-01

Continuous development of urban road traffic system requests higher standards of road ecological environment. Ecological benefits of street trees are getting more attention. Carbon sequestration of street trees refers to the carbon stocks of street trees, which can be a measurement for ecological benefits of street trees. Estimating carbon sequestration in a traditional way is costly and inefficient. In order to solve above problems, a carbon sequestration estimation approach for street trees based on 3D point cloud from vehicle-borne laser scanning system is proposed in this paper. The method can measure the geometric parameters of a street tree, including tree height, crown width, diameter at breast height (DBH), by processing and analyzing point cloud data of an individual tree. Four Chinese scholartree trees and four camphor trees are selected for experiment. The root mean square error (RMSE) of tree height is 0.11m for Chinese scholartree and 0.02m for camphor. Crown widths in X direction and Y direction, as well as the average crown width are calculated. And the RMSE of average crown width is 0.22m for Chinese scholartree and 0.10m for camphor. The last calculated parameter is DBH, the RMSE of DBH is 0.5cm for both Chinese scholartree and camphor. Combining the measured geometric parameters and an appropriate carbon sequestration calculation model, the individual tree's carbon sequestration will be estimated. The proposed method can help enlarge application range of vehicle-borne laser point cloud data, improve the efficiency of estimating carbon sequestration, construct urban ecological environment and manage landscape.

Long-term rice cultivation stabilizes soil organic carbon and promotes soil microbial activity in a salt marsh derived soil chronosequence

PubMed Central

Wang, Ping; Liu, Yalong; Li, Lianqing; Cheng, Kun; Zheng, Jufeng; Zhang, Xuhui; Zheng, Jinwei; Joseph, Stephen; Pan, Genxing

2015-01-01

Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration with enhanced stable carbon storage has been widely accepted as a very important ecosystem property. Yet, the link between carbon stability and bio-activity for ecosystem functioning with OC accumulation in field soils has not been characterized. We assessed the changes in microbial activity versus carbon stability along a paddy soil chronosequence shifting from salt marsh in East China. We used mean weight diameter, normalized enzyme activity (NEA) and carbon gain from straw amendment for addressing soil aggregation, microbial biochemical activity and potential C sequestration, respectively. In addition, a response ratio was employed to infer the changes in all analyzed parameters with prolonged rice cultivation. While stable carbon pools varied with total SOC accumulation, soil respiration and both bacterial and fungal diversity were relatively constant in the rice soils. Bacterial abundance and NEA were positively but highly correlated to total SOC accumulation, indicating an enhanced bio-activity with carbon stabilization. This could be linked to an enhancement of particulate organic carbon pool due to physical protection with enhanced soil aggregation in the rice soils under long-term rice cultivation. However, the mechanism underpinning these changes should be explored in future studies in rice soils where dynamic redox conditions exist. PMID:26503629

Long-term rice cultivation stabilizes soil organic carbon and promotes soil microbial activity in a salt marsh derived soil chronosequence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ping; Liu, Yalong; Li, Lianqing; Cheng, Kun; Zheng, Jufeng; Zhang, Xuhui; Zheng, Jinwei; Joseph, Stephen; Pan, Genxing

2015-10-01

Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration with enhanced stable carbon storage has been widely accepted as a very important ecosystem property. Yet, the link between carbon stability and bio-activity for ecosystem functioning with OC accumulation in field soils has not been characterized. We assessed the changes in microbial activity versus carbon stability along a paddy soil chronosequence shifting from salt marsh in East China. We used mean weight diameter, normalized enzyme activity (NEA) and carbon gain from straw amendment for addressing soil aggregation, microbial biochemical activity and potential C sequestration, respectively. In addition, a response ratio was employed to infer the changes in all analyzed parameters with prolonged rice cultivation. While stable carbon pools varied with total SOC accumulation, soil respiration and both bacterial and fungal diversity were relatively constant in the rice soils. Bacterial abundance and NEA were positively but highly correlated to total SOC accumulation, indicating an enhanced bio-activity with carbon stabilization. This could be linked to an enhancement of particulate organic carbon pool due to physical protection with enhanced soil aggregation in the rice soils under long-term rice cultivation. However, the mechanism underpinning these changes should be explored in future studies in rice soils where dynamic redox conditions exist.

Long-term rice cultivation stabilizes soil organic carbon and promotes soil microbial activity in a salt marsh derived soil chronosequence.

PubMed

Wang, Ping; Liu, Yalong; Li, Lianqing; Cheng, Kun; Zheng, Jufeng; Zhang, Xuhui; Zheng, Jinwei; Joseph, Stephen; Pan, Genxing

2015-10-27

Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration with enhanced stable carbon storage has been widely accepted as a very important ecosystem property. Yet, the link between carbon stability and bio-activity for ecosystem functioning with OC accumulation in field soils has not been characterized. We assessed the changes in microbial activity versus carbon stability along a paddy soil chronosequence shifting from salt marsh in East China. We used mean weight diameter, normalized enzyme activity (NEA) and carbon gain from straw amendment for addressing soil aggregation, microbial biochemical activity and potential C sequestration, respectively. In addition, a response ratio was employed to infer the changes in all analyzed parameters with prolonged rice cultivation. While stable carbon pools varied with total SOC accumulation, soil respiration and both bacterial and fungal diversity were relatively constant in the rice soils. Bacterial abundance and NEA were positively but highly correlated to total SOC accumulation, indicating an enhanced bio-activity with carbon stabilization. This could be linked to an enhancement of particulate organic carbon pool due to physical protection with enhanced soil aggregation in the rice soils under long-term rice cultivation. However, the mechanism underpinning these changes should be explored in future studies in rice soils where dynamic redox conditions exist.

[Remote sensing estimation of urban forest carbon stocks based on QuickBird images].

PubMed

Xu, Li-Hua; Zhang, Jie-Cun; Huang, Bo; Wang, Huan-Huan; Yue, Wen-Ze

2014-10-01

Urban forest is one of the positive factors that increase urban carbon sequestration, which makes great contribution to the global carbon cycle. Based on the high spatial resolution imagery of QuickBird in the study area within the ring road in Yiwu, Zhejiang, the forests in the area were divided into four types, i. e., park-forest, shelter-forest, company-forest and others. With the carbon stock from sample plot as dependent variable, at the significance level of 0.01, the stepwise linear regression method was used to select independent variables from 50 factors such as band grayscale values, vegetation index, texture information and so on. Finally, the remote sensing based forest carbon stock estimation models for the four types of forest were established. The estimation accuracies for all the models were around 70%, with the total carbon reserve of each forest type in the area being estimated as 3623. 80, 5245.78, 5284.84, 5343.65 t, respectively. From the carbon density map, it was found that the carbon reserves were mainly in the range of 25-35 t · hm(-2). In the future, urban forest planners could further improve the ability of forest carbon sequestration through afforestation and interplanting of trees and low shrubs.

Greenhouse gas balance of a Scots pine forest using biometric, eddy covariance and chamber measurements.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gielen, Bert; De Vos, Bruno; Papale, Dario; Janssens, Ivan

2013-04-01

In recent years, the status of forests as sources or sinks of carbon has received much attention. Nonetheless, evidence-based long-term estimates of the magnitude of the carbon sequestration in forests are still scarce. In this study we present two independent estimates of net carbon sequestration in a temperate Scots pine dominated forest ecosystem over a 9 year period (2002-2010) and in addition, to determine the full greenhouse gas balance, the first results of automated chamber measurements of N2O and CH4. First, the net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) was estimated from net ecosystem CO2 exchange as measured by the eddy covariance technique (NECBEC). To this end, the eddy covariance estimates were combined with non-CO2 carbon fluxes such as DOC leaching and VOC emissions. The second approach to determine the carbon sequestration was based on the changes in the ecosystem carbon stocks over time (NECBSC). For this NECBSC estimate, two assessments of the ecosystem carbon stocks (2002 and 2010) were compared. Results showed that the eddy covariance approach estimated a net uptake of 2.4 ± 1.25 tC ha-1 yr-1, while the stock based approach suggested a carbon sink of 1.8 ± 1.20 tC ha-1 yr-1. No significant change was observed in the mineral soil carbon, while the carbon stock of the litter layer slightly decreased. Phytomass was thus the main carbon sink (2.1 tC ha-1 yr-1) in the pine forest, predominantly in the stems (1.3 tC ha-1 yr-1). The fact that stem wood is the main carbon sink within the ecosystem implies that the future harvesting has the potential to fully offset the CO2 uptake by this Scots pine forest. Estimates of the impact of N2O and CH4 emissions from the soil on the total greenhouse gas budget will be presented.

[Carbon sequestration in soil particle-sized fractions during reversion of desertification at Mu Us Sand land.

PubMed

Ma, Jian Ye; Tong, Xiao Gang; Li, Zhan Bin; Fu, Guang Jun; Li, Jiao; Hasier

2016-11-18

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of carbon sequestration in soil particle-sized fractions during reversion of desertification at Mu Us Sand Land, soil samples were collected from quicksand land, semifixed sand and fixed sand lands that were established by the shrub for 20-55 year-old and the arbor for 20-50 year-old at sand control region of Yulin in Northern Shaanxi Province. The dynamics and sequestration rate of soil organic carbon (SOC) associated with sand, silt and clay were measured by physical fractionation method. The results indicated that, compared with quicksand area, the carbon content in total SOC and all soil particle-sized fractions at bothsand-fixing sand forest lands showed a significant increasing trend, and the maximum carbon content was observed in the top layer of soils. From quicksand to fixed sand land with 55-year-old shrub and 50-year-old arbor, the annual sequestration rate of carbon stock in 0-5 cm soil depth was same in silt by 0.05 Mg·hm -2 ·a -1 . The increase rate of carbon sequestration in sand was 0.05 and 0.08 Mg·hm -2 ·a -1 , and in clay was 0.02 and 0.03 Mg·hm -2 ·a -1 at shrubs and arbors land, respectively. The increase rate of carbon sequestration in 0-20 cm soil layer for all the soil particles was averagely 2.1 times as that of 0-5 cm. At the annual increase rate of carbon, the stock of carbon in sand, silt and clay at the two fixed sand lands were increased by 6.7, 18.1 and 4.4 times after 50-55 year-old reversion of quicksand land to fixed sand. In addition, the average percentages that contributed to accumulation of total SOC by different particles in 0-20 cm soil were in the order of silt carbon (39.7%)≈sand carbon (34.6%) > clay carbon (25.6%). Generally, the soil particle-sized fractions had great carbon sequestration potential during reversion of desertification in Mu Us Sand Land, and the slit and sand were the main fractions for carbon sequestration at both fixed sand lands.

Towards Providing Solutions to the Air Quality Crisis in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area: Carbon Sequestration by Succulent Species in Green Roofs

PubMed Central

Collazo-Ortega, Margarita; Rosas, Ulises; Reyes-Santiago, Jerónimo

2017-01-01

INTRODUCTION: In the first months of 2016, the Mexico City Metropolitan Area experienced the worst air pollution crisis in the last decade, prompting drastic short-term solutions by the Mexico City Government and neighboring States. In order to help further the search for long-term sustainable solutions, we felt obliged to immediately release the results of our research regarding the monitoring of carbon sequestration by green roofs. Large-scale naturation, such as the implementation of green roofs, provides a way to partially mitigate the increased carbon dioxide output in urban areas. METHODS: Here, we quantified the carbon sequestration capabilities of two ornamental succulent plant species, Sedum dendroideum and Sedum rubrotinctum, which require low maintenance, and little or no irrigation. To obtain a detailed picture of these plants’ carbon sequestration capabilities, we measured carbon uptake on the Sedum plants by quantifying carbon dioxide exchange and fixation as organic acids, during the day and across the year, on a green roof located in Southern Mexico City. RESULTS: The species displayed their typical CAM photosynthetic metabolism. Moreover, our quantification allowed us to conservatively estimate that a newly planted green roof of Sedum sequesters approximately 180,000,000 ppm of carbon dioxide per year in a green roof of 100 square meters in the short term. DISCUSSION: The patterns of CAM and carbon dioxide sequestration were highly robust to the fluctuations of temperature and precipitation between seasons, and therefore we speculate that carbon sequestration would be comparable in any given year of a newly planted green roof. Older green roof would require regular trimming to mantain their carbon sink properties, but their carbon sequestration capabilities remain to be quantified. Nevertheless, we propose that Sedum green roofs can be part of the long-term solutions to mitigate the air pollution crisis in the Mexico City Metropolitan area, and other “megacities” with marked seasonal drought. PMID:28480127

Towards Providing Solutions to the Air Quality Crisis in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area: Carbon Sequestration by Succulent Species in Green Roofs.

PubMed

Collazo-Ortega, Margarita; Rosas, Ulises; Reyes-Santiago, Jerónimo

2017-03-31

In the first months of 2016, the Mexico City Metropolitan Area experienced the worst air pollution crisis in the last decade, prompting drastic short-term solutions by the Mexico City Government and neighboring States. In order to help further the search for long-term sustainable solutions, we felt obliged to immediately release the results of our research regarding the monitoring of carbon sequestration by green roofs. Large-scale naturation, such as the implementation of green roofs, provides a way to partially mitigate the increased carbon dioxide output in urban areas. Here, we quantified the carbon sequestration capabilities of two ornamental succulent plant species, Sedum dendroideum and Sedum rubrotinctum, which require low maintenance, and little or no irrigation. To obtain a detailed picture of these plants' carbon sequestration capabilities, we measured carbon uptake on the Sedum plants by quantifying carbon dioxide exchange and fixation as organic acids, during the day and across the year, on a green roof located in Southern Mexico City. The species displayed their typical CAM photosynthetic metabolism. Moreover, our quantification allowed us to conservatively estimate that a newly planted green roof of Sedum sequesters approximately 180,000,000 ppm of carbon dioxide per year in a green roof of 100 square meters in the short term. The patterns of CAM and carbon dioxide sequestration were highly robust to the fluctuations of temperature and precipitation between seasons, and therefore we speculate that carbon sequestration would be comparable in any given year of a newly planted green roof. Older green roof would require regular trimming to mantain their carbon sink properties, but their carbon sequestration capabilities remain to be quantified. Nevertheless, we propose that Sedum green roofs can be part of the long-term solutions to mitigate the air pollution crisis in the Mexico City Metropolitan area, and other "megacities" with marked seasonal drought.

[Effects of straw returning combined with medium and microelements application on soil organic carbon sequestration in cropland.

PubMed

Jiang, Zhen Hui; Shi, Jiang Lan; Jia, Zhou; Ding, Ting Ting; Tian, Xiao Hong

2016-04-22

A 52-day incubation experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of maize straw decomposition with combined medium element (S) and microelements (Fe and Zn) application on arable soil organic carbon sequestration. During the straw decomposition, the soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) content and CO 2 -C mineralization rate increased with the addition of S, Fe and Zn, respectively. Also, the cumulative CO 2 -C efflux after 52-day laboratory incubation significantly increased in the treatments with S, or Fe, or Zn addition, while there was no significant reduction of soil organic carbon content in the treatments. In addition, Fe or Zn application increased the inert C pools and their proportion, and apparent balance of soil organic carbon, indicating a promoting effect of Fe or Zn addition on soil organic carbon sequestration. In contrast, S addition decreased the proportion of inert C pools and apparent balance of soil organic carbon, indicating an adverse effect of S addition on soil organic carbon sequestration. The results suggested that when nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers were applied, inclusion of S, or Fe, or Zn in straw incorporation could promote soil organic carbon mineralization process, while organic carbon sequestration was favored by Fe or Zn addition, but not by S addition.

Biogeologic Carbon Sequestration - a Cost-Effective Proposal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaw, G. H.; Kuhns, R.

2009-05-01

Carbon sequestration has been proposed as a strategy for reducing the impact of carbon dioxide emissions from burning of fossil fuels. There are two main routes: 1) capture CO2 emissions from power plants or other large point sources followed by some form of "burial/sequestration", and 2) extraction of CO2 from the ambient atmosphere (involving substantial concentration relative to atmospheric levels) also followed by burial/sequestration. In either case the goal is to achieve significant long-term isolation of CO2 at an economically sustainable price, perhaps measured by some "market price" for CO2, such as the European carbon futures market, where the price is now (2/3/09) about 14-15/tonne of CO2. The second approach, removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, has the potential benefit of reversing the previous buildup of atmospheric CO2, and perhaps even providing a means to "adjust" terrestrial climate by regulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations. For the present, ideas of planetary "geo-engineering" are not as popular as reducing the impact of continued CO2 emissions. In fact, the energy and capital costs of extraction from a dilute atmosphere appear to make this approach uneconomical. Proposals to fertilize the open ocean suffer from concerns about long term ecosystem effects, to say nothing of a lack of verifiability. There is, however, an approach using biological systems that can not only extract significant amounts of CO2, but can do so cost-effectively. Lakes are known in which primary productivity approaches or exceeds 1gm C/cm2-yr. This equates to removal of 35,000 tonnes of CO2 per km2 per year, with a "market value" of about 500,000/yr. Such productivity only occurs under highly eutrophic conditions, and presumably requires significant nutrient additions. As such it would be unthinkable to pursue this technique on a large scale in extant lakes. If, however, it is possible to produce one or more large artificial lakes under acceptable conditions it is conceivable that this approach to carbon sequestration could prove invaluable in both the near and long term.

Developing ground penetrating radar (GPR) for enhanced root and soil organic carbon imaging: Optimizing bioenergy crop adaptation and agro-ecosystem services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hays, D. B.; Delgado, A.; Bruton, R.; Dobreva, I. D.; Teare, B.; Jessup, R.; Rajan, N.; Bishop, M. P.; Lacey, R.; Neely, H.; Hons, F.; Novo, A.

2016-12-01

Selection of the ideal high biomass energy feedstock and crop cultivars for our national energy and production needs should consider not only the value of the harvested above ground feedstock, but also the local and global environmental services it provides in terms of terrestrial carbon (C) phyto-sequestration and improved soil organic matter enrichment. Selection of ideal crops cultivars is mature, while biofuel feedstock is well under way. What is lacking, however, is high throughput phenotyping (HTP) and integrated real-time data analysis technologies for selecting ideal genotypes within these crops that also confer recalcitrant high biomass or perennial root systems not only for C phyto-sequestration, but also for adaptation to conservation agro-ecosystems, increasing soil organic matter and soil water holding capacity. In no-till systems, significant studies have shown that increasing soil organic carbon is derived primarily from root and not above ground biomass. As such, efforts to increase plant soil phyto-sequestration will require a focus on developing optimal root systems within cultivated crops. We propose to achieve a significant advancement in the use of ground penetrating radar (GPR) as one approach to phenotype root biomass and 3D architecture, and to quantify soil carbon sequestration. In this context, GPR can be used for genotypic selection in breeding nurseries and unadapted germplasm with favorable root architectures, and for assessing management and nutrient practices that promote root growth. GPR has been used for over a decade to successfully map coarse woody roots. Only few have evaluated its efficacy for imaging finer fibrous roots found in grasses, or tap root species. The objectives of this project is to: i) Empirically define the optimal ground penetrating radar (GPR)-antenna array for 3D root and soil organic carbon imaging and quantification in high biomass grass systems; and ii) Develop novel 3- and 4-dimensional data analysis methodologies for using GPR for non-invasive crop root and soil C phyto-sequestration 3-D imaging and quantification within a spatially variable soil matrix. Current results and future directions will be presented and discussed.

Negative Emissions Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Day, Danny

2006-04-01

Although `negative emissions' of carbon dioxide need not, in principle, involve use of biological processes to draw carbon out of the atmosphere, such `agricultural' sequestration' is the only known way to remove carbon from the atmosphere on time scales comparable to the time scale for anthropogenic increases in carbon emissions. In order to maintain the `negative emissions' the biomass must be used in such a way that the resulting carbon dioxide is separated and permanently sequestered. Two options for sequestration are in the topsoil and via geologic carbon sequestration. The former has multiple benefits, but the latter also is needed. Thus, although geologic carbon sequestration is viewed skeptically by some environmentalists as simply a way to keep using fossil fuels---it may be a key part of reversing accelerating climate forcing if rapid climate change is beginning to occur. I will first review the general approach of agricultural sequestration combined with use of resulting biofuels in a way that permits carbon separation and then geologic sequestration as a negative emissions technology. Then I discuss the process that is the focus of my company---the EPRIDA cycle. If deployed at a sufficiently large scale, it could reverse the increase in CO2 concentrations. I also estimate of benefits --carbon and other---of large scale deployment of negative emissions technologies. For example, using the EPRIDA cycle by planting and soil sequestering carbon in an area abut In 3X the size of Texas would remove the amount of carbon that is being accumulated worldwide each year. In addition to the atmospheric carbon removal, the EPRIDA approach also counters the depletion of carbon in the soil---increasing topsoil and its fertility; reduces the excess nitrogen in the water by eliminating the need for ammonium nitrate fertilizer and reduces fossil fuel reliance by providing biofuel and avoiding natural gas based fertilizer production.

Soil carbon

Treesearch

Charles H. Perry; Michael C. Amacher

2007-01-01

Why Is Soil Carbon Important? The sequestration of carbon by forest and agricultural soils has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas concentrations (Pacala and Socolow 2004). Many countries are implementing field inventories of soil carbon, often combined with data from other sources, to estimate soil carbon sequestration rates and amounts (Kurz and Apps...

Is a Clean Development Mechanism project economically justified? Case study of an International Carbon Sequestration Project in Iran.

PubMed

Katircioglu, Salih; Dalir, Sara; Olya, Hossein G

2016-01-01

The present study evaluates a carbon sequestration project for the three plant species in arid and semiarid regions of Iran. Results show that Haloxylon performed appropriately in the carbon sequestration process during the 6 years of the International Carbon Sequestration Project (ICSP). In addition to a high degree of carbon dioxide sequestration, Haloxylon shows high compatibility with severe environmental conditions and low maintenance costs. Financial and economic analysis demonstrated that the ICSP was justified from an economic perspective. The financial assessment showed that net present value (NPV) (US$1,098,022.70), internal rate of return (IRR) (21.53%), and payback period (6 years) were in an acceptable range. The results of the economic analysis suggested an NPV of US$4,407,805.15 and an IRR of 50.63%. Therefore, results of this study suggest that there are sufficient incentives for investors to participate in such kind of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects.

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-06-19

Carbon capture and sequestration (or storage)known as CCShas attracted interest as a : measure for mitigating global climate change because large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) : emitted from fossil fuel use in the United States are potentiall...

Direct gas-solid carbonation kinetics of steel slag and the contribution to in situ sequestration of flue gas CO(2) in steel-making plants.

PubMed

Tian, Sicong; Jiang, Jianguo; Chen, Xuejing; Yan, Feng; Li, Kaimin

2013-12-01

Direct gas-solid carbonation of steel slag under various operational conditions was investigated to determine the sequestration of the flue gas CO2 . X-ray diffraction analysis of steel slag revealed the existence of portlandite, which provided a maximum theoretical CO2 sequestration potential of 159.4 kg CO 2 tslag (-1) as calculated by the reference intensity ratio method. The carbonation reaction occurred through a fast kinetically controlled stage with an activation energy of 21.29 kJ mol(-1) , followed by 10(3) orders of magnitude slower diffusion-controlled stage with an activation energy of 49.54 kJ mol(-1) , which could be represented by a first-order reaction kinetic equation and the Ginstling equation, respectively. Temperature, CO2 concentration, and the presence of SO2 impacted on the carbonation conversion of steel slag through their direct and definite influence on the rate constants. Temperature was the most important factor influencing the direct gas-solid carbonation of steel slag in terms of both the carbonation conversion and reaction rate. CO2 concentration had a definite influence on the carbonation rate during the kinetically controlled stage, and the presence of SO2 at typical flue gas concentrations enhanced the direct gas-solid carbonation of steel slag. Carbonation conversions between 49.5 % and 55.5 % were achieved in a typical flue gas at 600 °C, with the maximum CO2 sequestration amount generating 88.5 kg CO 2 tslag (-1) . Direct gas-solid carbonation of steel slag showed a rapid CO2 sequestration rate, high CO2 sequestration amounts, low raw-material costs, and a large potential for waste heat utilization, which is promising for in situ carbon capture and sequestration in the steel industry. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

An Analysis of the Climate Change Mitigation Potential through Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration in a Corn Belt Watershed.

PubMed

Bhattarai, Mukesh Dev; Secchi, Silvia; Schoof, Justin

2017-01-01

Land-based carbon sequestration constitutes a major low cost and immediately viable option in climate change mitigation. Using downscaled data from eight atmosphere-ocean general circulation models for a simulation period between 2015 and 2099, we examine the carbon sequestration potential of alternative agricultural land uses in an intensively farmed Corn Belt watershed and the impact of climate change on crop yields. Our results show that switching from conventional tillage continuous corn to no-till corn-soybean can sequester the equivalent of 192.1 MtCO 2 eq of soil organic carbon per hectare with a sequestration rate of 2.26 MtCO 2 eq ha -1 yr -1 . Our results also indicate that switchgrass can sequester the equivalent of 310.7 MtCO 2 eq of soil organic carbon per hectare with a sequestration rate of 3.65 MtCO 2 eq ha -1 yr -1 . Our findings suggest that, unlike for corn and soybean yields, climate change does not have a significant effect on switchgrass yields, possibly due to the carbon fertilization effect.

An Analysis of the Climate Change Mitigation Potential through Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration in a Corn Belt Watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhattarai, Mukesh Dev; Secchi, Silvia; Schoof, Justin

2017-01-01

Land-based carbon sequestration constitutes a major low cost and immediately viable option in climate change mitigation. Using downscaled data from eight atmosphere-ocean general circulation models for a simulation period between 2015 and 2099, we examine the carbon sequestration potential of alternative agricultural land uses in an intensively farmed Corn Belt watershed and the impact of climate change on crop yields. Our results show that switching from conventional tillage continuous corn to no-till corn-soybean can sequester the equivalent of 192.1 MtCO2 eq of soil organic carbon per hectare with a sequestration rate of 2.26 MtCO2 eq ha-1 yr-1. Our results also indicate that switchgrass can sequester the equivalent of 310.7 MtCO2 eq of soil organic carbon per hectare with a sequestration rate of 3.65 MtCO2 eq ha-1 yr-1. Our findings suggest that, unlike for corn and soybean yields, climate change does not have a significant effect on switchgrass yields, possibly due to the carbon fertilization effect.

The Future of Low-Carbon Electricity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Greenblatt, Jeffery B.; Brown, Nicholas R.; Slaybaugh, Rachel

Here, we review future global demand for electricity and major technologies positioned to supply itwith minimal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: renewables (wind, solar, water, geothermal and biomass), nuclear fission, and fossil power with CO 2 capture and sequestration. Two breakthrough technologies (space solar power and nuclear fusion) are discussed as exciting but uncertain additional options for low net GHG emissions (“low-carbon”) electricity generation. Grid integration technologies (monitoring and forecasting of transmission and distribution systems, demand-side load management, energy storage, and load balancing with low-carbon fuel substitutes) are also discussed. For each topic, recent historical trends and future prospects are reviewed,more » along with technical challenges, costs and other issues as appropriate. While no technology represents an ideal solution, their strengths can be enhanced by deployment in combination, along with grid integration that forms a critical set of enabling technologies to assure a reliable and robust future low-carbon electricity system.« less

The Future of Low-Carbon Electricity

DOE PAGES

Greenblatt, Jeffery B.; Brown, Nicholas R.; Slaybaugh, Rachel; ...

2017-07-10

Here, we review future global demand for electricity and major technologies positioned to supply itwith minimal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: renewables (wind, solar, water, geothermal and biomass), nuclear fission, and fossil power with CO 2 capture and sequestration. Two breakthrough technologies (space solar power and nuclear fusion) are discussed as exciting but uncertain additional options for low net GHG emissions (“low-carbon”) electricity generation. Grid integration technologies (monitoring and forecasting of transmission and distribution systems, demand-side load management, energy storage, and load balancing with low-carbon fuel substitutes) are also discussed. For each topic, recent historical trends and future prospects are reviewed,more » along with technical challenges, costs and other issues as appropriate. While no technology represents an ideal solution, their strengths can be enhanced by deployment in combination, along with grid integration that forms a critical set of enabling technologies to assure a reliable and robust future low-carbon electricity system.« less

Submicron structures provide preferential spots for carbon and nitrogen sequestration in soils

PubMed Central

Vogel, Cordula; Mueller, Carsten W.; Höschen, Carmen; Buegger, Franz; Heister, Katja; Schulz, Stefanie; Schloter, Michael; Kögel-Knabner, Ingrid

2014-01-01

The sequestration of carbon and nitrogen by clay-sized particles in soils is well established, and clay content or mineral surface area has been used to estimate the sequestration potential of soils. Here, via incubation of a sieved (<2 mm) topsoil with labelled litter, we find that only some of the clay-sized surfaces bind organic matter (OM). Surprisingly, <19% of the visible mineral areas show an OM attachment. OM is preferentially associated with organo-mineral clusters with rough surfaces. By combining nano-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry and isotopic tracing, we distinguish between new labelled and pre-existing OM and show that new OM is preferentially attached to already present organo-mineral clusters. These results, which provide evidence that only a limited proportion of the clay-sized surfaces contribute to OM sequestration, revolutionize our view of carbon sequestration in soils and the widely used carbon saturation estimates. PMID:24399306

Capacity of US Forests to Maintain Existing Carbon Sequestration will be affected by Changes in Forest Disturbances and to a greater extent, the Economic and Societal Influences on Forest Management and Land Use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joyce, L. A.; Running, S. W.; Breshears, D. D.; Dale, V.; Malmsheimer, R. W.; Sampson, N.; Sohngen, B.; Woodall, C. W.

2012-12-01

Increasingly the value of US forest carbon dynamics and carbon sequestration is being recognized in discussions of adaptation and mitigation to climate change. Past exploitation of forestlands in the United States for timber, fuelwood, and conversion to agriculture resulted in large swings in forestland area and terrestrial carbon dynamics. The National Climate Assessment explored the implications of current and future stressors, including climate change, to the future of forest carbon dynamics in the United States. While U.S forests and associated harvested wood products sequestered roughly 13 percent of all carbon dioxide emitted in the United States in 2010, the capacity of forests to maintain this amount of carbon sequestration will be affected by the effects of climate change on forest disturbances, tree growth and mortality, changes in species composition, and to a greater extent, the economic and societal influences on forest management and forestland use. Carbon mitigation through forest management includes three strategies: 1) land management to increase forest area (afforestation) and/or avoid deforestation; 2) carbon management in existing forests; and 3) use of wood in place of materials that require more carbon emissions to produce, in place of fossil fuels to produce energy or in wood products for carbon storage. A significant financial incentive facing many private forest owners is the value of their forest lands for conversion to urban or developed uses. In addition, consequences of large scale die-off and wildfire disturbance events from climate change pose major challenges to forestland area and forest management with potential impacts occurring up to regional scales for timber, flooding and erosion risks, other changes in water budgets, and biogeochemical changes including carbon storage. Options for carbon management on existing forests include practices that increase forest growth such as fertilization, irrigation, switch to fast-growing planting stock and shorter rotations, and weed, disease, and insect control, and increasing the interval between harvests or decreasing harvest intensity. Economic drivers will affect future carbon cycle of forests such as shifts in forest age class structure in response to markets, land-use changes such as urbanization, and forest type changes. Future changes in forestland objectives include the potential for bioenergy based on forestland resources, which is as large as 504 million acres of timberland and 91 million acres of other forest land out of the 751 million acres of U.S. forestland. Implications of forest product use for bioenergy depend on the context of specific locations such as feedstock type and prior management, land conditions, transport and storage logistics, conversion processes used to produce energy, distribution and use. Markets for energy from biomass appear to be ready to grow in response to energy pricing, policy and demand, although recent increases in the supply of natural gas have reduced urgency for new biomass projects. Beyond use in the forest industry and some residences, biopower is not a large-scale enterprise in the United States. Societal choices about forest policy will also affect the carbon cycles on public and private forestland.

Expanding site productivity research to sustain non-timber forest functions

Treesearch

D. Andrew Scott; James A. Burger; Barbara Crane

2006-01-01

Southern forests produce multiple products and services including timber, wildlife habitat, species bio- and genetic divenity, water quality and control, waste remediation, recreation, and carbon sequestration. All of these benefits must be produced in a sustainable manner to meet today's societal needs without compromising future needs. A forest site is...

Integrating Blue Carbon Initiatives with the Management of Wildlife Cobenefits: a Case Study at the Nisqually River Delta, WA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woo, I.; De La Cruz, S.; Windham-Myers, L.; Thorne, K.; Drexler, J. Z.; Byrd, K. B.; Bergamaschi, B. A.; Davis, M.; Anderson, F. E.; Ballanti, L.; Zhu, Z.; Schmerfeld, J.; Johnson, K.; Nakai, G.

2016-12-01

Carbon transport, cycling, and storage within coastal wetlands are amongst the most fundamental processes that support estuarine ecosystem services. In addition to providing habitat and trophic support for wildlife populations and fisheries, coastal wetlands accumulate and store carbon at significant rates. By capturing and storing carbon in soils, coastal wetland can play a vital role in offsetting greenhouse gasses, thereby helping mitigate the impacts of climate change. Estuarine restoration has significant potential to simultaneously increase carbon sequestration and ecosystem functioning for wildlife, linking traditional objectives of protecting, restoring, and managing diverse wetlands to support a broad array of species and their habitats with carbon sequestration initiatives. The Nisqually River Delta is the largest wetland restoration in the Pacific Northwest and is an ideal site to document the carbon co-benefits of a restoring and natural marsh. We compared the sources of carbon that enter food webs to carbon that has accumulated in soils. Juvenile Chinook foodwebs incorporated freshwater/brackish as well as estuarine-derived carbon sources. Soil carbon inputs reflected relatively recent estuarine restoration and a century of diked agricultural and fallow field land use history. A Net Ecosystem Carbon Balance will use EC flux towers to quantify CO2 and CH4 atmospheric flux and constrain aqueous dissolved carbon flux in channels. Ultimately, we will assess the resiliency of tidal marsh under past, present, and future sediment delivery scenarios. Past and present sedimentation data will be analyzed from our soil cores. Future scenarios incorporating potential management strategies to increase sediment delivery onto the delta will be leveraged with existing studies of hydrodynamics and sedimentation models. These scenarios will be used as model inputs to assess the viability of marshes as a result of prospective management strategies and sea-level rise. Historical and current imagery using a hierarchical classification framework and object based image classification system will be used to assess habitat change. Future habitat potential will be mapped based on management scenarios, hydrodynamic/sedimentation model outputs, and marsh resiliency model outputs.

Carbon storage in young growth coast redwood stands

Treesearch

Dryw A. Jones; Kevin A. O' Hara

2012-01-01

Carbon sequestration is an emerging forest management objective within California and around the world. With the passage of the California's Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32) our need to understand the dynamics of carbon sequestration and to accurately measure carbon storage is essential to insure successful implementation of carbon credit projects throughout...

Carbon Sequestration in Wetland Soils of the Northern Gulf of Mexico Coastal Region

EPA Science Inventory

Coastal wetlands play an important but complex role in the global carbon cycle, contributing to the ecosystem service of greenhouse gas regulation through carbon sequestration. Although coastal wetlands occupy a small percent of the total US land area, their potential for carbon...

Quantifying and Mapping the Supply of and Demand for Carbon Storage and Sequestration Service from Urban Trees

PubMed Central

Zhao, Chang; Sander, Heather A.

2015-01-01

Studies that assess the distribution of benefits provided by ecosystem services across urban areas are increasingly common. Nevertheless, current knowledge of both the supply and demand sides of ecosystem services remains limited, leaving a gap in our understanding of balance between ecosystem service supply and demand that restricts our ability to assess and manage these services. The present study seeks to fill this gap by developing and applying an integrated approach to quantifying the supply and demand of a key ecosystem service, carbon storage and sequestration, at the local level. This approach follows three basic steps: (1) quantifying and mapping service supply based upon Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) processing and allometric models, (2) quantifying and mapping demand for carbon sequestration using an indicator based on local anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and (3) mapping a supply-to-demand ratio. We illustrate this approach using a portion of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area of Minnesota, USA. Our results indicate that 1735.69 million kg carbon are stored by urban trees in our study area. Annually, 33.43 million kg carbon are sequestered by trees, whereas 3087.60 million kg carbon are emitted by human sources. Thus, carbon sequestration service provided by urban trees in the study location play a minor role in combating climate change, offsetting approximately 1% of local anthropogenic carbon emissions per year, although avoided emissions via storage in trees are substantial. Our supply-to-demand ratio map provides insight into the balance between carbon sequestration supply in urban trees and demand for such sequestration at the local level, pinpointing critical locations where higher levels of supply and demand exist. Such a ratio map could help planners and policy makers to assess and manage the supply of and demand for carbon sequestration. PMID:26317530

U.S. Department of Energy's Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership Program: Overview

USGS Publications Warehouse

Litynski, J.; Plasynski, S.; Spangler, L.; Finley, R.; Steadman, E.; Ball, D.; Nemeth, K.J.; McPherson, B.; Myer, L.

2009-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has formed a nationwide network of seven regional partnerships to help determine the best approaches for capturing and permanently storing gases that can contribute to global climate change. The Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs) are tasked with determining the most suitable technologies, regulations, and infrastructure for carbon capture, transport, and storage in their areas of the country and parts of Canada. The seven partnerships include more than 350 state agencies, universities, national laboratories, private companies, and environmental organizations, spanning 42 states, two Indian nations, and four Canadian provinces. The Regional Partnerships initiative is being implemented in three phases: ???Characterization Phase (2003-2005): The objective was to collect data on CO2 sources and sinks and develop the human capital to support and enable future carbon sequestration field tests and deployments. The completion of this Phase was marked by release of the Carbon Sequestration Atlas of the United States and Canada-Version 1 which included a common methodology for capacity assessment and reported over 3,000GT of storage capacity in saline formations, depleted oil and gas fields, and coal seams.???Validation Phase (2005-2009): The objective is to plan and implement small-scale (<1??million tons CO2) field testing of storage technologies in areas determined to be favorable for carbon storage. The partnerships are currently conducting over 20 small-scale geologic field tests and 11 terrestrial field tests.???Development Phase (2008-2018): The primary objective is the development of large-scale (>1??million tons of CO2) Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects, which will demonstrate that large volumes of CO2 can be injected safely, permanently, and economically into geologic formations representative of large storage capacity. Even though the RCSP Program is being implemented in three phases, it should be viewed as an integrated whole, with many of the goals and objectives transitioning from one phase to the next. Accomplishments and results from the Characterization Phase have helped to refine goals and activities in the Validation and Deployment Phases. The RCSP Program encourages and requires open information sharing among its members by sponsoring both general workshops and meetings to facilitate information exchange. Although each RCSP has its own objectives and field tests, mutual cooperation has been an important part of the Program thus far. The primary goal of the RCSP initiative is to promote the development of a regional framework and the infrastructure necessary to validate and deploy carbon sequestration technologies within each Partnership's region. ?? 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Soil organic carbon sequestration potential and gap of the sub-tropical region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiti, T.; Santini, M.; Valentini, R.

2012-04-01

A database of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks was created for the sub-tropical belt using existing global SOC databases (WISE3; various SOTER) and new data from an ongoing project (ERC Africa-GHG) specific for the tropical forests of the African continent. The intent of this database is to evaluate the sequestration potential of a critical area of the world where most of the primary rainforests are located, and actually show undoubtedly high SOC losses associated with deforestation. About 4100 profiles, quite well distributed over the entire sub-tropical belt, were used to calculate the actual SOC stock for the 0-30 cm and 30-100 cm depths of mineral soil. First, this actual SOC stock has been related to the current Land Use Systems; successively, it has been interpolated taking into account Homogeneous Land Units (HLUs) in terms of soil type, climate zone and land use. Then, relying on consistent projections, of both climate and land use changes, for the years 2050 and 2100 under extremes IPCC-SRES emission scenarios such as the B1 and the A2, potential SOC stocks for these time frames has been calculated. Soil carbon sequestration gap is calculated by the difference of the actual SOC stock and the future projections. When subtracting potential from the actual SOC stocks, negative values represent a gap in terms of possible SOC losses and so reduced carbon sequestration. The soil carbon gap indicates locations where there will be low soil-carbon levels associated with medium-to-high actual SOC stocks, and medium soil-carbon levels associated with high actual SOC stocks, depending on soil type, climate and land use conditions. On the long term, 2076-2100, a SOC gap is observed under all scenarios in South America, just below the Amazonia basin, where are located open and fragmented forests. However, in the Amazonia basin deforestation decrease since no sensible SOC losses were observed. An important gap is observed also in the Congo basin and West Africa, but the gap is more fragmented in small spots than that observed in South America. Forests of Asia seems to be less interested from SOC losses and the projections show almost no gaps under both scenarios. The soil organic carbon sequestration potential database is intended to provide an indication at the regional level of the potential for policy makers to provide environmental services and drive specific policy to increase sustainable land management.

Plant Nitrogen Uptake in Terrestrial Biogeochemical Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marti, Alejandro; Cox, Peter; Sitch, Stephen; Jones, Chris; Liddicoat, spencer

2013-04-01

Most terrestrial biogeochemical models featured in the last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) Assessment Report highlight the importance of the terrestrial Carbon sequestration and feedbacks between the terrestrial Carbon cycle and the climate system. However, these models have been criticized for overestimating predicted Carbon sequestration and its potential climate feedback when calculating the rate of future climate change because they do not account for the Carbon sequestration constraints caused by nutrient limitation, particularly Nitrogen (N). This is particularly relevant considering the existence of a substantial deficit of Nitrogen for plants in most areas of the world. To date, most climate models assume that plants have access to as much Nitrogen as needed, but ignore the nutrient requirements for new vegetation growth. Determining the natural demand and acquisition for Nitrogen and its associated resource optimization is key when accounting for the Carbon sequestration constrains caused by nutrient limitation. The few climate models that include C-N dynamics have illustrated that the stimulation of plant growth over the coming century may be two to three times smaller than previously predicted. This reduction in growth is partially offset by an increase in the availability of nutrients resulting from an accelerated rate of decomposition of dead plants and other organic matter that occurring with a rise in temperature. However, this offset does not counterbalance the reduced level of plant growth calculated by natural nutrient limitations. Additionally, Nitrogen limitation is also expected to become more pronounced in some ecosystems as atmospheric CO2 concentration increases; resulting in less new growth and higher atmospheric CO2 concentrations than originally expected. This study compares alternative models of plant N uptake as found in different terrestrial biogeochemical models against field measurements, and introduces a new N-uptake model to the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES).. Acknowledgements This work has been funded by the European Commission FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-2008 Marie Curie Action: "Greencycles II: FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-2008 Marie Curie Action: "Networks for Initial Training"

Economics- and policy-driven organic carbon input enhancement dominates soil organic carbon accumulation in Chinese croplands.

PubMed

Zhao, Yongcun; Wang, Meiyan; Hu, Shuijin; Zhang, Xudong; Ouyang, Zhu; Zhang, Ganlin; Huang, Biao; Zhao, Shiwei; Wu, Jinshui; Xie, Deti; Zhu, Bo; Yu, Dongsheng; Pan, Xianzhang; Xu, Shengxiang; Shi, Xuezheng

2018-04-17

China's croplands have experienced drastic changes in management practices, such as fertilization, tillage, and residue treatments, since the 1980s. There is an ongoing debate about the impact of these changes on soil organic carbon (SOC) and its implications. Here we report results from an extensive study that provided direct evidence of cropland SOC sequestration in China. Based on the soil sampling locations recorded by the Second National Soil Survey of China in 1980, we collected 4,060 soil samples in 2011 from 58 counties that represent the typical cropping systems across China. Our results showed that across the country, the average SOC stock in the topsoil (0-20 cm) increased from 28.6 Mg C ha -1 in 1980 to 32.9 Mg C ha -1 in 2011, representing a net increase of 140 kg C ha -1 year -1 However, the SOC change differed among the major agricultural regions: SOC increased in all major agronomic regions except in Northeast China. The SOC sequestration was largely attributed to increased organic inputs driven by economics and policy: while higher root biomass resulting from enhanced crop productivity by chemical fertilizers predominated before 2000, higher residue inputs following the large-scale implementation of crop straw/stover return policy took over thereafter. The SOC change was negatively related to N inputs in East China, suggesting that the excessive N inputs, plus the shallowness of plow layers, may constrain the future C sequestration in Chinese croplands. Our results indicate that cropland SOC sequestration can be achieved through effectively manipulating economic and policy incentives to farmers.

Soil organic carbon sequestration in cotton production systems of the southeastern United States: a review.

PubMed

Causarano, H J; Franzluebbers, A J; Reeves, D W; Shaw, J N

2006-01-01

Past agricultural management practices have contributed to the loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) and emission of greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide). Fortunately, however, conservation-oriented agricultural management systems can be, and have been, developed to sequester SOC, improve soil quality, and increase crop productivity. Our objectives were to (i) review literature related to SOC sequestration in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) production systems, (ii) recommend best management practices to sequester SOC, and (iii) outline the current political scenario and future probabilities for cotton producers to benefit from SOC sequestration. From a review of 20 studies in the region, SOC increased with no tillage compared with conventional tillage by 0.48 +/- 0.56 Mg C ha(-1) yr(-1) (H(0): no change, p < 0.001). More diverse rotations of cotton with high-residue-producing crops such as corn (Zea mays L.) and small grains would sequester greater quantities of SOC than continuous cotton. No-tillage cropping with a cover crop sequestered 0.67 +/- 0.63 Mg C ha(-1) yr(-1), while that of no-tillage cropping without a cover crop sequestered 0.34 +/- 47 Mg C ha(-1) yr(-1) (mean comparison, p = 0.04). Current government incentive programs recommend agricultural practices that would contribute to SOC sequestration. Participation in the Conservation Security Program could lead to government payments of up to Dollars 20 ha(-1). Current open-market trading of C credits would appear to yield less than Dollars 3 ha(-1), although prices would greatly increase should a government policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions be mandated.

The contribution of China's Grain to Green Programto carbon and water cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, W.

2017-12-01

The Chinese government started implementation of the Grain for Green Project (GGP) in 1999, aiming to convert cropland to forestland to mitigate soil erosion problems in areas across the country. Although the project has generated substantial environmental benefits, such as erosion reduction, carbon sequestration and water quality improvements, the magnitude of these benefits has not yet been well quantified due to the lack of location specific data describing the afforestation efforts. Remote sensing is well suited to detect afforestation locations, a prerequisite for estimating the impacts of the project on carbon and water cycles. In this study, we first examined the practicability of using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover product to detect afforestation locations; however, the results showed that the MODIS product failed to distinguish the afforestation areas of GGP. Then, we used a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series analysis approach for detecting afforestation locations, applying statistical data to determine the NDVI threshold of converted croplands. The technique provided the necessary information for location of afforestation implemented under GGP, explaining 85% of conversion from cropland to forestlands across all provinces. Second, we estimated the changes in carbon fluxes and stocks caused by forests converted from croplands under the GGP using a process-based ecosystem model (i.e., IBIS). Our results showed that the converted areas from croplands to forests under the GGP program could sequester 110.45 Tg C by 2020, and 524.36 Tg C by the end of this century. The sequestration capacity showed substantial spatial variations with large sequestration in southern China. The economic benefits of carbon sequestration from the GGP were also estimated according to the current carbon price. The estimated economic benefits ranged from 8.84 to 44.20 billion from 2000 through 2100, which may exceed the current total investment ($38.99 billion) on the program. As the GGP program continues and forests grow, the impact of this program will be even larger in the future, making a more considerable contribution to China's carbon sink over the upcoming decades.

Impacts of urban forests on offsetting carbon emissions from industrial energy use in Hangzhou, China.

PubMed

Zhao, Min; Kong, Zheng-hong; Escobedo, Francisco J; Gao, Jun

2010-01-01

This study quantified carbon storage and sequestration by urban forests and carbon emissions from energy consumption by several industrial sources in Hangzhou, China. Carbon (C) storage and sequestration were quantified using urban forest inventory data and by applying volume-derived biomass equations and other models relating net primary productivity (NPP) and mean annual biomass increments. Industrial energy use C emissions were estimated by accounting for fossil fuel use and assigning C emission factors. Total C storage by Hangzhou's urban forests was estimated at 11.74 Tg C, and C storage per hectare was 30.25 t C. Carbon sequestration by urban forests was 1,328, 166.55 t C/year, and C sequestration per ha was 1.66 t C/ha/year. Carbon emissions from industrial energy use in Hangzhou were 7 Tg C/year. Urban forests, through sequestration, annually offset 18.57% of the amount of carbon emitted by industrial enterprises, and store an amount of C equivalent to 1.75 times the amount of annual C emitted by industrial energy uses within the city. Management practices for improving Hangzhou's urban forests function of offsetting C emissions from energy consumption are explored. These results can be used to evaluate the urban forests' role in reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Algae-Based Carbon Sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haoyang, Cai

2018-03-01

Our civilization is facing a series of environmental problems, including global warming and climate change, which are caused by the accumulation of green house gases in the atmosphere. This article will briefly analyze the current global warming problem and propose a method that we apply algae cultivation to absorb carbon and use shellfish to sequestrate it. Despite the importance of decreasing CO2 emissions or developing carbon-free energy sources, carbon sequestration should be a key issue, since the amount of carbon dioxide that already exists in the atmosphere is great enough to cause global warming. Algae cultivation would be a good choice because they have high metabolism rates and provides shellfish with abundant food that contains carbon. Shellfish’s shells, which are difficult to be decomposed, are reliable storage of carbon, compared to dead organisms like trees and algae. The amount of carbon that can be sequestrated by shellfish is considerable. However, the sequestrating rate of algae and shellfish is not high enough to affect the global climate. Research on algae and shellfish cultivation, including gene technology that aims to create “super plants” and “super shellfish”, is decisive to the solution. Perhaps the baton of history will shift to gene technology, from nuclear physics that has lost appropriate international environment after the end of the Cold War. Gene technology is vital to human survival.

Dynamics and climate change mitigation potential of soil organic carbon sequestration.

PubMed

Sommer, Rolf; Bossio, Deborah

2014-11-01

When assessing soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration and its climate change (CC) mitigation potential at global scale, the dynamic nature of soil carbon storage and interventions to foster it should be taken into account. Firstly, adoption of SOC-sequestration measures will take time, and reasonably such schemes could only be implemented gradually at large-scale. Secondly, if soils are managed as carbon sinks, then SOC will increase only over a limited time, up to the point when a new SOC equilibrium is reached. This paper combines these two processes and predicts potential SOC sequestration dynamics in agricultural land at global scale and the corresponding CC mitigation potential. Assuming that global governments would agree on a worldwide effort to gradually change land use practices towards turning agricultural soils into carbon sinks starting 2014, the projected 87-year (2014-2100) global SOC sequestration potential of agricultural land ranged between 31 and 64 Gt. This is equal to 1.9-3.9% of the SRES-A2 projected 87-year anthropogenic emissions. SOC sequestration would peak 2032-33, at that time reaching 4.3-8.9% of the projected annual SRES-A2 emission. About 30 years later the sequestration rate would have reduced by half. Thus, SOC sequestration is not a C wedge that could contribute increasingly to mitigating CC. Rather, the mitigation potential is limited, contributing very little to solving the climate problem of the coming decades. However, we deliberately did not elaborate on the importance of maintaining or increasing SOC for sustaining soil health, agro-ecosystem functioning and productivity; an issue of global significance that deserves proper consideration irrespectively of any potential additional sequestration of SOC. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estimating Ecosystem Carbon Stock Change in the Conterminous United States from 1971 to 2010

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, J.; Sleeter, B. M.; Zhu, Z.; Loveland, T. R.; Sohl, T.; Howard, S. M.; Hawbaker, T. J.; Liu, S.; Heath, L. S.; Cochrane, M. A.; Key, C. H.; Jiang, H.; Price, D. T.; Chen, J. M.

2015-12-01

There is significant geographic variability in U.S. ecosystem carbon sequestration due to natural and human environmental conditions. Climate change, natural disturbance and human land use are the major driving forces that can alter local and regional carbon sequestration rates. In this study, a comprehensive environmental input dataset (1-km resolution) was developed and used in the process-based Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS) to quantify the U.S. carbon stock changes from 1971-2010, which potentially forms a baseline for future U.S. carbon scenarios. The key environmental data sources include land cover change information from more than 2,600 sample blocks across U.S. (10-km by 10-km in size, 60-m resolution, 1973-2000), wildland fire scar and burn severity information (30-m resolution, 1984-2010), vegetation canopy percentage and live biomass level (30-m resolution, ~2000), spatially heterogeneous atmospheric carbon dioxide and nitrogen deposition (~50-km resolution, 2003-2009), and newly available climate (4-km resolution, 1895-2010) and soil variables (1-km resolution, ~2000). The IBIS simulated the effects of atmospheric CO2 fertilization, nitrogen deposition, climate change, fire, logging, and deforestation/devegetation on ecosystem carbon changes. Multiple comparable simulations were implemented to quantify the contributions of key environmental drivers.

Soil carbon sequestration and forest management: challenges and opportunities

Treesearch

Coeli M. Hoover

2003-01-01

The subject of the effects of forest management activities on soil carbon is a difficult one to address, but ongoing discussions of carbon sequestration as an emissions offset and the emergence of carbon-credit-trading systems necessitate that we broaden and deepen our understanding of the response of forest-soil carbon pools to forest management. There have been...

How to estimate carbon sequestration on small forest tracts estimate carbon sequestration on small forest tracts

Treesearch

Coeli M. Hoover; Richard A. Birdsey; Linda S. Heath; Susan L. Stout

2000-01-01

International climate change agreements may allow carbon stored as a result of afforestation and reforestation to be used to offset CO2 emissions. Monitoring the carbon sequestered or released through forest management activities thus becomes important. Estimating forest carbon storage is feasible even for nonindustrial private forestland (NIPF)...

Land-use changes and carbon sequestration through the twentieth century in a Mediterranean mountain ecosystem: implications for land management.

PubMed

Padilla, Francisco M; Vidal, Beatriz; Sánchez, Joaquín; Pugnaire, Francisco I

2010-12-01

Ecosystems in the western Mediterranean basin have undergone intense changes in land use throughout the centuries, resulting in areas with severe alterations. Today, most these areas have become sensitive to human activity, prone to profound changes in land-use configuration and ecosystem services. A consensus exists amongst stakeholders that ecosystem services must be preserved but managerial strategies that help to preserve them while ensuring sustainability are often inadequate. To provide a basis for measuring implications of land-use change on carbon sequestration services, changes in land use and associated carbon sequestration potential throughout the 20th century in a rural area at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range (SE Spain) were explored. We found that forest systems replaced dryland farming and pastures from the middle of the century onwards as a result of agricultural abandonment and afforestation programs. The area has always acted as a carbon sink with sequestration rates ranging from 28,961 t CO(2) year(-1) in 1921 to 60,635 t CO(2) year(-1) in 1995, mirroring changes in land use. Conversion from pastures to woodland, for example, accounted for an increase in carbon sequestration above 30,000 t CO(2) year(-1) by the end of the century. However, intensive deforestation would imply a decrease of approximately 66% of the bulk CO(2) fixed. In our study area, woodland conservation is essential to maintain the ecosystem services that underlie carbon sequestration. Our essay could inspire policymakers to better achieve goals of increasing carbon sequestration rates and sustainability within protected areas. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of composition, invasives, and maintenance emissions on urban forest carbon stocks.

PubMed

Horn, Josh; Escobedo, Francisco J; Hinkle, Ross; Hostetler, Mark; Timilsina, Nilesh

2015-02-01

There are few field-based, empirical studies quantifying the effect of invasive trees and palms and maintenance-related carbon emissions on changes in urban forest carbon stocks. We estimated carbon (C) stock changes and tree maintenance-related C emissions in a subtropical urban forest by re-measuring a subsample of residential permanent plots during 2009 and 2011, using regional allometric biomass equations, and surveying residential homeowners near Orlando, FL, USA. The effect of native, non-native, invasive tree species and palms on C stocks and sequestration was also quantified. Findings show 17.8 tC/ha in stocks and 1.2 tC/ha/year of net sequestration. The most important species both by frequency of C stocks and sequestration were Quercus laurifolia Michx. and Quercus virginiana Mill., accounting for 20% of all the trees measured; 60% of carbon stocks and over 75% of net C sequestration. Palms contributed to less than 1% of the total C stocks. Natives comprised two-thirds of the tree population and sequestered 90% of all C, while invasive trees and palms accounted for 5 % of net C sequestration. Overall, invasive and exotic trees had a limited contribution to total C stocks and sequestration. Annual tree-related maintenance C emissions were 0.1% of total gross C sequestration. Plot-level tree, palm, and litter cover were correlated to C stocks and net sequestration. Findings can be used to complement existing urban forest C offset accounting and monitoring protocols and to better understand the role of invasive woody plants on urban ecosystem service provision.

The Role of Composition, Invasives, and Maintenance Emissions on Urban Forest Carbon Stocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horn, Josh; Escobedo, Francisco J.; Hinkle, Ross; Hostetler, Mark; Timilsina, Nilesh

2015-02-01

There are few field-based, empirical studies quantifying the effect of invasive trees and palms and maintenance-related carbon emissions on changes in urban forest carbon stocks. We estimated carbon (C) stock changes and tree maintenance-related C emissions in a subtropical urban forest by re-measuring a subsample of residential permanent plots during 2009 and 2011, using regional allometric biomass equations, and surveying residential homeowners near Orlando, FL, USA. The effect of native, non-native, invasive tree species and palms on C stocks and sequestration was also quantified. Findings show 17.8 tC/ha in stocks and 1.2 tC/ha/year of net sequestration. The most important species both by frequency of C stocks and sequestration were Quercus laurifolia Michx. and Quercus virginiana Mill., accounting for 20 % of all the trees measured; 60 % of carbon stocks and over 75 % of net C sequestration. Palms contributed to less than 1 % of the total C stocks. Natives comprised two-thirds of the tree population and sequestered 90 % of all C, while invasive trees and palms accounted for 5 % of net C sequestration. Overall, invasive and exotic trees had a limited contribution to total C stocks and sequestration. Annual tree-related maintenance C emissions were 0.1 % of total gross C sequestration. Plot-level tree, palm, and litter cover were correlated to C stocks and net sequestration. Findings can be used to complement existing urban forest C offset accounting and monitoring protocols and to better understand the role of invasive woody plants on urban ecosystem service provision.

Assessing the 100-Year Climate Change Mitigation Potential of Large-Scale Tropical Forest Restoration Under the Bonn Challenge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wheeler, C. E.; Mitchard, E. T.; Lewis, S. L.

2017-12-01

Restoring degraded and deforested tropical lands to sequester carbon is widely considered to offer substantial climate change mitigation opportunities, if conducted over large spatial scales. Despite this assertion, explicit estimates of how much carbon could be sequestered because of large-scale restoration are rare and have large uncertainties. This is principally due to the many different characteristics of land available for restoration, and different potential restoration activities, which together cause very different rates of carbon sequestration. For different restoration pathways: natural regeneration of degraded and secondary forest, timber plantations and agroforestry, we estimate carbon sequestration rates from the published literature. Then based on tropical restoration commitments made under the Bonn challenge and using carbon density maps, these carbon sequestration rates were used to predict total pan-tropical carbon sequestration to 2100. Restoration of degraded or secondary forest via natural regeneration offers the greatest carbon sequestration potential, considerably exceeding the carbon captured by either timber plantations or agroforestry. This is predominantly due to naturally regenerating forests representing a more permanent store of carbon in comparison to timber plantations and agroforestry land-use options, which, due to their rotational nature, result in the sequential return of carbon to the atmosphere. If the Bonn Challenge is to achieve its ambition of providing substantial climate change mitigation from restoration it must incorporate large areas of natural regeneration back to an intact forest state, otherwise it stands to be a missed opportunity in helping meet the Paris climate change goals.

Biologically Enhanced Carbon Sequestration: Research Needs and Opportunities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oldenburg, Curtis; Oldenburg, Curtis M.; Torn, Margaret S.

2008-03-21

Fossil fuel combustion, deforestation, and biomass burning are the dominant contributors to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) concentrations and global warming. Many approaches to mitigating CO{sub 2} emissions are being pursued, and among the most promising are terrestrial and geologic carbon sequestration. Recent advances in ecology and microbial biology offer promising new possibilities for enhancing terrestrial and geologic carbon sequestration. A workshop was held October 29, 2007, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) on Biologically Enhanced Carbon Sequestration (BECS). The workshop participants (approximately 30 scientists from California, Illinois, Oregon, Montana, and New Mexico) developed a prioritized list of researchmore » needed to make progress in the development of biological enhancements to improve terrestrial and geologic carbon sequestration. The workshop participants also identified a number of areas of supporting science that are critical to making progress in the fundamental research areas. The purpose of this position paper is to summarize and elaborate upon the findings of the workshop. The paper considers terrestrial and geologic carbon sequestration separately. First, we present a summary in outline form of the research roadmaps for terrestrial and geologic BECS. This outline is elaborated upon in the narrative sections that follow. The narrative sections start with the focused research priorities in each area followed by critical supporting science for biological enhancements as prioritized during the workshop. Finally, Table 1 summarizes the potential significance or 'materiality' of advances in these areas for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions.« less

The key to commercial-scale geological CO2 sequestration: Displaced fluid management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Surdam, R.C.; Jiao, Z.; Stauffer, P.; Miller, T.

2011-01-01

The Wyoming State Geological Survey has completed a thorough inventory and prioritization of all Wyoming stratigraphic units and geologic sites capable of sequestering commercial quantities of CO2 (5-15 Mt CO 2/year). This multi-year study identified the Paleozoic Tensleep/Weber Sandstone and Madison Limestone (and stratigraphic equivalent units) as the leading clastic and carbonate reservoir candidates for commercial-scale geological CO2 sequestration in Wyoming. This conclusion was based on unit thickness, overlying low permeability lithofacies, reservoir storage and continuity properties, regional distribution patterns, formation fluid chemistry characteristics, and preliminary fluid-flow modeling. This study also identified the Rock Springs Uplift in southwestern Wyoming as the most promising geological CO2 sequestration site in Wyoming and probably in any Rocky Mountain basin. The results of the WSGS CO2 geological sequestration inventory led the agency and colleagues at the UW School of Energy Resources Carbon Management Institute (CMI) to collect available geologic, petrophysical, geochemical, and geophysical data on the Rock Springs Uplift, and to build a regional 3-D geologic framework model of the Uplift. From the results of these tasks and using the FutureGen protocol, the WSGS showed that on the Rock Springs Uplift, the Weber Sandstone has sufficient pore space to sequester 18 billion tons (Gt) of CO2, and the Madison Limestone has sufficient pore space to sequester 8 Gt of CO2. ?? 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Soil carbon sequestration potential in semi-arid grasslands in the conservation reserve program

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in the USA plays a major role in carbon (C) sequestration to help mitigate rising CO2 levels and climate change. The Southern High Plains (SHP) region contains N900.000 ha enrolled in CRP, but a regionally specific C sequestration rate has not been studied, and...

Using silviculture to influence carbon sequestration in southern Appalachian spruce-fir forests

Treesearch

Patrick T. Moore; R. Justin DeRose; James N. Long; Helga van Miegroet

2012-01-01

Enhancement of forest growth through silvicultural modification of stand density is one strategy for increasing carbon (C) sequestration. Using the Fire and Fuels Extension of the Forest Vegetation Simulator, the effects of even-aged, uneven-aged and no-action management scenarios on C sequestration in a southern Appalachian red spruce-Fraser fir forest were modeled....

Soil Carbon 4 per mille

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minasny, Budiman; van Wesemael, Bas

2017-04-01

The '4 per mille Soils for Food Security and Climate' was launched at the COP21 aiming to increase global soil organic matter stocks by 4 per mille (or 0.4 %) per year as a compensation for the global emissions of greenhouse gases by anthropogenic sources. This paper surveyed the soil organic carbon (SOC) stock estimates and sequestration potentials from 20 regions in the world (New Zealand, Chile, South Africa, Australia, Tanzania, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, India, China Taiwan, South Korea, China Mainland, United States of America, France, Canada, Belgium, England & Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Russia) and asked whether the 4 per mille initiative is feasible. This study highlights region specific efforts and scopes for soil carbon sequestration. Reported soil C sequestration rates generally show that under best management practices, 4 per mille or even higher sequestration rates can be accomplished. High C sequestration rates (up to 10 per mille) can be achieved for soils with low initial SOC stock (topsoil less than 30 t C ha-1), and at the first twenty years after implementation of best management practices. In addition, areas that have reached equilibrium but not at their saturation level will not be able to further increase their sequestration. We found that most studies on SOC sequestration globally only consider topsoil (up to 0.3 m depth), as it is considered to be most affected by management techniques. The 4 per mille initiative was based on a blanket calculation of the whole global soil profile C stock, however the potential to increase SOC is mostly on managed agricultural lands. If we consider 4 per mille on global topsoil of agricultural land, SOC sequestration is about 3.6 Gt C per year, which effectively offset 40% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. As a strategy for climate change mitigation, soil carbon sequestration buys time over the next ten to twenty years while other effective sequestration and low carbon technologies become viable. The challenge for cropping farmers is to find disruptive technologies that will further improve soil condition and deliver increased soil carbon. Progress in 4 per mille requires collaboration and communication between scientists, farmers, policy makers, and marketeers.

Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Susan M. Capalbo

2005-11-01

The Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership, led by Montana State University, is comprised of research institutions, public entities and private sectors organizations, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Nez Perce Tribe. Efforts under this Partnership in Phase I fall into four areas: evaluation of sources and carbon sequestration sinks that will be used to determine the location of pilot demonstrations in Phase II; development of GIS-based reporting framework that links with national networks; designing an integrated suite of monitoring, measuring, and verification technologies and assessment frameworks; and initiating a comprehensive education and outreach program. The groundwork ismore » in place to provide an assessment of storage capabilities for CO2 utilizing the resources found in the Partnership region (both geological and terrestrial sinks), that would complement the ongoing DOE research agenda in Carbon Sequestration. The region has a diverse array of geological formations that could provide storage options for carbon in one or more of its three states. Likewise, initial estimates of terrestrial sinks indicate a vast potential for increasing and maintaining soil C on forested, agricultural, and reclaimed lands. Both options include the potential for offsetting economic benefits to industry and society. Steps have been taken to assure that the GIS-based framework is consistent among types of sinks within the Big Sky Partnership area and with the efforts of other DOE regional partnerships. The Partnership recognizes the critical importance of measurement, monitoring, and verification technologies to support not only carbon trading but all policies and programs that DOE and other agencies may want to pursue in support of GHG mitigation. The efforts in developing and implementing MMV technologies for geological sequestration reflect this concern. Research is also underway to identify and validate best management practices for soil C in the Partnership region, and to design a risk/cost effectiveness framework to make comparative assessments of each viable sink, taking into account economic costs, offsetting benefits, scale of sequestration opportunities, spatial and time dimensions, environmental risks, and long-term viability. Scientifically sound MMV is critical for public acceptance of these technologies. Deliverables for the 7th Quarter reporting period include (1) for the geological efforts: Reports on Technology Needs and Action Plan on the Evaluation of Geological Sinks and Pilot Project Deployment (Deliverables 2 and 3), and Report on the Feasibility of Mineralization Trapping in the Snake River Plain Basin (Deliverable 14); (2) for the terrestrial efforts: Report on the Evaluation of Terrestrial Sinks and a Report of the Best Production Practices for Soil C Sequestration (Deliverables 8 and 15). In addition, the 7th Quarter activities for the Partnership included further development of the proposed activities for the deployment and demonstration phase of the carbon sequestration pilots including geological and terrestrial pilots, expansion of the Partnership to encompass regions and institutions that are complimentary to the steps we have identified, building greater collaborations with industry and stakeholders in the region, contributed to outreach efforts that spanned all partnerships, co-authorship on the Carbon Capture and Separation report, and developed a regional basis to address future energy opportunities in the region. The deliverables and activities are discussed in the following sections and appended to this report. The education and outreach efforts have resulted in a comprehensive plan which serves as a guide for implementing the outreach activities under Phase I. The public website has been expanded and integrated with the GIS carbon atlas. We have made presentations to stakeholders and policy makers including two tribal sequestration workshops, and made connections to other federal and state agencies concerned with GHG emissions, climate change, and efficient and environmentally-friendly energy production. In addition, the Partnership has plans for integration of our outreach efforts with students, especially at the tribal colleges and at the universities involved in our Partnership. This includes collaboration with MSU and with the U.S.-Norway Summer School, extended outreach efforts at LANL and INEEL, and with the student section of the ASME. Finally, the Big Sky Partnership was involved in key meetings and symposium in the 7th quarter including the USDOE Wye Institute Conference on Carbon Sequestration and Capture (April, 2005); the DOE/NETL Fourth Annual Conference on Carbon Capture and Sequestration (May 2005); Coal Power Development Conference (Denver, June 2005) and meetings with our Phase II industry partners and Governor's staff.« less

Fine-scale variability in growth-climate relationships of Douglas-fir, North Cascade Range, Washington.

Treesearch

Michael J. Case; David L. Peterson

2005-01-01

Information about the sensitivity to climate of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) is valuable because it will allow forest managers to maximize growth, better understand how carbon sequestration may change over time, and better model and predict future ecosystem responses to climatic change. We examined the effects of climatic...

Carbon sequestration, optimum forest rotation and their environmental impact

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kula, Erhun, E-mail: erhun.kula@bahcesehir.edu.tr; Gunalay, Yavuz, E-mail: yavuz.gunalay@bahcesehir.edu.tr

2012-11-15

Due to their large biomass forests assume an important role in the global carbon cycle by moderating the greenhouse effect of atmospheric pollution. The Kyoto Protocol recognises this contribution by allocating carbon credits to countries which are able to create new forest areas. Sequestrated carbon provides an environmental benefit thus must be taken into account in cost-benefit analysis of afforestation projects. Furthermore, like timber output carbon credits are now tradable assets in the carbon exchange. By using British data, this paper looks at the issue of identifying optimum felling age by considering carbon sequestration benefits simultaneously with timber yields. Themore » results of this analysis show that the inclusion of carbon benefits prolongs the optimum cutting age by requiring trees to stand longer in order to soak up more CO{sub 2}. Consequently this finding must be considered in any carbon accounting calculations. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Carbon sequestration in forestry is an environmental benefit. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer It moderates the problem of global warming. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer It prolongs the gestation period in harvesting. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer This paper uses British data in less favoured districts for growing Sitka spruce species.« less

Improved grazing management may increase soil carbon sequestration in temperate steppe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Wenqing; Huang, Ding; Liu, Nan; Zhang, Yingjun; Badgery, Warwick B.; Wang, Xiaoya; Shen, Yue

2015-07-01

Different grazing strategies impact grassland plant production and may also regulate the soil carbon formation. For a site in semiarid temperate steppe, we studied the effect of combinations of rest, high and moderate grazing pressure over three stages of the growing season, on the process involved in soil carbon sequestration. Results show that constant moderate grazing (MMM) exhibited the highest root production and turnover accumulating the most soil carbon. While deferred grazing (RHM and RMH) sequestered less soil carbon compared to MMM, they showed higher standing root mass, maintained a more desirable pasture composition, and had better ability to retain soil N. Constant high grazing pressure (HHH) caused diminished above- and belowground plant production, more soil N losses and an unfavorable microbial environment and had reduced carbon input. Reducing grazing pressure in the last grazing stage (HHM) still had a negative impact on soil carbon. Regression analyses show that adjusting stocking rate to ~5SE/ha with ~40% vegetation utilization rate can get the most carbon accrual. Overall, the soil carbon sequestration in the temperate grassland is affected by the grazing regime that is applied, and grazing can be altered to improve soil carbon sequestration in the temperate steppe.

Improved grazing management may increase soil carbon sequestration in temperate steppe.

PubMed

Chen, Wenqing; Huang, Ding; Liu, Nan; Zhang, Yingjun; Badgery, Warwick B; Wang, Xiaoya; Shen, Yue

2015-07-03

Different grazing strategies impact grassland plant production and may also regulate the soil carbon formation. For a site in semiarid temperate steppe, we studied the effect of combinations of rest, high and moderate grazing pressure over three stages of the growing season, on the process involved in soil carbon sequestration. Results show that constant moderate grazing (MMM) exhibited the highest root production and turnover accumulating the most soil carbon. While deferred grazing (RHM and RMH) sequestered less soil carbon compared to MMM, they showed higher standing root mass, maintained a more desirable pasture composition, and had better ability to retain soil N. Constant high grazing pressure (HHH) caused diminished above- and belowground plant production, more soil N losses and an unfavorable microbial environment and had reduced carbon input. Reducing grazing pressure in the last grazing stage (HHM) still had a negative impact on soil carbon. Regression analyses show that adjusting stocking rate to ~5SE/ha with ~40% vegetation utilization rate can get the most carbon accrual. Overall, the soil carbon sequestration in the temperate grassland is affected by the grazing regime that is applied, and grazing can be altered to improve soil carbon sequestration in the temperate steppe.

Net carbon flux in organic and conventional olive production systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saeid Mohamad, Ramez; Verrastro, Vincenzo; Bitar, Lina Al; Roma, Rocco; Moretti, Michele; Chami, Ziad Al

2014-05-01

Agricultural systems are considered as one of the most relevant sources of atmospheric carbon. However, agriculture has the potentiality to mitigate carbon dioxide mainly through soil carbon sequestration. Some agricultural practices, particularly fertilization and soil management, can play a dual role in the agricultural systems regarding the carbon cycle contributing to the emissions and to the sequestration process in the soil. Good soil and input managements affect positively Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) changes and consequently the carbon cycle. The present study aimed at comparing the carbon footprint of organic and conventional olive systems and to link it to the efficiency of both systems on carbon sequestration by calculating the net carbon flux. Data were collected at farm level through a specific and detailed questionnaire based on one hectare as a functional unit and a system boundary limited to olive production. Using LCA databases particularly ecoinvent one, IPCC GWP 100a impact assessment method was used to calculate carbon emissions from agricultural practices of both systems. Soil organic carbon has been measured, at 0-30 cm depth, based on soil analyses done at the IAMB laboratory and based on reference value of SOC, the annual change of SOC has been calculated. Substracting sequestrated carbon in the soil from the emitted on resulted in net carbon flux calculation. Results showed higher environmental impact of the organic system on Global Warming Potential (1.07 t CO2 eq. yr-1) comparing to 0.76 t CO2 eq. yr-1 in the conventional system due to the higher GHG emissions caused by manure fertilizers compared to the use of synthetic foliar fertilizers in the conventional system. However, manure was the main reason behind the higher SOC content and sequestration in the organic system. As a resultant, the organic system showed higher net carbon flux (-1.7 t C ha-1 yr-1 than -0.52 t C ha-1 yr-1 in the conventional system reflecting higher efficiency as a sink for atmospheric CO2 (the negative value of Net C flux indicates that a system is a net sink for atmospheric CO2). In conclusion, this study illustrates the importance of including soil carbon sequestration associated with CO2 emissions in the evaluation process between alternatives of agricultural systems. Thus, organic olive system offers an opportunity to increase carbon sequestration compared to the conventional one although it causes higher C emissions from manure fertilization. Keywords: Net carbon flux, GHG, organic, olive, soil organic carbon

Carbon sequestration potential for forage and pasture systems

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Grassland soils represent a large reservoir of organic and inorganic carbon. Regionally, grasslands are annual CO2 sources or sinks depending on crop and soil management, current soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration and climate. Land management changes (LMC) impact SOC sequestration rate, the du...

Simulating the Cranfield geological carbon sequestration project with high-resolution static models and an accurate equation of state

DOE PAGES

Soltanian, Mohamad Reza; Amooie, Mohammad Amin; Cole, David R.; ...

2016-10-11

In this study, a field-scale carbon dioxide (CO 2) injection pilot project was conducted as part of the Southeast Regional Sequestration Partnership (SECARB) at Cranfield, Mississippi. We present higher-order finite element simulations of the compositional two-phase CO 2-brine flow and transport during the experiment. High- resolution static models of the formation geology in the Detailed Area Study (DAS) located below the oil- water contact (brine saturated) are used to capture the impact of connected flow paths on breakthrough times in two observation wells. Phase behavior is described by the cubic-plus-association (CPA) equation of state, which takes into account the polarmore » nature of water molecules. Parameter studies are performed to investigate the importance of Fickian diffusion, permeability heterogeneity, relative permeabilities, and capillarity. Simulation results for the pressure response in the injection well and the CO 2 breakthrough times at the observation wells show good agreement with the field data. For the high injection rates and short duration of the experiment, diffusion is relatively unimportant (high P clet numbers), while relative permeabilities have a profound impact on the pressure response. High-permeability pathways, created by fluvial deposits, strongly affect the CO 2 transport and highlight the importance of properly characterizing the formation heterogeneity in future carbon sequestration projects.« less

78 FR 30965 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-23

... for Carbon Dioxide Sequestration Under Section 45Q. Abstract: This notice sets forth interim guidance, pending the issuance of regulations, relating to the credit for carbon dioxide sequestration (CO 2...

Carbon sequestration in wood and paper products

Treesearch

Kenneth E. Skog; Geraldine A. Nicholson

2000-01-01

Recognition that increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere will affect the global climate has spurred research into reduction global carbon emissions and increasing carbon sequestration. The main nonhuman sources of atmospheric CO2 are animal respiration and decay of biomass. However, increases in atmospheric levels are...

Barriers to Massachusetts forest landowner participation in carbon markets

Treesearch

Marla ​Markowski-Lindsay; Thomas Stevens; David B. Kittredge; Brett J. Butler; Paul Catanzaro; Brenton J. Dickinson

2011-01-01

U.S. forests, including family-owned forests, are important carbon sinks and sources for carbon sequestration. Family forest owners constitute a significant portion of the overall forestland in the U.S., but little is known about their preferences for participating in carbon sequestration programs. The goal of this research is to understand what motivates Massachusetts...

Estimates of Carbon Sequestration in Tidal Coastal Wetlands Along the US east Coast

EPA Science Inventory

Globally, salt marshes are reported to sequester carbon (210 g C m-2 y -1), and along with mangroves in the US, they are reported to account for 1–2 % of the carbon sink for the conterminous US. Using the published salt marsh carbon sequestration rate and National Wetland Invent...

Estimates of Carbon Sequestration and Storage in Tidal Coastal Wetlands Along the US East Coast

EPA Science Inventory

Globally, salt marshes are reported to sequester carbon (210 g C m-2 y -1), and along with mangroves in the US, they are reported to account for 1–2 % of the carbon sink for the conterminous US. Using the published salt marsh carbon sequestration rate and National Wetland Invent...

Soil fertility limits carbon sequestration by forest ecosystems in a CO2-enriched atmosphere

Treesearch

Ram Oren; David S. Ellsworth; Kurt H. Johnsen; Nathan Phillips; Brent E. Ewers; Chris Maier; Karina V.R. Schafer; Heather McCarthy; George Hendrey; Steven G. McNulty; Gabriel G. Katul

2001-01-01

Northern mid-latitude forests are a large terrestrial carbon sink. Ignoring nutrient limitations, large increases in carbon sequestration from carbon dioxide (CO2) fertilization are expected in these forests. Yet, forests are usually relegated to sites of moderate to poor fertility, where tree growth is often limited by nutrient supply, in...

Living Shorelines: Coastal Resilience with a Blue Carbon Benefit

PubMed Central

Davis, Jenny L.; Currin, Carolyn A.; O’Brien, Colleen; Raffenburg, Craig; Davis, Amanda

2015-01-01

Living shorelines are a type of estuarine shoreline erosion control that incorporates native vegetation and preserves native habitats. Because they provide the ecosystem services associated with natural coastal wetlands while also increasing shoreline resilience, living shorelines are part of the natural and hybrid infrastructure approach to coastal resiliency. Marshes created as living shorelines are typically narrow (< 30 m) fringing marshes with sandy substrates that are well flushed by tides. These characteristics distinguish living shorelines from the larger meadow marshes in which most of the current knowledge about created marshes was developed. The value of living shorelines for providing both erosion control and habitat for estuarine organisms has been documented but their capacity for carbon sequestration has not. We measured carbon sequestration rates in living shorelines and sandy transplanted Spartina alterniflora marshes in the Newport River Estuary, North Carolina. The marshes sampled here range in age from 12 to 38 years and represent a continuum of soil development. Carbon sequestration rates ranged from 58 to 283 g C m-2 yr-1 and decreased with marsh age. The pattern of lower sequestration rates in older marshes is hypothesized to be the result of a relative enrichment of labile organic matter in younger sites and illustrates the importance of choosing mature marshes for determination of long-term carbon sequestration potential. The data presented here are within the range of published carbon sequestration rates for S. alterniflora marshes and suggest that wide-scale use of the living shoreline approach to shoreline management may come with a substantial carbon benefit. PMID:26569503

Living Shorelines: Coastal Resilience with a Blue Carbon Benefit.

PubMed

Davis, Jenny L; Currin, Carolyn A; O'Brien, Colleen; Raffenburg, Craig; Davis, Amanda

2015-01-01

Living shorelines are a type of estuarine shoreline erosion control that incorporates native vegetation and preserves native habitats. Because they provide the ecosystem services associated with natural coastal wetlands while also increasing shoreline resilience, living shorelines are part of the natural and hybrid infrastructure approach to coastal resiliency. Marshes created as living shorelines are typically narrow (< 30 m) fringing marshes with sandy substrates that are well flushed by tides. These characteristics distinguish living shorelines from the larger meadow marshes in which most of the current knowledge about created marshes was developed. The value of living shorelines for providing both erosion control and habitat for estuarine organisms has been documented but their capacity for carbon sequestration has not. We measured carbon sequestration rates in living shorelines and sandy transplanted Spartina alterniflora marshes in the Newport River Estuary, North Carolina. The marshes sampled here range in age from 12 to 38 years and represent a continuum of soil development. Carbon sequestration rates ranged from 58 to 283 g C m-2 yr-1 and decreased with marsh age. The pattern of lower sequestration rates in older marshes is hypothesized to be the result of a relative enrichment of labile organic matter in younger sites and illustrates the importance of choosing mature marshes for determination of long-term carbon sequestration potential. The data presented here are within the range of published carbon sequestration rates for S. alterniflora marshes and suggest that wide-scale use of the living shoreline approach to shoreline management may come with a substantial carbon benefit.

Assessing the impact of changes in climate and CO2 on potential carbon sequestration in agricultural soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jain, Atul K.; West, Tristram O.; Yang, Xiaojuan; Post, Wilfred M.

2005-10-01

Changes in soil management can potentially increase the accumulation of soil organic carbon (SOC), thereby sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere. However, the amount of carbon sequestered in soils can be augmented or lessened due to changes in climate and atmospheric CO2 concentration. The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of climate and CO2 feedbacks on soil carbon sequestration using a terrestrial carbon cycle model. Model simulations consist of observed adoption rates of no-tillage practices on croplands in the U.S. and Canada between 1981-2000. Model results indicate potential sequestration rates between 0.4-0.6 MgC/ha/yr in the Midwestern U.S. with decreasing rates towards the western, dryer regions of the U.S. It is estimated here that changes in climate and CO2 between 1981-2000 could be responsible for an additional soil carbon sequestration of 42 Tg. This is 5% of the soil carbon estimated to be potentially sequestered as the result of conversion to no-tillage in the U.S. and Canada.

Baseline and Projected Future Carbon Stocks and Fluxes in the Hawaiian Islands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Selmants, P. C.; Sleeter, B. M.; Giardina, C. P.; Zhu, Z.; Asner, G. P.

2016-12-01

Hawaii is characterized by steep climatic gradients and heterogeneous land cover within a small geographic area, presenting a model tropical system to capture ecosystem carbon dynamics across a wide range of climate, soil, and land use conditions. However, ecosystem carbon balance is poorly understood on a statewide level, and the potential for climate and land use change to affect carbon dynamics in Hawaii has not been formally assessed. We estimated current baseline and projected future ecosystem carbon stocks and fluxes on the seven main Hawaiian Islands using a combination of remote sensing, published plot-level data, and simulation modeling. Total ecosystem carbon storage during the baseline period was estimated at 258 TgC, with 70% stored as soil organic carbon, 25% as live biomass and 5% as surface detritus, and gross primary production was estimated at 20 TgC y-1. Net ecosystem carbon balance, which incorporated carbon losses from freshwater aquatic fluxes to nearshore waters and wildland fire emissions, was estimated as 0.34 TgC y-1 during the baseline period, offsetting 7% of anthropogenic emissions. We used a state and transition simulation model to estimate the response of ecosystem carbon stocks and fluxes to potential changes in climate, land use, and wildfire over a 50-year projection period (2012-2061). Total ecosystem carbon storage was projected to increase by 5% by the year 2061, but net ecosystem carbon balance was projected to decline by 35% due to climate change induced reductions in statewide net primary production and increased carbon losses from land use and land cover change. Our analysis indicates that the State of Hawaii would remain a net carbon sink overall, primarily because of ecosystem carbon sequestration on Hawaii Island, but predicted changes in climate and land use on Kauai and Oahu would convert these islands to net carbon sources. The Hawaii carbon assessment is part of a larger effort by the U.S. Geological Survey to assess the carbon sequestration potential of ecosystems across the United States and should provide valuable information for setting research and policy priorities for sustainable carbon management strategies aimed at offsetting anthropogenic carbon emissions.

Peatland geoengineering: an alternative approach to terrestrial carbon sequestration.

PubMed

Freeman, Christopher; Fenner, Nathalie; Shirsat, Anil H

2012-09-13

Terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems contribute almost equally to the sequestration of ca 50 per cent of anthropogenic CO(2) emissions, and already play a role in minimizing our impact on Earth's climate. On land, the majority of the sequestered carbon enters soil carbon stores. Almost one-third of that soil carbon can be found in peatlands, an area covering just 2-3% of the Earth's landmass. Peatlands are thus well established as powerful agents of carbon capture and storage; the preservation of archaeological artefacts, such as ancient bog bodies, further attest to their exceptional preservative properties. Peatlands have higher carbon storage densities per unit ecosystem area than either the oceans or dry terrestrial systems. However, despite attempts over a number of years at enhancing carbon capture in the oceans or in land-based afforestation schemes, no attempt has yet been made to optimize peatland carbon storage capacity or even to harness peatlands to store externally captured carbon. Recent studies suggest that peatland carbon sequestration is due to the inhibitory effects of phenolic compounds that create an 'enzymic latch' on decomposition. Here, we propose to harness that mechanism in a series of peatland geoengineering strategies whereby molecular, biogeochemical, agronomical and afforestation approaches increase carbon capture and long-term sequestration in peat-forming terrestrial ecosystems.

Understanding Geochemical Impacts of Carbon Dioxide Leakage from Carbon Capture and Sequestration

EPA Science Inventory

US EPA held a technical Geochemical Impact Workshop in Washington, DC on July 10 and 11, 2007 to discuss geological considerations and Area of Review (AoR) issues related to geologic sequestration (GS) of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). Seventy=one (71) representatives of the electric uti...

Measurement guidelines for the sequestration of forest carbon

Treesearch

Timothy R.H. Pearson; Sandra L. Brown; Richard A. Birdsey

2007-01-01

Measurement guidelines for forest carbon sequestration were developed to support reporting by public and private entities to greenhouse gas registries. These guidelines are intended to be a reference for designing a forest carbon inventory and monitoring system by professionals with a knowledge of sampling, statistical estimation, and forest measurements. This report...

Assessing the potential to sequester carbon within state highway rights-of-way in New Mexico phase 2: development of a right-of-way carbon sequestration program.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-06-13

The New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) was selected by the Federal Highway : Administration (FHWA) to determine the feasibility of maximizing carbon sequestration within state : highway rightsofway (ROW). Golder Associates Inc. was...

Future C loss in mid-latitude mineral soils: climate change exceeds land use mitigation potential in France

PubMed Central

Meersmans, Jeroen; Arrouays, Dominique; Van Rompaey, Anton J. J.; Pagé, Christian; De Baets, Sarah; Quine, Timothy A.

2016-01-01

Many studies have highlighted significant interactions between soil C reservoir dynamics and global climate and environmental change. However, in order to estimate the future soil organic carbon sequestration potential and related ecosystem services well, more spatially detailed predictions are needed. The present study made detailed predictions of future spatial evolution (at 250 m resolution) of topsoil SOC driven by climate change and land use change for France up to the year 2100 by taking interactions between climate, land use and soil type into account. We conclude that climate change will have a much bigger influence on future SOC losses in mid-latitude mineral soils than land use change dynamics. Hence, reducing CO2 emissions will be crucial to prevent further loss of carbon from our soils. PMID:27808169

Future C loss in mid-latitude mineral soils: climate change exceeds land use mitigation potential in France.

PubMed

Meersmans, Jeroen; Arrouays, Dominique; Van Rompaey, Anton J J; Pagé, Christian; De Baets, Sarah; Quine, Timothy A

2016-11-03

Many studies have highlighted significant interactions between soil C reservoir dynamics and global climate and environmental change. However, in order to estimate the future soil organic carbon sequestration potential and related ecosystem services well, more spatially detailed predictions are needed. The present study made detailed predictions of future spatial evolution (at 250 m resolution) of topsoil SOC driven by climate change and land use change for France up to the year 2100 by taking interactions between climate, land use and soil type into account. We conclude that climate change will have a much bigger influence on future SOC losses in mid-latitude mineral soils than land use change dynamics. Hence, reducing CO 2 emissions will be crucial to prevent further loss of carbon from our soils.

CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND PLANT COMMUNITY DYNAMICS FOLLOWING REFORESTATION OF TROPICAL PASTURE.

Treesearch

WHENDEE L. SILVER; LARA M. KUEPPERS; ARIEL E. LUGO; REBECCA OSTERTAG; VIRGINIA MATZEK

2004-01-01

Conversion of abandoned cattle pastures to secondary forests and plantations in the tropics has been proposed as a means to increase rates of carbon (C) sequestration from the atmosphere and enhance local biodiversity. We used a long-term tropical reforestation project (55–61 yr) to estimate rates of above- and belowground C sequestration and to investigate the impact...

Erosion of soil organic carbon: implications for carbon sequestration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Van Oost, Kristof; Van Hemelryck, Hendrik; Harden, Jennifer W.; McPherson, B.J.; Sundquist, E.T.

2009-01-01

Agricultural activities have substantially increased rates of soil erosion and deposition, and these processes have a significant impact on carbon (C) mineralization and burial. Here, we present a synthesis of erosion effects on carbon dynamics and discuss the implications of soil erosion for carbon sequestration strategies. We demonstrate that for a range of data-based parameters from the literature, soil erosion results in increased C storage onto land, an effect that is heterogeneous on the landscape and is variable on various timescales. We argue that the magnitude of the erosion term and soil carbon residence time, both strongly influenced by soil management, largely control the strength of the erosion-induced sink. In order to evaluate fully the effects of soil management strategies that promote carbon sequestration, a full carbon account must be made that considers the impact of erosion-enhanced disequilibrium between carbon inputs and decomposition, including effects on net primary productivity and decomposition rates.

Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration by Tillage and Crop Rotation: A Global Data Analysis

DOE Data Explorer

West, Tristram O. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Post, Wilfred M. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2002-01-01

Changes in agricultural management can potentially increase the accumulation rate of soil organic carbon (SOC), thereby sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere. This study was conducted to quantify potential soil carbon (C) sequestration rates for different crops in response to decreasing tillage intensity or enhancing rotation complexity, and to estimate the duration of time over which sequestration may occur. Analyses of C sequestration rates were completed using a global database of 67 long-term agricultural experiments, consisting of 276 paired treatments. Results indicate, on average, that a change from conventional tillage (CT) to no-till (NT) can sequester 57 ± 14 g C m^–2 yr^–1, excluding wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-fallow systems which may not result in SOC accumulation with a change from CT to NT. Enhancing rotation complexity can sequester an average 14 ± 11 g C m^–2 yr^–1, excluding a change from continuous corn (Zea mays L.) to corn-soybean (Glycine max L.) which may not result in a significant accumulation of SOC. Carbon sequestration rates, with a change from CT to NT, can be expected to peak in 5-10 yr with SOC reaching a new equilibrium in 15-20 yr. Following initiation of an enhancement in rotation complexity, SOC may reach a new equilibrium in approximately 40-60 yr. Carbon sequestration rates, estimated for a number of individual crops and crop rotations in this study, can be used in spatial modeling analyses to more accurately predict regional, national, and global C sequestration potentials.

Climate warming feedback from mountain birch forest expansion: reduced albedo dominates carbon uptake.

PubMed

de Wit, Heleen A; Bryn, Anders; Hofgaard, Annika; Karstensen, Jonas; Kvalevåg, Maria M; Peters, Glen P

2014-07-01

Expanding high-elevation and high-latitude forest has contrasting climate feedbacks through carbon sequestration (cooling) and reduced surface reflectance (warming), which are yet poorly quantified. Here, we present an empirically based projection of mountain birch forest expansion in south-central Norway under climate change and absence of land use. Climate effects of carbon sequestration and albedo change are compared using four emission metrics. Forest expansion was modeled for a projected 2.6 °C increase in summer temperature in 2100, with associated reduced snow cover. We find that the current (year 2000) forest line of the region is circa 100 m lower than its climatic potential due to land-use history. In the future scenarios, forest cover increased from 12% to 27% between 2000 and 2100, resulting in a 59% increase in biomass carbon storage and an albedo change from 0.46 to 0.30. Forest expansion in 2100 was behind its climatic potential, forest migration rates being the primary limiting factor. In 2100, the warming caused by lower albedo from expanding forest was 10 to 17 times stronger than the cooling effect from carbon sequestration for all emission metrics considered. Reduced snow cover further exacerbated the net warming feedback. The warming effect is considerably stronger than previously reported for boreal forest cover, because of the typically low biomass density in mountain forests and the large changes in albedo of snow-covered tundra areas. The positive climate feedback of high-latitude and high-elevation expanding forests with seasonal snow cover exceeds those of afforestation at lower elevation, and calls for further attention of both modelers and empiricists. The inclusion and upscaling of these climate feedbacks from mountain forests into global models is warranted to assess the potential global impacts. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Forecasting regional to global plant migration in response to climate change.

Treesearch

Ronald P. Neilson; Louis F. Pitelka; Allen M. Solomon; Ran Nathan; Guy F. Midgley; Jóse M. Fragoso; Heike Lischke; Ken Thompson

2005-01-01

The rate of future climate change is likely to exceed the migration rates of most plant species. The replacement of dominant species by locally rare species may require decades, and extinctions may occur when plant species cannot migrate fast enough to escape the consequences of climate change. Such lags may impair ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration and...

Research Needs for Carbon Management in Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Negra, C.; Lovejoy, T.; Ojima, D. S.; Ashton, R.; Havemann, T.; Eaton, J.

2009-12-01

Improved management of terrestrial carbon in agriculture, forestry, and other land use sectors is a necessary part of climate change mitigation. It is likely that governments will agree in Copenhagen in December 2009 to incentives for improved management of some forms of terrestrial carbon, including maintaining existing terrestrial carbon (e.g., avoiding deforestation) and creating new terrestrial carbon (e.g., afforestation, soil management). To translate incentives into changes in land management and terrestrial carbon stocks, a robust technical and scientific information base is required. All terrestrial carbon pools (and other greenhouse gases from the terrestrial system) that interact with the atmosphere at timescales less than centuries, and all land uses, have documented mitigation potential, however, most activity has focused on above-ground forest biomass. Despite research advances in understanding emissions reduction and sequestration associated with different land management techniques, there has not yet been broad-scale implementation of land-based mitigation activity in croplands, peatlands, grasslands and other land uses. To maximize long-term global terrestrial carbon volumes, further development of relevant data, methodologies and technologies are needed to complement policy and financial incentives. The Terrestrial Carbon Group, in partnership with UN-REDD agencies, the World Bank and CGIAR institutions, is reviewing literature, convening leading experts and surveying key research institutions to develop a Roadmap for Terrestrial Carbon: Research Needs for Implementation of Carbon Management in Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses. This work will summarize the existing knowledge base for emissions reductions and sequestration through land management as well as the current availability of tools and methods for measurement and monitoring of terrestrial carbon. Preliminary findings indicate a number of areas for future work. Enhanced information systems and process-level understanding of historical, current and potential emissions and sequestration in grasslands, drylands, wetlands and peatlands are needed. Research and information synthesis have not been equally distributed across regions of the world. Monitoring and reporting guidance and capacity vary across and among geographic scales and sectors. There are concerns about continuity and interpretation capability for commonly used remote sensing data products. Most research synthesis and data compilation occurs at the international level although some institutions work across scales both supporting location-specific research and development and synthesizing information up to regional and international scales. This presentation will describe findings from the Roadmap for Terrestrial Carbon for: (1) critical science and technology gaps, globally and in specific regions, for improved management and quantification of terrestrial carbon; (2) technical investments and research priorities for acceleration of avoided emissions and sequestration of terrestrial carbon; (3) opportunities for multi-lateral, multi-scale coordination and integration across research institutions.

The Effect of Emissions Trading And Carbon Sequestration on The Cost Of CO2 Emissions Mitigation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mahasenan, Natesan; Scott, Michael J.; Smith, Steven J.

2002-08-05

The deployment of carbon capture and sequestration (CC&S) technologies is greatly affected by the marginal cost of controlling carbon emissions (also the value of carbon, when emissions permits are traded). Emissions limits that are more stringent in the near term imply higher near-term carbon values and therefore encourage the local development and deployment of CC&S technologies. In addition, trade in emissions obligations lowers the cost of meeting any regional or global emissions limit and so affects the rate of penetration of CC&S technologies. We examine the effects of the availability of sequestration opportunities and emissions trading (either within select regionsmore » or globally) on the cost of emissions mitigation and compliance with different emissions reduction targets for the IPCC SRES scenarios. For each base scenario and emissions target, we examine the issues outlined above and present quantitative estimates for the impacts of trade and the availability of sequestration opportunities in meeting emissions limitation obligations.« less

Carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration in deep saline aquifers and formations: Chapter 3

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rosenbauer, Robert J.; Thomas, Burt

2010-01-01

Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and sequestration in geologic media is one among many emerging strategies to reduce atmospheric emissions of anthropogenic CO2. This chapter looks at the potential of deep saline aquifers – based on their capacity and close proximity to large point sources of CO2 – as repositories for the geologic sequestration of CO2. The petrochemical characteristics which impact on the suitability of saline aquifers for CO2 sequestration and the role of coupled geochemical transport models and numerical tools in evaluating site feasibility are also examined. The full-scale commercial CO2 sequestration project at Sleipner is described together with ongoing pilot and demonstration projects.

Biorefineries of carbon dioxide: From carbon capture and storage (CCS) to bioenergies production.

PubMed

Cheah, Wai Yan; Ling, Tau Chuan; Juan, Joon Ching; Lee, Duu-Jong; Chang, Jo-Shu; Show, Pau Loke

2016-09-01

Greenhouse gas emissions have several adverse environmental effects, like pollution and climate change. Currently applied carbon capture and storage (CCS) methods are not cost effective and have not been proven safe for long term sequestration. Another attractive approach is CO2 valorization, whereby CO2 can be captured in the form of biomass via photosynthesis and is subsequently converted into various form of bioenergy. This article summarizes the current carbon sequestration and utilization technologies, while emphasizing the value of bioconversion of CO2. In particular, CO2 sequestration by terrestrial plants, microalgae and other microorganisms are discussed. Prospects and challenges for CO2 conversion are addressed. The aim of this review is to provide comprehensive knowledge and updated information on the current advances in biological CO2 sequestration and valorization, which are essential if this approach is to achieve environmental sustainability and economic feasibility. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plant Nitrogen Uptake in Terrestrial Biogeochemical Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marti Donati, A.; Cox, P.; Smith, M. J.; Purves, D.; Sitch, S.; Jones, C. D.

2013-12-01

Most terrestrial biogeochemical models featured in the last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) Assessment Report highlight the importance of the terrestrial Carbon sequestration and feedbacks between the terrestrial Carbon cycle and the climate system. However, these models have been criticized for overestimating predicted Carbon sequestration and its potential climate feedback when calculating the rate of future climate change because they do not account for the Carbon sequestration constraints caused by nutrient limitation, particularly Nitrogen (N). This is particularly relevant considering the existence of a substantial deficit of Nitrogen for plants in most areas of the world. To date, most climate models assume that plants have access to as much Nitrogen as needed, but ignore the nutrient requirements for new vegetation growth. Determining the natural demand and acquisition for Nitrogen and its associated resource optimization is key when accounting for the Carbon sequestration constrains caused by nutrient limitation. The few climate models that include C-N dynamics have illustrated that the stimulation of plant growth over the coming century may be significantly smaller than previously predicted. However, models exhibit wide differences in their predictive accuracy and lead to widely diverging and inconsistent projections accounting for an uncertain Carbon sequestration decrease due to Nitrogen limitation ranging from 7 to 64%. This reduction in growth is partially offset by an increase in the availability of nutrients resulting from an accelerated rate of decomposition of dead plants and other organic matter that occurring with a rise in temperature. However, this offset does not counterbalance the reduced level of plant growth calculated by natural nutrient limitations. Additionally, Nitrogen limitation is also expected to become more pronounced in some ecosystems as atmospheric CO2 concentration increases; resulting in less new growth and higher atmospheric CO2 concentrations than originally expected. This study compares the differences in the predictions of alternative models of plant N uptake found in different terrestrial biogeochemical models with the predictions from a new N-uptake model developed under the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) framework. We implement a methodology for the construction, parameterization and evaluation of N uptake models to fully decompose all the N uptake component processes in terms of their parameter uncertainty and the accuracy of their predictions with respect to different empirical data sets. Acknowledgements This work has been funded by the European Commission FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-2008 Marie Curie Action: "Greencycles II: FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-2008 Marie Curie Action: "Networks for Initial Training"

Terrestrial biological carbon sequestration: science for enhancement and implementation

Treesearch

Wilfred M. Post; James E. Amonette; Richard Birdsey; Charles T. Jr. Garten; R. Cesar Izaurralde; Philip Jardine; Julie Jastrow; Rattan Lal; Gregg Marland

2009-01-01

The purpose of this chapter is to review terrestrial biological carbon sequestration and evaluate the potential carbon storage capacity if present and new techniques are more aggressively utilized. Photosynthetic CO2 capture from the atmosphere and storage of the C in aboveground and belowground biomass and in soil organic and inorganic forms can...

Current knowledge on effects of forest silvicultural operations on carbon sequestration in southern forests

Treesearch

John D. Cason; Donald L. Grebner; Andrew J. Londo; Stephen C. Grado

2006-01-01

Incentive programs to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are increasing in number with the growing threat of global warming. Terrestrial sequestration of CO2 through forestry practices on newly established forests is a potential mitigation tool for developing carbon markets in the United States. The extent of industrial...

Restoring and managing cold desert shrublands for climate change mitigation (Chapter 2)

Treesearch

Susan E. Meyer

2012-01-01

The equation for slowing global warming includes decreasing carbon emissions into the atmosphere as well as increasing carbon sequestration in the biosphere. Many proposed schemes for increasing carbon sequestration, such as afforestation of nonforested lands, involve tradeoffs with other resource values, including water availability. An alternative idea is to restore...

Modeling and Spatially Distributing Forest Net Primary Production at the Regional Scale

Treesearch

R.A. Mickler; T.S. Earnhardt; J.A. Moore

2002-01-01

Abstract - Forest, agricultural, rangeland, wetland, and urban landscapes have different rates of carbon sequestration and total carbon sequestration potential under alternative management options. Changes in the proportion and spatial distribution of land use could enhance or degrade that area’s ability to sequester carbon in terrestrial ecosystems...

Predicting long-term carbon sequestration in response to CO 2 enrichment: How and why do current ecosystem models differ?

DOE PAGES

Walker, Anthony P.; Zaehle, Sönke; Medlyn, Belinda E.; ...

2015-04-27

Large uncertainty exists in model projections of the land carbon (C) sink response to increasing atmospheric CO 2. Free-Air CO 2 Enrichment (FACE) experiments lasting a decade or more have investigated ecosystem responses to a step change in atmospheric CO 2 concentration. To interpret FACE results in the context of gradual increases in atmospheric CO 2 over decades to centuries, we used a suite of seven models to simulate the Duke and Oak Ridge FACE experiments extended for 300 years of CO 2 enrichment. We also determine key modeling assumptions that drive divergent projections of terrestrial C uptake and evaluatemore » whether these assumptions can be constrained by experimental evidence. All models simulated increased terrestrial C pools resulting from CO 2 enrichment, though there was substantial variability in quasi-equilibrium C sequestration and rates of change. In two of two models that assume that plant nitrogen (N) uptake is solely a function of soil N supply, the net primary production response to elevated CO 2 became progressively N limited. In four of five models that assume that N uptake is a function of both soil N supply and plant N demand, elevated CO 2 led to reduced ecosystem N losses and thus progressively relaxed nitrogen limitation. Many allocation assumptions resulted in increased wood allocation relative to leaves and roots which reduced the vegetation turnover rate and increased C sequestration. Additionally, self-thinning assumptions had a substantial impact on C sequestration in two models. As a result, accurate representation of N process dynamics (in particular N uptake), allocation, and forest self-thinning is key to minimizing uncertainty in projections of future C sequestration in response to elevated atmospheric CO 2.« less

Research and Development of a DNDC Online Model for Farmland Carbon Sequestration and GHG Emissions Mitigation in China.

PubMed

Jiang, Zaidi; Yin, Shan; Zhang, Xianxian; Li, Changsheng; Shen, Guangrong; Zhou, Pei; Liu, Chunjiang

2017-12-01

Appropriate agricultural practices for carbon sequestration and emission mitigation have a significant influence on global climate change. However, various agricultural practices on farmland carbon sequestration usually have a major impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is very important to accurately quantify the effect of agricultural practices. This study developed a platform-the Denitrification Decomposition (DNDC) online model-for simulating and evaluating the agricultural carbon sequestration and emission mitigation based on the scientific process of the DNDC model, which is widely used in the simulation of soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics. After testing the adaptability of the platform on two sampling fields, it turned out that the simulated values matched the measured values well for crop yields and GHG emissions. We used the platform to estimate the effect of three carbon sequestration practices in a sampling field: nitrogen fertilization reduction, straw residue and midseason drainage. The results indicated the following: (1) moderate decrement of the nitrogen fertilization in the sampling field was able to decrease the N₂O emission while maintaining the paddy rice yield; (2) ground straw residue had almost no influence on paddy rice yield, but the CH₄ emission and the surface SOC concentration increased along with the quantity of the straw residue; (3) compared to continuous flooding, midseason drainage would not decrease the paddy rice yield and could lead to a drop in CH₄ emission. Thus, this study established the DNDC online model, which is able to serve as a reference and support for the study and evaluation of the effects of agricultural practices on agricultural carbon sequestration and GHG emissions mitigation in China.

An Integrated Functional Genomics Consortium to Increase Carbon Sequestration in Poplars: Optimizing Aboveground Carbon Gain

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Karnosky, David F; Podila, G Krishna; Burton, Andrew J

2009-02-17

This project used gene expression patterns from two forest Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiments (Aspen FACE in northern Wisconsin and POPFACE in Italy) to examine ways to increase the aboveground carbon sequestration potential of poplars (Populus). The aim was to use patterns of global gene expression to identify candidate genes for increased carbon sequestration. Gene expression studies were linked to physiological measurements in order to elucidate bottlenecks in carbon acquisition in trees grown in elevated CO2 conditions. Delayed senescence allowing additional carbon uptake late in the growing season, was also examined, and expression of target genes was tested in elitemore » P. deltoides x P. trichocarpa hybrids. In Populus euramericana, gene expression was sensitive to elevated CO2, but the response depended on the developmental age of the leaves. Most differentially expressed genes were upregulated in elevated CO2 in young leaves, while most were downregulated in elevated CO2 in semi-mature leaves. In P. deltoides x P. trichocarpa hybrids, leaf development and leaf quality traits, including leaf area, leaf shape, epidermal cell area, stomatal number, specific leaf area, and canopy senescence were sensitive to elevated CO2. Significant increases under elevated CO2 occurred for both above- and belowground growth in the F-2 generation. Three areas of the genome played a role in determining aboveground growth response to elevated CO2, with three additional areas of the genome important in determining belowground growth responses to elevated CO2. In Populus tremuloides, CO2-responsive genes in leaves were found to differ between two aspen clones that showed different growth responses, despite similarity in many physiological parameters (photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and leaf area index). The CO2-responsive clone shunted C into pathways associated with active defense/response to stress, carbohydrate/starch biosynthesis and subsequent growth. The CO2-unresponsive clone partitioned C into pathways associated with passive defense and cell wall thickening. These results indicate that there is significant variation in gene expression patterns between different tree genotypes. Consequently, future efforts to improve productivity or other advantageous traits for carbon sequestration should include an examination of genetic variability in CO2 responsiveness.« less

Reduced carbon sequestration potential of biochar in acidic soil.

PubMed

Sheng, Yaqi; Zhan, Yu; Zhu, Lizhong

2016-12-01

Biochar application in soil has been proposed as a promising method for carbon sequestration. While factors affecting its carbon sequestration potential have been widely investigated, the number of studies on the effect of soil pH is limited. To investigate the carbon sequestration potential of biochar across a series of soil pH levels, the total carbon emission, CO 2 release from inorganic carbon, and phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) of six soils with various pH levels were compared after the addition of straw biochar produced at different pyrolysis temperatures. The results show that the acidic soils released more CO 2 (1.5-3.5 times higher than the control) after the application of biochar compared with neutral and alkaline soils. The degradation of both native soil organic carbon (SOC) and biochar were accelerated. More inorganic CO 2 release in acidic soil contributed to the increased degradation of biochar. Higher proportion of gram-positive bacteria in acidic soil (25%-36%) was responsible for the enhanced biochar degradation and simultaneously co-metabolism of SOC. In addition, lower substrate limitation for bacteria, indicated by higher C-O stretching after the biochar application in the acidic soil, also caused more CO 2 release. In addition to the soil pH, other factors such as clay contents and experimental duration also affected the phsico-chemical and biotic processes of SOC dynamics. Gram-negative/gram-positive bacteria ratio was found to be negatively related to priming effects, and suggested to serve as an indicator for priming effect. In general, the carbon sequestration potential of rice-straw biochar in soil reduced along with the decrease of soil pH especially in a short-term. Given wide spread of acidic soils in China, carbon sequestration potential of biochar may be overestimated without taking into account the impact of soil pH. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Assessment on the availability of nitrogen fertilization in improving carbon sequestration potential of China's cropland soil].

PubMed

Lu, Fei; Wang, Xiao-Ke; Han, Bing; Ouyang, Zhi-Yun; Duan, Xiao-Nan; Zheng, Hua

2008-10-01

With reference to the situation of nitrogen fertilization in 2003 and the recommendations from agricultural experts on fertilization to different crops, two scenarios, namely, 'current situation' and 'fertilization as recommended', were set for estimating the current and potential carbon sequestration of China's cropland soil under nitrogen fertilization. After collecting and analyzing the typical data from the long-term agricultural experiment stations all over China, and based on the recent studies of soil organic matter and nutrient dynamics, we plotted China into four agricultural regions, and estimated the carbon sequestration rate and potential of cropland soil under the two scenarios in each province of China. Meanwhile, with the data concerning fossil fuel consumption for fertilizer production and nitrogen fertilization, the greenhouse gas leakage caused by nitrogen fertilizer production and application was estimated with the help of the parameters given by domestic studies and IPCC. We further proposed that the available carbon sequestration potential of cropland soil could be taken as the criterion of the validity and availability of carbon sequestration measures. The results showed that the application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer could bring about a carbon sequestration potential of 21.9 Tg C x a(-1) in current situation, and 30.2 Tg C x a(-1) with fertilization as recommended. However, under the two scenarios, the greenhouse gas leakage caused by fertilizer production and application would reach 72.9 Tg C x a(-1) and 91.4 Tg C x a(-1), and thus, the actual available carbon sequestration potential would be -51.0 Tg C x a(-1) and -61.1 Tg C x a(-1), respectively. The situation was even worse under the 'fertilization as recommended' scenario, because the increase in the amount of nitrogen fertilization would lead to 10. 1 Tg C x a(-1) or more net greenhouse gas emission. All these results indicated that the application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer could not be taken as a feasible measure for the carbon sequestration of cropland soil in China. Since synthetic fertilizer application is the basic guarantee of China's crop production, it was suggested to increase the efficiency of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, and at the same time, to cut down the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer production and its application on the premise that the crop yield should be ensured.

Geological Carbon Sequestration in the Ohio River Valley: An Evaluation of Possible Target Formations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalton, T. A.; Daniels, J. J.

2009-12-01

The development of geological carbon sequestration within the Ohio River Valley is of major interest to the national electricity and coal industries because the Valley is home to a heavy concentration of coal-burning electricity generation plants and the infrastructure is impossible to eliminate in the short-term. It has been determined by Ohio's politicians and citizenry that the continued use of coal in this region until alternative energy supplies are available will be necessary over the next few years. Geologic sequestration is the only possible means of keeping the CO2 out of the atmosphere in the region. The cost of the sequestration effort greatly decreases CO2 emissions by sequestering CO2 directly on site of these plants, or by minimizing the distance between fossil-fueled generation and sequestration (i.e., by eliminating the cost of transportation of supercritical CO2 from plant to sequestration site). Thus, the practicality of CO2 geologic sequestration within the Ohio River Valley is central to the development of such a commercial effort. Though extensive work has been done by the Regional Partnerships of the DOE/NETL in the characterization of general areas for carbon sequestration throughout the nation, few projects have narrowed their focus into a single geologic region in order to evaluate the sites of greatest commercial potential. As an undergraduate of the Earth Sciences at Ohio State, I have engaged in thorough research to obtain a detailed understanding of the geology of the Ohio River Valley and its potential for commercial-scale carbon sequestration. Through this research, I have been able to offer an estimate of the areas of greatest interest for CO2 geologic sequestration. This research has involved petrological, mineralogical, geochemical, and geophysical analyses of four major reservoir formations within Ohio—the Rose Run, the Copper Ridge, the Clinton, and the Oriskany—along with an evaluation of the possible effects of injection into these saline reservoirs.

Technical Report on Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bill Stanley; Sandra Brown; Zoe Kant

2009-01-07

The Nature Conservancy participated in a Cooperative Agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to explore the compatibility of carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems and the conservation of biodiversity. The title of the research project was 'Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration'. The objectives of the project were to: (1) improve carbon offset estimates produced in both the planning and implementation phases of projects; (2) build valid and standardized approaches to estimate project carbon benefits at a reasonable cost; and (3) lay the groundwork for implementing cost-effective projects, providingmore » new testing ground for biodiversity protection and restoration projects that store additional atmospheric carbon. This Final Technical Report discusses the results of the six tasks that The Nature Conservancy undertook to answer research needs while facilitating the development of real projects with measurable greenhouse gas reductions. The research described in this report occurred between July 1st 2001 and July 10th 2008. The specific tasks discussed include: Task 1: carbon inventory advancements; Task 2: emerging technologies for remote sensing of terrestrial carbon; Task 3: baseline method development; Task 4: third-party technical advisory panel meetings; Task 5: new project feasibility studies; and Task 6: development of new project software screening tool. The project occurred in two phases. The first was a focused exploration of specific carbon measurement and monitoring methodologies and pre-selected carbon sequestration opportunities. The second was a more systematic and comprehensive approach to compare various competing measurement and monitoring methodologies, and assessment of a variety of carbon sequestration opportunities in order to find those that are the lowest cost with the greatest combined carbon and other environmental benefits. In the first phase we worked in the U.S., Brazil, Belize, Bolivia, Peru, and Chile to develop and refine specific carbon inventory methods, pioneering a new remote-sensing method for cost-effectively measuring and monitoring terrestrial carbon sequestration and system for developing carbon baselines for both avoided deforestation and afforestation/reforestation projects. We evaluated the costs and carbon benefits of a number of specific terrestrial carbon sequestration activities throughout the U.S., including reforestation of abandoned mined lands in southwest Virginia, grassland restoration in Arizona and Indiana, and reforestation in the Mississippi Alluvial Delta. The most cost-effective U.S. terrestrial sequestration opportunity we found through these studies was reforestation in the Mississippi Alluvial Delta. In Phase II we conducted a more systematic assessment and comparison of several different measurement and monitoring approaches in the Northern Cascades of California, and a broad 11-state Northeast regional assessment, rather than pre-selected and targeted, analysis of terrestrial sequestration costs and benefits. Work was carried out in Brazil, Belize, Chile, Peru and the USA. Partners include the Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development, The Sampson Group, Programme for Belize, Society for Wildlife Conservation (SPVS), Universidad Austral de Chile, Michael Lefsky, Colorado State University, UC Berkeley, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, ProNaturaleza, Ohio State University, Stephen F. Austin University, Geographical Modeling Services, Inc., WestWater, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Century Ecosystem Services, Mirant Corporation, General Motors, American Electric Power, Salt River Project, Applied Energy Systems, KeySpan, NiSource, and PSEG. This project, 'Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration', has resulted in over 50 presentations and reports, available publicly through the Department of Energy or by visiting the links listed in Appendix 1. More important than the reports, the project has helped to lead to the development of on-the-ground projects in Southwestern Virginia, Louisiana, and Chile while informing policy development in Virginia, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the California Climate Action Registry and U.S. and international programs.« less

Characterization of Most Promising Sequestration Formations in the Rocky Mountain Region (RMCCS)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McPherson, Brian; Matthews, Vince

2013-09-30

The primary objective of the “Characterization of Most Promising Carbon Capture and Sequestration Formations in the Central Rocky Mountain Region” project, or RMCCS project, is to characterize the storage potential of the most promising geologic sequestration formations within the southwestern U.S. and the Central Rocky Mountain region in particular. The approach included an analysis of geologic sequestration formations under the Craig Power Station in northwestern Colorado, and application or extrapolation of those local-scale results to the broader region. A ten-step protocol for geologic carbon storage site characterization was a primary outcome of this project.

Mapping the Mineral Resource Base for Mineral Carbon-Dioxide Sequestration in the Conterminous United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Krevor, S.C.; Graves, C.R.; Van Gosen, B. S.; McCafferty, A.E.

2009-01-01

This database provides information on the occurrence of ultramafic rocks in the conterminous United States that are suitable for sequestering captured carbon dioxide in mineral form, also known as mineral carbon-dioxide sequestration. Mineral carbon-dioxide sequestration is a proposed greenhouse gas mitigation technology whereby carbon dioxide (CO2) is disposed of by reacting it with calcium or magnesium silicate minerals to form a solid magnesium or calcium carbonate product. The technology offers a large capacity to permanently store CO2 in an environmentally benign form via a process that takes little effort to verify or monitor after disposal. These characteristics are unique among its peers in greenhouse gas disposal technologies. The 2005 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage suggested that a major gap in mineral CO2 sequestration is locating the magnesium-silicate bedrock available to sequester the carbon dioxide. It is generally known that silicate minerals with high concentrations of magnesium are suitable for mineral carbonation. However, no assessment has been made in the United States that details their geographical distribution and extent, nor has anyone evaluated their potential for use in mineral carbonation. Researchers at Columbia University and the U.S. Geological Survey have developed a digital geologic database of ultramafic rocks in the conterminous United States. Data were compiled from varied-scale geologic maps of magnesium-silicate ultramafic rocks. The focus of our national-scale map is entirely on ultramafic rock types, which typically consist primarily of olivine- and serpentine-rich rocks. These rock types are potentially suitable as source material for mineral CO2 sequestration.

Severe summer heatwave and drought strongly reduced carbon uptake in Southern China

DOE PAGES

Yuan, Wenping; Cai, Wenwen; Chen, Yang; ...

2016-01-07

Increasing heatwave and drought events can potentially alter the carbon cycle. Few studies have investigated the impacts of hundred-year return heatwaves and droughts, as those events are rare. In the summer of 2013, southern China experienced its strongest drought and heatwave on record for the past 113 years. We show that the record-breaking heatwave and drought lasted two months (from July to August), significantly reduced the satellite-based vegetation index and gross primary production, substantially altered the regional carbon cycle, and produced the largest negative crop yield anomaly since 1960. The event resulted in a net reduction of 101.54 Tg Cmore » in carbon sequestration in the region during these two months, which was 39–53% of the annual net carbon sink of China’s terrestrial ecosystems (190–260 Tg C yr -1). Moreover, model experiments showed that heatwaves and droughts consistently decreased ecosystem vegetation primary production but had opposite impacts on ecosystem respiration (TER), with increased TER by 6.78 ± 2.15% and decreased TER by 15.34 ± 3.57% assuming only changed temperature and precipitation, respectively. As a result, in light of increasing frequency and severity of future heatwaves and droughts, our study highlights the importance of accounting for the impacts of heatwaves and droughts in assessing the carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems.« less

Severe summer heatwave and drought strongly reduced carbon uptake in Southern China

PubMed Central

Yuan, Wenping; Cai, Wenwen; Chen, Yang; Liu, Shuguang; Dong, Wenjie; Zhang, Haicheng; Yu, Guirui; Chen, Zhuoqi; He, Honglin; Guo, Weidong; Liu, Dan; Liu, Shaoming; Xiang, Wenhua; Xie, Zhenghui; Zhao, Zhonghui; Zhou, Guomo

2016-01-01

Increasing heatwave and drought events can potentially alter the carbon cycle. Few studies have investigated the impacts of hundred-year return heatwaves and droughts, as those events are rare. In the summer of 2013, southern China experienced its strongest drought and heatwave on record for the past 113 years. We show that the record-breaking heatwave and drought lasted two months (from July to August), significantly reduced the satellite-based vegetation index and gross primary production, substantially altered the regional carbon cycle, and produced the largest negative crop yield anomaly since 1960. The event resulted in a net reduction of 101.54 Tg C in carbon sequestration in the region during these two months, which was 39–53% of the annual net carbon sink of China’s terrestrial ecosystems (190–260 Tg C yr−1). Moreover, model experiments showed that heatwaves and droughts consistently decreased ecosystem vegetation primary production but had opposite impacts on ecosystem respiration (TER), with increased TER by 6.78 ± 2.15% and decreased TER by 15.34 ± 3.57% assuming only changed temperature and precipitation, respectively. In light of increasing frequency and severity of future heatwaves and droughts, our study highlights the importance of accounting for the impacts of heatwaves and droughts in assessing the carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems. PMID:26739761

Severe summer heatwave and drought strongly reduced carbon uptake in Southern China

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yuan, Wenping; Cai, Wenwen; Chen, Yang

Increasing heatwave and drought events can potentially alter the carbon cycle. Few studies have investigated the impacts of hundred-year return heatwaves and droughts, as those events are rare. In the summer of 2013, southern China experienced its strongest drought and heatwave on record for the past 113 years. We show that the record-breaking heatwave and drought lasted two months (from July to August), significantly reduced the satellite-based vegetation index and gross primary production, substantially altered the regional carbon cycle, and produced the largest negative crop yield anomaly since 1960. The event resulted in a net reduction of 101.54 Tg Cmore » in carbon sequestration in the region during these two months, which was 39–53% of the annual net carbon sink of China’s terrestrial ecosystems (190–260 Tg C yr -1). Moreover, model experiments showed that heatwaves and droughts consistently decreased ecosystem vegetation primary production but had opposite impacts on ecosystem respiration (TER), with increased TER by 6.78 ± 2.15% and decreased TER by 15.34 ± 3.57% assuming only changed temperature and precipitation, respectively. As a result, in light of increasing frequency and severity of future heatwaves and droughts, our study highlights the importance of accounting for the impacts of heatwaves and droughts in assessing the carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems.« less

Native plant restoration combats environmental change: development of carbon and nitrogen sequestration capacity using small cordgrass in European salt marshes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Restoration of salt marshes is critical in the context of climate change and eutrophication of coastal waters, because their vegetation and sediments may act as carbon and nitrogen sinks. Our primary objectives were to quantify carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks and sequestration rates in restored m...

Determining landscape-level carbon emissions from historically harvested forest products

Treesearch

Sean Healey; Todd Morgan; Jon Songster; Jason Brandt

2009-01-01

Resources have been developed in the literature to enable landowners to estimate the carbon sequestration timeline of forest products derived from their land. These tools were used here to estimate sequestration and emissions related to harvests carried out in Ravalli County from 1945 to 2007. This county-level accounting of product carbon release can later be combined...

Carbon sequestration resulting from bottomland hardwood afforestation in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley

Treesearch

Bertrand F. Nero; Richard P. Maiers; Janet C. Dewey; Andrew J. Londo

2010-01-01

Increasing abandonment of marginal agricultural lands in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) and rising global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels create a need for better options of achieving rapid afforestation and enhancing both below and aboveground carbon sequestration. This study examines the responses of six mixtures of bottomland hardwood species...

Radiocarbon constraints imply reduced carbon uptake by soils during the 21st century

USGS Publications Warehouse

He, Yujie; Trumbore, Susan E.; Torn, Margaret S.; Harden, Jennifer W.; Vaughn, Lydia J.S.; Allison, Steven D.; Randerson, J.T.

2016-01-01

Soil is the largest terrestrial carbon reservoir and may influence the sign and magnitude of carbon cycle-climate feedbacks. Many Earth system models (ESMs) estimate a significant soil carbon sink by 2100, yet the underlying carbon dynamics determining this response have not been systematically tested against observations. We used 14C data from 157 globally distributed soil profiles sampled to 1 m depth to show that ESMs underestimated the mean age of soil carbon by more than six-fold (430±50 years vs. 3100±1800 years). Consequently, ESMs overestimated the carbon sequestration potential of soils by nearly two-fold (40±27%). These biases suggest that ESMs must better represent carbon stabilization processes and the turnover time of slow and passive reservoirs when simulating future atmospheric CO2 dynamics.

Carbon Capture and Storage

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Friedmann, S

2007-10-03

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is the long-term isolation of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through physical, chemical, biological, or engineered processes. This includes a range of approaches including soil carbon sequestration (e.g., through no-till farming), terrestrial biomass sequestration (e.g., through planting forests), direct ocean injection of CO{sub 2} either onto the deep seafloor or into the intermediate depths, injection into deep geological formations, or even direct conversion of CO{sub 2} to carbonate minerals. Some of these approaches are considered geoengineering (see the appropriate chapter herein). All are considered in the 2005 special report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatemore » Change (IPCC 2005). Of the range of options available, geological carbon sequestration (GCS) appears to be the most actionable and economic option for major greenhouse gas reduction in the next 10-30 years. The basis for this interest includes several factors: (1) The potential capacities are large based on initial estimates. Formal estimates for global storage potential vary substantially, but are likely to be between 800 and 3300 Gt of C (3000 and 10,000 Gt of CO{sub 2}), with significant capacity located reasonably near large point sources of the CO{sub 2}. (2) GCS can begin operations with demonstrated technology. Carbon dioxide has been separated from large point sources for nearly 100 years, and has been injected underground for over 30 years (below). (3) Testing of GCS at intermediate scale is feasible. In the US, Canada, and many industrial countries, large CO{sub 2} sources like power plants and refineries lie near prospective storage sites. These plants could be retrofit today and injection begun (while bearing in mind scientific uncertainties and unknowns). Indeed, some have, and three projects described here provide a great deal of information on the operational needs and field implementation of CCS. Part of this interest comes from several key documents written in the last three years that provide information on the status, economics, technology, and impact of CCS. These are cited throughout this text and identified as key references at the end of this manuscript. When coupled with improvements in energy efficiency, renewable energy supplies, and nuclear power, CCS help dramatically reduce current and future emissions (US CCTP 2005, MIT 2007). If CCS is not available as a carbon management option, it will be much more difficult and much more expensive to stabilize atmospheric CO{sub 2} emissions. Recent estimates put the cost of carbon abatement without CCS to be 30-80% higher that if CCS were to be available (Edmonds et al. 2004).« less

Soil carbon sequestration due to post-Soviet cropland abandonment: estimates from a large-scale soil organic carbon field inventory.

PubMed

Wertebach, Tim-Martin; Hölzel, Norbert; Kämpf, Immo; Yurtaev, Andrey; Tupitsin, Sergey; Kiehl, Kathrin; Kamp, Johannes; Kleinebecker, Till

2017-09-01

The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 triggered cropland abandonment on a continental scale, which in turn led to carbon accumulation on abandoned land across Eurasia. Previous studies have estimated carbon accumulation rates across Russia based on large-scale modelling. Studies that assess carbon sequestration on abandoned land based on robust field sampling are rare. We investigated soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks using a randomized sampling design along a climatic gradient from forest steppe to Sub-Taiga in Western Siberia (Tyumen Province). In total, SOC contents were sampled on 470 plots across different soil and land-use types. The effect of land use on changes in SOC stock was evaluated, and carbon sequestration rates were calculated for different age stages of abandoned cropland. While land-use type had an effect on carbon accumulation in the topsoil (0-5 cm), no independent land-use effects were found for deeper SOC stocks. Topsoil carbon stocks of grasslands and forests were significantly higher than those of soils managed for crops and under abandoned cropland. SOC increased significantly with time since abandonment. The average carbon sequestration rate for soils of abandoned cropland was 0.66 Mg C ha -1  yr -1 (1-20 years old, 0-5 cm soil depth), which is at the lower end of published estimates for Russia and Siberia. There was a tendency towards SOC saturation on abandoned land as sequestration rates were much higher for recently abandoned (1-10 years old, 1.04 Mg C ha -1  yr -1 ) compared to earlier abandoned crop fields (11-20 years old, 0.26 Mg C ha -1  yr -1 ). Our study confirms the global significance of abandoned cropland in Russia for carbon sequestration. Our findings also suggest that robust regional surveys based on a large number of samples advance model-based continent-wide SOC prediction. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

40 CFR 98.448 - Geologic sequestration monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide § 98.448 Geologic sequestration monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV... use to calculate site-specific variables for the mass balance equation. This includes, but is not...

40 CFR 98.448 - Geologic sequestration monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide § 98.448 Geologic sequestration monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV... use to calculate site-specific variables for the mass balance equation. This includes, but is not...

Implications of Ozone on Carbon Sequestration and Climate Policy in the U.S. Using the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Felzer, B. S.; Reilly, J. M.; Melillo, J. M.; Kicklighter, D. W.; Wang, C.; Prinn, R.; Sarofim, M. C.; Zhuang, Q.

2003-12-01

Exposure of plants to ozone inhibits photosynthesis and therefore reduces vegetation production and carbon sequestration. The damaging effects of tropospheric ozone vary spatially because human activities responsible for the emissions of ozone precursors are highly concentrated in urban and industrial centers. We developed scenarios of ozone-precursor emissions and the resultant ozone concentrations using the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model (IGSM) through the year 2100 and explored the consequent effects on terrestrial ecosystems using the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM). We then used the Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model, a component of the IGSM, to evaluate the cost of increased mitigation efforts required to offset lost carbon sequestration. We considered both a global climate policy that limits future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and an air quality policy that limits pollutant emissions to their 1995 levels in the developed countries. We also considered agricultural management that includes optimal irrigation and fertilization and no irrigation and fertilization for croplands. We found that the loss of carbon sequestration in the U.S. at the end of the 21st century due to ozone pollution ranged from negligible to as much as 0.3 PgC yr-1 depending upon the policy options pursued. We valued these reductions in terms of the change in the net present value of the cost to the U.S. through 2100 of a global carbon policy designed to approximately stabilize atmospheric CO2 levels at 550 ppm. For the U.S., failure to consider ozone damages to vegetation would by itself raise the costs over the next century of stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by 11 to 19% (\\0.3 to \\0.6 trillion) because emissions from fossil fuels will need to be reduced more to compensate for the reduced carbon sequestration by terrestrial ecosystems. With a pollution cap, damages are reduced to 6 to 12% (\\0.2 to \\0.3 trillion) of the total cost. However, climate policy that reduces fossil fuel use and methane emissions would also reduce the emissions of the ozone precursors and therefore, ozone concentrations and ozone damages. The savings in reduced carbon emissions reductions costs are estimated to be between 1 and 17% (\\0.09 to \\0.3 trillion) of the cost of the climate policy. The cost estimates are sensitive to the assumed 5% discount rate and the details of the climate policy and how the burden is allocated among countries. Tropospheric ozone effects on terrestrial ecosystems produce a surprisingly large feedback in estimating climate policy costs that, heretofore, has not been included in cost estimates.

Translating national level forest service goals to local level land management: carbon sequestration

Treesearch

Steven McNulty; Emrys Treasure; Lisa Jennings; David Meriwether; David Harris; Paul Arndt

2017-01-01

The USDA Forest Service has many national level policies related to multiple use management. However, translating national policy to stand level forest management can be difficult. As an example of how a national policy can be put into action, we examined three case studies in which a desired future condition is evaluated at the national, region, and local scale. We...

Essays on carbon policy and enhanced oil recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, Benjamin R.

The growing concerns about climate change have led policy makers to consider various regulatory schemes designed to reduce the stock and growth of atmospheric CO2 concentrations while at the same time improving energy security. The most prominent proposals are the so called "cap-and-trade" frameworks which set aggregate emission levels for a jurisdiction and then issue or sell a corresponding number of allowances to emitters. Typically, these policy measures will also encourage the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in geological formations and mature oil fields through subsidies or other incentives. The ability to store CO 2 in mature oil fields through the deployment of CO2 enhanced oil recovery (CO2--EOR) is particularly attractive as it can simultaneously improve oil recovery at those fields, and serve as a possible financial bridge to the development of CO2 transportation infrastructure. The purpose of this research is to explore the impact that a tandem subsidy-tax policy regime may have on bargaining between emitters and sequestration providers, and also to identify oil units in Wyoming that can profitably undertake CO 2--EOR as a starting point for the build-out of CO2 pipelines. In the first essay an economics lab experiment is designed to simulate private bargaining between carbon emitters (such as power plants) and carbon sequestration sites when the emitter faces carbon taxes, sequestration subsidies or both. In a tax-subsidy policy regime the carbon tax (or purchased allowances) can be avoided by sequestering the carbon, and in some cases the emitter can also earn a subsidy to help pay for the sequestration. The main policy implications of the experiment results are that the sequestration market might be inefficient, and sequestration providers seem to have bargaining power sufficient to command high prices. This may lead to the integration of CO2 sources and sequestration sites, and reduced prices for the injectable CO2 purchased by oil operators for enhanced oil recovery. The second essay extends the CO2--EOR economic model described in a recent Energy Journal article by Klaas van 't Veld and Owen R. Phillips (2010). This essay takes a Monte Carlo approach to the economic scoping model which focuses more directly on the probabilistic outcomes for each individual oil field-reservoir combination (FRC). Using data on Wyoming oil fields the essay analyzes 197 FRCs in order to identify oil units with robust CO2--EOR profit potential over a wide range of uncertainty regarding future oil prices and reservoir characteristics. Of the 197 FRCs considered, 93 of them are found to meet an industry threshold IRR of 20 percent in at least half of scenarios with limited chance of actually taking losses. The third essay continues to employ the CO2--EOR economic scoping model, but focuses on Wyoming's aggregate EOR potential and attendant CO2 requirements. A similar Monte Carlo analysis is used to construct incremental oil "supply" and cumulative CO2 purchase "demand" curve estimates. Finally, the study uses a resampling technique similar to bootstrapping in order to create probabilistic distributions of Wyoming's aggregate EOR potential by assigning probabilities to individual oil prices. Although the data only covers oil fields with at least 5 MMbo of production, the analysis suggests around 768 MMbo of additional oil is likely to be recovered with CO2--EOR utilizing roughly 5.5 Tcf of injectable CO2.

How organic carbon derived from multiple sources contributes to carbon sequestration processes in a shallow coastal system?

PubMed Central

Watanabe, Kenta; Kuwae, Tomohiro

2015-01-01

Carbon captured by marine organisms helps sequester atmospheric CO2, especially in shallow coastal ecosystems, where rates of primary production and burial of organic carbon (OC) from multiple sources are high. However, linkages between the dynamics of OC derived from multiple sources and carbon sequestration are poorly understood. We investigated the origin (terrestrial, phytobenthos derived, and phytoplankton derived) of particulate OC (POC) and dissolved OC (DOC) in the water column and sedimentary OC using elemental, isotopic, and optical signatures in Furen Lagoon, Japan. Based on these data analysis, we explored how OC from multiple sources contributes to sequestration via storage in sediments, water column sequestration, and air–sea CO2 exchanges, and analyzed how the contributions vary with salinity in a shallow seagrass meadow as well. The relative contribution of terrestrial POC in the water column decreased with increasing salinity, whereas autochthonous POC increased in the salinity range 10–30. Phytoplankton-derived POC dominated the water column POC (65–95%) within this salinity range; however, it was minor in the sediments (3–29%). In contrast, terrestrial and phytobenthos-derived POC were relatively minor contributors in the water column but were major contributors in the sediments (49–78% and 19–36%, respectively), indicating that terrestrial and phytobenthos-derived POC were selectively stored in the sediments. Autochthonous DOC, part of which can contribute to long-term carbon sequestration in the water column, accounted for >25% of the total water column DOC pool in the salinity range 15–30. Autochthonous OC production decreased the concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon in the water column and thereby contributed to atmospheric CO2 uptake, except in the low-salinity zone. Our results indicate that shallow coastal ecosystems function not only as transition zones between land and ocean but also as carbon sequestration filters. They function at different timescales, depending on the salinity, and OC sources. PMID:25880367

The potential of land management to decrease global warming from climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayer, A.; Hausfather, Z.; Jones, A. D.; Silver, W. L.

2016-12-01

Recent evidence suggests that negative emissions (i.e. sequestration) is critical to slow climate change (IPCC, 2013; Gasser et al, 2015). Agricultural (crop and grazing) lands have the potential to act as a significant carbon sink. These ecosystems cover a significant proportion of the global land surface, and are largely degraded with regard to soil carbon due to previous management practices (Bai et al, 2008). However, few studies have examined the required scale of land management interventions that would be required to make a significant contribution to a portfolio of efforts aimed at limiting anthropogenic influences on global mean temperature. To address this, we modelled the quantitative effect of a range of soil carbon sequestration rates on global temperature to 2100. Results showed that by assuming a baseline emissions scenario outlined in RCP 2.6, the sequestration of an additional 0.7 Pg C per year through improved agricultural land management practices would produce a reduction of 0.1 degrees C from predicted global temperatures by the year 2100. We also compiled previous estimates of global carbon sequestration potential of agricultural soils to compare with our theoretical prediction to determine whether carbon sequestration through existing land management practices has potential to significantly reduce global temperatures. Assuming long-term soil carbon uptake, the combined potential of agricultural land management-based mitigation approaches exceeded 0.25 degrees C warming reduction by the year 2100. However, results were highly sensitive to potential carbon saturation, defined as the maximum threshold for carbon storage in soil. Our results suggest that current land management technologies and available land area exist and could make a measureable impact on warming reduction. Results also highlighted potential carbon saturation as a key gap in knowledge.

A guide to potential soil carbon sequestration; land-use management for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Markewich, H.W.; Buell, G.R.

2001-01-01

Terrestrial carbon sequestration has a potential role in reducing the recent increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) that is, in part, contributing to global warming. Because the most stable long-term surface reservoir for carbon is the soil, changes in agriculture and forestry can potentially reduce atmospheric CO2 through increased soil-carbon storage. If local governments and regional planning agencies are to effect changes in land-use management that could mitigate the impacts of increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it is essential to know how carbon is cycled and distributed on the landscape. Only then can a cost/benefit analysis be applied to carbon sequestration as a potential land-use management tool for mitigation of GHG emissions. For the past several years, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been researching the role of terrestrial carbon in the global carbon cycle. Data from these investigations now allow the USGS to begin to (1) 'map' carbon at national, regional, and local scales; (2) calculate present carbon storage at land surface; and (3) identify those areas having the greatest potential to sequester carbon.

Calcium silicates synthesised from industrial residues with the ability for CO2 sequestration.

PubMed

Morales-Flórez, Victor; Santos, Alberto; López, Antonio; Moriña, Isabel; Esquivias, Luis

2014-12-01

This work explored several synthesis routes to obtain calcium silicates from different calcium-rich and silica-rich industrial residues. Larnite, wollastonite and calcium silicate chloride were successfully synthesised with moderate heat treatments below standard temperatures. These procedures help to not only conserve natural resources, but also to reduce the energy requirements and CO2 emissions. In addition, these silicates have been successfully tested as carbon dioxide sequesters, to enhance the viability of CO2 mineral sequestration technologies using calcium-rich industrial by-products as sequestration agents. Two different carbon sequestration experiments were performed under ambient conditions. Static experiments revealed carbonation efficiencies close to 100% and real-time resolved experiments characterised the dynamic behaviour and ability of these samples to reduce the CO2 concentration within a mixture of gases. The CO2 concentration was reduced up to 70%, with a carbon fixation dynamic ratio of 3.2 mg CO2 per g of sequestration agent and minute. Our results confirm the suitability of the proposed synthesis routes to synthesise different calcium silicates recycling industrial residues, being therefore energetically more efficient and environmentally friendly procedures for the cement industry. © The Author(s) 2014.

Public land, timber harvests, and climate mitigation: quantifying carbon sequestration potential on U.S. public timberlands

Treesearch

Brooks M. Depro; Brian C. Murray; Ralph J. Alig; Alyssa Shanks

2008-01-01

Scientists and policymakers have long recognized the role that forests can play in countering the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide (C02), a greenhouse gas (GHG). In the United States, terrestrial carbon sequestration in private and public forests offsets approximately 11 percent of all GHG emissions from all sectors of the economy annually....

Estimating urban forest carbon sequestration potential in the southern United States using current remote sensing imagery sources

Treesearch

Krista Merry; Pete Bettinger; Jacek Siry; J. Michael Bowker

2015-01-01

With an increased interest in reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, tree planting and maintenance in urban areas has become a viable option for increasing carbon sequestration. Methods for assessing the potential for planting trees within an urban area should allow for quick, inexpensive, and accurate estimations of available land using current remote sensing...

Carbon Sequestration: is Science Leading Policy or Will Policy Direct Science?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, A. K.

2007-12-01

Climate-related policy is in its infancy on capital hill, as policy makers only recently started to converge on the acceptance that climate change is a credible, scientific reality. Until recently much of the debate and policy decisions have been related to whether or not climate change, or more specifically global warming, is occurring. The climate debate has shifted from discussing the science behind climate change to addressing how we can reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In the 110th Congress, policy makers have come to realize and accept that we, as a nation, are one of the largest global emitters of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Geologic carbon sequestration has gained significant congressional attention and is considered to be one of the most promising carbon mitigation tools. In the present Congress, scientific experts have testified before numerous committees about the various caveats of geologic carbon sequestration. As a result, policy has been and is currently being drafted to address the challenges facing large-scale commercial demonstration of geologic sequestration facilities. Policy has been passed through both the House and Senate that is aimed at increasing funding for basic and advanced research, development, and demonstration of small- to large-scale carbon dioxide injection projects. This legislation is only the beginning of a series of legislation that is under development. In the next year, policy will be introduced that will likely address issues related to pore space and mineral rights ownership, regulatory framework for carbon dioxide transport and injection, long-term injection site monitoring protocol, personal and environmental safety, and liability issues, to name a few. Policy is not limited to the technical aspects of carbon capture, transport, and storage, but is also being developed to help stimulate a market that will be operating under climate constraints. Financial incentives have been proposed that will assist industrial carbon dioxide emitters in making the transition into a carbon-constrained economy. Science has driven the initial policy that has been proposed to date; however, the topic of carbon sequestration has been advanced through Congress at a near record-breaking pace. As such, there is an increased need to hear from scientists in academia and industry alike to continue to make good policy decisions related to carbon sequestration based on sound scientific advice.

New insights into the nation's carbon storage potential

USGS Publications Warehouse

Warwick, Peter D.; Zhu, Zhi-Liang

2012-01-01

Carbon sequestration is a method of securing carbon dioxide (CO2) to prevent its release into the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming as a greenhouse gas. Geologic storage of CO2 in porous and permeable rocks involves injecting high-pressure CO2 into a subsurface rock unit that has available pore space. Biologic carbon sequestration refers to both natural and anthropogenic processes by which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and stored as carbon in vegetation, soils, and sediments.

Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the USA

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Daniel E. Crane

2002-01-01

Based on field data from 10 USA cities and national urban tree cover data, it is estimated that urban trees in the coterminous USA currently store 700 million tonnes of carbon ($14,300 million value) with a gross carbon sequestration rate of 22.8 million tC/yr ($460 rnillion/year). Carbon storage within cities ranges From 1.2 million tC in New York, NY, to 19,300 tC in...

Carbon sequestration in two alpine soils on the Tibetan Plateau.

PubMed

Tian, Yu-Qiang; Xu, Xing-Liang; Song, Ming-Hua; Zhou, Cai-Ping; Gao, Qiong; Ouyang, Hua

2009-09-01

Soil carbon sequestration was estimated in a conifer forest and an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau using a carbon-14 radioactive label provided by thermonuclear weapon tests (known as bomb-(14)C). Soil organic matter was physically separated into light and heavy fractions. The concentration spike of bomb-(14)C occurred at a soil depth of 4 cm in both the forest soil and the alpine meadow soil. Based on the depth of the bomb-(14)C spike, the carbon sequestration rate was determined to be 38.5 g C/m(2) per year for the forest soil and 27.1 g C/m(2) per year for the alpine meadow soil. Considering that more than 60% of soil organic carbon (SOC) is stored in the heavy fraction and the large area of alpine forests and meadows on the Tibetan Plateau, these alpine ecosystems might partially contribute to "the missing carbon sink".

CO 2 Absorption and Magnesium Carbonate Precipitation in MgCl 2–NH 3–NH 4Cl Solutions: Implications for Carbon Capture and Storage

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhu, Chen; Wang, Han; Li, Gen

CO 2 absorption and carbonate precipitation are the two core processes controlling the reaction rate and path of CO 2 mineral sequestration. Whereas previous studies have focused on testing reactive crystallization and precipitation kinetics, much less attention has been paid to absorption, the key process determining the removal efficiency of CO 2. In this study, adopting a novel wetted wall column reactor, we systematically explore the rates and mechanisms of carbon transformation from CO 2 gas to carbonates in MgCl 2–NH 3–NH 4Cl solutions. We find that reactive diffusion in liquid film of the wetted wall column is the rate-limitingmore » step of CO 2 absorption when proceeding chiefly through interactions between CO 2(aq) and NH 3(aq). We further quantified the reaction kinetic constant of the CO 2–NH 3 reaction. Our results indicate that higher initial concentration of NH 4Cl ( ≥2mol∙L -1) leads to the precipitation of roguinite [(NH 4) 2Mg(CO 3) 2∙4H 2O], while nesquehonite appears to be the dominant Mg-carbonate without NH 4Cl addition. We also noticed dypingite formation via phase transformation in hot water. This study provides new insight into the reaction kinetics of CO 2 mineral carbonation that indicates the potential of this technique for future application to industrial-scale CO 2 sequestration.« less

CO 2 Absorption and Magnesium Carbonate Precipitation in MgCl 2–NH 3–NH 4Cl Solutions: Implications for Carbon Capture and Storage

DOE PAGES

Zhu, Chen; Wang, Han; Li, Gen; ...

2017-09-19

CO 2 absorption and carbonate precipitation are the two core processes controlling the reaction rate and path of CO 2 mineral sequestration. Whereas previous studies have focused on testing reactive crystallization and precipitation kinetics, much less attention has been paid to absorption, the key process determining the removal efficiency of CO 2. In this study, adopting a novel wetted wall column reactor, we systematically explore the rates and mechanisms of carbon transformation from CO 2 gas to carbonates in MgCl 2–NH 3–NH 4Cl solutions. We find that reactive diffusion in liquid film of the wetted wall column is the rate-limitingmore » step of CO 2 absorption when proceeding chiefly through interactions between CO 2(aq) and NH 3(aq). We further quantified the reaction kinetic constant of the CO 2–NH 3 reaction. Our results indicate that higher initial concentration of NH 4Cl ( ≥2mol∙L -1) leads to the precipitation of roguinite [(NH 4) 2Mg(CO 3) 2∙4H 2O], while nesquehonite appears to be the dominant Mg-carbonate without NH 4Cl addition. We also noticed dypingite formation via phase transformation in hot water. This study provides new insight into the reaction kinetics of CO 2 mineral carbonation that indicates the potential of this technique for future application to industrial-scale CO 2 sequestration.« less

The Deep Carbon Cycle and CO2 Sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Filipovitch, N. B.; Mao, W. L.; Chou, I.; Mu, K.

2009-12-01

Increased understanding of the Earth’s carbon cycle may provide insight for future carbon storage. Long term geologic sequestration of CO2 occurs in the earth via exothermic reactions between CO2 and silicate minerals to form carbonate minerals. It has been shown that while there is a large enough supply of ultra mafic igneous rock to sequester the CO2 [1], the kinetics of this natural process are too slow to effectively manage our CO2 output. Most studies have focused on studying reaction kinetics at relatively low temperatures and pressures [2,3], and have found that the reaction kinetics are either too slow or (in the case of serpentine) necessitate an uneconomical heat pretreatment [3,4]. Our experiments expand the pressures and temperatures (up to 500 bars and exceeding 200 °C) at which the CO2 + silicate reaction is studied using fused silica capillary cells and Raman and XRD analysis. By increasing our understanding of the kinetics of this process and providing a valuable input for reactive flow and transport models, these results may guide approaches for practical CO2 sequestration in carbonate minerals as a way to manage atmospheric CO2 levels. High pressure and temperature results on carbonates have implications for understanding the deep carbon cycle. Most of the previous high pressure studies on carbonates have concentrated on magnesite (MgCO3), calcite (CaCO3), or dolomite ((Ca,Mg)CO3) [5,6]. While the Mg and Ca carbonates are the most abundant, iron-rich siderite (FeCO3) may be a significant player at greater depths within the earth. We performed XRD and Raman spectroscopy experiments on siderite to lower mantle pressures (up to 40 GPa) and observed a possible phase change around 13 GPa. References 1. Lackner, Klaus S., Wendt, Christopher H., Butt, Darryl P., Joyce, Edward L., Sharp, David H., 1995, Carbon dioxide disposal in carbonate minerals, Energy, Vol.20, No. 11, pp. 1153-1170 2. Bearat, Hamdallah, McKelvy, Michael J., Chizmeshya, Andrew V.G., Gormley, Deirdre, Nunez, Ryan, Carpenter, R.W., Squires, Kyle, Wolf, George, 2006, Carbon Sequestration via Aqueous Olivine Mineral Carbonation: Role of Passivating Layer Formation, Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 40, pp 4802-4808 3. Wolf, George H., Chizmeshya, Andrew V. G., Diefenbacher, Jason, McKelvy, Michael J., 2004, In Situ Observation of CO2 Sequestration Reactions Using a Novel Microreaction System, Environmental Science & Technology, Vol.38, No.3, pp 932-936 4. O’Connor, W. K., Dahlin, D. C., Nilsen, D.N., Rush, G.E., Walters, R.P., and Turner, P. C., 2000, “CO2 Storage in Solid Form: A Study of Direct Mineral Carbonation,” Proc. of the 5th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Technologies, Cairns, Australia, August 14-18, pp. 1-7 5. Isshiki, Maiko, Irifune, Tetsuo, Hirose, Kei, Ono, Shigeaki, Ohishi, Yasuo, Watanuki, Tetsu, Nishibori, Eiji, Takata, Masaki, Sakata, Makoto, 2004, Stability of magnesite and its high-pressure form in the lowermost mantle, Nature, Vol. 427, pp. 60-63 6. Kawano, Jun, Miyake, Akira, Shimobayashi, Norimasa, Kitamura, Masao, 2009, Molecular dynamics simulation of the phase transition between calcite and CaCO3-II , Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 21, pp. 1-11

Development of an assessment methodology for hydrocarbon recovery potential using carbon dioxide and associated carbon sequestration-Workshop findings

USGS Publications Warehouse

Verma, Mahendra K.; Warwick, Peter D.

2011-01-01

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-140) authorized the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a national assessment of geologic storage resources for carbon dioxide (CO2) and requested that the USGS estimate the "potential volumes of oil and gas recoverable by injection and sequestration of industrial carbon dioxide in potential sequestration formations" (121 Stat. 1711). The USGS developed a noneconomic, probability-based methodology to assess the Nation's technically assessable geologic storage resources available for sequestration of CO2 (Brennan and others, 2010) and is currently using the methodology to assess the Nation's CO2 geologic storage resources. Because the USGS has not developed a methodology to assess the potential volumes of technically recoverable hydrocarbons that could be produced by injection and sequestration of CO2, the Geologic Carbon Sequestration project initiated an effort in 2010 to develop a methodology for the assessment of the technically recoverable hydrocarbon potential in the sedimentary basins of the United States using enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques with CO2 (CO2-EOR). In collaboration with Stanford University, the USGS hosted a 2-day CO2-EOR workshop in May 2011, attended by 28 experts from academia, natural resource agencies and laboratories of the Federal Government, State and international geologic surveys, and representatives from the oil and gas industry. The geologic and the reservoir engineering and operations working groups formed during the workshop discussed various aspects of geology, reservoir engineering, and operations to make recommendations for the methodology.

U.S. DOE methodology for the development of geologic storage potential for carbon dioxide at the national and regional scale

USGS Publications Warehouse

Goodman, Angela; Hakala, J. Alexandra; Bromhal, Grant; Deel, Dawn; Rodosta, Traci; Frailey, Scott; Small, Michael; Allen, Doug; Romanov, Vyacheslav; Fazio, Jim; Huerta, Nicolas; McIntyre, Dustin; Kutchko, Barbara; Guthrie, George

2011-01-01

A detailed description of the United States Department of Energy (US-DOE) methodology for estimating CO2 storage potential for oil and gas reservoirs, saline formations, and unmineable coal seams is provided. The oil and gas reservoirs are assessed at the field level, while saline formations and unmineable coal seams are assessed at the basin level. The US-DOE methodology is intended for external users such as the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs), future project developers, and governmental entities to produce high-level CO2 resource assessments of potential CO2 storage reservoirs in the United States and Canada at the regional and national scale; however, this methodology is general enough that it could be applied globally. The purpose of the US-DOE CO2 storage methodology, definitions of storage terms, and a CO2 storage classification are provided. Methodology for CO2 storage resource estimate calculation is outlined. The Log Odds Method when applied with Monte Carlo Sampling is presented in detail for estimation of CO2 storage efficiency needed for CO2 storage resource estimates at the regional and national scale. CO2 storage potential reported in the US-DOE's assessment are intended to be distributed online by a geographic information system in NatCarb and made available as hard-copy in the Carbon Sequestration Atlas of the United States and Canada. US-DOE's methodology will be continuously refined, incorporating results of the Development Phase projects conducted by the RCSPs from 2008 to 2018. Estimates will be formally updated every two years in subsequent versions of the Carbon Sequestration Atlas of the United States and Canada.

An Analysis of the Climate Change Mitigation Potential through Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration in a Corn Belt Watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhattarai, M. D.; Secchi, S.; Schoof, J. T.

2015-12-01

The sequestration of carbon constitutes one of major options in agricultural climate change land-based mitigation. We examined the carbon sequestration potential of alternative agricultural land uses in an intensively farmed Corn Belt watershed. We Used downscaled data from eight atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) for a simulation period between 2015 and 2099 with three emission pathways reflecting low, medium and high greenhouse gas scenarios. The use of downscaled data, coupled with high resolution land use and soil data, can help policy makers and land managers better understand spatial and temporal impacts of climate change. We consider traditional practices such as no-till corn-soybean rotations and continuous corn and include also switchgrass, a bioenergy crop. Our results show that switching from conventional tillage continuous corn to no-till corn-soybean can sequester the equivalent of 156,000 MtCO2 of soil organic carbon with a sequestration rate of 2.38 MtCO2 ha-1 yr-1 for the simulated period. Our results also indicate that switchgrass can sequester the equivalent of 282,000 MtCO2 of soil organic carbon with a sequestration rate of 4.4 MtCO2 ha-1 yr-1 for the period. Our finding also suggests that while climate change impacts corn and soybean yields, it does not have a significant effect on switchgrass yields possibly due to carbon fertilization effect on switchgrass yields.

A land-use and land-cover modeling strategy to support a national assessment of carbon stocks and fluxes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sohl, Terry L.; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Zhu, Zhiliang; Sayler, Kristi L.; Bennett, Stacie; Bouchard, Michelle; Reker, Ryan R.; Hawbaker, Todd J.; Wein, Anne M.; Liu, Shuguang; Kanengieter, Ronald L.; Acevedo, William

2012-01-01

Changes in land use, land cover, disturbance regimes, and land management have considerable influence on carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes within ecosystems. Through targeted land-use and land-management activities, ecosystems can be managed to enhance carbon sequestration and mitigate fluxes of other GHGs. National-scale, comprehensive analyses of carbon sequestration potential by ecosystem are needed, with a consistent, nationally applicable land-use and land-cover (LULC) modeling framework a key component of such analyses. The U.S. Geological Survey has initiated a project to analyze current and projected future GHG fluxes by ecosystem and quantify potential mitigation strategies. We have developed a unique LULC modeling framework to support this work. Downscaled scenarios consistent with IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) were constructed for U.S. ecoregions, and the FORE-SCE model was used to spatially map the scenarios. Results for a prototype demonstrate our ability to model LULC change and inform a biogeochemical modeling framework for analysis of subsequent GHG fluxes. The methodology was then successfully used to model LULC change for four IPCC SRES scenarios for an ecoregion in the Great Plains. The scenario-based LULC projections are now being used to analyze potential GHG impacts of LULC change across the U.S.

A land-use and land-cover modeling strategy to support a national assessment of carbon stocks and fluxes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sohl, Terry L.; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Zhu, Zhi-Liang; Sayler, Kristi L.; Bennett, Stacie; Bouchard, Michelle; Reker, Ryan R.; Hawbaker, Todd; Wein, Anne; Liu, Shu-Guang; Kanengleter, Ronald; Acevedo, William

2012-01-01

Changes in land use, land cover, disturbance regimes, and land management have considerable influence on carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes within ecosystems. Through targeted land-use and landmanagement activities, ecosystems can be managed to enhance carbon sequestration and mitigate fluxes of other GHGs. National-scale, comprehensive analyses of carbon sequestration potential by ecosystem are needed, with a consistent, nationally applicable land-use and land-cover (LULC) modeling framework a key component of such analyses. The U.S. Geological Survey has initiated a project to analyze current and projected future GHG fluxes by ecosystem and quantify potential mitigation strategies. We have developed a unique LULC modeling framework to support this work. Downscaled scenarios consistent with IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) were constructed for U.S. ecoregions, and the FORE-SCE model was used to spatially map the scenarios. Results for a prototype demonstrate our ability to model LULC change and inform a biogeochemical modeling framework for analysis of subsequent GHG fluxes. The methodology was then successfully used to model LULC change for four IPCC SRES scenarios for an ecoregion in the Great Plains. The scenario-based LULC projections are now being used to analyze potential GHG impacts of LULC change across the U.S.

[Priming effect of biochar on the minerialization of native soil organic carbon and the mechanisms: A review.

PubMed

Chen, Ying; Liu, Yu Xue; Chen, Chong Jun; Lyu, Hao Hao; Wa, Yu Ying; He, Li Li; Yang, Sheng Mao

2018-01-01

In recent years, studies on carbon sequestration of biochar in soil has been in spotlight owing to the specific characteristics of biochar such as strong carbon stability and well developed pore structure. However, whether biochar will ultimately increase soil carbon storage or promote soil carbon emissions when applied into the soil? This question remains controversial in current academic circles. Further research is required on priming effect of biochar on mineralization of native soil organic carbon and its mechanisms. Based on the analysis of biochar characteristics, such as its carbon composition and stability, pore structure and surface morphology, research progress on the priming effect of biochar on the decomposition of native soil organic carbon was reviewed in this paper. Furthermore, possible mechanisms of both positive and negative priming effect, that is promoting and suppressing the mineralization, were put forward. Positive priming effect is mainly due to the promotion of soil microbial activity caused by biochar, the preferential mineralization of easily decomposed components in biochar, and the co-metabolism of soil microbes. While negative priming effect is mainly based on the encapsulation and adsorption protection of soil organic matter due to the internal pore structure and the external surface of biochar. Other potential reasons for negative priming effect can be the stabilization resulted from the formation of organic-inorganic complex promoted by biochar in the soil, and the inhibition of activity of soil microbes and its enzymes by biochar. Finally, future research directions were proposed in order to provide theoretical basis for the application of biochar in soil carbon sequestration.

Brush management effects on soil carbon sequestration in sagebrush-dominated rangelands

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Scientific information regarding soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in western rangelands, especially those with a sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) component and in lower rainfall areas (<350 mm), remains a major knowledge gap in understanding the effects of land management. We sampled soils from two...

An Alternative View of the Climate Warming Mitigation Potential of U.S. Temperate Forests

EPA Science Inventory

Many U.S. federal and non-governmental agencies promote forestation as a means to mitigate climate warming because of the carbon sequestration potential of forests. This biogeochemical-oriented carbon sequestration policy is somewhat inconsistent with a decade or more of researc...

Estimating urban trees and carbon stock potentials for mitigating climate change in Lagos: Case of Ikeja Government Reserved Area (GRA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elias, P. O.; Faderin, A.

2014-12-01

Urban trees are a component of the urban infrastructure which offers diverse services including environmental, aesthetic and economic. The accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere resulting from the indiscriminate distribution of human populations and urban activities with the unsustainable consumption of natural resources contributes to global environmental change especially in coastal cities like Lagos. Carbon stocks and sequestration by urban trees are increasingly recognized to play significant roles for mitigating climate change. This paper focuses on the estimation of carbon stock and sequestration through biomass estimation and quantification in Ikeja GRA, Lagos. Ikeja possesses a characteristic feature as a microcosm of Lagos due to the wide range of land uses. A canopy assessment of tree population was carried out using itree canopy software. A GPS survey was used to collect an inventory of all trees showing their location, spatial distribution and other attributes. The analysis of the carbon storage and sequestration potential of both actual and potential tree planting sites involved biomass estimations from tree allometry equations. Trees were identified at species level and measurements of their dendrometric values were recorded and integrated into the GIS database to estimate biomass of trees and carbon storage. The trees in the study area were estimated to have a biomass of 441.9 mg and carbon storage of 221.395 kg/tree. By considering the potential tree planting sites the estimated carbon stored increased to 11,352.73 kg. Carbon sequestration value in the study area was found to be 1.6790 tonnes for the existing trees and 40.707 tonnes for the potential tree planting sites (PTPS). The estimation of carbon storage and sequestration values of trees are important incentives for carbon accounting/footprints and monitoring of climate change mitigation which has implications for evaluation and monitoring of urban ecosystem.

Terrestrial sequestration

ScienceCinema

Charlie Byrer

2017-12-09

Terrestrial sequestration is the enhancement of CO2 uptake by plants that grow on land and in freshwater and, importantly, the enhancement of carbon storage in soils where it may remain more permanently stored. Terrestrial sequestration provides an opportunity for low-cost CO2 emissions offsets.

Impacts of crop rotations on soil organic carbon sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gobin, Anne; Vos, Johan; Joris, Ingeborg; Van De Vreken, Philippe

2013-04-01

Agricultural land use and crop rotations can greatly affect the amount of carbon sequestered in the soil. We developed a framework for modelling the impacts of crop rotations on soil carbon sequestration at the field scale with test case Flanders. A crop rotation geo-database was constructed covering 10 years of crop rotation in Flanders using the IACS parcel registration (Integrated Administration and Control System) to elicit the most common crop rotation on major soil types in Flanders. In order to simulate the impact of crop cover on carbon sequestration, the Roth-C model was adapted to Flanders' environment and coupled to common crop rotations extracted from the IACS geodatabases and statistical databases on crop yield. Crop allometric models were used to calculate crop residues from common crops in Flanders and subsequently derive stable organic matter fluxes to the soil (REGSOM). The REGSOM model was coupled to Roth-C model was run for 30 years and for all combinations of seven main arable crops, two common catch crops and two common dosages of organic manure. The common crops are winter wheat, winter barley, sugar beet, potato, grain maize, silage maize and winter rapeseed; the catch crops are yellow mustard and Italian ryegrass; the manure dosages are 35 ton/ha cattle slurry and 22 ton/ha pig slurry. Four common soils were simulated: sand, loam, sandy loam and clay. In total more than 2.4 million simulations were made with monthly output of carbon content for 30 years. Results demonstrate that crop cover dynamics influence carbon sequestration for a very large percentage. For the same rotations carbon sequestration is highest on clay soils and lowest on sandy soils. Crop residues of grain maize and winter wheat followed by catch crops contribute largely to the total carbon sequestered. This implies that agricultural policies that impact on agricultural land management influence soil carbon sequestration for a large percentage. The framework is therefore suited for further scenario analysis and impact assessment in order to support agri-environmental policy decisions.

Understanding and managing the water use of planted forests in a changing environment

Treesearch

Jami Nettles

2016-01-01

Forest productivity will only become more important in the future, not just for carbon sequestration and renewable energy but for wood products and economic security for an increasing population. However, the threat of increasing drought and resource scarcity means a need for more explicit characterization of the water use of planted forests and the understanding of...

Biotic and abiotic effects on CO2 sequestration during microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation.

PubMed

Okyay, Tugba Onal; Rodrigues, Debora F

2015-03-01

In this study, CO2 sequestration was investigated through the microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) process with isolates obtained from a cave called 'Cave Without A Name' (Boerne, TX, USA) and the Pamukkale travertines (Denizli, Turkey). The majority of the bacterial isolates obtained from these habitats belonged to the genera Sporosarcina, Brevundimonas, Sphingobacterium and Acinetobacter. The isolates were investigated for their capability to precipitate calcium carbonate and sequester CO2. Biotic and abiotic effects of CO2 sequestration during MICP were also investigated. In the biotic effect, we observed that the rate and concentration of CO2 sequestered was dependent on the species or strains. The main abiotic factors affecting CO2 sequestration during MICP were the pH and medium components. The increase in pH led to enhanced CO2 sequestration by the growth medium. The growth medium components, on the other hand, were shown to affect both the urease activity and CO2 sequestration. Through the Plackett-Burman experimental design, the most important growth medium component involved in CO2 sequestration was determined to be urea. The optimized medium composition by the Plackett-Burman design for each isolate led to a statistically significant increase, of up to 148.9%, in CO2 uptake through calcification mechanisms. © FEMS 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Changes in land-uses and ecosystem services under multi-scenarios simulation.

PubMed

Liu, Jingya; Li, Jing; Qin, Keyu; Zhou, Zixiang; Yang, Xiaonan; Li, Ting

2017-05-15

Social economy of China has been rapidly developing for more than 30years with efficient reforms and policies being issued. Societal developments have resulted in a greater use of many natural resources to the extent that the ecosystem can no longer self-regulate, thus severely damaging the balance of the ecosystem itself. This in turn has led to a deterioration in people's living environments. Our research is based on a combination of climate scenarios presented in the fifth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and policy scenarios, including the one-child policy and carbon tax policy. We adopted Land Change Modeler of IDRISI software to simulate and analyze land-use change under 16 future scenarios in 2050. Carbon sequestration, soil conservation and water yields were quantified, based on those land-use maps and different ecosystem models. We also analyzed trade-offs and synergy among each ecosystem service and discussed why those interactions happened. The results show that: (1) Global climate change has a strong influence on future changes in land-use. (2) Carbon sequestration, water yield and soil conservation have a mutual relationship in the Guanzhong-Tianshui economic region. (3) Climate change and implementation of policy have a conspicuous impact on the changes in ecosystem services in the Guanzhong-Tianshui economic region. This paper can be used as a reference for further related research, and provide a reliable basis for achieving the sustainable development of the ecosystem. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Understanding future emissions from low-carbon power systems by integration of life-cycle assessment and integrated energy modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pehl, Michaja; Arvesen, Anders; Humpenöder, Florian; Popp, Alexander; Hertwich, Edgar G.; Luderer, Gunnar

2017-12-01

Both fossil-fuel and non-fossil-fuel power technologies induce life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, mainly due to their embodied energy requirements for construction and operation, and upstream CH4 emissions. Here, we integrate prospective life-cycle assessment with global integrated energy-economy-land-use-climate modelling to explore life-cycle emissions of future low-carbon power supply systems and implications for technology choice. Future per-unit life-cycle emissions differ substantially across technologies. For a climate protection scenario, we project life-cycle emissions from fossil fuel carbon capture and sequestration plants of 78-110 gCO2eq kWh-1, compared with 3.5-12 gCO2eq kWh-1 for nuclear, wind and solar power for 2050. Life-cycle emissions from hydropower and bioenergy are substantial (˜100 gCO2eq kWh-1), but highly uncertain. We find that cumulative emissions attributable to upscaling low-carbon power other than hydropower are small compared with direct sectoral fossil fuel emissions and the total carbon budget. Fully considering life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions has only modest effects on the scale and structure of power production in cost-optimal mitigation scenarios.

Soil Carbon Storage in Christmas Tree Farms: Maximizing Ecosystem Management and Sustainability for Carbon Sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chapman, S. K.; Shaw, R.; Langley, A.

2008-12-01

Management of agroecosystems for the purpose of manipulating soil carbon stocks could be a viable approach for countering rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, while maximizing sustainability of the agroforestry industry. We investigated the carbon storage potential of Christmas tree farms in the southern Appalachian mountains as a potential model for the impacts of land management on soil carbon. We quantified soil carbon stocks across a gradient of cultivation duration and herbicide management. We compared soil carbon in farms to that in adjacent pastures and native forests that represent a control group to account for variability in other soil-forming factors. We partitioned tree farm soil carbon into fractions delineated by stability, an important determinant of long-term sequestration potential. Soil carbon stocks in the intermediate pool are significantly greater in the tree farms under cultivation for longer periods of time than in the younger tree farms. This pool can be quite large, yet has the ability to repond to biological environmental changes on the centennial time scale. Pasture soil carbon was significantly greater than both forest and tree farm soil carbon, which were not different from each other. These data can help inform land management and soil carbon sequestration strategies.

Carbon sequestration partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy

The U.S. Department of Energy named seven regional partnerships on 16 August to study the best methods for the non-biological sequestration of carbon in different parts of the country.DOE will provide about $11.1 million to these partnerships over the next 2 years, with participating organizations expected to contribute an additional $7 million.

Financial return from traditional wood products, feedstock, and carbon sequestration in loblolly pine plantations in the Southern U.S

Treesearch

Umesh K. Chaudhan; Michael B. Kane

2015-01-01

We know that planting trees is a key approach for mitigating climate change; however, we are uncertain of what planting density per unit of land and what cultural regimes are needed to optimize traditional timber products, feedstock, and carbon sequestration.

Sequestration of Martian CO2 by mineral carbonation

PubMed Central

Tomkinson, Tim; Lee, Martin R.; Mark, Darren F.; Smith, Caroline L.

2013-01-01

Carbonation is the water-mediated replacement of silicate minerals, such as olivine, by carbonate, and is commonplace in the Earth’s crust. This reaction can remove significant quantities of CO2 from the atmosphere and store it over geological timescales. Here we present the first direct evidence for CO2 sequestration and storage on Mars by mineral carbonation. Electron beam imaging and analysis show that olivine and a plagioclase feldspar-rich mesostasis in the Lafayette meteorite have been replaced by carbonate. The susceptibility of olivine to replacement was enhanced by the presence of smectite veins along which CO2-rich fluids gained access to grain interiors. Lafayette was partially carbonated during the Amazonian, when liquid water was available intermittently and atmospheric CO2 concentrations were close to their present-day values. Earlier in Mars’ history, when the planet had a much thicker atmosphere and an active hydrosphere, carbonation is likely to have been an effective mechanism for sequestration of CO2. PMID:24149494

Global Sequestration Potential of Increased Organic Carbon in Cropland Soils.

PubMed

Zomer, Robert J; Bossio, Deborah A; Sommer, Rolf; Verchot, Louis V

2017-11-14

The role of soil organic carbon in global carbon cycles is receiving increasing attention both as a potentially large and uncertain source of CO 2 emissions in response to predicted global temperature rises, and as a natural sink for carbon able to reduce atmospheric CO 2 . There is general agreement that the technical potential for sequestration of carbon in soil is significant, and some consensus on the magnitude of that potential. Croplands worldwide could sequester between 0.90 and 1.85 Pg C/yr, i.e. 26-53% of the target of the "4p1000 Initiative: Soils for Food Security and Climate". The importance of intensively cultivated regions such as North America, Europe, India and intensively cultivated areas in Africa, such as Ethiopia, is highlighted. Soil carbon sequestration and the conservation of existing soil carbon stocks, given its multiple benefits including improved food production, is an important mitigation pathway to achieve the less than 2 °C global target of the Paris Climate Agreement.

A disconnect between O horizon and mineral soil carbon - Implications for soil C sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garten, Charles T., Jr.

2009-03-01

Changing inputs of carbon to soil is one means of potentially increasing carbon sequestration in soils for the purpose of mitigating projected increases in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. The effect of manipulations of aboveground carbon input on soil carbon storage was tested in a temperate, deciduous forest in east Tennessee, USA. A 4.5-year experiment included exclusion of aboveground litterfall and supplemental litter additions (three times ambient) in an upland and a valley that differed in soil nitrogen availability. The estimated decomposition rate of the carbon stock in the O horizon was greater in the valley than in the upland due to higher litter quality (i.e., lower C/N ratios). Short-term litter exclusion or addition had no effect on carbon stock in the mineral soil, measured to a depth of 30 cm, or the partitioning of carbon in the mineral soil between particulate- and mineral-associated organic matter. A two-compartment model was used to interpret results from the field experiments. Field data and a sensitivity analysis of the model were consistent with little carbon transfer between the O horizon and the mineral soil. Increasing aboveground carbon input does not appear to be an effective means of promoting carbon sequestration in forest soil at the location of the present study because a disconnect exists in carbon dynamics between O horizon and mineral soil. Factors that directly increase inputs to belowground soil carbon, via roots, or reduce decomposition rates of organic matter are more likely to benefit efforts to increase carbon sequestration in forests where carbon dynamics in the O horizon are uncoupled from the mineral soil.

In Brief: Carbon storage initiatives at energy department

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy

2009-06-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced several initiatives related to carbon capture. On 12 June, DOE secretary Steven Chu announced an agreement with the FutureGen Alliance that advances construction of the country's first commercial-scale, fully integrated carbon capture and sequestration project in Mattoon, Ill. After estimating costs and doing other assessments, DOE and the alliance will decide in 2010 whether to move forward or discontinue the project. “Developing this technology is critically important for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and around the world,” said Chu. The total anticipated financial contribution for the project is $1.1 billion from DOE and $400-600 million from the alliance.

Physical and Biological Regulation of Carbon Sequestration in Tidal Marshes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morris, J. T.; Callaway, J.

2017-12-01

The rate of carbon sequestration in tidal marshes is regulated by complex feedbacks among biological and physical factors including the rate of sea-level rise (SLR), biomass production, tidal amplitude, and the concentration of suspended sediment. We used the Marsh Equilibrium Model (MEM) to explore the effects on C-sequestration across a wide range of permutations of these variables. C-sequestration increased with the rate of SLR to a maximum, then down to a vanishing point at higher SLR when marshes convert to mudflats. An acceleration in SLR will increase C-sequestration in marshes that can keep pace, but at high rates of SLR this is only possible with high biomass and suspended sediment concentrations. We found that there were no feasible solutions at SLR >13 mm/yr for permutations of variables that characterize the great majority of tidal marshes, i.e., the equilibrium elevation exists below the lower vertical limit for survival of marsh vegetation. The rate of SLR resulting in maximum C-sequestration varies with biomass production. C-sequestration rates at SLR=1 mm/yr averaged only 36 g C m-2 yr-1, but at the highest maximum biomass tested (5000 g/m2) the mean C-sequestration reached 399 g C m-2 yr-1 at SLR = 14 mm/yr. The empirical estimate of C-sequestration in a core dated 50-years overestimates the theoretical long-term rate by 34% for realistic values of decomposition rate and belowground production. The overestimate of the empirical method arises from the live and decaying biomass contained within the carbon inventory above the marker horizon, and overestimates were even greater for shorter surface cores.

LIFE CLIMATREE project: A novel approach for accounting and monitoring carbon sequestration of tree crops and their potential as carbon sink areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stergiou, John; Tagaris, Efthimios; -Eleni Sotiropoulou, Rafaella

2016-04-01

Climate Change Mitigation is one of the most important objectives of the Kyoto Convention, and is mostly oriented towards reducing GHG emissions. However, carbon sink is retained only in the calculation of the forests capacity since agricultural land and farmers practices for securing carbon stored in soils have not been recognized in GHG accounting, possibly resulting in incorrect estimations of the carbon dioxide balance in the atmosphere. The agricultural sector, which is a key sector in the EU, presents a consistent strategic framework since 1954, in the form of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In its latest reform of 2013 (reg. (EU) 1305/13) CAP recognized the significance of Agriculture as a key player in Climate Change policy. In order to fill this gap the "LIFE ClimaTree" project has recently founded by the European Commission aiming to provide a novel method for including tree crop cultivations in the LULUCF's accounting rules for GHG emissions and removal. In the framework of "LIFE ClimaTree" project estimation of carbon sink within EU through the inclusion of the calculated tree crop capacity will be assessed for both current and future climatic conditions by 2050s using the GISS-WRF modeling system in a very fine scale (i.e., 9km x 9km) using RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 climate scenarios. Acknowledgement: LIFE CLIMATREE project "A novel approach for accounting and monitoring carbon sequestration of tree crops and their potential as carbon sink areas" (LIFE14 CCM/GR/000635).

Potential strong contribution of future anthropogenic land-use and land-cover change to the terrestrial carbon cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quesada, Benjamin; Arneth, Almut; Robertson, Eddy; de Noblet-Ducoudré, Nathalie

2018-06-01

Anthropogenic land-use and land cover changes (LULCC) affect global climate and global terrestrial carbon (C) cycle. However, relatively few studies have quantified the impacts of future LULCC on terrestrial carbon cycle. Here, using Earth system model simulations performed with and without future LULCC, under the RCP8.5 scenario, we find that in response to future LULCC, the carbon cycle is substantially weakened: browning, lower ecosystem C stocks, higher C loss by disturbances and higher C turnover rates are simulated. Projected global greening and land C storage are dampened, in all models, by 22% and 24% on average and projected C loss by disturbances enhanced by ~49% when LULCC are taken into account. By contrast, global net primary productivity is found to be only slightly affected by LULCC (robust +4% relative enhancement compared to all forcings, on average). LULCC is projected to be a predominant driver of future C changes in regions like South America and the southern part of Africa. LULCC even cause some regional reversals of projected increased C sinks and greening, particularly at the edges of the Amazon and African rainforests. Finally, in most carbon cycle responses, direct removal of C dominates over the indirect CO2 fertilization due to LULCC. In consequence, projections of land C sequestration potential and Earth’s greening could be substantially overestimated just because of not fully accounting for LULCC.

Preface

USGS Publications Warehouse

McPherson, Brian J.; Sundquist, Eric T.

2009-01-01

Carbon sequestration has emerged as an important option in policies to mitigate the increasing atmospheric concentrations of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2). Significant quantities of anthropogenic CO2 are sequestered by natural carbon uptake in plants, soils, and the oceans. These uptake processes are objects of intense study by biogeochemists, ecologists, and other researchers who seek to understand the processes that determine the mass balance (“budget”) among global carbon fluxes. At the same time, many scientists and engineers are examining methods for deliberate carbon sequestration through storage in plants, soils, the oceans, and geological formations.

National Scale Prediction of Soil Carbon Sequestration under Scenarios of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izaurralde, R. C.; Thomson, A. M.; Potter, S. R.; Atwood, J. D.; Williams, J. R.

2006-12-01

Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils is gaining momentum as a tool to mitigate the rate of increase of atmospheric CO2. Researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Texas A&M University, and USDA-NRCS used the EPIC model to develop national-scale predictions of soil carbon sequestration with adoption of no till (NT) under scenarios of climate change. In its current form, the EPIC model simulates soil C changes resulting from heterotrophic respiration and wind / water erosion. Representative modeling units were created to capture the climate, soil, and management variability at the 8-digit hydrologic unit (USGS classification) watershed scale. The soils selected represented at least 70% of the variability within each watershed. This resulted in 7,540 representative modeling units for 1,412 watersheds. Each watershed was assigned a major crop system: corn, soybean, spring wheat, winter wheat, cotton, hay, alfalfa, corn-soybean rotation or wheat-fallow rotation based on information from the National Resource Inventory. Each representative farm was simulated with conventional tillage and no tillage, and with and without irrigation. Climate change scenarios for two future periods (2015-2045 and 2045-2075) were selected from GCM model runs using the IPCC SRES scenarios of A2 and B2 from the UK Hadley Center (HadCM3) and US DOE PCM (PCM) models. Changes in mean and standard deviation of monthly temperature and precipitation were extracted from gridded files and applied to baseline climate (1960-1990) for each of the 1,412 modeled watersheds. Modeled crop yields were validated against historical USDA NASS county yields (1960-1990). The HadCM3 model predicted the most severe changes in climate parameters. Overall, there would be little difference between the A2 and B2 scenarios. Carbon offsets were calculated as the difference in soil C change between conventional and no till. Overall, C offsets during the first 30-y period (513 Tg C) are predicted to be 36% higher than those predicted during the second period. The climate projections of the PCM model had more positive impact on soil C sequestration than those predicted with the HadCM3 model.

The underappreciated potential of peatlands in global climate change mitigation strategies.

PubMed

Leifeld, J; Menichetti, L

2018-03-14

Soil carbon sequestration and avoidable emissions through peatland restoration are both strategies to tackle climate change. Here we compare their potential and environmental costs regarding nitrogen and land demand. In the event that no further areas are exploited, drained peatlands will cumulatively release 80.8 Gt carbon and 2.3 Gt nitrogen. This corresponds to a contemporary annual greenhouse gas emission of 1.91 (0.31-3.38) Gt CO 2 -eq. that could be saved with peatland restoration. Soil carbon sequestration on all agricultural land has comparable mitigation potential. However, additional nitrogen is needed to build up a similar carbon pool in organic matter of mineral soils, equivalent to 30-80% of the global fertilizer nitrogen application annually. Restoring peatlands is 3.4 times less nitrogen costly and involves a much smaller land area demand than mineral soil carbon sequestration, calling for a stronger consideration of peatland rehabilitation as a mitigation measure.

Carbon storage and sequestration by trees in VIT University campus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saral, A. Mary; SteffySelcia, S.; Devi, Keerthana

2017-11-01

The present study addresses carbon storage and sequestration by trees grown in VIT University campus, Vellore. Approximately twenty trees were selected from Woodstockarea. The above ground biomass and below ground biomass were calculated. The above ground biomass includes non-destructive anddestructive sampling. The Non-destructive method includes the measurement of height of thetree and diameter of the tree. The height of the tree is calculated using Total Station instrument and diameter is calculated using measuring tape. In the destructive method the weight of samples (leaves) and sub-samples (fruits, flowers) of the tree were considered. To calculate the belowground biomass soil samples are taken and analyzed. The results obtained were used to predict the carbon storage. It was found that out of twenty tree samples Millingtonia hortensis which is commonly known as Cork tree possess maximum carbon storage (14.342kg/tree) and carbon sequestration (52.583kg/tree) respectively.

Serpentinite Carbonation in the Pollino Massif (southern Italy) for CO2 Sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carmela Dichicco, Maria; Mongelli, Giovanni; Paternoster, Michele; Rizzo, Giovanna

2015-04-01

Anthropogenic gas emissions are projected to change future climates with potentially nontrivial impacts (Keller et al., 2008 and references therein) and the impacts of the increased CO2 concentration are, among others, the greenhouse effect, the acidification of the surface of the ocean and the fertilization of ecosystems (e.g. Huijgen and Comans, 2003). Geologic Sequestration into subsurface rock formations for long-term storage is part of a process frequently referred to as "carbon capture and storage" or CCS. A major strategy for the in situ geological sequestration of CO2 involves the reaction of CO2 with Mg-silicates, especially in the form of serpentinites, which are rocks: i) relatively abundant and widely distributed in the Earth's crust, and ii) thermodynamically convenient for the formation of Mg-carbonates (e.g., Brown et al., 2011). In nature, carbonate minerals can form during serpentinization or during hydrothermal carbonation and weathering of serpentinites whereas industrial mineral carbonation processes are commonly represented by the reaction of olivine or serpentine with CO2 to form magnesite + quartz ± H2O (Power et al., 2013). Mineral carbonation occurs naturally in the subsurface as a result of fluid-rock interactions within serpentinite, which occur during serpentinization and carbonate alteration. In situ carbonation aims to promote these reactions by injecting CO2 into porous, subsurface geological formations, such as serpentinite-hosted aquifers. In the northern sector of the Pollino Massif (southern Italy) extensively occur serpentinites (Sansone et. al., 2012) and serpentinite-hosted aquifers (Margiotta et al., 2012); both serpentinites and serpentinite-hosted aquifers are the subject of a comprehensive project devoted to their possible use for in situ geological sequestration of CO2. The serpentinites derived from a lherzolitic and subordinately harzburgitic mantle, and are within tectonic slices in association with metadolerite dykes and medium to high-grade metamorphic rocks. Primary mantle minerals are olivine, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, and spinel whereas serpentine, magnetite, chlorite, and amphibole are pseudomorphic minerals. Olivine is replaced by serpentine forming a mesh texture and orthopyroxene is mostly altered to bastite. Water chemistry indicates serpentinites interact with meteoric water producing a Mg-HCO3 type water in a system open to CO2. Brown Jr., G.E., Calas, G., (2011) - Environmental mineralogy - understanding element behavior in ecosystems. Comptes Rendus Geoscience 343, 90-112. Huijgen W.JJ., and Comans R.N.J., (2003) - Carbon dioxide sequestrationby mineral carbonation. Report Number ECN-C-03-016, Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), Petten, the Netherlands. Keller PJ, Schmidt AD, Wittbrodt J, Stelzer EHK. (2008) - Reconstruction of zebrafish early embryonic development by scanned light sheet microscopy. Science 322: 1065-1069. Margiotta, S., Mongelli, G., Summa, V., Paternoster, M., Fiore S. (2012) - Trace element distribution and Cr(VI) speciation in Ca-HCO3 and Mg-HCO3 spring waters from the northern sector of the Pollino massif, southern Italy. Journal of Geochemical Exploration. Power I.M., Wilson S.A., Dipple G.M. (2013) - Serpentinite Carbonation for CO2 Sequestration. Elements, 9, 115-121. Sansone M.T.C., Prosser G., Rizzo G., Tartarotti P. (2012) - Spinel-peridotites of the Frido Unit ophiolites: evidence for oceanic evolution. Periodico di Mineralogia. 81, 35-59. 10.2451/2012PM0003

Wetlands in a changing climate: Science, policy and management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Moomaw, William R.; Chmura, G.L.; Davies, Gillian T.; Finlayson, Max; Middleton, Beth A.; Natali, Sue M.; Perry, James; Roulet, Nigel; Sutton-Grier, Ariana

2018-01-01

Part 1 of this review synthesizes recent research on status and climate vulnerability of freshwater and saltwater wetlands, and their contribution to addressing climate change (carbon cycle, adaptation, resilience). Peatlands and vegetated coastal wetlands are among the most carbon rich sinks on the planet sequestering approximately as much carbon as do global forest ecosystems. Estimates of the consequences of rising temperature on current wetland carbon storage and future carbon sequestration potential are summarized. We also demonstrate the need to prevent drying of wetlands and thawing of permafrost by disturbances and rising temperatures to protect wetland carbon stores and climate adaptation/resiliency ecosystem services. Preventing further wetland loss is found to be important in limiting future emissions to meet climate goals, but is seldom considered. In Part 2, the paper explores the policy and management realm from international to national, subnational and local levels to identify strategies and policies reflecting an integrated understanding of both wetland and climate change science. Specific recommendations are made to capture synergies between wetlands and carbon cycle management, adaptation and resiliency to further enable researchers, policy makers and practitioners to protect wetland carbon and climate adaptation/resiliency ecosystem services.

Carbon storage and sequestration by trees in urban and community areas of the United States

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Eric J. Greenfield; Robert E. Hoehn; Elizabeth Lapoint

2013-01-01

Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the United States was quantified to assess the magnitude and role of urban forests in relation to climate change. Urban tree field data from 28 cities and 6 states were used to determine the average carbon density per unit of tree cover. These data were applied to statewide urban tree cover measurements to determine...

Method for carbon dioxide sequestration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Yifeng; Bryan, Charles R.; Dewers, Thomas

A method for geo-sequestration of a carbon dioxide includes selection of a target water-laden geological formation with low-permeability interbeds, providing an injection well into the formation and injecting supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO.sub.2) and water or bine into the injection well under conditions of temperature, pressure and density selected to cause the fluid to enter the formation and splinter and/or form immobilized ganglia within the formation.

Effects of thinning on aboveground carbon sequestration by a 45-year-old eastern white pine plantation: A case study

Treesearch

W. Henry McNab

2012-01-01

Aboveground carbon sequestration by a 45-year-old plantation of eastern white pines was determined in response to thinning to three levels of residual basal area: (1) Control (no thinning), (2) light thinning to 120 feet2/acre and (3) heavy thinning to 80 feet2/acre. After 11 years carbon stocks were lowest on the heavily...

Impacts of drought on regional carbon uptake dynamics in the Southwestern US, using the New Mexico Elevation Gradient of flux towers and the Temperature-Greenness model.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krofcheck, D. J.; Lippitt, C.; Litvak, M. E.

2014-12-01

Semi-arid regions store approximately 568 Gt of carbon, roughly 18% of the global carbon reserves. Drought remains one of the largest sources of climatic stress in semi-arid regions globally. The impacts of these expansive, severe droughts on terrestrial productivity can be substantial and difficult to quantify spatially. The semi-arid Southwestern US suffered an expansive drought in 2011 which precipitated significant decline in ecosystem function and woody mortality across the region. We used the New Mexico Elevation Gradient (NMEG) cluster of flux towers, which provided in-situ measures of carbon flux via eddy-covariance to estimate the decreases in gross primary production across six dominant vegetation types in the region. Relative to a wet year, the largest decrease in cumulative carbon uptake we measured was 60% (a reduction of 200 g C /m2 annually) at the ponderosa pine site. The pattern of decreased carbon sequestration was consistent across the gradient, with the C4 grasslands shifting from carbon neutral to a source of 50 g C / m2 in response to the drought and desert shrublands sink strength reduced by 100%, (~50 g C /m2 annually). Juniper savannas, PJ woodlands, and mixed conifer subalpine woodlands all showed a decrease in carbon sequestration of roughly 100 g C /m2 annually. Rough scaling of these results suggest this drought could have resulted in a reduction of carbon uptake of 20 Tg C in NM alone. To more realistically estimate the decrease in carbon sequestration due to drought, we used results from the NMEG to parameterize the Temperature-Greenness model, a remote sensing based approach to scale these estimates to the region, focusing on the six dominant vegetation types represented by the NMEG (accounts for 60% of total land area in NM). This model is driven by 16-day averages of MODIS land surface temperature and the enhanced vegetation index. We used the Southwest Regional GAP analysis classification data to bin NM landcover into representative classes to most closely match the vegetation types measured by the NMEG. Given the spatial variability in vegetation structure and function within biomes, this approach provides more robust estimates of statewide carbon uptake patterns. We discuss these results in the context of recent droughts, future climate projections, and previous regional modeling results.

Carbon sequestration potential and physicochemical properties differ between wildfire charcoals and slow-pyrolysis biochars.

PubMed

Santín, Cristina; Doerr, Stefan H; Merino, Agustin; Bucheli, Thomas D; Bryant, Rob; Ascough, Philippa; Gao, Xiaodong; Masiello, Caroline A

2017-09-11

Pyrogenic carbon (PyC), produced naturally (wildfire charcoal) and anthropogenically (biochar), is extensively studied due to its importance in several disciplines, including global climate dynamics, agronomy and paleosciences. Charcoal and biochar are commonly used as analogues for each other to infer respective carbon sequestration potentials, production conditions, and environmental roles and fates. The direct comparability of corresponding natural and anthropogenic PyC, however, has never been tested. Here we compared key physicochemical properties (elemental composition, δ 13 C and PAHs signatures, chemical recalcitrance, density and porosity) and carbon sequestration potentials of PyC materials formed from two identical feedstocks (pine forest floor and wood) under wildfire charring- and slow-pyrolysis conditions. Wildfire charcoals were formed under higher maximum temperatures and oxygen availabilities, but much shorter heating durations than slow-pyrolysis biochars, resulting in differing physicochemical properties. These differences are particularly relevant regarding their respective roles as carbon sinks, as even the wildfire charcoals formed at the highest temperatures had lower carbon sequestration potentials than most slow-pyrolysis biochars. Our results challenge the common notion that natural charcoal and biochar are well suited as proxies for each other, and suggest that biochar's environmental residence time may be underestimated when based on natural charcoal as a proxy, and vice versa.

Delineation of Magnesium-rich Ultramafic Rocks Available for Mineral Carbon Sequestration in the United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Krevor, S.C.; Graves, C.R.; Van Gosen, B. S.; McCafferty, A.E.

2009-01-01

The 2005 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage suggested that a major gap in mineral carbon sequestration is locating the magnesium-silicate bedrock available to sequester CO2. It is generally known that silicate minerals with high concentrations of magnesium are suitable for mineral carbonation. However, no assessment has been made covering the entire United States detailing their geographical distribution and extent, or evaluating their potential for use in mineral carbonation. Researchers at Columbia University and the U.S. Geological Survey have developed a digital geologic database of ultramafic rocks in the continental United States. Data were compiled from varied-scale geologic maps of magnesium-silicate ultramafic rocks. These rock types are potentially suitable as source material for mineral carbon-dioxide sequestration. The focus of the national-scale map is entirely on suitable ultramafic rock types, which typically consist primarily of olivine and serpentine minerals. By combining the map with digital datasets that show non-mineable lands (such as urban areas and National Parks), estimates on potential depth of a surface mine, and the predicted reactivities of the mineral deposits, one can begin to estimate the capacity for CO2 mineral sequestration within the United States. ?? 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enhanced practical photosynthetic CO2 mitigation

DOEpatents

Bayless, David J.; Vis-Chiasson, Morgan L.; Kremer, Gregory G.

2003-12-23

This process is unique in photosynthetic carbon sequestration. An on-site biological sequestration system directly decreases the concentration of carbon-containing compounds in the emissions of fossil generation units. In this process, photosynthetic microbes are attached to a growth surface arranged in a containment chamber that is lit by solar photons. A harvesting system ensures maximum organism growth and rate of CO.sub.2 uptake. Soluble carbon and nitrogen concentrations delivered to the cyanobacteria are enhanced, further increasing growth rate and carbon utilization.

Soil carbon sequestration and biochar as negative emission technologies.

PubMed

Smith, Pete

2016-03-01

Despite 20 years of effort to curb emissions, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions grew faster during the 2000s than in the 1990s, which presents a major challenge for meeting the international goal of limiting warming to <2 °C relative to the preindustrial era. Most recent scenarios from integrated assessment models require large-scale deployment of negative emissions technologies (NETs) to reach the 2 °C target. A recent analysis of NETs, including direct air capture, enhanced weathering, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage and afforestation/deforestation, showed that all NETs have significant limits to implementation, including economic cost, energy requirements, land use, and water use. In this paper, I assess the potential for negative emissions from soil carbon sequestration and biochar addition to land, and also the potential global impacts on land use, water, nutrients, albedo, energy and cost. Results indicate that soil carbon sequestration and biochar have useful negative emission potential (each 0.7 GtCeq. yr(-1) ) and that they potentially have lower impact on land, water use, nutrients, albedo, energy requirement and cost, so have fewer disadvantages than many NETs. Limitations of soil carbon sequestration as a NET centre around issues of sink saturation and reversibility. Biochar could be implemented in combination with bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. Current integrated assessment models do not represent soil carbon sequestration or biochar. Given the negative emission potential of SCS and biochar and their potential advantages compared to other NETs, efforts should be made to include these options within IAMs, so that their potential can be explored further in comparison with other NETs for climate stabilization. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evaluating the Contribution of Soil Carbon to Global Climate Change Mitigation in an Integrated Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomson, A. M.; Izaurralde, R. C.; Clarke, L. E.

2006-12-01

Assessing the contribution of terrestrial carbon sequestration to national and international climate change mitigation requires integration across scientific and disciplinary boundaries. In a study for the US Climate Change Technology Program, site based measurements and geographic data were used to develop a three- pool, first-order kinetic model of global agricultural soil carbon (C) stock changes over 14 continental scale regions. This model was then used together with land use scenarios from the MiniCAM integrated assessment model in a global analysis of climate change mitigation options. MiniCAM evaluated mitigation strategies within a set of policy environments aimed at achieving atmospheric CO2 stabilization by 2100 under a suite of technology and development scenarios. Adoption of terrestrial sequestration practices is based on competition for land and economic markets for carbon. In the reference case with no climate policy, conversion of agricultural land from conventional cultivation to no tillage over the next century in the United States results in C sequestration of 7.6 to 59.8 Tg C yr-1, which doubles to 19.0 to 143.4 Tg C yr-1 under the most aggressive climate policy. Globally, with no carbon policy, agricultural C sequestration rates range from 75.2 to 18.2 Tg C yr-1 over the century, with the highest rates occurring in the first fifty years. Under the most aggressive global climate change policy, sequestration in agricultural soils reaches up to 190 Tg C yr-1 in the first 15 years. The contribution of agricultural soil C sequestration is a small fraction of the total global carbon offsets necessary to reach the stabilization targets (9 to 20 Gt C yr-1) by the end of the century. This integrated assessment provides decision makers with science-based estimates of the potential magnitude of terrestrial C sequestration relative to other greenhouse gas mitigation strategies in all sectors of the global economy. It also provides insight into the behavior of terrestrial C mitigation options in the presence and absence of climate change mitigation policies.

Relative contribution of maize and external manure amendment to soil carbon sequestration in a long-term intensive maize cropping system

PubMed Central

Zhang, Wenju; Liu, Kailou; Wang, Jinzhou; Shao, Xingfang; Xu, Minggang; Li, Jianwei; Wang, Xiujun; Murphy, Daniel V.

2015-01-01

We aimed to quantify the relative contributions of plant residue and organic manure to soil carbon sequestration. Using a 27-year-long inorganic fertilizer and manure amendment experiment in a maize (Zea mays L.) double-cropping system, we quantified changes in harvestable maize biomass and soil organic carbon stocks (0–20 cm depth) between 1986-2012. By employing natural 13C tracing techniques, we derived the proportional contributions of below-ground crop biomass return (maize-derived carbon) and external manure amendment (manure-derived carbon) to the total soil organic carbon stock. The average retention of maize-derived carbon plus manure-derived carbon during the early period of the trial (up to 11 years) was relatively high (10%) compared to the later period (22 to 27 years, 5.1–6.3%). About 11% of maize-derived carbon was converted to soil organic carbon, which was double the retention of manure-derived carbon (4.4–5.1%). This result emphasized that organic amendments were necessary to a win-win strategy for both SOC sequestration and maize production. PMID:26039186

Carbon dioxide sequestration in municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) bottom ash.

PubMed

Rendek, Eva; Ducom, Gaëlle; Germain, Patrick

2006-01-16

During bottom ash weathering, carbonation under atmospheric conditions induces physico-chemical evolutions leading to the pacification of the material. Fresh bottom ash samples were subjected to an accelerated carbonation using pure CO2. The aim of this work was to quantify the volume of CO2 that could be sequestrated with a view to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and investigate the possibility of upgrading some specific properties of the material with accelerated carbonation. Carbonation was performed by putting 4mm-sieved samples in a CO2 chamber. The CO2 pressure and the humidity of the samples were varied to optimize the reaction parameters. Unsieved material was also tested. Calcite formation resulting from accelerated carbonation was investigated by thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry (TG/DSC) and metal leaching tests were performed. The volume of sequestrated CO2 was on average 12.5L/kg dry matter (DM) for unsieved material and 24 L/kg DM for 4mm-sieved samples. An ash humidity of 15% appeared to give the best results. The reaction was drastically accelerated at high pressure but it did not increase the volume of sequestrated CO2. Accelerated carbonation, like the natural phenomenon, reduces the dangerous nature of the material. It decreases the pH from 11.8 to 8.2 and causes Pb, Cr and Cd leaching to decrease. This process could reduce incinerator CO2 emissions by 0.5-1%.

A novel dendrochronological approach reveals drivers of carbon sequestration in tree species of riparian forests across spatiotemporal scales.

PubMed

Rieger, Isaak; Kowarik, Ingo; Cherubini, Paolo; Cierjacks, Arne

2017-01-01

Aboveground carbon (C) sequestration in trees is important in global C dynamics, but reliable techniques for its modeling in highly productive and heterogeneous ecosystems are limited. We applied an extended dendrochronological approach to disentangle the functioning of drivers from the atmosphere (temperature, precipitation), the lithosphere (sedimentation rate), the hydrosphere (groundwater table, river water level fluctuation), the biosphere (tree characteristics), and the anthroposphere (dike construction). Carbon sequestration in aboveground biomass of riparian Quercus robur L. and Fraxinus excelsior L. was modeled (1) over time using boosted regression tree analysis (BRT) on cross-datable trees characterized by equal annual growth ring patterns and (2) across space using a subsequent classification and regression tree analysis (CART) on cross-datable and not cross-datable trees. While C sequestration of cross-datable Q. robur responded to precipitation and temperature, cross-datable F. excelsior also responded to a low Danube river water level. However, CART revealed that C sequestration over time is governed by tree height and parameters that vary over space (magnitude of fluctuation in the groundwater table, vertical distance to mean river water level, and longitudinal distance to upstream end of the study area). Thus, a uniform response to climatic drivers of aboveground C sequestration in Q. robur was only detectable in trees of an intermediate height class and in taller trees (>21.8m) on sites where the groundwater table fluctuated little (≤0.9m). The detection of climatic drivers and the river water level in F. excelsior depended on sites at lower altitudes above the mean river water level (≤2.7m) and along a less dynamic downstream section of the study area. Our approach indicates unexploited opportunities of understanding the interplay of different environmental drivers in aboveground C sequestration. Results may support species-specific and locally adapted forest management plans to increase carbon dioxide sequestration from the atmosphere in trees. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Country-level net primary production distribution and response to drought and land cover change

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Carbon sequestration by terrestrial ecosystems can offset emissions and thereby offers an alternative way of achieving the target of reducing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Net primary production (NPP) is the first step in the sequestration of carbon by terrestrial ecosystems. This stud...

CONSIDERATIONS FOR A REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR LARGE-SCALE GEOLOGIC SEQUESTRATION OF CARBON DIOXIDE: A NORTH AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE

EPA Science Inventory

Large scale geologic sequestration (GS) of carbon dioxide poses a novel set of challenges for regulators. This paper focuses on the unique needs of large scale GS projects in light of the existing regulatory regimes in the United States and Canada and identifies several differen...

Diameter growth performance of tree functional groups in Puerto Rican secondary tropical forests.

Treesearch

Patricia Adame; Maria Uriarte; Thomas Brandeis

2014-01-01

Aim of study: Understanding the factors that control tree growth in successional stands is particularly important for quantifying the carbon sequestration potential and timber yield of secondary tropical forests. Understanding the factors that control tree growth in successional stands is particularly important for quantifying the carbon sequestration potential and...

Temporal Considerations of Carbon Sequestration in LCA

Treesearch

James Salazar; Richard Bergman

2013-01-01

Accounting for carbon sequestration in LCA illustrates the limitations of a single global warming characterization factor. Typical cradle-to-grave LCA models all emissions from end-of-life processes and then characterizes these flows by IPCC GWP (100-yr) factors. A novel method estimates climate change impact by characterizing annual emissions with the IPCC GHG forcing...

A Sustainability Initiative to Quantify Carbon Sequestration by Campus Trees

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cox, Helen M.

2012-01-01

Over 3,900 trees on a university campus were inventoried by an instructor-led team of geography undergraduates in order to quantify the carbon sequestration associated with biomass growth. The setting of the project is described, together with its logistics, methodology, outcomes, and benefits. This hands-on project provided a team of students…

Soil Carbon Sequestration and the Greenhouse Effect (2nd Edition)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This volume is a second edition of the book “Soil Carbon Sequestration and The Greenhouse Effect”. The first edition was published in 2001 as SSSA Special Publ. #57. The present edition is an update of the concepts, processes, properties, practices and the supporting data. All chapters are new co...

Estimating GHG Emissions from the Manufacturing of Field-Applied Biochar Pellets

Treesearch

Richard D. Bergman; Hanwen Zhang; Karl Englund; Keith Windell; Hongmei Gu

2016-01-01

Biochar application to forest soils can provide direct and indirect benefits, including carbon sequestration. Biochar, the result of thermochemical conversion of biomass, can have positive environmental climate benefits and can be more stable when field-applied to forest soils than wood itself. Categorizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon sequestration...

Development Of An Agroforestry Sequestration Project In KhammamDistrict Of India

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sudha, P.; Ramprasad, V.; Nagendra, M.D.V.

2007-06-01

Large potential for agroforestry as a mitigation option hasgiven rise to scientific and policy questions. This paper addressesmethodological issues in estimating carbon sequestration potential,baseline determination, additionality and leakage in Khammam district,Andhra Pradesh, southern part of India. Technical potential forafforestation was determined considering the various landuse options. Forestimating the technical potential, culturable wastelands, fallow andmarginal croplands were considered for Eucalyptus clonal plantations.Field studies for aboveground and below ground biomass, woody litter andsoil organic carbon for baseline and project scenario were conducted toestimate the carbon sequestration potential. The baseline carbon stockwas estimated to be 45.33 tC/ha. The additional carbon sequestrationpotential under themore » project scenario for 30 years is estimated to be12.82 tC/ha/year inclusive of harvest regimes and carbon emissions due tobiomass burning and fertilizer application. The project scenario thoughhas a higher benefit cost ratio compared to baseline scenario, initialinvestment cost is high. Investment barrier exists for adoptingagroforestry in thedistrict.« less

Habitat characteristics provide insights of carbon storage in seagrass meadows.

PubMed

Mazarrasa, Inés; Samper-Villarreal, Jimena; Serrano, Oscar; Lavery, Paul S; Lovelock, Catherine E; Marbà, Núria; Duarte, Carlos M; Cortés, Jorge

2018-02-16

Seagrass meadows provide multiple ecosystem services, yet they are among the most threatened ecosystems on earth. Because of their role as carbon sinks, protection and restoration of seagrass meadows contribute to climate change mitigation. Blue Carbon strategies aim to enhance CO 2 sequestration and avoid greenhouse gasses emissions through the management of coastal vegetated ecosystems, including seagrass meadows. The implementation of Blue Carbon strategies requires a good understanding of the habitat characteristics that influence C org sequestration. Here, we review the existing knowledge on Blue Carbon research in seagrass meadows to identify the key habitat characteristics that influence C org sequestration in seagrass meadows, those factors that threaten this function and those with unclear effects. We demonstrate that not all seagrass habitats have the same potential, identify research priorities and describe the implications of the results found for the implementation and development of efficient Blue Carbon strategies based on seagrass meadows. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enhancing forest carbon sequestration in China: toward an integration of scientific and socio-economic perspectives.

PubMed

Chen, J M; Thomas, S C; Yin, Y; Maclaren, V; Liu, J; Pan, J; Liu, G; Tian, Q; Zhu, Q; Pan, J-J; Shi, X; Xue, J; Kang, E

2007-11-01

This article serves as an introduction to this special issue, "China's Forest Carbon Sequestration", representing major results of a project sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. China occupies a pivotal position globally as a principle emitter of carbon dioxide, as host to some of the world's largest reforestation efforts, and as a key player in international negotiations aimed at reducing global greenhouse gas emission. The goals of this project are to develop remote sensing approaches for quantifying forest carbon balance in China in a transparent manner, and information and tools to support land-use decisions for enhanced carbon sequestration (CS) that are science based and economically and socially viable. The project consists of three components: (i) remote sensing and carbon modeling, (ii) forest and soil assessment, and (iii) integrated assessment of the socio-economic implications of CS via forest management. Articles included in this special issue are highlights of the results of each of these components.

Reactive transport modeling of stable carbon isotope fractionation in a multi-phase multi-component system during carbon sequestration

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Shuo; DePaolo, Donald J.; Zheng, Liange; ...

2014-12-31

Carbon stable isotopes can be used in characterization and monitoring of CO 2 sequestration sites to track the migration of the CO 2 plume and identify leakage sources, and to evaluate the chemical reactions that take place in the CO 2-water-rock system. However, there are few tools available to incorporate stable isotope information into flow and transport codes used for CO 2 sequestration problems. We present a numerical tool for modeling the transport of stable carbon isotopes in multiphase reactive systems relevant to geologic carbon sequestration. The code is an extension of the reactive transport code TOUGHREACT. The transport modulemore » of TOUGHREACT was modified to include separate isotopic species of CO 2 gas and dissolved inorganic carbon (CO 2, CO 3 2-, HCO 3 -,…). Any process of transport or reaction influencing a given carbon species also influences its isotopic ratio. Isotopic fractionation is thus fully integrated within the dynamic system. The chemical module and database have been expanded to include isotopic exchange and fractionation between the carbon species in both gas and aqueous phases. The performance of the code is verified by modeling ideal systems and comparing with theoretical results. Efforts are also made to fit field data from the Pembina CO 2 injection project in Canada. We show that the exchange of carbon isotopes between dissolved and gaseous carbon species combined with fluid flow and transport, produce isotopic effects that are significantly different from simple two-component mixing. These effects are important for understanding the isotopic variations observed in field demonstrations.« less

Climatic Controls on Forest Productivity in Western North America; Variability, Covariability, and Projected Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hawkins, L. R.; Rupp, D. E.; Li, S.; Mote, P.; Sparrow, S.; Massey, N.

2016-12-01

The forests of western North America serve as a carbon sink sequestering carbon and slowing the rise of CO2 in the atmosphere. Though still positive, the rate of net carbon uptake has been in decline over the past two decades. Regional drought has been shown to slow forest productivity and net carbon uptake despite warmer temperatures and longer growing seasons. With drought conditions projected to increase in frequency and severity under climate change there is concern that these forests' capacity as an effective carbon sink will continue to decrease in the future. To investigate how changes in regional hydroclimate may affect future carbon uptake in western US forests we dynamically downscaled global climate simulations using a 25-km resolution regional climate model HadRM3P with the land surface scheme MOSES2. We generated a 100-member ensemble of simulations for an historical period (1985-2015) and mid-21st century period (2030-2060) under Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5. We evaluated the effects of regional changes in atmospheric moisture demand, seasonality of water supply, and water stress on forest productivity and carbon uptake. We investigated how these changes in hydroclimate interact with the relaxing of temperature controls. This work can inform future adaptation efforts through improving our understanding of climatic controls on forest carbon sequestration.

Widespread Dieback of Forests in North America under Rapid Global Warming: Response to the VINCERA Future Climate Scenarios Simulated by the MC1 DGVM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenihan, J.; Neilson, R.; Bachelet, D.; Drapek, R.

2005-12-01

The VINCERA project is an intercomparison among three dynamic general vegetation models (DGVMs) simulating the response of North American ecosystems to six new future climate scenarios. The scenarios were produced by three general circulation models, each using two different future trace gas emissions scenarios. All of the scenarios are near the warmer end of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's projected future temperature range. Here we present results from the MC1 DGVM. All major forested ecosystems in North America exhibit carbon sequestration until the late 20th or early 21st century, followed by a drought induced decline and loss of carbon to levels below those at 1900 in the absence of fire suppression. By the end of the 21st century, the entire continent will have lost from 10 to 30 Pg of carbon, depending on the scenario. However, fire suppression can significantly mitigate carbon losses and ecosystem declines, producing a net change in carbon from a loss of about 5 Pg to a gain of about 8 Pg under the different scenarios. Most of the suppression benefits are obtained by forests in the western U.S. Suppression also mitigates carbon losses and conversions to savanna or grassland in the eastern U.S., but forest decline still occurs in the east under all scenarios. Dieback is triggered by two mechanisms. Reduced regional precipitation, variable among the scenarios, is one. The second more pervasive mechanism is the influence of rising temperatures on evapotranspiration. Even with the benefits of enhanced water use efficiency from elevated CO2 and slight increases in precipitation, dramatic increases in temperature can produce widespread forest dieback, and increases in fire severity. The eastern United States appear to be particularly vulnerable, as does the central Canadian boreal forest because of the relative flatness of climate gradients near ecotones. Under some scenarios, dieback is also driven by both increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation, most notably the southeastern and northwestern United States. Following a period of gradual carbon sequestration, the enhanced evapotranspiration appears to overtake the 'greening' processes producing a rapid dieback. The point of turnaround from greenup to dieback occurs about now for the temperate forests and about a decade from now in the boreal forests, initiating an extended period of rapid losses of ecosystem carbon. These results underscore the critical importance of addressing uncertainties with respect to ecosystem water balance and the direct effects of elevated CO2 concentrations.

Quantification and mapping of the supply of and demand for carbon storage and sequestration service in woody biomass and soil to mitigate climate change in the socio-ecological environment.

PubMed

Sahle, Mesfin; Saito, Osamu; Fürst, Christine; Yeshitela, Kumelachew

2018-05-15

In this study, the supply of and demand for carbon storage and sequestration of woody biomass in the socio-ecological environment of the Wabe River catchment in Gurage Mountains, Ethiopia, were estimated. This information was subsequently integrated into a map that showed the balance between supply capacities and demand in a spatially explicit manner to inform planners and decision makers on methods used to manage local climate change. Field data for wood biomass and soil were collected, satellite images for land use and land cover (LULC) were classified, and secondary data from statistics and studies for estimation were obtained. Carbon storage, the rate of carbon sequestration and the rate of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from diverse sources at different LULCs, was estimated accordingly by several methods. Even though a large amount of carbon was stored in the catchment, the current yearly sequestration was less than the CO 2 -eq. GHG emissions. Forest and Enset-based agroforestry emissions exhibited the highest amount of woody biomass, and cereal crop and wetland exhibited the highest decrease in soil carbon sequestration. CO 2 -eq. GHG emissions are mainly caused by livestock, nitrogenous fertilizer consumption, and urban activities. The net negative emissions were estimated for the LULC classes of cereal crop, grazing land, and urban areas. In conclusion, without any high-emission industries, GHG emissions can be greater than the regulatory capacity of ecosystems in the socio-ecological environment. This quantification approach can provide information to policy and decision makers to enable them to tackle climate change at the root level. Thus, measures to decrease emission levels and enhance the sequestration capacity are crucial to mitigate the globally delivered service in a specific area. Further studies on the effects of land use alternatives on net emissions are recommended to obtain in-depth knowledge on sustainable land use planning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anthropogenic Land-use Change and the Dynamics of Amazon Forest Biomass

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Laurance, William F.

2004-01-01

This project was focused on assessing the effects of prevailing land uses, such as habitat fragmentation, selective logging, and fire, on biomass and carbon storage in Amazonian forests, and on the dynamics of carbon sequestration in regenerating forests. Ancillary goals included developing GIs models to help predict the future condition of Amazonian forests, and assessing the effects of anthropogenic climate change and ENS0 droughts on intact and fragmented forests. Ground-based studies using networks of permanent plots were linked with remote-sensing data (including Landsat TM and AVHRR) at regional scales, and higher-resolution techniques (IKONOS imagery, videography, LIDAR, aerial photographs) at landscape and local scales. The project s specific goals were quite eclectic and included: Determining the effects of habitat fragmentation on forest dynamics, floristic composition, and the various components of above- and below-ground biomass. Assessing historical and physical factors that affect trajectories of forest regeneration and carbon sequestration on abandoned lands. Extrapolating results from local studies of biomass dynamics in fragmented and regenerating forests to landscape and regional scales in Amazonia, using remote sensing and GIS. Testing the hypothesis that intact Amazonian forests are functioning as a significant carbon sink. Examining destructive synergisms between forest fragmentation and fire. Assessing the short-term impacts of selective logging on aboveground biomass. Developing GIS models that integrate current spatial data on forest cover, deforestation, logging, mining, highway and roads, navigable rivers, vulnerability to wild fires, protected areas, and existing and planned infrastructure projects, in an effort to predict the future condition of Brazilian Amazonian forests over the next 20-25 years. Devising predictive spatial models to assess the influence of varied biophysical and anthropogenic predictors on Amazonian deforestation.

[Characterization of Black and Dichothrix Cyanobacteria Based on the 16S Ribosomal RNA Gene Sequence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ortega, Maya

2010-01-01

My project focuses on characterizing different cyanobacteria in thrombolitic mats found on the island of Highborn Cay, Bahamas. Thrombolites are interesting ecosystems because of the ability of bacteria in these mats to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mineralize it as calcium carbonate. In the future they may be used as models to develop carbon sequestration technologies, which could be used as part of regenerative life systems in space. These thrombolitic communities are also significant because of their similarities to early communities of life on Earth. I targeted two cyanobacteria in my research, Dichothrix spp. and whatever black is, since they are believed to be important to carbon sequestration in these thrombolitic mats. The goal of my summer research project was to molecularly identify these two cyanobacteria. DNA was isolated from each organism through mat dissections and DNA extractions. I ran Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) to amplify the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene in each cyanobacteria. This specific gene is found in almost all bacteria and is highly conserved, meaning any changes in the sequence are most likely due to evolution. As a result, the 16S rRNA gene can be used for bacterial identification of different species based on the sequence of their 16S rRNA gene. Since the exact sequence of the Dichothrix gene was unknown, I designed different primers that flanked the gene based on the known sequences from other taxonomically similar cyanobacteria. Once the 16S rRNA gene was amplified, I cloned the gene into specialized Escherichia coli cells and sent the gene products for sequencing. Once the sequence is obtained, it will be added to a genetic database for future reference to and classification of other Dichothrix sp.

Reaction mechanisms for enhancing carbon dioxide mineral sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jarvis, Karalee Ann

Increasing global temperature resulting from the increased release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is one of the greatest problems facing society. Nevertheless, coal plants remain the largest source of electrical energy and carbon dioxide gas. For this reason, researchers are searching for methods to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere from the combustion of coal. Mineral sequestration of carbon dioxide reacted in electrolyte solutions at 185°C and 2200 psi with olivine (magnesium silicate) has been shown to produce environmentally benign carbonates. However, to make this method feasible for industrial applications, the reaction rate needs to be increased. Two methods were employed to increase the rate of mineral sequestration: reactant composition and concentration were altered independently in various runs. The products were analyzed with complete combustion for total carbon content. Crystalline phases in the product were analyzed with Debye-Scherrer X-ray powder diffraction. To understand the reaction mechanism, single crystals of San Carlos Olivine were reacted in two solutions: (0.64 M NaHCO3/1 M NaCl) and (5.5 M KHCO3) and analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), and fluctuation electron microscopy (FEM) to study the surface morphology, atomic crystalline structure, composition and amorphous structure. From solution chemistry studies, it was found that increasing the activity of the bicarbonate ion increased the conversion rate of carbon dioxide to magnesite. The fastest conversion, 60% conversion in one hour, occurred in a solution of 5.5 M KHCO3. The reaction product particles, magnesium carbonate, significantly increased in both number density and size on the coupon when the bicarbonate ion activity was increased. During some experiments reaction vessel corrosion also altered the mineral sequestration mechanism. Nickel ions from vessel corrosion led to nickel precipitation in the carbonate particles and the lack of an amorphous silica reaction layer on the olivine. It was concluded that nickel ions destabilized the silica passivation layer and led to faster growth of carbonate precipitates. Overall, nickel ions increased the reaction rate of mineral sequestration of carbon dioxide.

Biophysical risks to carbon sequestration and storage in Australian drylands.

PubMed

Nolan, Rachael H; Sinclair, Jennifer; Eldridge, David J; Ramp, Daniel

2018-02-15

Carbon abatement schemes that reduce land clearing and promote revegetation are now an important component of climate change policy globally. There is considerable potential for these schemes to operate in drylands which are spatially extensive. However, projects in these environments risk failure through unplanned release of stored carbon to the atmosphere. In this review, we identify factors that may adversely affect the success of vegetation-based carbon abatement projects in dryland ecosystems, evaluate their likelihood of occurrence, and estimate the potential consequences for carbon storage and sequestration. We also evaluate management strategies to reduce risks posed to these carbon abatement projects. Identified risks were primarily disturbances, including unplanned fire, drought, and grazing. Revegetation projects also risk recruitment failure, thereby failing to reach projected rates of sequestration. Many of these risks are dependent on rainfall, which is highly variable in drylands and susceptible to further variation under climate change. Resprouting vegetation is likely to be less vulnerable to disturbance and have faster recovery rates upon release from disturbance. We conclude that there is a strong impetus for identifying management strategies and risk reduction mechanisms for carbon abatement projects. Risk mitigation would be enhanced by effective co-ordination of mitigation strategies at scales larger than individual abatement project boundaries, and by implementing risk assessment throughout project planning and implementation stages. Reduction of risk is vital for maximising carbon sequestration of individual projects and for reducing barriers to the establishment of new projects entering the market. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Micromotor-Based Biomimetic Carbon Dioxide Sequestration: Towards Mobile Microscrubbers.

PubMed

Uygun, Murat; Singh, Virendra V; Kaufmann, Kevin; Uygun, Deniz A; de Oliveira, Severina D S; Wang, Joseph

2015-10-26

We describe a mobile CO2 scrubbing platform that offers a greatly accelerated biomimetic sequestration based on a self-propelled carbonic anhydrase (CA) functionalized micromotor. The CO2 hydration capability of CA is coupled with the rapid movement of catalytic micromotors, and along with the corresponding fluid dynamics, results in a highly efficient mobile CO2 scrubbing microsystem. The continuous movement of CA and enhanced mass transport of the CO2 substrate lead to significant improvements in the sequestration efficiency and speed over stationary immobilized or free CA platforms. This system is a promising approach to rapid and enhanced CO2 sequestration platforms for addressing growing concerns over the buildup of greenhouse gas. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Energy Crisis, Will Technology Save Us

ScienceCinema

LLNL - University of California Television

2017-12-09

Will we run out of certain forms of energy, such as oil, and what are the replacement options? How does hydrogen fit into the future U.S. energy picture? What is carbon sequestration and why does it matter? What about sustainable energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal? John Ziagos, Atmospheric, Earth, and Energy Department at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and high school teacher Dean Reese present the latest information on the earth's total energy budget to see what forms of energy we will be harnessing in the future. Series: Science on Saturday [6/2008] [Science] [Show ID: 14494

Energy Crisis, Will Technology Save Us

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

LLNL - University of California Television

2008-05-16

Will we run out of certain forms of energy, such as oil, and what are the replacement options? How does hydrogen fit into the future U.S. energy picture? What is carbon sequestration and why does it matter? What about sustainable energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal? John Ziagos, Atmospheric, Earth, and Energy Department at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and high school teacher Dean Reese present the latest information on the earth's total energy budget to see what forms of energy we will be harnessing in the future. Series: Science on Saturday [6/2008] [Science] [Show ID: 14494

Simulating effects of changing climate and CO(2) emissions on soil carbon pools at the Hubbard Brook experimental forest.

PubMed

Dib, Alain E; Johnson, Chris E; Driscoll, Charles T; Fahey, Timothy J; Hayhoe, Katharine

2014-05-01

Carbon (C) sequestration in forest biomass and soils may help decrease regional C footprints and mitigate future climate change. The efficacy of these practices must be verified by monitoring and by approved calculation methods (i.e., models) to be credible in C markets. Two widely used soil organic matter models - CENTURY and RothC - were used to project changes in SOC pools after clear-cutting disturbance, as well as under a range of future climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO(2) ) scenarios. Data from the temperate, predominantly deciduous Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) in New Hampshire, USA, were used to parameterize and validate the models. Clear-cutting simulations demonstrated that both models can effectively simulate soil C dynamics in the northern hardwood forest when adequately parameterized. The minimum postharvest SOC predicted by RothC occurred in postharvest year 14 and was within 1.5% of the observed minimum, which occurred in year 8. CENTURY predicted the postharvest minimum SOC to occur in year 45, at a value 6.9% greater than the observed minimum; the slow response of both models to disturbance suggests that they may overestimate the time required to reach new steady-state conditions. Four climate change scenarios were used to simulate future changes in SOC pools. Climate-change simulations predicted increases in SOC by as much as 7% at the end of this century, partially offsetting future CO(2) emissions. This sequestration was the product of enhanced forest productivity, and associated litter input to the soil, due to increased temperature, precipitation and CO(2) . The simulations also suggested that considerable losses of SOC (8-30%) could occur if forest vegetation at HBEF does not respond to changes in climate and CO(2) levels. Therefore, the source/sink behavior of temperate forest soils likely depends on the degree to which forest growth is stimulated by new climate and CO(2) conditions. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Fertilization Increases Below-Ground Carbon Sequestration of Loblolly Pine Plantations

Treesearch

K.H. Johnsen; J.R. Butnor; C. Maier; R. Oren; R. Pangle; L. Samuelson; J. Seiler; S.E. McKeand; H.L. Allen

2001-01-01

The extent of fertilization of southern pine forests is increasing rapidly; industrial fertilization increased from 16,200 ha per year in 1988, to 344,250 ha in 1998. Fertilization increases stand productivity and can increase carbon (C) sequestration by: 1) increasing above-ground standing C; 2) increasing C stored in forest products; and 3) increasing below-ground...

Carbon sequestration and natural longleaf pine ecosystems

Treesearch

Ralph S. Meldahl; John S. Kush

2006-01-01

A fire-maintained longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) ecosystem may offer the best option for carbon (C) sequestration among the southern pines. Longleaf is the longest living of the southern pines, and products from longleaf pine will sequester C longer than most since they are likely to be solid wood products such as structural lumber and poles....

Fire management and carbon sequestration in Pine Barren Forests

Treesearch

Kenneth L. Clark; Nicholas Skowronski; Michael Gallagher

2015-01-01

Prescribed burning is the major viable option that land managers have for reducing hazardous fuels and ensuring the regeneration of fire-dependent species in a cost-effective manner in Pine Barren ecosystems. Fuels management activities are directly linked to carbon (C) storage and rates of C sequestration by forests. To evaluate the effects of prescribed burning on...

Modeling impacts of management on carbon sequestration and trace gas emissions in forested wetland ecosystems

Treesearch

Changsheng Li; Jianbo Cui

2004-01-01

A process- based model, Wetland-DNDC, was modified to enhance its capacity to predict the impacts of management practices on carbon sequestration in and trace gas emissions from forested wetland ecosystems. The modifications included parameterization of management practices fe.g., forest harvest, chopping, burning, water management, fertilization, and tree planting),...

Multicomponent self-assembly of a pentanuclear Ir-Zn heterometal-organic polyhedron for carbon dioxide fixation and sulfite sequestration.

PubMed

Li, Xuezhao; Wu, Jinguo; He, Cheng; Zhang, Rong; Duan, Chunying

2016-04-14

By incorporating a fac-tris(4-(2-pyridinyl)phenylamine)iridium as the backbone of the tripodal ligand to constrain the coordination geometry of Zn(II) ions, a pentanuclear Ir-Zn heterometal-organic luminescent polyhedron was obtained via a subcomponent self-assembly for carbon dioxide fixation and sulfite sequestration.

Regional carbon sequestration and climate change: It’s all about water

Treesearch

Ge Sun; Peter Caldwell; Steve McNulty; Eric Ward; Jean-Christophe Domec; Asko Noormets

2013-01-01

Forests need a lot of water to produce the goods (e.g., timber) and services (e.g., carbon sequestration and climate moderation) that benefit humans. Forests grow naturally in water-rich regions where precipitation is abundant or where groundwater is available, such as riparian areas in arid regions. For example, loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.)...

In Brief: Carbon Sequestration Partnerships; Review of Peer Reviews

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy

The U.S. Department of Energy named seven regional partnerships on 16 August to study the best methods for the non-biological sequestration of carbon in different parts of the country.Peer review guidelines for science issued by the federal government which is related to regulatory topics could be tightened up under a 29 August White House proposal.

Estimating long-term carbon sequestration patterns in even- and uneven-aged southern pine stands

Treesearch

Don C. Bragg; James M. Guldin

2010-01-01

Carbon (C) sequestration has become an increasingly important consideration for forest management in North America, and has particular potential in pine-dominated forests of the southern United States. Using existing literature on plantations and long-term studies of naturally regenerated loblolly (Pinus taeda) and shortleaf (Pinus echinata) pine-dominated stands on...

An Optimal Centralized Carbon Dioxide Repository for Florida, USA

PubMed Central

Poiencot, Brandon; Brown, Christopher

2011-01-01

For over a decade, the United States Department of Energy, and engineers, geologists, and scientists from all over the world have investigated the potential for reducing atmospheric carbon emissions through carbon sequestration. Numerous reports exist analyzing the potential for sequestering carbon dioxide at various sites around the globe, but none have identified the potential for a statewide system in Florida, USA. In 2005, 83% of Florida’s electrical energy was produced by natural gas, coal, or oil (e.g., fossil fuels), from power plants spread across the state. In addition, only limited research has been completed on evaluating optimal pipeline transportation networks to centralized carbon dioxide repositories. This paper describes the feasibility and preliminary locations for an optimal centralized Florida-wide carbon sequestration repository. Linear programming optimization modeling is used to plan and route an idealized pipeline network to existing Florida power plants. Further analysis of the subsurface geology in these general locations will provide insight into the suitability of the subsurface conditions and the available capacity for carbon sequestration at selected possible repository sites. The identification of the most favorable site(s) is also presented. PMID:21695024

An optimal centralized carbon dioxide repository for Florida, USA.

PubMed

Poiencot, Brandon; Brown, Christopher

2011-04-01

For over a decade, the United States Department of Energy, and engineers, geologists, and scientists from all over the world have investigated the potential for reducing atmospheric carbon emissions through carbon sequestration. Numerous reports exist analyzing the potential for sequestering carbon dioxide at various sites around the globe, but none have identified the potential for a statewide system in Florida, USA. In 2005, 83% of Florida's electrical energy was produced by natural gas, coal, or oil (e.g., fossil fuels), from power plants spread across the state. In addition, only limited research has been completed on evaluating optimal pipeline transportation networks to centralized carbon dioxide repositories. This paper describes the feasibility and preliminary locations for an optimal centralized Florida-wide carbon sequestration repository. Linear programming optimization modeling is used to plan and route an idealized pipeline network to existing Florida power plants. Further analysis of the subsurface geology in these general locations will provide insight into the suitability of the subsurface conditions and the available capacity for carbon sequestration at selected possible repository sites. The identification of the most favorable site(s) is also presented.

Carbon Sequestration by Fruit Trees - Chinese Apple Orchards as an Example

PubMed Central

Wu, Ting; Wang, Yi; Yu, Changjiang; Chiarawipa, Rawee; Zhang, Xinzhong; Han, Zhenhai; Wu, Lianhai

2012-01-01

Apple production systems are an important component in the Chinese agricultural sector with 1.99 million ha plantation. The orchards in China could play an important role in the carbon (C) cycle of terrestrial ecosystems and contribute to C sequestration. The carbon sequestration capability in apple orchards was analyzed through identifying a set of potential assessment factors and their weighting factors determined by a field model study and literature. The dynamics of the net C sink in apple orchards in China was estimated based on the apple orchard inventory data from 1990s and the capability analysis. The field study showed that the trees reached the peak of C sequestration capability when they were 18 years old, and then the capability began to decline with age. Carbon emission derived from management practices would not be compensated through C storage in apple trees before reaching the mature stage. The net C sink in apple orchards in China ranged from 14 to 32 Tg C, and C storage in biomass from 230 to 475 Tg C between 1990 and 2010. The estimated net C sequestration in Chinese apple orchards from 1990 to 2010 was equal to 4.5% of the total net C sink in the terrestrial ecosystems in China. Therefore, apple production systems can be potentially considered as C sinks excluding the energy associated with fruit production in addition to provide fruits. PMID:22719974

Carbon sequestration by fruit trees--Chinese apple orchards as an example.

PubMed

Wu, Ting; Wang, Yi; Yu, Changjiang; Chiarawipa, Rawee; Zhang, Xinzhong; Han, Zhenhai; Wu, Lianhai

2012-01-01

Apple production systems are an important component in the Chinese agricultural sector with 1.99 million ha plantation. The orchards in China could play an important role in the carbon (C) cycle of terrestrial ecosystems and contribute to C sequestration. The carbon sequestration capability in apple orchards was analyzed through identifying a set of potential assessment factors and their weighting factors determined by a field model study and literature. The dynamics of the net C sink in apple orchards in China was estimated based on the apple orchard inventory data from 1990s and the capability analysis. The field study showed that the trees reached the peak of C sequestration capability when they were 18 years old, and then the capability began to decline with age. Carbon emission derived from management practices would not be compensated through C storage in apple trees before reaching the mature stage. The net C sink in apple orchards in China ranged from 14 to 32 Tg C, and C storage in biomass from 230 to 475 Tg C between 1990 and 2010. The estimated net C sequestration in Chinese apple orchards from 1990 to 2010 was equal to 4.5% of the total net C sink in the terrestrial ecosystems in China. Therefore, apple production systems can be potentially considered as C sinks excluding the energy associated with fruit production in addition to provide fruits.

Effect of heterogeneousatmospheric CO2 on simulated global carbon budget

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zhang, Zhen; Jiang, Hong; Liu, Jinxun; Ju, Weimin; Zhang, Xiuying

2013-01-01

The effects of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) on terrestrial carbon (C) sequestration have been a key focus in global change studies. As anthropological CO2 emissions substantially increase, the spatial variability of atmospheric CO2 should be considered to reduce the potential bias on C source and sink estimations. In this study, the global spatial–temporal patterns of near surface CO2 concentrations for the period 2003-2009 were established using the SCIAMACHY satellite observations and the GLOBALVIEW-CO2 field observations. With this CO2 data and the Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS), our estimation of the global mean annual NPP and NEP was 0.5% and 7% respectively which differs from the traditional C sequestration assessments. The Amazon, Southeast Asia, and Tropical Africa showed higher C sequestration than the traditional assessment, and the rest of the areas around the world showed slightly lower C sequestration than the traditional assessment. We find that the variability of NEP is less intense under heterogeneous CO2 pattern on a global scale. Further studies of the cause of CO2 variation and the interactions between natural and anthropogenic processes of C sequestration are needed.

Synthetic circuit designs for earth terraformation.

PubMed

Solé, Ricard V; Montañez, Raúl; Duran-Nebreda, Salva

2015-07-18

Mounting evidence indicates that our planet might experience runaway effects associated to rising temperatures and ecosystem overexploitation, leading to catastrophic shifts on short time scales. Remediation scenarios capable of counterbalancing these effects involve geoengineering, sustainable practices and carbon sequestration, among others. None of these scenarios seems powerful enough to achieve the desired restoration of safe boundaries. We hypothesize that synthetic organisms with the appropriate engineering design could be used to safely prevent declines in some stressed ecosystems and help improving carbon sequestration. Such schemes would include engineering mutualistic dependencies preventing undesired evolutionary processes. We hypothesize that some particular design principles introduce unescapable constraints to the engineered organisms that act as effective firewalls. Testing this designed organisms can be achieved by using controlled bioreactor models, with single and heterogeneous populations, and accurate computational models including different scales (from genetic constructs and metabolic pathways to population dynamics). Our hypothesis heads towards a future anthropogenic action that should effectively act as Terraforming processes. It also implies a major challenge in the existing biosafety policies, since we suggest release of modified organisms as potentially necessary strategy for success.

The LandCarbon Web Application: Advanced Geospatial Data Delivery and Visualization Tools for Communication about Ecosystem Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, N.; Galey, B.; Zhu, Z.; Sleeter, B. M.; Lehmer, E.

2015-12-01

The LandCarbon web application (http://landcarbon.org) is a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and U.C. Berkeley's Geospatial Innovation Facility (GIF). The LandCarbon project is a national assessment focused on improved understanding of carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas fluxes in and out of ecosystems related to land use, using scientific capabilities from USGS and other organizations. The national assessment is conducted at a regional scale, covers all 50 states, and incorporates data from remote sensing, land change studies, aquatic and wetland data, hydrological and biogeochemical modeling, and wildfire mapping to estimate baseline and future potential carbon storage and greenhouse gas fluxes. The LandCarbon web application is a geospatial portal that allows for a sophisticated data delivery system as well as a suite of engaging tools that showcase the LandCarbon data using interactive web based maps and charts. The web application was designed to be flexible and accessible to meet the needs of a variety of users. Casual users can explore the input data and results of the assessment for a particular area of interest in an intuitive and interactive map, without the need for specialized software. Users can view and interact with maps, charts, and statistics that summarize the baseline and future potential carbon storage and fluxes for U.S. Level 2 Ecoregions for 3 IPCC emissions scenarios. The application allows users to access the primary data sources and assessment results for viewing and download, and also to learn more about the assessment's objectives, methods, and uncertainties through published reports and documentation. The LandCarbon web application is built on free and open source libraries including Django and D3. The GIF has developed the Django-Spillway package, which facilitates interactive visualization and serialization of complex geospatial raster data. The underlying LandCarbon data is available through an open application programming interface (API), which will allow other organizations to build their own custom applications and tools. New features such as finer scale aggregation and an online carbon calculator are being added to the LandCarbon web application to continue to make the site interactive, visually compelling, and useful for a wide range of users.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jacobs, G.K.

ORNL, through The Consortium for Research on Enhancing Carbon Sequestration in Terrestrial Ecosystems (CSiTE), collaborated with The Village Botanica, Inc. (VB) on a project investigating carbon sequestration in soils and commercial products from a new sustainable crop developed from perennial Hibiscus spp. Over 500 pre-treated samples were analyzed for soil carbon content. ORNL helped design a sampling scheme for soils during the planting phase of the project. Samples were collected and prepared by VB and analyzed for carbon content by ORNL. The project did not progress to a Phase II proposal because VB declined to prepare the required proposal.

Community perceptions of carbon sequestration: insights from California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong-Parodi, Gabrielle; Ray, Isha

2009-07-01

Over the last decade, many energy experts have supported carbon sequestration as a viable technological response to climate change. Given the potential importance of sequestration in US energy policy, what might explain the views of communities that may be directly impacted by the siting of this technology? To answer this question, we conducted focus groups in two communities who were potentially pilot project sites for California's DOE-funded West Coast Regional Partnership (WESTCARB). We find that communities want a voice in defining the risks to be mitigated as well as the justice of the procedures by which the technology is implemented. We argue that a community's sense of empowerment is key to understanding its range of carbon sequestration opinions, where 'empowerment' includes the ability to mitigate community-defined risks of the technology. This sense of empowerment protects the community against the downside risk of government or corporate neglect, a risk that is rarely identified in risk assessments but that should be factored into assessment and communication strategies.

Carbon storage and greenhouse gas fluxes in the San Juan ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Mangrove systems are known carbon (C) and greenhouse gas (GHG) sinks, but this function may be affected by global change drivers that include (but are not limited to) eutrophication, climate change, species composition shifts, and hydrological changes. In Puerto Rico’s San Juan Bay Estuary, mangrove wetlands are characterized by anthropogenic impacts, particularly tidal restriction due to infilling of the Martin Pena Canal and eutrophication. The objective of our research is to measure carbon sequestration and carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes in the San Juan Bay Estuary to understand the sustainability and role in global climate of this urban mangrove ecosystem. Cores for C sequestration measurements were collected and GHG fluxes were measured during rainy and dry seasons at 5 sites along a gradient of development and nitrogen loading in the San Juan Bay Estuary. At each site, paired GHG flux measurements were performed for mangrove wetland soil and estuarine water using static and floating chambers. Our results suggest a positive relationship between urban development and CH4 and N2O emissions, and demonstrate that in this system, estuarine waters are a major methane source. In addition to providing characterization of GHG fluxes in an urban subtropical estuary, these data provide a baseline against which future states of the estuary (after planned hydrological restoration has been implemented) may be compared. In Puer

Carbon storage and greenhouse gas fluxes in the San Juan ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Mangrove systems are known carbon (C) and greenhouse gas (GHG) sinks, but this function may be affected by global change drivers that include (but are not limited to) eutrophication, climate change, species composition shifts, and hydrological changes. In Puerto Rico’s San Juan Bay Estuary, mangrove wetlands are characterized by anthropogenic impacts, particularly tidal restriction due to infilling of the Martin Pena Canal and eutrophication. The objective of our research is to measure carbon sequestration and carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes in the San Juan Bay Estuary to understand the sustainability and role in global climate of this urban mangrove ecosystem. Cores for C sequestration measurements were collected and GHG fluxes were measured during rainy and dry seasons at 5 sites along a gradient of development and nitrogen loading in the San Juan Bay Estuary. At each site, paired GHG flux measurements were performed for mangrove wetland soil and estuarine water using static and floating chambers. Our results suggest a positive relationship between urban development and CH4 and N2O emissions, and demonstrate that in this system, estuarine waters are a major methane source. In addition to providing characterization of GHG fluxes in an urban subtropical estuary, these data provide a baseline against which future states of the estuary (after planned hydrological restoration has been implemented) may be compared. Thi

Greening the Mixture: An Evaluation of the Department of Defense’s Alternative Aviation Fuel Strategy

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-08

process begins with gasification of feedstocks such as coal, natural gas, or biomass towards the production of alternative fuels. With adequate carbon...Barrels per day CBTL Coal and Biomass to Liquid CCS Carbon Dioxide Capture and Sequestration CTL Coal to Liquid DARPA Defense Advanced Research...sequestration. Captured carbon dioxide from coal-to-liquid (CTL) or coal and biomass -to-liquid (CBTL) production could be readily injected into the

Engineered Escherichia coli with Periplasmic Carbonic Anhydrase as a Biocatalyst for CO2 Sequestration

PubMed Central

Jo, Byung Hoon; Kim, Im Gyu; Seo, Jeong Hyun; Kang, Dong Gyun

2013-01-01

Carbonic anhydrase is an enzyme that reversibly catalyzes the hydration of carbon dioxide (CO2). It has been suggested recently that this remarkably fast enzyme can be used for sequestration of CO2, a major greenhouse gas, making this a promising alternative for chemical CO2 mitigation. To promote the economical use of enzymes, we engineered the carbonic anhydrase from Neisseria gonorrhoeae (ngCA) in the periplasm of Escherichia coli, thereby creating a bacterial whole-cell catalyst. We then investigated the application of this system to CO2 sequestration by mineral carbonation, a process with the potential to store large quantities of CO2. ngCA was highly expressed in the periplasm of E. coli in a soluble form, and the recombinant bacterial cell displayed the distinct ability to hydrate CO2 compared with its cytoplasmic ngCA counterpart and previously reported whole-cell CA systems. The expression of ngCA in the periplasm of E. coli greatly accelerated the rate of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) formation and exerted a striking impact on the maximal amount of CaCO3 produced under conditions of relatively low pH. It was also shown that the thermal stability of the periplasmic enzyme was significantly improved. These results demonstrate that the engineered bacterial cell with periplasmic ngCA can successfully serve as an efficient biocatalyst for CO2 sequestration. PMID:23974145

Quantifying the effect of nighttime interactions between roots and canopy physiology and their control of water and carbon cycling on feedbacks between soil moisture and terrestrial climatology under variable environmental conditions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Domec, Jean-Christophe; Palmroth, Sari; Oren, Ram

The primary objective of this project is to characterize and quantify how the temporal variability of hydraulic redistribution (HR) and its physiological regulation in unmanaged and complex forests is affecting current water and carbon exchange and predict how future climate scenarios will affect these relationships and potentially feed back to the climate. Specifically, a detailed study of ecosystem water uptake and carbon exchange in relation to root functioning was proposed in order to quantify the mechanisms controlling temporal variability of soil moisture dynamic and HR in three active AmeriFlux sites, and to use published data of two other inactive AmeriFluxmore » sites. Furthermore, data collected by our research group at the Duke Free Air CO2 enrichment (FACE) site was also being utilized to further improve our ability to forecast future environmental impacts of elevated CO2 concentration on soil moisture dynamic and its effect on carbon sequestration and terrestrial climatology. The overarching objective being to forecast, using a soil:plant:atmosphere model coupled with a biosphere:atmosphere model, the impact of root functioning on land surface climatology. By comparing unmanaged sites to plantations, we also proposed to determine the effect of land use change on terrestrial carbon sequestration and climatology through its effect on soil moisture dynamic and HR. Our simulations of HR by roots indicated that in some systems HR is an important mechanism that buffers soil water deficit, affects energy and carbon cycling; thus having significant implications for seasonal climate. HR maintained roots alive and below 70% loss of conductivity and our simulations also showed that the increased vapor pressure deficit at night under future conditions was sufficient to drive significant nighttime transpiration at all sites, which reduced HR. This predicted reduction in HR under future climate conditions played an important regulatory role in land atmosphere interactions by affecting whole ecosystem carbon and water balance. Under future climatic scenarios, HR was reduced thus affecting negatively plant water use and carbon assimilation. The discrepancy between the predicted and actual surface warming and atmospheric water vapor caused by the persistence of evapotranspiration during the dry season, increasing energy transfer in the form of latent heat. Under those simulations, we also evaluated how the hydraulic properties of soil and xylem limited the rate of carbon uptake, and carbon net ecosystem exchange. The multilayered hydraulically driven soil vegetation atmosphere carbon and water transfer model was designed to represent processes common to vascular plants, so that ecosystem atmosphere exchange could be captured by the same processes at different sites. Those models shown to be well suited for investigating the impact of drought on forest ecosystems because of its explicit treatment of water transport to leaves. This modeling work also confirmed that unmanaged, mixed hardwood site are more resilient to climatic variations than an adjacent pine plantation, but that future climatic conditions will reverse this trends.« less

Comparison of alkaline industrial wastes for aqueous mineral carbon sequestration through a parallel reactivity study.

PubMed

Noack, Clinton W; Dzombak, David A; Nakles, David V; Hawthorne, Steven B; Heebink, Loreal V; Dando, Neal; Gershenzon, Michael; Ghosh, Rajat S

2014-10-01

Thirty-one alkaline industrial wastes from a wide range of industrial processes were acquired and screened for application in an aqueous carbon sequestration process. The wastes were evaluated for their potential to leach polyvalent cations and base species. Following mixing with a simple sodium bicarbonate solution, chemistries of the aqueous and solid phases were analyzed. Experimental results indicated that the most reactive materials were capable of sequestering between 77% and 93% of the available carbon under experimental conditions in four hours. These materials - cement kiln dust, spray dryer absorber ash, and circulating dry scrubber ash - are thus good candidates for detailed, process-oriented studies. Chemical equilibrium modeling indicated that amorphous calcium carbonate is likely responsible for the observed sequestration. High variability and low reactive fractions render many other materials less attractive for further pursuit without considering preprocessing or activation techniques. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Soil Carbon Sequestration and Land-Use Change: Processes and Potential

DOE Data Explorer

Post, W. M. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Kwon, K. C. [Tuskeegee University, Tuskeegee, AL (United States)

2005-01-01

When agricultural land is no longer used for cultivation and allowed to revert to natural vegetation or replanted to perennial vegetation, soil organic carbon can accumulate. This accumulation process essentially reverses some of the effects responsible for soil organic carbon losses from when the land was converted from perennial vegetation. We discuss the essential elements of what is known about soil organic matter dynamics that may result in enhanced soil carbon sequestration with changes in land-use and soil management. We review literature that reports changes in soil organic carbon after changes in land-use that favour carbon accumulation. This data summary provides a guide to approximate rates of SOC sequestration that are possible with management, and indicates the relative importance of some factors that influence the rates of organic carbon sequestration in soil. There is a large variation in the length of time for and the rate at which carbon may accumulate in soil, related to the productivity of the recovering vegetation, physical and biological conditions in the soil, and the past history of soil organic carbon inputs and physical disturbance. Maximum rates of C accumulation during the early aggrading stage of perennial vegetation growth, while substantial, are usually much less than 100g C m–2 y–1. Average rates of accumulation are similar for forest or grassland establishment: 33.8 g C m–2 y–1 and 33.2 g C m–2 y–1, respectively. These observed rates of soil organic C accumulation, when combined with the small amount of land area involved, are insufficient to account for a significant fraction of the missing C in the global carbon cycle as accumulating in the soils of formerly agricultural land.

Projection of Carbon Dynamics in the Marine West Coast Forests under Climate and Land Cover changes Using General Ensemble Biogeochemical Modeling System (GEMS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

WU, Y.; Liu, S.; Li, Z.; Young, C.; Werner, J.; Dahal, D.; Liu, J.; Schmidt, G.

2012-12-01

Climate and land cover changes may influence the capacity of the terrestrial ecosystems to be carbon sinks or sources. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential change of the carbon sequestration in the Marine West Coast Forests ecoregion in the Pacific Northwest United States using the General Ensemble Biogeochemical Modeling System (GEMS). In GEMS, the underlying biogeochemical model, Erosion and Deposition Carbon Model (EDCM), was used and calibrated using MODIS net primary production (NPP) and grain yield data during the baseline period from 2002 to 2005, and then validated with another four-year period from 2006 to 2009. GEMS-EDCM was driven using projected climate from three General Circulation Models (GCMs) under three IPCC scenarios (A2, A1B, and B1) and derived land cover data from the FORecasting SCEnarios (FORE-SCE) model under the same three IPCC scenarios for the period from 2006 to 2050. This ecoregion, two-thirds of which is covered by forest, was projected to continue to gain carbon from 2005 to 2050, with an annual carbon sequestration of about -3 Tg C. It was also predicted that live biomass and soil organic carbon (SOC) would contain about 48% and 33% of the total carbon storage by 2050, respectively. In addition, forest carbon sequestration (-2 Tg C yr-1) demonstrated to be the largest sink among all ecosystems, accounting for 73% of the total, followed by grass/shrub and agriculture. Overall, results about predicted dynamics of carbon storage and sequestration can be informative to policy makers for seeking mitigation plans to reduce greenhouse gases emissions.

Reviews and syntheses: Hidden forests, the role of vegetated coastal habitats in the ocean carbon budget

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duarte, Carlos M.

2017-01-01

Vegetated coastal habitats, including seagrass and macroalgal beds, mangrove forests and salt marshes, form highly productive ecosystems, but their contribution to the global carbon budget remains overlooked, and these forests remain hidden in representations of the global carbon budget. Despite being confined to a narrow belt around the shoreline of the world's oceans, where they cover less than 7 million km2, vegetated coastal habitats support about 1 to 10 % of the global marine net primary production and generate a large organic carbon surplus of about 40 % of their net primary production (NPP), which is either buried in sediments within these habitats or exported away. Large, 10-fold uncertainties in the area covered by vegetated coastal habitats, along with variability about carbon flux estimates, result in a 10-fold bracket around the estimates of their contribution to organic carbon sequestration in sediments and the deep sea from 73 to 866 Tg C yr-1, representing between 3 % and 1/3 of oceanic CO2 uptake. Up to 1/2 of this carbon sequestration occurs in sink reservoirs (sediments or the deep sea) beyond these habitats. The organic carbon exported that does not reach depositional sites subsidizes the metabolism of heterotrophic organisms. In addition to a significant contribution to organic carbon production and sequestration, vegetated coastal habitats contribute as much to carbonate accumulation as coral reefs do. While globally relevant, the magnitude of global carbon fluxes supported by salt-marsh, mangrove, seagrass and macroalgal habitats is declining due to rapid habitat loss, contributing to loss of CO2 sequestration, storage capacity and carbon subsidies. Incorporating the carbon fluxes' vegetated coastal habitats' support into depictions of the carbon budget of the global ocean and its perturbations will improve current representations of the carbon budget of the global ocean.

Yield and soil carbon sequestration in grazed pastures sown with two or five forage species

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Increasing plant species richness is often associated with an increase in productivity and associated ecosystem services such as soil C sequestration. In this paper we report on a nine-year experiment to evaluate the relative forage production and C sequestration potential of grazed pastures sown to...

Large-scale sequestration of atmospheric carbon via plant roots in natural and agricultural ecosystems: why and how.

PubMed

Kell, Douglas B

2012-06-05

The soil holds twice as much carbon as does the atmosphere, and most soil carbon is derived from recent photosynthesis that takes carbon into root structures and further into below-ground storage via exudates therefrom. Nonetheless, many natural and most agricultural crops have roots that extend only to about 1 m below ground. What determines the lifetime of below-ground C in various forms is not well understood, and understanding these processes is therefore key to optimising them for enhanced C sequestration. Most soils (and especially subsoils) are very far from being saturated with organic carbon, and calculations show that the amounts of C that might further be sequestered (http://dbkgroup.org/carbonsequestration/rootsystem.html) are actually very great. Breeding crops with desirable below-ground C sequestration traits, and exploiting attendant agronomic practices optimised for individual species in their relevant environments, are therefore important goals. These bring additional benefits related to improvements in soil structure and in the usage of other nutrients and water.

Phylogenetic variation of phytolith carbon sequestration in bamboos

PubMed Central

Li, Beilei; Song, Zhaoliang; Li, Zimin; Wang, Hailong; Gui, Renyi; Song, Ruisheng

2014-01-01

Phytoliths, the amorphous silica deposited in plant tissues, can occlude organic carbon (phytolith-occluded carbon, PhytOC) during their formation and play a significant role in the global carbon balance. This study explored phylogenetic variation of phytolith carbon sequestration in bamboos. The phytolith content in bamboo varied substantially from 4.28% to 16.42%, with the highest content in Sasa and the lowest in Chimonobambusa, Indocalamus and Acidosasa. The mean PhytOC production flux and rate in China's bamboo forests were 62.83 kg CO2 ha−1 y−1 and 4.5 × 108 kg CO2 y−1, respectively. This implies that 1.4 × 109 kg CO2 would be sequestered in world's bamboo phytoliths because the global bamboo distribution area is about three to four times higher than China's bamboo. Therefore, both increasing the bamboo area and selecting high phytolith-content bamboo species would increase the sequestration of atmospheric CO2 within bamboo phytoliths. PMID:24736571

Temporal Variation of Wood Density and Carbon in Two Elevational Sites of Pinus cooperi in Relation to Climate Response in Northern Mexico

PubMed Central

Pompa-García, Marín; Venegas-González, Alejandro

2016-01-01

Forest ecosystems play an important role in the global carbon cycle. Therefore, understanding the dynamics of carbon uptake in forest ecosystems is much needed. Pinus cooperi is a widely distributed species in the Sierra Madre Occidental in northern Mexico and future climatic variations could impact these ecosystems. Here, we analyze the variations of trunk carbon in two populations of P. cooperi situated at different elevational gradients, combining dendrochronological techniques and allometry. Carbon sequestration (50% biomass) was estimated from a specific allometric equation for this species based on: (i) variation of intra-annual wood density and (ii) diameter reconstruction. The results show that the population at a higher elevation had greater wood density, basal area, and hence, carbon accumulation. This finding can be explained by an ecological response of trees to adverse weather conditions, which would cause a change in the cellular structure affecting the within-ring wood density profile. The influence of variations in climate on the maximum density of chronologies showed a positive correlation with precipitation and the Multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation Index during the winter season, and a negative correlation with maximum temperature during the spring season. Monitoring previous conditions to growth is crucial due to the increased vulnerability to extreme climatic variations on higher elevational sites. We concluded that temporal variability of wood density contributes to a better understanding of environmental historical changes and forest carbon dynamics in Northern Mexico, representing a significant improvement over previous studies on carbon sequestration. Assuming a uniform density according to tree age is incorrect, so this method can be used for environmental mitigation strategies, such as for managing P. cooperi, a dominant species of great ecological amplitude and widely used in forest industries. PMID:27272519

Temporal Variation of Wood Density and Carbon in Two Elevational Sites of Pinus cooperi in Relation to Climate Response in Northern Mexico.

PubMed

Pompa-García, Marín; Venegas-González, Alejandro

2016-01-01

Forest ecosystems play an important role in the global carbon cycle. Therefore, understanding the dynamics of carbon uptake in forest ecosystems is much needed. Pinus cooperi is a widely distributed species in the Sierra Madre Occidental in northern Mexico and future climatic variations could impact these ecosystems. Here, we analyze the variations of trunk carbon in two populations of P. cooperi situated at different elevational gradients, combining dendrochronological techniques and allometry. Carbon sequestration (50% biomass) was estimated from a specific allometric equation for this species based on: (i) variation of intra-annual wood density and (ii) diameter reconstruction. The results show that the population at a higher elevation had greater wood density, basal area, and hence, carbon accumulation. This finding can be explained by an ecological response of trees to adverse weather conditions, which would cause a change in the cellular structure affecting the within-ring wood density profile. The influence of variations in climate on the maximum density of chronologies showed a positive correlation with precipitation and the Multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation Index during the winter season, and a negative correlation with maximum temperature during the spring season. Monitoring previous conditions to growth is crucial due to the increased vulnerability to extreme climatic variations on higher elevational sites. We concluded that temporal variability of wood density contributes to a better understanding of environmental historical changes and forest carbon dynamics in Northern Mexico, representing a significant improvement over previous studies on carbon sequestration. Assuming a uniform density according to tree age is incorrect, so this method can be used for environmental mitigation strategies, such as for managing P. cooperi, a dominant species of great ecological amplitude and widely used in forest industries.

A Total Economic Valuation of Wetland Ecosystem Services: An Evidence from Jagadishpur Ramsar Site, Nepal

PubMed Central

Basnyat, Bijendra; Khanal, Rajendra; Gauli, Kalyan

2016-01-01

Wetlands are the most productive ecosystem and provide wide arrays of wetland ecosystems (goods and services) to the local communities in particular and global communities in general. However, management of the wetland often does not remain priority and recognized as the unproductive waste land mainly due to poor realization of the economic value of the wetlands. Taking this into account, the study estimated the total economic value of the Jagadishpur Reservoir taking into account direct, indirect, and nonuse value. The study prioritized six major values of the reservoir which include wetland goods consumption, tourism, irrigation, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and conservation for future use (existence and option value). The study used market and nonmarket based valuation techniques to estimate total economic value of the reservoir. Household survey, focus group discussions, and interaction with the tourism entrepreneurs and district stakeholders were carried out to collect information. The study estimated the total annual economic value of the reservoir as NRs 94.5 million, where option/existence value remains main contributor followed by direct use value such as wetland goods and tourism and indirect use value, for example, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and irrigation. The study reveals that the local communities gave high importance to the future use value and are willing to make investment for conservation and restoration of reservoir given its conservation significance. PMID:27830175

A Total Economic Valuation of Wetland Ecosystem Services: An Evidence from Jagadishpur Ramsar Site, Nepal.

PubMed

Baral, Sony; Basnyat, Bijendra; Khanal, Rajendra; Gauli, Kalyan

Wetlands are the most productive ecosystem and provide wide arrays of wetland ecosystems (goods and services) to the local communities in particular and global communities in general. However, management of the wetland often does not remain priority and recognized as the unproductive waste land mainly due to poor realization of the economic value of the wetlands. Taking this into account, the study estimated the total economic value of the Jagadishpur Reservoir taking into account direct, indirect, and nonuse value. The study prioritized six major values of the reservoir which include wetland goods consumption, tourism, irrigation, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and conservation for future use (existence and option value). The study used market and nonmarket based valuation techniques to estimate total economic value of the reservoir. Household survey, focus group discussions, and interaction with the tourism entrepreneurs and district stakeholders were carried out to collect information. The study estimated the total annual economic value of the reservoir as NRs 94.5 million, where option/existence value remains main contributor followed by direct use value such as wetland goods and tourism and indirect use value, for example, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and irrigation. The study reveals that the local communities gave high importance to the future use value and are willing to make investment for conservation and restoration of reservoir given its conservation significance.

Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources─South Florida Basin: Chapter L in Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Roberts-Ashby, Tina L.; Brennan, Sean T.; Merrill, Matthew D.; Blondes, Madalyn S.; Freeman, P.A.; Cahan, Steven M.; DeVera, Christina A.; Lohr, Celeste D.; Warwick, Peter D.; Corum, Margo D.

2015-08-26

This report presents five storage assessment units (SAUs) that have been identified as potentially suitable for geologic carbon dioxide sequestration within a 35,075-square-mile area that includes the entire onshore and State-water portions of the South Florida Basin. Platform-wide, thick successions of laterally extensive carbonates and evaporites deposited in highly cyclic depositional environments in the South Florida Basin provide several massive, porous carbonate reservoirs that are separated by evaporite seals. For each storage assessment unit identified within the basin, the areal distribution of the reservoir-seal couplet identified as suitable for geologic Carbon dioxide sequestration is presented, along with a description of the geologic characteristics that influence the potential carbon dioxide storage volume and reservoir performance. On a case-by-case basis, strategies for estimating the pore volume existing within structurally and (or) stratigraphically closed traps are also discussed. Geologic information presented in this report has been employed to calculate potential storage capacities for carbon dioxide sequestration in the storage assessment units assessed herein, although complete assessment results are not contained in this report.

Climate change and carbon sequestration opportunities on national forests

Treesearch

R.L. Deal

2010-01-01

Deforestation globally accounts for about 20 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. One of the major forestry challenges in the United States is reducing the loss of forest land from development. Foresters have a critical role to play in forest management and carbon sequestration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and forestry can be part of the solution. A recent...

Assessing the effect of climate change on carbon sequestration in a Mexican dry forest in the Yucatan Peninsula

Treesearch

Z. Dai; K.D. Johnson; R.A. Birdsey; J.L. Hernandez-Stefanoni; J.M. Dupuy

2015-01-01

Assessing the effect of climate change on carbon sequestration in tropical forest ecosystems is important to inform monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) for reducing deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), and to effectively assess forest management options under climate change. Two process-based models, Forest-DNDC and Biome-BGC, with different spatial...

Mitigating climate change through afforestation: new cost estimates for the United States

Treesearch

Anne Sofie Elberg Nielsen; Andrew J. Plantinga; Ralph J. Alig

2014-01-01

We provide new cost estimates for carbon sequestration through afforestation in the U.S. We extend existing studies of carbon sequestration costs in several important ways, while ensuring the transparency of our approach. Our costs estimates have five distinguishing features: (1) we estimate costs for each county in the contiguous U.S., (2) we include afforestation of...

Simulated Local and Remote Biophysical Effects of Afforestation over the Southeast United States in Boreal Summer

Treesearch

Guang-Shan Chen; Michael Notaro; Zhengyu Liu; Yongqiang Liu

2012-01-01

Afforestation has been proposed as a climate change mitigation strategy by sequestrating atmospheric carbon dioxide. With the goal of increasing carbon sequestration, a Congressional project has been planned to afforest about 18 million acres by 2020 in the Southeast United States (SEUS), the Great Lake states, and the Corn Belt states. However, biophysical feedbacks...

Probabilistic evaluation of shallow groundwater resources at a hypothetical carbon sequestration site

DOE PAGES

Dai, Zhenxue; Keating, Elizabeth; Bacon, Diana H.; ...

2014-03-07

Carbon sequestration in geologic reservoirs is an important approach for mitigating greenhouse gases emissions to the atmosphere. This study first develops an integrated Monte Carlo method for simulating CO 2 and brine leakage from carbon sequestration and subsequent geochemical interactions in shallow aquifers. Then, we estimate probability distributions of five risk proxies related to the likelihood and volume of changes in pH, total dissolved solids, and trace concentrations of lead, arsenic, and cadmium for two possible consequence thresholds. The results indicate that shallow groundwater resources may degrade locally around leakage points by reduced pH and increased total dissolved solids (TDS).more » The volumes of pH and TDS plumes are most sensitive to aquifer porosity, permeability, and CO 2 and brine leakage rates. The estimated plume size of pH change is the largest, while that of cadmium is the smallest among the risk proxies. Plume volume distributions of arsenic and lead are similar to those of TDS. The scientific results from this study provide substantial insight for understanding risks of deep fluids leaking into shallow aquifers, determining the area of review, and designing monitoring networks at carbon sequestration sites.« less

Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Susan Capalbo

2005-12-31

The Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership, led by Montana State University, is comprised of research institutions, public entities and private sectors organizations, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Nez Perce Tribe. Efforts under this Partnership in Phase I are organized into four areas: (1) Evaluation of sources and carbon sequestration sinks that will be used to determine the location of pilot demonstrations in Phase II; (2) Development of GIS-based reporting framework that links with national networks; (3) Design of an integrated suite of monitoring, measuring, and verification technologies, market-based opportunities for carbon management, and an economic/risk assessmentmore » framework; (referred to below as the Advanced Concepts component of the Phase I efforts) and (4) Initiation of a comprehensive education and outreach program. As a result of the Phase I activities, the groundwork is in place to provide an assessment of storage capabilities for CO{sub 2} utilizing the resources found in the Partnership region (both geological and terrestrial sinks), that complements the ongoing DOE research agenda in Carbon Sequestration. The geology of the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership Region is favorable for the potential sequestration of enormous volume of CO{sub 2}. The United States Geological Survey (USGS 1995) identified 10 geologic provinces and 111 plays in the region. These provinces and plays include both sedimentary rock types characteristic of oil, gas, and coal productions as well as large areas of mafic volcanic rocks. Of the 10 provinces and 111 plays, 1 province and 4 plays are located within Idaho. The remaining 9 provinces and 107 plays are dominated by sedimentary rocks and located in the states of Montana and Wyoming. The potential sequestration capacity of the 9 sedimentary provinces within the region ranges from 25,000 to almost 900,000 million metric tons of CO{sub 2}. Overall every sedimentary formation investigated has significant potential to sequester large amounts of CO{sub 2}. Simulations conducted to evaluate mineral trapping potential of mafic volcanic rock formations located in the Idaho province suggest that supercritical CO{sub 2} is converted to solid carbonate mineral within a few hundred years and permanently entombs the carbon. Although MMV for this rock type may be challenging, a carefully chosen combination of geophysical and geochemical techniques should allow assessment of the fate of CO{sub 2} in deep basalt hosted aquifers. Terrestrial carbon sequestration relies on land management practices and technologies to remove atmospheric CO{sub 2} where it is stored in trees, plants, and soil. This indirect sequestration can be implemented today and is on the front line of voluntary, market-based approaches to reduce CO{sub 2} emissions. Initial estimates of terrestrial sinks indicate a vast potential for increasing and maintaining soil Carbon (C) on rangelands, and forested, agricultural, and reclaimed lands. Rangelands can store up to an additional 0.05 mt C/ha/yr, while the croplands are on average four times that amount. Estimates of technical potential for soil sequestration within the region in cropland are in the range of 2.0 M mt C/yr over 20 year time horizon. This is equivalent to approximately 7.0 M mt CO{sub 2}e/yr. The forestry sinks are well documented, and the potential in the Big Sky region ranges from 9-15 M mt CO{sub 2} equivalent per year. Value-added benefits include enhanced yields, reduced erosion, and increased wildlife habitat. Thus the terrestrial sinks provide a viable, environmentally beneficial, and relatively low cost sink that is available to sequester C in the current time frame. The Partnership recognizes the critical importance of measurement, monitoring, and verification technologies to support not only carbon trading but all policies and programs that DOE and other agencies may want to pursue in support of GHG mitigation. The efforts in developing and implementing MMV technologies for geological and terrestrial sequestration reflect this concern. Research in Phase I has identified and validated best management practices for soil C in the Partnership region, and outlined a risk/cost effectiveness framework to make comparative assessments of each viable sink, taking into account economic costs, offsetting benefits, scale of sequestration opportunities, spatial and time dimensions, environmental risks, and long-term viability. This is the basis for the integrative analysis that will be undertaken in Phase II to work with industry, state and local governments and with the pilot demonstration projects to quantify the economic costs and risks associated with all opportunities for carbon storage in the Big Sky region. Scientifically sound MMV is critical for public acceptance of these technologies.« less

The Influence of Seal Properties on Pressure Buildup and Leakage of Carbon Dioxide from Sequestration Reservoirs (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benson, S. M.; Chabora, E.

2009-12-01

The transport properties of seals, namely permeability, relative permeability, and capillary pressure control both migration of carbon dioxide and brine through the seal. Only recently has the the importance of brine migration emerged as key issue in the environmental performance of carbon dioxide sequestration projects. In this study we use numerical simulation to show that brine migration through the seal can be either advantageous or deleterious to the environmental performance of a carbon dioxide sequestration project. Brine migration through the seal can lower the pressure buildup in the storage reservoir, thereby reducing the risk of leakage or geomechanical stresses on the seal. On the other hand, if the seal is penetrated by a permeable fault it can lead to focused flow up a fault, which could lead to brine migration into drinking water aquifers. We also show that as the carbon dioxide plume grows, brine flow undergoes a complex evolution from upward flow to downward flows driven by countercurrent migration of carbon dioxide and brine in the seal and capillary pressure gradients at the base of the seal. Finally, we discuss desirable attributes seals, taking into account both carbon dioxide and brine migration through the seal. In particular, identifying seals that provide an effective capillary barrier to block the flow of carbon dioxide while allowing some brine migration through the seal can help to control pressure buildup and allow more efficient utilization of a sequestration reservoir. This could be particularly important in those settings that may be limited by the maximum allowable pressure buildup.

Soil carbon sequestration potential of permanent pasture and continuous cropping soils in New Zealand.

PubMed

McNally, Sam R; Beare, Mike H; Curtin, Denis; Meenken, Esther D; Kelliher, Francis M; Calvelo Pereira, Roberto; Shen, Qinhua; Baldock, Jeff

2017-11-01

Understanding soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration is important to develop strategies to increase the SOC stock and, thereby, offset some of the increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Although the capacity of soils to store SOC in a stable form is commonly attributed to the fine (clay + fine silt) fraction, the properties of the fine fraction that determine the SOC stabilization capacity are poorly known. The aim of this study was to develop an improved model to estimate the SOC stabilization capacity of Allophanic (Andisols) and non-Allophanic topsoils (0-15 cm) and, as a case study, to apply the model to predict the sequestration potential of pastoral soils across New Zealand. A quantile (90th) regression model, based on the specific surface area and extractable aluminium (pyrophosphate) content of soils, provided the best prediction of the upper limit of fine fraction carbon (FFC) (i.e. the stabilization capacity), but with different coefficients for Allophanic and non-Allophanic soils. The carbon (C) saturation deficit was estimated as the difference between the stabilization capacity of individual soils and their current C concentration. For long-term pastures, the mean saturation deficit of Allophanic soils (20.3 mg C g -1 ) was greater than that of non-Allophanic soils (16.3 mg C g -1 ). The saturation deficit of cropped soils was 1.14-1.89 times that of pasture soils. The sequestration potential of pasture soils ranged from 10 t C ha -1 (Ultic soils) to 42 t C ha -1 (Melanic soils). Although meeting the estimated national soil C sequestration potential (124 Mt C) is unrealistic, improved management practices targeted to those soils with the greatest sequestration potential could contribute significantly to off-setting New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions. As the first national-scale estimate of SOC sequestration potential that encompasses both Allophanic and non-Allophanic soils, this serves as an informative case study for the international community. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Effect of the Agricultural Carbon Sequestration and Agrochemical Reduction on the Regional Water Environment Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leyi, Wang; Baoli, Zhang; Xin, Li; Juan, Du

2018-05-01

This paper analysed the impact of the agricultural carbon reduction and emission reduction measures implementation on the environmental quality of surface water and groundwater in winter and summer in Henan and Anhui Province project areas by using entropy weight fuzzy matter element analysis method. The result showed that the reduction in the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides had a certain impact on the improvement of the water environment by using agricultural carbon sequestration technologies.

Geologic Carbon Sequestration: Mitigating Climate Change by Injecting CO2 Underground (LBNL Summer Lecture Series)

ScienceCinema

Oldenburg, Curtis M. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth Sciences Division

2018-05-07

Summer Lecture Series 2009: Climate change provides strong motivation to reduce CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide capture and storage involves the capture, compression, and transport of CO2 to geologically favorable areas, where its injected into porous rock more than one kilometer underground for permanent storage. Oldenburg, who heads Berkeley Labs Geologic Carbon Sequestration Program, will focus on the challenges, opportunities, and research needs of this innovative technology.

The biodiversity cost of carbon sequestration in tropical savanna.

PubMed

Abreu, Rodolfo C R; Hoffmann, William A; Vasconcelos, Heraldo L; Pilon, Natashi A; Rossatto, Davi R; Durigan, Giselda

2017-08-01

Tropical savannas have been increasingly viewed as an opportunity for carbon sequestration through fire suppression and afforestation, but insufficient attention has been given to the consequences for biodiversity. To evaluate the biodiversity costs of increasing carbon sequestration, we quantified changes in ecosystem carbon stocks and the associated changes in communities of plants and ants resulting from fire suppression in savannas of the Brazilian Cerrado, a global biodiversity hotspot. Fire suppression resulted in increased carbon stocks of 1.2 Mg ha -1 year -1 since 1986 but was associated with acute species loss. In sites fully encroached by forest, plant species richness declined by 27%, and ant richness declined by 35%. Richness of savanna specialists, the species most at risk of local extinction due to forest encroachment, declined by 67% for plants and 86% for ants. This loss highlights the important role of fire in maintaining biodiversity in tropical savannas, a role that is not reflected in current policies of fire suppression throughout the Brazilian Cerrado. In tropical grasslands and savannas throughout the tropics, carbon mitigation programs that promote forest cover cannot be assumed to provide net benefits for conservation.

Carbon sequestration potential of soils in southeast Germany derived from stable soil organic carbon saturation.

PubMed

Wiesmeier, Martin; Hübner, Rico; Spörlein, Peter; Geuß, Uwe; Hangen, Edzard; Reischl, Arthur; Schilling, Bernd; von Lützow, Margit; Kögel-Knabner, Ingrid

2014-02-01

Sequestration of atmospheric carbon (C) in soils through improved management of forest and agricultural land is considered to have high potential for global CO2 mitigation. However, the potential of soils to sequester soil organic carbon (SOC) in a stable form, which is limited by the stabilization of SOC against microbial mineralization, is largely unknown. In this study, we estimated the C sequestration potential of soils in southeast Germany by calculating the potential SOC saturation of silt and clay particles according to Hassink [Plant and Soil 191 (1997) 77] on the basis of 516 soil profiles. The determination of the current SOC content of silt and clay fractions for major soil units and land uses allowed an estimation of the C saturation deficit corresponding to the long-term C sequestration potential. The results showed that cropland soils have a low level of C saturation of around 50% and could store considerable amounts of additional SOC. A relatively high C sequestration potential was also determined for grassland soils. In contrast, forest soils had a low C sequestration potential as they were almost C saturated. A high proportion of sites with a high degree of apparent oversaturation revealed that in acidic, coarse-textured soils the relation to silt and clay is not suitable to estimate the stable C saturation. A strong correlation of the C saturation deficit with temperature and precipitation allowed a spatial estimation of the C sequestration potential for Bavaria. In total, about 395 Mt CO2 -equivalents could theoretically be stored in A horizons of cultivated soils - four times the annual emission of greenhouse gases in Bavaria. Although achieving the entire estimated C storage capacity is unrealistic, improved management of cultivated land could contribute significantly to CO2 mitigation. Moreover, increasing SOC stocks have additional benefits with respect to enhanced soil fertility and agricultural productivity. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Phytoplankton plasticity drives large variability in carbon fixation efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ayata, Sakina-Dorothée.; Lévy, Marina; Aumont, Olivier; Resplandy, Laure; Tagliabue, Alessandro; Sciandra, Antoine; Bernard, Olivier

2014-12-01

Phytoplankton C:N stoichiometry is highly flexible due to physiological plasticity, which could lead to high variations in carbon fixation efficiency (carbon consumption relative to nitrogen). However, the magnitude, as well as the spatial and temporal scales of variability, remains poorly constrained. We used a high-resolution biogeochemical model resolving various scales from small to high, spatially and temporally, in order to quantify and better understand this variability. We find that phytoplankton C:N ratio is highly variable at all spatial and temporal scales (5-12 molC/molN), from mesoscale to regional scale, and is mainly driven by nitrogen supply. Carbon fixation efficiency varies accordingly at all scales (±30%), with higher values under oligotrophic conditions and lower values under eutrophic conditions. Hence, phytoplankton plasticity may act as a buffer by attenuating carbon sequestration variability. Our results have implications for in situ estimations of C:N ratios and for future predictions under high CO2 world.

Ocean Biological Pump Sensitivities and Implications for Climate Change Impacts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Romanou, Anastasia

2013-01-01

The ocean is one of the principal reservoirs of CO2, a greenhouse gas, and therefore plays a crucial role in regulating Earth's climate. Currently, the ocean sequesters about a third of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, mitigating the human impact on climate. At the same time, the deeper ocean represents the largest carbon pool in the Earth System and processes that describe the transfer of carbon from the surface of the ocean to depth are intimately linked to the effectiveness of carbon sequestration.The ocean biological pump (OBP), which involves several biogeochemical processes, is a major pathway for transfer of carbon from the surface mixed layer into the ocean interior. About 75 of the carbon vertical gradient is due to the carbon pump with only 25 attributed to the solubility pump. However, the relative importance and role of the two pumps is poorly constrained. OBP is further divided to the organic carbon pump (soft tissue pump) and the carbonate pump, with the former exporting about 10 times more carbon than the latter through processes like remineralization.Major uncertainties about OBP, and hence in the carbon uptake and sequestration, stem from uncertainties in processes involved in OBP such as particulate organicinorganic carbon sinkingsettling, remineralization, microbial degradation of DOC and uptakegrowth rate changes of the ocean biology. The deep ocean is a major sink of atmospheric CO2 in scales of hundreds to thousands of years, but how the export efficiency (i.e. the fraction of total carbon fixation at the surface that is transported at depth) is affected by climate change remains largely undetermined. These processes affect the ocean chemistry (alkalinity, pH, DIC, particulate and dissolved organic carbon) as well as the ecology (biodiversity, functional groups and their interactions) in the ocean. It is important to have a rigorous, quantitative understanding of the uncertainties involved in the observational measurements, the models and the projections of future changes.

Combined effects of climate and land-use change on the provision of ecosystem services in rice agro-ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langerwisch, Fanny; Václavík, Tomáš; von Bloh, Werner; Vetter, Tobias; Thonicke, Kirsten

2018-01-01

Irrigated rice croplands are among the world’s most important agro-ecosystems. They provide food for more than 3.5 billion people and a range of other ecosystem services (ESS). However, the sustainability of rice agro-ecosystems is threatened by continuing climate and land-use changes. To estimate their combined effects on a bundle of ESS, we applied the vegetation and hydrology model LPJmL to seven study areas in the Philippines and Vietnam. We quantified future changes in the provision of four essential ESS (carbon storage, carbon sequestration, provision of irrigation water and rice production) under two climate scenarios (until 2100) and three site-specific land-use scenarios (until 2030), and examined the synergies and trade-offs in ESS responses to these drivers. Our results show that not all services can be provided in the same amounts in the future. In the Philippines and Vietnam the projections estimated a decrease in rice yields (by approximately 30%) and in carbon storage (by 15%) and sequestration (by 12%) towards the end of the century under the current land-use pattern. In contrast, the amount of available irrigation water was projected to increase in all scenarios by 10%-20%. However, the results also indicate that land-use change may partially offset the negative climate impacts in regions where cropland expansion is possible, although only at the expense of natural vegetation. When analysing the interactions between ESS, we found consistent synergies between rice production and carbon storage and trade-offs between carbon storage and provision of irrigation water under most scenarios. Our results show that not only the effects of climate and land-use change alone but also the interaction between ESS have to be considered to allow sustainable management of rice agro-ecosystems under global change.

Fire and reduced vigor facilitate vegetation shifts: MC2 results for the conterminous US with CMIP5 climate futures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bachelet, D. M.; Ferschweiler, K.; Baker, B.; Sleeter, B. M.

2016-12-01

Climate variability and a warming trend during the 21st century ensures fuel build-up and episodic catastrophic wildfires. We used downscaled (2.5 arcmin) CMIP5 climate futures from 20 models under RCP 8.5 to run the dynamic global vegetation model MC2 over the conterminous US and identify key drivers of land cover change. We show regional and temporal differences in the magnitude of projected C losses due to fire over the 21st century. We also look at the vigor (NPP/LAI) of forest lands and estimate the loss in C capture due to declines in production as well as the increase in heterotrophic respiration due to increased mortality. We compare simulated the carbon sequestration potential of terrestrial biomes and the risk of carbon losses through disturbance. We quantify uncertainty in model results by showing the distribution of possible future impacts under 20 futures. We explore the effects of land use and highlight the challenges we met to simulate credible transient management practices throughout the 20th century and into the future.

Sequestration of carbon in soil organic matter in Senegal: an overview

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tieszen, Larry L.; Tappan, G. Gray; Toure, A.

2004-01-01

The project focuses on four objectives in specific locations across the agroecological zones of Senegal. These objectives are: use of soil sampling and biogeochemical modeling to quantify the biophysical potential for carbon sequestration and to determine the sensitivity of the carbon stocks to various management and climate scenarios, to evaluate the socio-economic and cultural requirements necessary for successful project implementation directed toward an aggregation of smallholders to sequester around 100,000 t carbon (C), to support capacity building to develop a Carbon Specialist Team, and to initiate extrapolation from site-specific project areas to the Sahel region and the national level.

Biomass carbon stocks in China's forests between 2000 and 2050: a prediction based on forest biomass-age relationships.

PubMed

Xu, Bing; Guo, ZhaoDi; Piao, ShiLong; Fang, JingYun

2010-07-01

China's forests are characterized by young forest age, low carbon density and a large area of planted forests, and thus have high potential to act as carbon sinks in the future. Using China's national forest inventory data during 1994-1998 and 1999-2003, and direct field measurements, we investigated the relationships between forest biomass density and forest age for 36 major forest types. Statistical approaches and the predicted future forest area from the national forestry development plan were applied to estimate the potential of forest biomass carbon storage in China during 2000-2050. Under an assumption of continuous natural forest growth, China's existing forest biomass carbon (C) stock would increase from 5.86 Pg C (1 Pg=10(15) g) in 1999-2003 to 10.23 Pg C in 2050, resulting in a total increase of 4.37 Pg C. Newly planted forests through afforestation and reforestation will sequestrate an additional 2.86 Pg C in biomass. Overall, China's forests will potentially act as a carbon sink for 7.23 Pg C during the period 2000-2050, with an average carbon sink of 0.14 Pg C yr(-1). This suggests that China's forests will be a significant carbon sink in the next 50 years.

Interactive effects of environmental change and management strategies on regional forest carbon emissions.

PubMed

Hudiburg, Tara W; Luyssaert, Sebastiaan; Thornton, Peter E; Law, Beverly E

2013-11-19

Climate mitigation activities in forests need to be quantified in terms of the long-term effects on forest carbon stocks, accumulation, and emissions. The impacts of future environmental change and bioenergy harvests on regional forest carbon storage have not been quantified. We conducted a comprehensive modeling study and life-cycle assessment of the impacts of projected changes in climate, CO2 concentration, and N deposition, and region-wide forest management policies on regional forest carbon fluxes. By 2100, if current management strategies continue, then the warming and CO2 fertilization effect in the given projections result in a 32-68% increase in net carbon uptake, overshadowing increased carbon emissions from projected increases in fire activity and other forest disturbance factors. To test the response to new harvesting strategies, repeated thinnings were applied in areas susceptible to fire to reduce mortality, and two clear-cut rotations were applied in productive forests to provide biomass for wood products and bioenergy. The management strategies examined here lead to long-term increased carbon emissions over current harvesting practices, although semiarid regions contribute little to the increase. The harvest rates were unsustainable. This comprehensive approach could serve as a foundation for regional place-based assessments of management effects on future carbon sequestration by forests in other locations.

Comparison of Carbon Sequestration Rates and Energy Balance of Turf in the Denver Urban Ecosystem and an Adjacent Native Grassland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thienelt, T. S.; Anderson, D. E.; Powell, K. M.

2011-12-01

Urban ecosystems are currently characterized by rapid growth, are expected to continually expand and, thus, represent an important driver of land use change. A significant component of urban ecosystems is lawns, potentially the single largest irrigated "crop" in the U.S. Beginning in March of 2011 (ahead of the growing season), eddy covariance measurements of net carbon exchange and evapotranspiration along with energy balance fluxes were conducted for a well-watered, fertilized lawn (rye-bluegrass-mix) in metropolitan Denver and for a nearby tallgrass prairie (big bluestem, switchgrass, cheatgrass, blue grama). Due to the semi-arid climate conditions of the Denver region, differences in management (i.e., irrigation and fertilization) are expected to have a discernible impact on ecosystem productivity and thus on carbon sequestration rates, evapotranspiration, and the sensible and latent heat partitioning of the energy balance. By mid-July, preliminary data indicated that cumulative evapotranspiration was approximately 270 mm and 170 mm for urban and native grasslands, respectively, although cumulative carbon sequestration at that time was similar for both (approximately 40 mg/m2). However, the pattern of carbon exchange differed between the grasslands. Both sites showed daily net uptake of carbon starting in late May, but the urban lawn displayed greater diurnal variability as well as greater uptake rates in general, especially following fertilization in mid-June. In contrast, the trend of carbon uptake at the prairie site was occasionally reversed following strong convective precipitation events, resulting in a temporary net release of carbon. The continuing acquisition of data and investigation of these relations will help us assess the potential impact of urban growth on regional carbon sequestration.

U.S. Geological Survey Methodology Development for Ecological Carbon Assessment and Monitoring

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zhu, Zhi-Liang; Stackpoole, S.M.

2009-01-01

Ecological carbon sequestration refers to transfer and storage of atmospheric carbon in vegetation, soils, and aquatic environments to help offset the net increase from carbon emissions. Understanding capacities, associated opportunities, and risks of vegetated ecosystems to sequester carbon provides science information to support formulation of policies governing climate change mitigation, adaptation, and land-management strategies. Section 712 of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 mandates the Department of the Interior to develop a methodology and assess the capacity of our nation's ecosystems for ecological carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas (GHG) flux mitigation. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) LandCarbon Project is responding to the Department of Interior's request to develop a methodology that meets specific EISA requirements.

Biotransformation of carbon dioxide in bioelectrochemical systems: State of the art and future prospects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bajracharya, Suman; Srikanth, Sandipam; Mohanakrishna, Gunda; Zacharia, Renju; Strik, David PBTB; Pant, Deepak

2017-07-01

Carbon dioxide (CO2) utilization/recycling for the production of chemicals and gaseous/liquid energy-carriers is a way to moderate the rising CO2 in the atmosphere. One of the possible solutions for the CO2 sequestration is the electrochemical reduction of this stable molecule to useful fuel/products. Nevertheless, the surface chemistry of CO2 reduction is a challenge due to the presence of large energy barriers, requiring noticeable catalysis. The recent approach of microbial electrocatalysis of CO2 reduction has promising prospects to reduce the carbon level sustainably, taking full advantage of CO2-derived chemical commodities. We review the currently investigated bioelectrochemical approaches that could possibly be implemented to enable the handling of CO2 emissions. This review covers the most recent advances in the bioelectrochemical approaches of CO2 transformations in terms of biocatalysts development and process design. Furthermore, the extensive research on carbon fixation and conversion to different value added chemicals is reviewed. The review concludes by detailing the key challenges and future prospects that could enable economically feasible microbial electrosynthesis technology.

Long-term manure amendments and chemical fertilizers enhanced soil organic carbon sequestration in a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-maize (Zea mays L.) rotation system.

PubMed

Zhang, Shuiqing; Huang, Shaomin; Li, Jianwei; Guo, Doudou; Lin, Shan; Lu, Guoan

2017-06-01

The carbon sequestration potential is affected by cropping system and management practices, but soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration potential under fertilizations remains unclear in north China. This study examined SOC change, total C input to soil and, via integration of these estimates over years, carbon sequestration efficiency (CSE, the ratio of SOC change over C input) under no fertilization (control), chemical nitrogen fertilizer alone (N) or combined with phosphorus and potassium fertilizers (NP, NK, PK and NPK), or chemical fertilizers combined with low or high (1.5×) manure input (NPKM and 1.5NPKM). Results showed that, as compared with the initial condition, SOC content increased by 0.03, 0.06, 0.05, 0.09, 0.16, 0.26, 0.47 and 0.68 Mg C ha -1 year -1 under control, N, NK, PK, NP, NPK, NPKM and 1.5NPKM treatments respectively. Correspondingly, the C inputs of wheat and maize were 1.24, 1.34, 1.55, 1.33, 2.72, 2.96, 2.97 and 3.15 Mg ha -1 year -1 respectively. The long-term fertilization-induced CSE showed that about 11% of the gross C input was transformed into SOC pool. Overall, this study demonstrated that decade-long manure input combined with chemical fertilizers can maintain high crop yield and lead to SOC sequestration in north China. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

The role of old forests and big trees in forest carbon sequestration in the Pacific Northwest

Treesearch

Andrew N. Gray

2015-01-01

Forest ecosystems are an important component of the global carbon (C) cycle. Recent research has indicated that large trees in general, and old-growth forests in particular, sequester substantial amounts of C annually. C sequestration rates are thought to peak and decline with stand age but the timing and controls are not well-understood. The objectives of this study...

THE APPLICATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF APPROPRIATE TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES FOR COST-EFFECTIVE CARBON SEQUESTRATION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bill Stanley; Sandra Brown; Ellen Hawes

2002-09-01

The Nature Conservancy is participating in a Cooperative Agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to explore the compatibility of carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems and the conservation of biodiversity. The title of the research projects is ''Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration''. The objectives of the project are to: (1) improve carbon offset estimates produced in both the planning and implementation phases of projects; (2) build valid and standardized approaches to estimate project carbon benefits at a reasonable cost; and (3) lay the groundwork for implementing cost-effective projects,more » providing new testing ground for biodiversity protection and restoration projects that store additional atmospheric carbon. This Technical Progress Report discusses preliminary results of the six specific tasks that The Nature Conservancy is undertaking to answer research needs while facilitating the development of real projects with measurable greenhouse gas impacts. The specific tasks discussed include: Task 1: carbon inventory advancements; Task 2: advanced videography testing; Task 3: baseline method development; Task 4: third-party technical advisory panel meetings; Task 5: new project feasibility studies; and Task 6: development of new project software screening tool.« less

The Lifestyle Carbon Dividend: Assessment of the Carbon Sequestration Potential of Grasslands and Pasturelands Reverted to Native Forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, S.; Jain, A. K.; Shu, S.

2015-12-01

What is the potential of a global transition to a vegan lifestyle to sequester carbon and mitigate climate change? To answer this question, we use an Earth System Model (ESM), the Integrated Science Assessment Model (ISAM). ISAM is a fully coupled biogeochemistry (carbon and nitrogen cycles) and biogeophysics (hydrology and thermal energy) ESM, which calculates carbon sources and sinks due to land cover and land use change activities, such as reforestation and afforestation. We calculate the carbon sequestration potential of grasslands and pasturelands that can be reverted to native forests as 265 GtC on 1.96E+7 km2 of land area, just 41% of the total area of such lands on Earth. The grasslands and pasturelands are assumed to revert back to native forests which existed prior to any human intervention and these include tropical, temperate and boreal forests. The results are validated with above ground regrowth measurements. Since this carbon sequestration potential is greater than the 240 GtC of that has been added to the atmosphere since the industrial era began, it shows that such global lifestyle transitions have tremendous potential to mitigate and even reverse climate change.

Chemical composition of core samples from Newark Basin, a potential carbon sequestration site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seltzer, A. M.; Yang, Q.; Goldberg, D.

2012-12-01

Injection of carbon dioxide into deep saline aquifers has been identified as a promising mitigation option of greenhouse gases, the successful management of which is considered to be one of the most urgent and important challenges. Given the high energy production in the New York metropolitan area, the Newark Basin region is considered to be a potential future sequestration site. However, the risk of an upward leak of sequestered CO2, especially to a shallow drinking water aquifer, is a key concern facing geological sequestration as a safe and viable mitigation option. In this study, we measured the chemical composition of 25 cores from various depths throughout Newark Basin as a precursor for an ex situ incubation experiment using these rock samples and aquifer water to simulate a leak event. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis of microwave-assisted digested rock powders and X-ray fluorescence analysis of the rock powders were conducted to obtain the concentrations of major and trace elements. Most of the major and trace elements show wide concentration ranges at one to two orders of magnitude. Understanding the chemical composition of these Newark Basin core samples is important not only for characterizing materials used for the later lab incubation, but also for gaining a broader understanding of the chemistry of the Newark Basin and profiling the region according to the varying risks associated with a leak of sequestered CO2 to a drinking water aquifer.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Phelps, Tommy Joe; Moon, Ji Won; Roh, Yul

The behavior of metal ions leaching and precipitated mineral phases of metal-rich fly ash (FA) was examined in order to evaluate microbial impacts on carbon sequestration and metal immobilization. The leaching solutions consisted of aerobic deionized water (DW) and artificial eutrophic water (AEW) that was anaerobic, organic- and mineral-rich, and higher salinity as is typical of bottom water in eutrophic algae ponds. The Fe- and Ca-rich FAs were predominantly composed of quartz, mullite, portlandite, calcite, hannebachite, maghemite, and hematite. After 86 days, only Fe and Ca contents exhibited a decrease in leaching solutions while other major and trace elements showedmore » increasing or steady trends in preference to the type of FA and leaching solution. Ca-rich FA showed strong carbon sequestration efficiency ranging up to 32.3 g CO(2)/kg FA after 86 days, corresponding to almost 65% of biotic carbon sequestration potential under some conditions. Variations in the properties of FAs such as chemical compositions, mineral constituents as well as the type of leaching solution impacted CO(2) capture. Even though the relative amount of calcite increased sixfold in the AEW and the relative amount of mineral phase reached 37.3 wt% using Ca-rich FA for 86 days, chemical sequestration did not accomplish simultaneous precipitation and sequestration of several heavy metals.« less

The response of soil organic carbon of a rich fen peatland in interior Alaska to projected climate change

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fan, Zhaosheng; McGuire, Anthony David; Turetsky, Merritt R.; Harden, Jennifer W.; Waddington, James Michael; Kane, Evan S.

2013-01-01

It is important to understand the fate of carbon in boreal peatland soils in response to climate change because a substantial change in release of this carbon as CO2 and CH4 could influence the climate system. The goal of this research was to synthesize the results of a field water table manipulation experiment conducted in a boreal rich fen into a process-based model to understand how soil organic carbon (SOC) of the rich fen might respond to projected climate change. This model, the peatland version of the dynamic organic soil Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (peatland DOS-TEM), was calibrated with data collected during 2005–2011 from the control treatment of a boreal rich fen in the Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX). The performance of the model was validated with the experimental data measured from the raised and lowered water-table treatments of APEX during the same period. The model was then applied to simulate future SOC dynamics of the rich fen control site under various CO2 emission scenarios. The results across these emissions scenarios suggest that the rate of SOC sequestration in the rich fen will increase between year 2012 and 2061 because the effects of warming increase heterotrophic respiration less than they increase carbon inputs via production. However, after 2061, the rate of SOC sequestration will be weakened and, as a result, the rich fen will likely become a carbon source to the atmosphere between 2062 and 2099. During this period, the effects of projected warming increase respiration so that it is greater than carbon inputs via production. Although changes in precipitation alone had relatively little effect on the dynamics of SOC, changes in precipitation did interact with warming to influence SOC dynamics for some climate scenarios.

Integrated Assessment of Climate Change, Agricultural Land Use, and Regional Carbon Changes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MU, J.

2014-12-01

Changes in land use have caused a net release of carbon to the atmosphere over the last centuries and decades1. On one hand, agriculture accounts for 52% and 84% of global anthropogenic methane and nitrous oxide emissions, respectively. On the other hand, many agricultural practices can potentially mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the most prominent of which are improved cropland and grazing land management2. From this perspective, land use change that reduces emissions and/or increases carbon sequestration can play an important role in climate change mitigation. As shown in Figure 1, this paper is an integrated study of climate impacts, land uses, and regional carbon changes to examine, link and assess climate impacts on regional carbon changes via impacts on land uses. This study will contribute to previous research in two aspects: impacts of climate change on future land uses under an uncertain future world and projections of regional carbon dynamics due to changes in future land use. Specifically, we will examine how land use change under historical climate change using observed data and then project changes in land use under future climate projections from 14 Global Climate Models (GCMs) for two emission scenarios (i.e., RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). More importantly, we will investigate future land use under uncertainties with changes in agricultural development and social-economic conditions along with a changing climate. By doing this, we then could integrate with existing efforts by USGS land-change scientists developing and parameterizing models capable of projecting changes across a full spectrum of land use and land cover changes and track the consequences on ecosystem carbon to provide better information for land managers and policy makers when informing climate change adaptation and mitigation policies.

Proposed roadmap for overcoming legal and financial obstacles to carbon capture and sequestration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jacobs, Wendy; Chohen, Leah; Kostakidis-Lianos, Leah

Many existing proposals either lack sufficient concreteness to make carbon capture and geological sequestration (CCGS) operational or fail to focus on a comprehensive, long term framework for its regulation, thus failing to account adequately for the urgency of the issue, the need to develop immediate experience with large scale demonstration projects, or the financial and other incentives required to launch early demonstration projects. We aim to help fill this void by proposing a roadmap to commercial deployment of CCGS in the United States.This roadmap focuses on the legal and financial incentives necessary for rapid demonstration of geological sequestration in themore » absence of national restrictions on CO2 emissions. It weaves together existing federal programs and financing opportunities into a set of recommendations for achieving commercial viability of geological sequestration.« less

Nitrogen-Related Constraints of Carbon Uptake by Large-Scale Forest Expansion: Simulation Study for Climate Change and Management Scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kracher, Daniela

2017-11-01

Increase of forest areas has the potential to increase the terrestrial carbon (C) sink. However, the efficiency for C sequestration depends on the availability of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), which is affected by climatic conditions and management practices. In this study, I analyze how N limitation affects C sequestration of afforestation and how it is influenced by individual climate variables, increased harvest, and fertilizer application. To this end, JSBACH, the land component of the Earth system model of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology is applied in idealized simulation experiments. In those simulations, large-scale afforestation increases the terrestrial C sink in the 21st century by around 100 Pg C compared to a business as usual land-use scenario. N limitation reduces C sequestration roughly by the same amount. The relevance of compensating effects of uptake and release of carbon dioxide by plant productivity and soil decomposition, respectively, gets obvious from the simulations. N limitation of both fluxes compensates particularly in the tropics. Increased mineralization under global warming triggers forest expansion, which otherwise is restricted by N availability. Due to compensating higher plant productivity and soil respiration, the global net effect of warming for C sequestration is however rather small. Fertilizer application and increased harvest enhance C sequestration as well as boreal expansion. The additional C sequestration achieved by fertilizer application is offset to a large part by additional emissions of nitrous oxide.

Eelgrass Blue Carbon-Quantification of Carbon Stocks and Sequestration Rates in Zostera Marina Beds in the Salish Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lutz, M. D.; Rybczyk, J.; Poppe, K.; Johnson, C.; Kaminsky, M.; Lanphear, M.

2017-12-01

Seagrass meadows provide more than habitat, biodiversity support, wave abatement, and water quality improvement; they help mitigate climate change by taking up and storing (sequestering) carbon (C), reportedly at rates only surpassed worldwide by salt marsh and mangrove ecosystems. Now that their climate mitigation capacity has earned seagrass ecosystems a place in the Verified Carbon Standard voluntary greenhouse gas program, accurate ecosystem carbon accounting is essential. Though seagrasses vary in carbon storage and accumulation greatly across species and geography, the bulk of data included in calculating global averages involves tropical and subtropical seagrasses. We know little regarding carbon stocks nor sequestration rates for eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows in the Pacific Northwest. The intent of our study was to quantify carbon stocks and sequestration rates in the central Salish Sea of Washington State. We gathered sediment cores over three bays, as close to 1 m in depth as possible, both on foot and while scuba diving. We measured bulk density, carbon concentration, carbon stock, grain size, and carbon accumulation rate with depth. Results from our study show lower estimated Corg concentration (mean = 0.39% C, SE=0.01, range=0.11-1.75, SE=0.01), Corg stock (mean=24.46 Mg ha-1, SE=0.00, range=16.31-49.99.70), and C sequestration rates (mean=33.96 g m-2yr-1, range=11.4-49.5) than those reported in published studies from most other locations. Zostera marina is highly productive, yet does not seem to have the capacity to store C in its sediments like seagrasses in warmer climes. These data have implications in carbon market trading, when determining appropriate seagrass restoration site dimensions to offset emissions from transportation, industry, and seagrass habitat disturbance. Awareness of lower rates could prevent underestimating the area appropriate for mitigation or restoration.

Carbon sequestration in croplands is mainly driven by management leading to increased net primary production - evidence from long-term field experiments in Northern Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kätterer, Thomas; Bolinder, Martin Anders; Börjesson, Gunnar; Kirchmann, Holger; Poeplau, Christopher

2014-05-01

Sustainable intensification of agriculture in regions with high production potential is a prerequisite for providing services for an increasing human population, not only food, animal feed, fiber and biofuel but also to promote biodiversity and the beauty of landscapes. We investigated the effect of different management practices on soil fertility and carbon sequestration in long-term experiments, mainly from Northern Europe. In addition, a meta-analysis on the effect of catch crops was conducted. Improved management of croplands was found to be a win-win strategy resulting in both increased soil fertility and carbon sequestration. We quantified the effect of different management practices such as N fertilization, organic amendments, catch crops and ley-arable rotations versus continuous annual cropping systems on soil carbon stocks. Increasing net primary productivity (NPP) was found to be the main driver for higher soil carbon storage. Mineral N fertilization increased soil carbon stocks by 1-2 kg C ha-1 for each kg of N applied to cropland. Ley-arable rotations, being a combination of annual and perennial crops, are expected to have C stocks intermediate between those of continuous grass- and croplands. A summary of data from 15 long-term sites showed that on average 0.5 Mg ha-1 yr-1 (range 0.3 to 1.1; median 0.4 Mg ha-1 yr-1) more carbon was retained in soils in ley-arable compared to exclusively annual systems, depending on species composition, management, soil depth and the duration of the studies. The annual C accumulation rate for catch crops determined in the meta-analysis was well within that range (0.32±0.08 Mg C ha-1 yr-1). Retention factors calculated for straw, manure, sawdust, peat, sewage sludge and composted household waste varied widely in a decadal time scale. Retention of root and rhizodeposit carbon was higher than for above-ground crop residues. We conclude that NPP is the major driver for C sequestration and emphasize that increased soil carbon stocks not always lead to net sequestration of atmospheric CO2 and that C sequestration not always leads to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. The consequences of different land use and management are discussed, taking into account two critical boundaries - the limited area of agricultural land on Earth and requirements to produce sufficient food, fibres and energy for a growing population.

Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bill Stanley; Sandra Brown; Patrick Gonzalez

2004-07-10

The Nature Conservancy is participating in a Cooperative Agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to explore the compatibility of carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems and the conservation of biodiversity. The title of the research project is ''Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration''. The objectives of the project are to: (1) improve carbon offset estimates produced in both the planning and implementation phases of projects; (2) build valid and standardized approaches to estimate project carbon benefits at a reasonable cost; and (3) lay the groundwork for implementing cost-effective projects,more » providing new testing ground for biodiversity protection and restoration projects that store additional atmospheric carbon. This Technical Progress Report discusses preliminary results of the six specific tasks that The Nature Conservancy is undertaking to answer research needs while facilitating the development of real projects with measurable greenhouse gas impacts. The research described in this report occurred between July 1, 2002 and June 30, 2003. The specific tasks discussed include: Task 1: carbon inventory advancements; Task 2: remote sensing for carbon analysis; Task 3: baseline method development; Task 4: third-party technical advisory panel meetings; Task 5: new project feasibility studies; and Task 6: development of new project software screening tool.« less

Interactive effects of frequent burning and timber harvesting on above ground carbon biomass in temperate eucalypt forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, Luke; Penman, Trent; Ximenes, Fabiano; Bradstock, Ross

2015-04-01

The sequestration of carbon has been identified as an important strategy to mitigate the effects of climate change. Fuel reduction burning and timber harvesting are two common co-occurring management practices within forests. Frequent burning and timber harvesting may alter forest carbon pools through the removal and redistribution of biomass and demographic and structural changes to tree communities. Synergistic and antagonistic interactions between frequent burning and harvesting are likely to occur, adding further complexity to the management of forest carbon stocks. Research aimed at understanding the interactive effects of frequent fire and timber harvesting on carbon biomass is lacking. This study utilised data from two long term (25 - 30 years) manipulative burning experiments conducted in southern Australia in temperate eucalypt forests dominated by resprouting canopy species. Specifically we examined the effect of fire frequency and harvesting on (i) total biomass of above ground carbon pools and (ii) demographic and structural characteristics of live trees. We also investigated some of the mechanisms driving these changes. Frequent burning reduced carbon biomass by up to 20% in the live tree carbon pool. Significant interactions occurred between fire and harvesting, whereby the reduction in biomass of trees >20 cm diameter breast height (DBH) was amplified by increased fire frequency. The biomass of trees <20 cm DBH increased with harvesting intensity in frequently burnt areas, but was unaffected by harvesting intensity in areas experiencing low fire frequency. Biomass of standing and fallen coarse woody debris was relatively unaffected by logging and fire frequency. Fire and harvesting significantly altered stand structure over the study period. Comparison of pre-treatment conditions to current conditions revealed that logged sites had a significantly greater increase in the number of small trees (<40 cm DBH) than unlogged sites. Logged sites showed a significant decrease in the number of large trees (>60 cm DBH) over the study period, while unlogged sites showed an increase. Frequently burnt logged sites showed the greatest reduction in large trees, presumably due to increased fire related mortality and collapse. Analysis of tree survival and growth data suggest that mortality rate is increased and growth rate reduced in frequently burnt areas compared to unburnt areas. Our findings suggest that future shifts towards more frequent fire (both prescribed fire and wildfire) could potentially lead to broad scale reductions in carbon sequestration in temperate forests and woodlands dominated by resprouting canopy species. Reductions in carbon sequestration associated with frequent burning will potentially be amplified in intensively harvested landscapes.

Biochar for soil fertility and natural carbon sequestration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rostad, C.E.; Rutherford, D.W.

2011-01-01

Biochar is charcoal (similar to chars generated by forest fires) that is made for incorporation into soils to increase soil fertility while providing natural carbon sequestration. The incorporation of biochar into soils can preserve and enrich soils and also slow the rate at which climate change is affecting our planet. Studies on biochar, such as those cited by this report, are applicable to both fire science and soil science.

Carbon sequestration by Australian tidal marshes.

PubMed

Macreadie, Peter I; Ollivier, Q R; Kelleway, J J; Serrano, O; Carnell, P E; Ewers Lewis, C J; Atwood, T B; Sanderman, J; Baldock, J; Connolly, R M; Duarte, C M; Lavery, P S; Steven, A; Lovelock, C E

2017-03-10

Australia's tidal marshes have suffered significant losses but their recently recognised importance in CO 2 sequestration is creating opportunities for their protection and restoration. We compiled all available data on soil organic carbon (OC) storage in Australia's tidal marshes (323 cores). OC stocks in the surface 1 m averaged 165.41 (SE 6.96) Mg OC ha -1 (range 14-963 Mg OC ha -1 ). The mean OC accumulation rate was 0.55 ± 0.02 Mg OC ha -1 yr -1 . Geomorphology was the most important predictor of OC stocks, with fluvial sites having twice the stock of OC as seaward sites. Australia's 1.4 million hectares of tidal marshes contain an estimated 212 million tonnes of OC in the surface 1 m, with a potential CO 2 -equivalent value of $USD7.19 billion. Annual sequestration is 0.75 Tg OC yr -1 , with a CO 2 -equivalent value of $USD28.02 million per annum. This study provides the most comprehensive estimates of tidal marsh blue carbon in Australia, and illustrates their importance in climate change mitigation and adaptation, acting as CO 2 sinks and buffering the impacts of rising sea level. We outline potential further development of carbon offset schemes to restore the sequestration capacity and other ecosystem services provided by Australia tidal marshes.

Mesoscale carbon sequestration site screening and CCS infrastructure analysis.

PubMed

Keating, Gordon N; Middleton, Richard S; Stauffer, Philip H; Viswanathan, Hari S; Letellier, Bruce C; Pasqualini, Donatella; Pawar, Rajesh J; Wolfsberg, Andrew V

2011-01-01

We explore carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) at the meso-scale, a level of study between regional carbon accounting and highly detailed reservoir models for individual sites. We develop an approach to CO(2) sequestration site screening for industries or energy development policies that involves identification of appropriate sequestration basin, analysis of geologic formations, definition of surface sites, design of infrastructure, and analysis of CO(2) transport and storage costs. Our case study involves carbon management for potential oil shale development in the Piceance-Uinta Basin, CO and UT. This study uses new capabilities of the CO(2)-PENS model for site screening, including reservoir capacity, injectivity, and cost calculations for simple reservoirs at multiple sites. We couple this with a model of optimized source-sink-network infrastructure (SimCCS) to design pipeline networks and minimize CCS cost for a given industry or region. The CLEAR(uff) dynamical assessment model calculates the CO(2) source term for various oil production levels. Nine sites in a 13,300 km(2) area have the capacity to store 6.5 GtCO(2), corresponding to shale-oil production of 1.3 Mbbl/day for 50 years (about 1/4 of U.S. crude oil production). Our results highlight the complex, nonlinear relationship between the spatial deployment of CCS infrastructure and the oil-shale production rate.

Trading forest carbon

EPA Science Inventory

The nature of carbon in forests is discussed from the perspective of carbon trading. Carbon inventories, specifically in the area of land use and forestry are reviewed for the Pacific Northwest. Carbon turnover in forests is discussed as it relates to carbon sequestration. Scient...

Low historical nitrogen deposition effect on carbon sequestration in the boreal zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fleischer, K.; Wârlind, D.; van der Molen, M. K.; Rebel, K. T.; Arneth, A.; Erisman, J. W.; Wassen, M. J.; Smith, B.; Gough, C. M.; Margolis, H. A.; Cescatti, A.; Montagnani, L.; Arain, A.; Dolman, A. J.

2015-12-01

Nitrogen (N) cycle dynamics and N deposition play an important role in determining the terrestrial biosphere's carbon (C) balance. We assess global and biome-specific N deposition effects on C sequestration rates with the dynamic global vegetation model LPJ-GUESS. Modeled CN interactions are evaluated by comparing predictions of the C and CN version of the model with direct observations of C fluxes from 68 forest FLUXNET sites. N limitation on C uptake reduced overestimation of gross primary productivity for boreal evergreen needleleaf forests from 56% to 18%, presenting the greatest improvement among forest types. Relative N deposition effects on C sequestration (dC/dN) in boreal, temperate, and tropical sites ranged from 17 to 26 kg C kg N-1 when modeled at site scale and were reduced to 12-22 kg C kg N-1 at global scale. We find that 19% of the recent (1990-2007) and 24% of the historical global C sink (1900-2006) was driven by N deposition effects. While boreal forests exhibit highest dC/dN, their N deposition-induced C sink was relatively low and is suspected to stay low in the future as no major changes in N deposition rates are expected in the boreal zone. N deposition induced a greater C sink in temperate and tropical forests, while predicted C fluxes and N-induced C sink response in tropical forests were associated with greatest uncertainties. Future work should be directed at improving the ability of LPJ-GUESS and other process-based ecosystem models to reproduce C cycle dynamics in the tropics, facilitated by more benchmarking data sets. Furthermore, efforts should aim to improve understanding and model representations of N availability (e.g., N fixation and organic N uptake), N limitation, P cycle dynamics, and effects of anthropogenic land use and land cover changes.

Implementation Targets for the Paris Climate Agreement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, B.; Hope, A. P.; Tribett, W. R.; Salawitch, R. J.; Canty, T. P.

2016-12-01

We provide an overview of reductions in the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) needed to achieve either the target (1.5 °C warming) or upper limit (2.0 °C warming) of the Paris Climate Agreement. We will show how much energy must be produced, either by renewables that do not emit significant levels of atmospheric GHGs or via carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) coupled to fossil fuel power plants, to meet forecast global energy demand out to 2060. These projections will be based on two modeling frameworks: our empirical model of global climate (EM-GC) and the CMIP 5 GCMs used throughout IPCC (2013). For each framework, we will show estimates of transient climate response to cumulative emission of carbon to place limits on future emission of CO2 via the combustion of fossil fuel. We will also quantify the impact of future atmospheric CH4 on achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

The value of carbon sequestration and storage in coastal habitats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beaumont, N. J.; Jones, L.; Garbutt, A.; Hansom, J. D.; Toberman, M.

2014-01-01

Coastal margin habitats are globally significant in terms of their capacity to sequester and store carbon, but their continuing decline, due to environmental change and human land use decisions, is reducing their capacity to provide this ecosystem service. In this paper the UK is used as a case study area to develop methodologies to quantify and value the ecosystem service of blue carbon sequestration and storage in coastal margin habitats. Changes in UK coastal habitat area between 1900 and 2060 are documented, the long term stocks of carbon stored by these habitats are calculated, and the capacity of these habitats to sequester CO2 is detailed. Changes in value of the carbon sequestration service of coastal habitats are then projected for 2000-2060 under two scenarios, the maintenance of the current state of the habitat and the continuation of current trends of habitat loss. If coastal habitats are maintained at their current extent, their sequestration capacity over the period 2000-2060 is valued to be in the region of £1 billion UK sterling (3.5% discount rate). However, if current trends of habitat loss continue, the capacity of the coastal habitats both to sequester and store CO2 will be significantly reduced, with a reduction in value of around £0.25 billion UK sterling (2000-2060; 3.5% discount rate). If loss-trends due to sea level rise or land reclamation worsen, this loss in value will be greater. This case study provides valuable site specific information, but also highlights global issues regarding the quantification and valuation of carbon sequestration and storage. Whilst our ability to value ecosystem services is improving, considerable uncertainty remains. If such ecosystem valuations are to be incorporated with confidence into national and global policy and legislative frameworks, it is necessary to address this uncertainty. Recommendations to achieve this are outlined.

Method of detecting leakage from geologic formations used to sequester CO.sub.2

DOEpatents

White, Curt [Pittsburgh, PA; Wells, Arthur [Bridgeville, PA; Diehl, J Rodney [Pittsburgh, PA; Strazisar, Brian [Venetia, PA

2010-04-27

The invention provides methods for the measurement of carbon dioxide leakage from sequestration reservoirs. Tracer moieties are injected along with carbon dioxide into geological formations. Leakage is monitored by gas chromatographic analyses of absorbents. The invention also provides a process for the early leak detection of possible carbon dioxide leakage from sequestration reservoirs by measuring methane (CH.sub.4), ethane (C.sub.2H.sub.6), propane (C.sub.3H.sub.8), and/or radon (Rn) leakage rates from the reservoirs. The invention further provides a method for branding sequestered carbon dioxide using perfluorcarbon tracers (PFTs) to show ownership.

Road-testing the outreach best practices manual: Applicability for implementation of the development phase projects by the regional carbon sequestration partnerships

USGS Publications Warehouse

Daly, D.; Bradbury, J.; Garrett, G.; Greenberg, S.; Myhre, R.; Peterson, T.; Tollefson, L.; Wade, S.; Sacuta, N.

2011-01-01

Geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) storage verification tests by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) seven Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs) provided the experience base for the Public Outreach and Education for Carbon Storage Projects, a best practices manual, published in December 2009. This paper summarizes these outreach best practices; discusses their application in Aquistorc, a grcenficld CO2 storage project under way in western Canada; and reviews the implications for applying the best practices to new projects during the Development Phase of the DOE's RCSP Program. ?? 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Growing Season Carbon Dioxide Exchange in Flooded Non-Mulching and Non-Flooded Mulching Cotton

PubMed Central

Li, Zhi-guo; Zhang, Run-hua; Wang, Xiu-jun; Chen, Fang; Tian, Chang-yan

2012-01-01

There is much interest in the role that agricultural practices might play in sequestering carbon to help offset rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, limited information exists regarding the potential for increased carbon sequestration of different management strategies. The objective of this study was to quantify and contrast carbon dioxide exchange in traditional non-mulching with flooding irrigation (TF) and plastic film mulching with drip irrigation (PM) cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fields in northwest China. Net primary productivity (NPP), soil heterotrophic respiration (R h) and net ecosystem productivity (NEP) were measured during the growing seasons in 2009 and 2010. As compared with TF, PM significantly increased the aboveground and belowground biomass and the NPP (340 g C m−2 season−1) of cotton, and decreased the R h (89 g C m−2 season−1) (p<0.05). In a growing season, PM had a higher carbon sequestration in terms of NEP of ∼ 429 g C m−2 season−1 than the TF. These results demonstrate that conversion of this type of land use to mulching practices is an effective way to increase carbon sequestration in the short term in cotton systems of arid areas. PMID:23226376

The biodiversity cost of carbon sequestration in tropical savanna

PubMed Central

Abreu, Rodolfo C. R.; Hoffmann, William A.; Vasconcelos, Heraldo L.; Pilon, Natashi A.; Rossatto, Davi R.; Durigan, Giselda

2017-01-01

Tropical savannas have been increasingly viewed as an opportunity for carbon sequestration through fire suppression and afforestation, but insufficient attention has been given to the consequences for biodiversity. To evaluate the biodiversity costs of increasing carbon sequestration, we quantified changes in ecosystem carbon stocks and the associated changes in communities of plants and ants resulting from fire suppression in savannas of the Brazilian Cerrado, a global biodiversity hotspot. Fire suppression resulted in increased carbon stocks of 1.2 Mg ha−1 year−1 since 1986 but was associated with acute species loss. In sites fully encroached by forest, plant species richness declined by 27%, and ant richness declined by 35%. Richness of savanna specialists, the species most at risk of local extinction due to forest encroachment, declined by 67% for plants and 86% for ants. This loss highlights the important role of fire in maintaining biodiversity in tropical savannas, a role that is not reflected in current policies of fire suppression throughout the Brazilian Cerrado. In tropical grasslands and savannas throughout the tropics, carbon mitigation programs that promote forest cover cannot be assumed to provide net benefits for conservation. PMID:28875172

[Simulating climate change effect on aboveground carbon sequestration rates of main broadleaved trees in the Xiaoxing'an Mountains area, Northeast China].

PubMed

Ma, Jun; Bu, Rencang; Deng, Hua-Wei; Hu, Yuan-Man; Qin, Qin; Han, Feng-Lin

2014-09-01

LANDIS Pro 7.0 model was used to simulate the dynamics of aboveground biomass of ten broadleaved tree species in the Xiao Xing' an Mountains area under current and various climate change scenarios from 2000 to 2200, and carbon content coefficients (CCCs) were coupled to cal- culate the aboveground carbon sequestration rates (ACSRs) of these species. The results showed that in the initial year of simulation, the biomasses and their proportions of Fraxinus mandshurica, Phellodendron amurense, Quercus mongolica, Ulmus propinqua, and Acer mono were relatively low, while those of Betula costata, Betula platyphylla, and Populus davidiana were higher. A trend of rise after decline occurred in ACSR for pioneer species in the mid and late periods of simulation years, but ACSRs for the other broadleaved tree species were considerably complex. The ACSRs of Q. mongolica and Tilla amurensis fluctuated in the ranges of -0.05-0.25 t · hm(-2) · 10 a(-1) and 0.16-1.29 t · hm(-2) · 10 a(-1) in simulation years, respectively. The ACSRs of F. mandshurica, U. propinqua, A. mono, and B. costata showed a trend of decline after rise in late simulation years. There were significant differences in ACSR for P. amurense and B. davurica among various climate change scenarios in the periods of 2050-2100 and 2150-2200, while no significant difference in ACSR for the other species would be detected. Difference of sensitivity of various species in ACSR for future climate scenarios in the Small Khingan Mountains area existed. However, the un- certainty of future climates would not yield significant difference in ACSR for most broadleaved tree species. Moreover, a time lag would exist in the process of climate change effects on temperate forest's ACSR.

The Effect of Government Actions on Environmental Technology Innovation: Applications to the Integrated Assessment of Carbon Sequestration Technologies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rubin, E. S.; Hounshell, D. A.; Yeh, S.

2004-01-15

This project seeks to improve the ability of integrated assessment models (IA) to incorporate changes in technology, especially environmental technologies, cost and performance over time. In this report, we present results of research that examines past experience in controlling other major power plant emissions that might serve as a reasonable guide to future rates of technological progress in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) systems. In particular, we focus on U.S. and worldwide experience with sulfur dioxide (SO{sub 2}) and nitrogen oxide (NO{sub x}) control technologies over the past 30 years, and derive empirical learning rates for these technologies. The patternsmore » of technology innovation are captured by our analysis of patent activities and trends of cost reduction over time. Overall, we found learning rates of 11% for the capital costs of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) system for SO{sub 2} control, and 13% for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems for NO{sub x} control. We explore the key factors responsible for the observed trends, especially the development of regulatory policies for SO{sub 2} and NO{sub x} control, and their implications for environmental control technology innovation.« less

Current and Projected Carbon Dynamics in US Agricultural Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogle, S. M.; Paustian, K.; Zhang, Y.; Kent, J.; Gurung, R.; Klotz, R.

2016-12-01

Agricultural lands occur across a variety of landscapes in the United States, and carbon dynamics are largely controlled by management decisions along with edaphic characteristics, climate and other environmental drivers. Due to the influence of management, there is potential to sequester carbon in soils with adoption of conservation practices, such as setting aside degraded land from production, limiting tillage disturbance, enhancing crop production with higher yielding varieties, planting cover crops, and restoring wetlands where they have been drained for crop production. In 2010, the level of sequestration in mineral soils across US croplands was 48 million metric tonnes CO2 equivalent, which is down from the high during the past 25 years of 90 million metric tonnes CO2 equivalent. In contrast, drained wetlands that are used for crop production were emitting 22.1 million metric tonnes CO2 equivalent in 2010. In the short term, restoring drained wetlands would decrease CO2emissions to the atmosphere, and even with the additional CH4 emissions from restored wetlands, there would an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from these lands. In turn, this would make a significant contribution to the USDA Climate Smart Agriculture Plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 120 million metric tonnes CO2 equivalent in support of the Paris Agreement. The potential to sequester carbon in the future will also be impacted by climate change, in addition to the management decisions of land managers. We simulated future carbon dynamics through 2060 based on climate change projections for RCP 2.5, 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios, with and without CO2 fertilization effects. We are using the results as input to a general equilibrium model for the agricultural economic sector to better understand the economic consequences of climate change and the potential for greenhouse gas mitigation. By evaluating the influence of climate change and economic welfare, our study is providing a basis to understand the potential long-term contribution of carbon sequestration in support of a Climate Smart Agriculture Program in the United States.

Benefits of collaborative and comparative research on land use change and climate mitigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Zhiliang; Gong, Peng

2016-04-01

The world's two largest economies are also the latest greenhouse gas emitters. The United States is committed to reduce the net greenhouse gas emission by 28% below the 2005 level by 2025. Similarly China also announced significant climate mitigation steps at the Paris climate convention. These policy plans will require actions including reduction of GHG emissions as well as protection of carbon stored in biologic pools and increase of carbon sequestration by the natural ecosystems. Major drivers of ecosystem carbon sequestration and protection of existing carbon resources include land use, disturbances, and climate change. Recent studies indicate that vegetated ecosystems in the United States remain as a carbon sink but the sink is weakening due to increased disturbances (such as wildfire and harvesting) and aging of forests. Unique land use policies in China such as large-scale afforestation in the recent decades have reportedly led to significant increase in total forest area and aboveground biomass, although it is not clear to what degree the increase has translated to strengthened net uptake of atmospheric CO2 and the rate of sequestration by vegetated ecosystems. What lessons can we draw from different land management and land use practices in the U.S. and China that can benefit scientific advances and climate mitigation goals? Research conducted collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey and China Ministry of Science and Technology has led to improved techniques for tracking and modeling land use change and ecosystem disturbances and improved understanding of consequences of different land use change and management practices on ecosystem carbon sequestration capacities.

Economic analysis of secondary and enhanced oil recovery techniques in Wyoming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kara, Erdal

This dissertation primarily aims to theoretically analyze a firm's optimization of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and carbon dioxide sequestration under different social policies and empirically analyze the firm's optimization of enhanced oil recovery. The final part of the dissertation empirically analyzes how geological factors and water injection management influence oil recovery. The first chapter builds a theoretical model to analyze economic optimization of EOR and geological carbon sequestration under different social policies. Specifically, it analyzes how social policies on sequestration influence the extent of oil operations, optimal oil production and CO2 sequestration. The theoretical results show that the socially optimal policy is a subsidy on the net CO2 sequestration, assuming negative net emissions from EOR. Such a policy is expected to increase a firm's total carbon dioxide sequestration. The second chapter statistically estimates the theoretical oil production model and its different versions. Empirical results are not robust over different estimation techniques and not in line with the theoretical production model. The last part of the second chapter utilizes a simplified version of theoretical model and concludes that EOR via CO2 injection improves oil recovery. The final chapter analyzes how a contemporary oil recovery technology (water flooding of oil reservoirs) and various reservoir-specific geological factors influence oil recovery in Wyoming. The results show that there is a positive concave relationship between cumulative water injection and cumulative oil recovery and also show that certain geological factors affect the oil recovery. Moreover, the curvature of the concave functional relationship between cumulative water injection and oil recovery is reservoir-specific due to heterogeneities among different reservoirs.

Development and Implementation of the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium CO 2-Technology Transfer Center

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Greenberg, Sallie E.

2015-06-30

In 2009, the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), in collaboration with the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC), created a regional technology training center to disseminate carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology gained through leadership and participation in regional carbon sequestration projects. This technology training center was titled and branded as the Sequestration Training and Education Program (STEP). Over the last six years STEP has provided local, regional, national, and international education and training opportunities for engineers, geologists, service providers, regulators, executives, K-12 students, K-12 educators, undergraduate students, graduate students, university and community college faculty members, and participants of community programsmore » and functions, community organizations, and others. The goal for STEP educational programs has been on knowledge sharing and capacity building to stimulate economic recovery and development by training personnel for commercial CCS projects. STEP has worked with local, national and international professional organizations and regional experts to leverage existing training opportunities and provide stand-alone training. This report gives detailed information on STEP activities during the grant period (2009-2015).« less

Immobilized carbonic anhydrase on mesoporous cruciate flower-like metal organic framework for promoting CO2 sequestration.

PubMed

Ren, Sizhu; Feng, Yuxiao; Wen, Huan; Li, Conghai; Sun, Baoting; Cui, Jiandong; Jia, Shiru

2018-05-25

CO 2 capture by immobilized carbonic anhydrase (CA) has become an alternative and environmental friendly approach in CO 2 sequestration technology. However, the immobilized CA usually exhibits low CO 2 sequestration efficiency due to no gas adsorption function for the conventional CA supports. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are an excellent material for gas adsorption and enzyme immobilization. Herein, a combined immobilization system of CA and ZIF-8 with cruciate flower-like morphology for CO 2 adsorption was prepared for the first time by adsorbing CA onto ZIF-8. The immobilization efficiency was greater than 95%, and the maximum activity recovery reached 75%, indicating the highly efficient immobilization process. The resultant CA@ZIF-8 composites exhibited outstanding thermostability, the tolerance against denaturants, and reusability compared with free CA. Furthermore, we demonstrated for the first time that the shape of ZIF-8 could be controlled by adjusting concentrations of Zn 2+ ions at the high concentration of 2-methylimidazole (1 M). More importantly, we also demonstrated the applicability of the CA@ZIF-8 composites to the sequestration of CO 2 in carbonate minerals. The yields of the CaCO 3 obtained by using CA@ZIF-8 composites were 22-folds compared to free CA. Thus, this CA@ZIF-8 composite can be successfully used as a robust biocatalyst for sequestration of CO 2 . Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Calculation of hydrocarbon-in-place in gas and gas-condensate reservoirs - Carbon dioxide sequestration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Verma, Mahendra K.

2012-01-01

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-140) authorized the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a national assessment of geologic storage resources for carbon dioxide (CO2), requiring estimation of hydrocarbon-in-place volumes and formation volume factors for all the oil, gas, and gas-condensate reservoirs within the U.S. sedimentary basins. The procedures to calculate in-place volumes for oil and gas reservoirs have already been presented by Verma and Bird (2005) to help with the USGS assessment of the undiscovered resources in the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska, but there is no straightforward procedure available for calculating in-place volumes for gas-condensate reservoirs for the carbon sequestration project. The objective of the present study is to propose a simple procedure for calculating the hydrocarbon-in-place volume of a condensate reservoir to help estimate the hydrocarbon pore volume for potential CO2 sequestration.

Eddy Covariance Method for CO2 Emission Measurements: CCS Applications, Principles, Instrumentation and Software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burba, George; Madsen, Rod; Feese, Kristin

2013-04-01

The Eddy Covariance method is a micrometeorological technique for direct high-speed measurements of the transport of gases, heat, and momentum between the earth's surface and the atmosphere. Gas fluxes, emission and exchange rates are carefully characterized from single-point in-situ measurements using permanent or mobile towers, or moving platforms such as automobiles, helicopters, airplanes, etc. Since the early 1990s, this technique has been widely used by micrometeorologists across the globe for quantifying CO2 emission rates from various natural, urban and agricultural ecosystems [1,2], including areas of agricultural carbon sequestration. Presently, over 600 eddy covariance stations are in operation in over 120 countries. In the last 3-5 years, advancements in instrumentation and software have reached the point when they can be effectively used outside the area of micrometeorology, and can prove valuable for geological carbon capture and sequestration, landfill emission measurements, high-precision agriculture and other non-micrometeorological industrial and regulatory applications. In the field of geological carbon capture and sequestration, the magnitude of CO2 seepage fluxes depends on a variety of factors. Emerging projects utilize eddy covariance measurement to monitor large areas where CO2 may escape from the subsurface, to detect and quantify CO2 leakage, and to assure the efficiency of CO2 geological storage [3,4,5,6,7,8]. Although Eddy Covariance is one of the most direct and defensible ways to measure and calculate turbulent fluxes, the method is mathematically complex, and requires careful setup, execution and data processing tailor-fit to a specific site and a project. With this in mind, step-by-step instructions were created to introduce a novice to the conventional Eddy Covariance technique [9], and to assist in further understanding the method through more advanced references such as graduate-level textbooks, flux networks guidelines, journals and technical papers. A free open-source software package with a user-friendly interface was developed accordingly for computing final fully corrected CO2 emission numbers [10]. The presentation covers highlights of the eddy covariance method, its application to geological carbon sequestration, key requirements, instrumentation and software, and reviews educational resources particularly useful for carbon sequestration research. References: [1] Aubinet, M., T. Vesala, and D. Papale (Eds.), 2012. Eddy Covariance: A Practical Guide to Measurement and Data Analysis. Springer-Verlag, 442 pp. [2] Foken T., 2008. Micrometeorology. Springer-Verlag, 308 pp. [4] Finley, R., 2009. An Assessment of Geological Carbon Sequestration in the Illinois Basin Overview of the Decatur-Illinois Basin Site. MGSC, http://www.istc.illinois.edu/info/govs_awards_docs/2009-GSA-1100-Finley.pdf [5] Liu, G. (Ed.), 2012. Greenhouse Gases: Capturing, Utilization and Reduction. Intech, 338 pp. [6] LI-COR Biosciences, 2011. Surface Monitoring for Geologic Carbon Sequestration Monitoring: Methods, Instrumentation, and Case Studies. LI-COR Biosciences, Pub. 980-11916, 15 pp. [7] Benson, S., 2006. Monitoring carbon dioxide sequestration in deep geological formations for inventory verification and carbon credits, SPE-102833, Presentation [8] Lewicki, J., G. Hilley, M. Fischer, L. Pan, C. Olden-burg, C. Dobeck, and L. Spangler, 2009.Eddy covariance observations of leakage during shallow subsurface CO2 releases. Journal of Geophys Res, 114: D12302 [9] Burba, G., 2013. Eddy Covariance Method for Scientific, Industrial, Agricultural and Regulatory Applications. LI-COR Biosciences, 328 pp. [10] LI-COR Biosciences, 2012. EddyPro 4.0: Help and User's Guide. Lincoln, NE, 208 pp.

The role of North Atlantic Ocean circulation and biological sequestration on atmospheric CO2 uptake during the last deglaciation (CL Division Outstanding ECS Award Lecture)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muschitiello, Francesco; D'Andrea, William J.; Dokken, Trond M.; Schmittner, Andreas

2017-04-01

Understanding the impact of ocean circulation on the global atmospheric CO2 budget is of paramount importance for anticipating the consequences of projected future changes in Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). In particular, the efficiency of the oceanic biological pump can impact atmospheric CO2 through changes in vertical carbon export mediated by variations in the nutrient inventory of the North Atlantic basin. However, the causal relationship between North Atlantic Ocean circulation, biological carbon sequestration, and atmospheric CO2 is poorly understood. Here we present new high-resolution planktic-benthic 14C data and biomarker records from an exceptionally well-dated marine core from the Nordic Seas spanning the last deglaciation ( 15,000-10,000 years BP). The records document for the first time large and rapid atmospheric CO2 drawdowns and increase in plankton stocks during major North Atlantic cooling events. Using transient climate simulations from a fully coupled climate-biosphere model, we show that minor perturbations of the North Atlantic biological pump resulting from surface freshening and AMOC weakening can have a major impact on the global atmospheric CO2 budget. Furthermore, our data help clarifying the timing and magnitude of the deglacial CO2 signal recorded in Antarctic ice cores. We conclude that the global CO2 budget is more sensitive to perturbations in North Atlantic circulation than previously thought, which has significance in the future debate of the AMOC response to anthropogenic warming.

Briefing on geological sequestration

EPA Science Inventory

Geological sequestration (GS) is generally recognized as the injection and long-term (e.g., hundreds to thousands of years) trapping of gaseous, liquid or supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) in subsurface media – primarily saline formations, depleted or nearly depleted oil and gas...

Ocean acidification stimulates particulate organic carbon accumulation in two Antarctic diatom species under moderate and high natural solar radiation.

PubMed

Heiden, Jasmin P; Thoms, Silke; Bischof, Kai; Trimborn, Scarlett

2018-05-23

Impacts of rising atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and increased daily irradiances from enhanced surface water stratification on phytoplankton physiology in the coastal Southern Ocean remain still unclear. Therefore, in the two Antarctic diatoms Fragilariopsis curta and Odontella weissflogii the effects of moderate and high natural solar radiation combined with either ambient or future pCO 2 on cellular particulate organic carbon (POC) contents and photophysiology were investigated. Results showed that increasing CO 2 concentrations had greater impacts on diatom physiology than exposure to increasing solar radiation. Irrespective of the applied solar radiation regime, cellular POC quotas increased with future pCO 2 in both diatoms. Lowered maximum quantum yields of photochemistry in PSII (F v /F m ) indicated a higher photosensitivity under these conditions, being counteracted by increased cellular concentrations of functional photosynthetic reaction centers. Overall, our results suggest that both bloom-forming Antarctic coastal diatoms might increase carbon contents under future pCO 2 conditions despite reduced physiological fitness. This indicates a higher potential for primary productivity by the two diatom species with important implications for the CO 2 sequestration potential of diatom communities in the future coastal Southern Ocean. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Spatial and temporal patterns of carbon storage in forest ecosystems on Hainan island, southern China.

PubMed

Ren, Hai; Li, Linjun; Liu, Qiang; Wang, Xu; Li, Yide; Hui, Dafeng; Jian, Shuguang; Wang, Jun; Yang, Huai; Lu, Hongfang; Zhou, Guoyi; Tang, Xuli; Zhang, Qianmei; Wang, Dong; Yuan, Lianlian; Chen, Xubing

2014-01-01

Spatial and temporal patterns of carbon (C) storage in forest ecosystems significantly affect the terrestrial C budget, but such patterns are unclear in the forests in Hainan Province, the largest tropical island in China. Here, we estimated the spatial and temporal patterns of C storage from 1993-2008 in Hainan's forest ecosystems by combining our measured data with four consecutive national forest inventories data. Forest coverage increased from 20.7% in the 1950s to 56.4% in the 2010s. The average C density of 163.7 Mg C/ha in Hainan's forest ecosystems in this study was slightly higher than that of China's mainland forests, but was remarkably lower than that in the tropical forests worldwide. Total forest ecosystem C storage in Hainan increased from 109.51 Tg in 1993 to 279.17 Tg in 2008. Soil C accounted for more than 70% of total forest ecosystem C. The spatial distribution of forest C storage in Hainan was uneven, reflecting differences in land use change and forest management. The potential carbon sequestration of forest ecosystems was 77.3 Tg C if all forested lands were restored to natural tropical forests. To increase the C sequestration potential on Hainan Island, future forest management should focus on the conservation of natural forests, selection of tree species, planting of understory species, and implementation of sustainable practices.

Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Carbon Storage in Forest Ecosystems on Hainan Island, Southern China

PubMed Central

Tang, Xuli; Zhang, Qianmei; Wang, Dong; Yuan, Lianlian; Chen, Xubing

2014-01-01

Spatial and temporal patterns of carbon (C) storage in forest ecosystems significantly affect the terrestrial C budget, but such patterns are unclear in the forests in Hainan Province, the largest tropical island in China. Here, we estimated the spatial and temporal patterns of C storage from 1993–2008 in Hainan's forest ecosystems by combining our measured data with four consecutive national forest inventories data. Forest coverage increased from 20.7% in the 1950s to 56.4% in the 2010s. The average C density of 163.7 Mg C/ha in Hainan's forest ecosystems in this study was slightly higher than that of China's mainland forests, but was remarkably lower than that in the tropical forests worldwide. Total forest ecosystem C storage in Hainan increased from 109.51 Tg in 1993 to 279.17 Tg in 2008. Soil C accounted for more than 70% of total forest ecosystem C. The spatial distribution of forest C storage in Hainan was uneven, reflecting differences in land use change and forest management. The potential carbon sequestration of forest ecosystems was 77.3 Tg C if all forested lands were restored to natural tropical forests. To increase the C sequestration potential on Hainan Island, future forest management should focus on the conservation of natural forests, selection of tree species, planting of understory species, and implementation of sustainable practices. PMID:25229628

A carbon footprint simulation model for the cork oak sector.

PubMed

Demertzi, Martha; Paulo, Joana Amaral; Arroja, Luís; Dias, Ana Cláudia

2016-10-01

In the present study, a simulation model for the calculation of the carbon footprint of the cork oak sector (CCFM) is developed for the first time. A life cycle approach is adopted including the forest management, manufacturing, use and end-of-life stages. CCFM allows the user to insert the cork type used as raw material and its respective quantity and the distances in-between the various stages. The user can choose among different end-of-life destination options for the used cork products. The option of inserting different inputs, allows the use of the present simulation model for different cork oak systems, in different countries and with different conditions. CCFM allows the identification of the stages and products with the greatest carbon footprint and thus, a better management of the sector from an environmental perspective. The Portuguese cork oak sector is used as an application example of the model. The results obtained showed that the agglomeration industry is the hotspot for the carbon footprint of the cork sector mainly due to the production of the resins that are mixed with the cork granules for the production of agglomerated cork products. The consideration of the biogenic carbon emissions and sequestration of carbon at the forest in the carbon footprint, resulted to a great decrease of the sector's carbon footprint. Future actions for improvement are suggested in order to decrease the carbon footprint of the entire cork sector. It was found that by decreasing by 10% the emission factor of the agglomeration and transformation industries, substituting the transport trucks by more recent ones and by decreasing by 10% the cork products reaching the landfilling end-of-life destinations (while increasing the quantities reaching incineration and recycling), a decrease of the total CF (excluding the biogenic emissions and sequestration) of the entire cork industry by 10% can be achieved. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impact of downslope soil transport on carbon storage and fate in permafrost dominated landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shelef, E.; Rowland, J. C.; Wilson, C. J.; Altmann, G.; Hilley, G. E.

2014-12-01

A large fraction of high latitude permafrost-dominated landscapes are covered by soil mantled hillslopes. In these landscapes, soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulates and is lost through lateral transport processes. At present, these processes are not included in regional or global landsurface climate models. We present preliminary results of a soil transport and storage model over a permafrost dominated hillslope. In this model soil carbon is transported downslope within a mobile layer that thaws every summer. The model tracks soil transport and its subsequent storage at the hillslope's base. In a scenario where a carbon poor subsurface is blanketed by a carbon-rich surface layer, the progressive downslope soil transport can result in net carbon sequestration. This sequestration occurs because SOC is carried from the hilllsope's near-surface layer, where it is produced by plants and is capable of decomposing, into depositional sites at the hillslope's base where it is stored in frozen deposits such that it's decomposition rate is effectively zero. We use the model to evaluate the quantities of carbon stored in depositional settings during the Holocene, and to predict changes in sequestration rate in response to thaw depth thickening expected to occur within the next century due to climate-change. At the Holocene time scale, we show that a large amount of SOC is likely stored in depositional sites that comprise only a small fraction of arctic landscapes. The convergent topography of these sites makes them susceptible to fluvial erosion and suggests that increased fluvial incision in response to climate-change-induced thawing has the potential to release significant amounts of carbon to the river system, and potentially to the atmosphere. At the time scale of the next century, increased thaw depth may increase soil-transport rates on hillslopes and therefore increase SOC sequestration rates at a magnitude that may partly compensate for the carbon release expected from permafrost thawing. Model guided field data collection is essential to reduce the uncertainty of these estimates.

Experimental study of dissolution of minerals and CO2 sequestration in steel slag.

PubMed

Yadav, Shashikant; Mehra, Anurag

2017-06-01

This study strives to achieve a substantial amount of steel slag carbonation without using any harmful chemicals. For this purpose, experiments were performed in an aqueous medium, in a semi-batch reactor, to investigate the effect of varying reaction conditions during the steel slag CO 2 sequestration process. Further, studying the effect of dissolution on carbonation reactions and the mineralogical changes that subsequently occur within the slag helps provide insight into the parameters that ultimately have an impact on the carbonation rate as well the magnitude of the impact. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Briefing on geological sequestration (Tulsa)

EPA Science Inventory

Geological sequestration (GS) is generally recognized as the injection and long-term (e.g., hundreds to thousands of years) trapping of gaseous, liquid or supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) in subsurface media – primarily saline formations, depleted or nearly depleted oil and gas...

A blue carbon soil database: Tidal wetland stocks for the US National Greenhouse Gas Inventory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feagin, R. A.; Eriksson, M.; Hinson, A.; Najjar, R. G.; Kroeger, K. D.; Herrmann, M.; Holmquist, J. R.; Windham-Myers, L.; MacDonald, G. M.; Brown, L. N.; Bianchi, T. S.

2015-12-01

Coastal wetlands contain large reservoirs of carbon, and in 2015 the US National Greenhouse Gas Inventory began the work of placing blue carbon within the national regulatory context. The potential value of a wetland carbon stock, in relation to its location, soon could be influential in determining governmental policy and management activities, or in stimulating market-based CO2 sequestration projects. To meet the national need for high-resolution maps, a blue carbon stock database was developed linking National Wetlands Inventory datasets with the USDA Soil Survey Geographic Database. Users of the database can identify the economic potential for carbon conservation or restoration projects within specific estuarine basins, states, wetland types, physical parameters, and land management activities. The database is geared towards both national-level assessments and local-level inquiries. Spatial analysis of the stocks show high variance within individual estuarine basins, largely dependent on geomorphic position on the landscape, though there are continental scale trends to the carbon distribution as well. Future plans including linking this database with a sedimentary accretion database to predict carbon flux in US tidal wetlands.

Assessing Carbon Storage and Sequestration of Seagrass Meadows on the Pacific Coast of Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Postlethwaite, V. R.; McGowan, A. E.; Robinson, C.; Kohfeld, K. E.; Pellatt, M. G.; Yakimishyn, J.; Chastain, S. G.

2016-12-01

Recent estimates suggest that seagrasses are highly efficient carbon sinks, storing a disproportionate amount of carbon for their relatively small area (only approximately 0.2% of the global ocean), and that they may bury carbon up to 12 times faster than terrestrial forests. Unfortunately, seagrass meadows are being lost at a rate of 0.4-2.6% yr-1, potentially releasing 0.15-1.02 Pg (billion tonnes) carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually. Research on seagrass carbon stocks has been mainly limited to areas in the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and Western Australia, and specifically has been very limited in the Northeast Pacific. We aim to characterize the carbon storage and sequestration occurring in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and the Clayoquot Sound area, off the western coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia (BC). Each of our sites varied in environmental characteristics representative of BC's seagrass meadows, including freshwater influence. Six cores, plus one from a "reference" site were taken from each meadow. Loss on ignition (LOI) and elemental analysis will be used to determine organic C and carbonate content. Additionally, we will use dry bulk density, 210Pb dating and seagrass density data to determine carbon accumulation rates and total meadow carbon stocks to provide a comprehensive picture of carbon storage and sequestration in BC's seagrass meadows. Carbon storage results will contribute to global estimates of seagrass carbon stocks via the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, as well as assist in marine ecosystem conservation planning and help in understanding the value of these ecosystems, especially as a means of climate change mitigation.

Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bill Stanley; Patrick Gonzalez; Sandra Brown

2005-10-01

The Nature Conservancy is participating in a Cooperative Agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to explore the compatibility of carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems and the conservation of biodiversity. The title of the research project is ''Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration''. The objectives of the project are to: (1) improve carbon offset estimates produced in both the planning and implementation phases of projects; (2) build valid and standardized approaches to estimate project carbon benefits at a reasonable cost; and (3) lay the groundwork for implementing cost-effective projects,more » providing new testing ground for biodiversity protection and restoration projects that store additional atmospheric carbon. This Technical Progress Report discusses preliminary results of the six specific tasks that The Nature Conservancy is undertaking to answer research needs while facilitating the development of real projects with measurable greenhouse gas reductions. The research described in this report occurred between April 1st , 2005 and June 30th, 2005. The specific tasks discussed include: Task 1: carbon inventory advancements; Task 2: emerging technologies for remote sensing of terrestrial carbon; Task 3: baseline method development; Task 4: third-party technical advisory panel meetings; Task 5: new project feasibility studies; and Task 6: development of new project software screening tool.« less

Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bill Stanley; Patrick Gonzalez; Sandra Brown

2006-01-01

The Nature Conservancy is participating in a Cooperative Agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to explore the compatibility of carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems and the conservation of biodiversity. The title of the research project is ''Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration''. The objectives of the project are to: (1) improve carbon offset estimates produced in both the planning and implementation phases of projects; (2) build valid and standardized approaches to estimate project carbon benefits at a reasonable cost; and (3) lay the groundwork for implementing cost-effective projects,more » providing new testing ground for biodiversity protection and restoration projects that store additional atmospheric carbon. This Technical Progress Report discusses preliminary results of the six specific tasks that The Nature Conservancy is undertaking to answer research needs while facilitating the development of real projects with measurable greenhouse gas reductions. The research described in this report occurred between April 1st , 2005 and June 30th, 2005. The specific tasks discussed include: Task 1: carbon inventory advancements; Task 2: emerging technologies for remote sensing of terrestrial carbon; Task 3: baseline method development; Task 4: third-party technical advisory panel meetings; Task 5: new project feasibility studies; and Task 6: development of new project software screening tool.« less

Red mud as a carbon sink: variability, affecting factors and environmental significance.

PubMed

Si, Chunhua; Ma, Yingqun; Lin, Chuxia

2013-01-15

The capacity of red mud to sequester CO(2) varied markedly due to differences in bauxite type, processing and disposal methods. Calcium carbonates were the dominant mineral phases responsible for the carbon sequestration in the investigated red mud types. The carbon sequestration capacity of red mud was not fully exploited due to shortages of soluble divalent cations for formation of stable carbonate minerals. Titanate and silicate ions were the two major oxyanions that appeared to strongly compete with carbonate ions for the available soluble Ca. Supply of additional soluble Ca and Mg could be a viable pathway for maximizing carbon sequestration in red mud and simultaneously reducing the causticity of red mud. It is roughly estimated that over 100 million tonnes of CO(2) have been unintentionally sequestered in red mud around the world to date through the natural weathering of historically produced red mud. Based on the current production rate of red mud, it is likely that some 6 million tonnes of CO(2) will be sequestered annually through atmospheric carbonation. If appropriate technologies are in place for incorporating binding cations into red mud, approximately 6 million tonnes of additional CO(2) can be captured and stored in the red mud while the hazardousness of red mud is simultaneously reduced. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

CO2 sequestration by carbonation of steelmaking slags in an autoclave reactor.

PubMed

Chang, E-E; Pan, Shu-Yuan; Chen, Yi-Hung; Chu, Hsiao-Wen; Wang, Chu-Fang; Chiang, Pen-Chi

2011-11-15

Carbon dioxide (CO(2)) sequestration experiments using the accelerated carbonation of three types of steelmaking slags, i.e., ultra-fine (UF) slag, fly-ash (FA) slag, and blended hydraulic slag cement (BHC), were performed in an autoclave reactor. The effects of reaction time, liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S), temperature, CO(2) pressure, and initial pH on CO(2) sequestration were evaluated. Two different CO(2) pressures were chosen: the normal condition (700 psig) and the supercritical condition (1300 psig). The carbonation conversion was determined quantitatively by using thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA). The major factors that affected the conversion were reaction time (5 min to 12h) and temperature (40-160°C). The BHC was found to have the highest carbonation conversion of approximately 68%, corresponding to a capacity of 0.283 kg CO(2)/kg BHC, in 12h at 700 psig and 160°C. In addition, the carbonation products were confirmed to be mainly in CaCO(3), which was determined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) to analyze samples before and after carbonation. Furthermore, reaction kinetics were expressed with a surface coverage model, and the carbon footprint of the developed technology in this investigation was calculated by a life cycle assessment (LCA). Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Carbon cycle: Nitrogen's carbon bonus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janssens, Ivan A.; Luyssaert, Sebastiaan

2009-05-01

Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen can, but does not always, speed up the sequestration of carbon in trees and forest soil. This complexity may arise from the spatial variations in each of the three mechanisms by which nitrogen affects carbon storage.

Adapting an IPCC-Compliant Full Forest Carbon Accounting Model to Determine the Effects of Different Forest Management Strategies in California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Starrs, C.; Stewart, W.; Potts, M. D.

2016-12-01

As California experiences increasing rates of disturbance events such as wildfire, drought, and insect outbreaks, understanding how different management strategies affect long-term forest carbon stock changes in the forest and in harvested wood products used by society will be key to determining strategies to best maximize forest-related carbon sequestration in the future. California's forest area is roughly evenly split across three ownership types: private timberlands, National Forest timberlands, and reserved forests. Forest management strategies in California generally vary by these ownerships; management in reserved lands sequesters carbon within the forest (i.e. leaves wood in the forest), while on private and National Forest timberlands a significant amount of wood is removed from the forest and converted to harvested wood products. The Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector (CBM-CFS3) is an IPCC-compliant full forest carbon accounting model developed for use in Canada that has been adapted for use in other countries. Changes in natural disturbances in the forest and technological innovation in the use of harvested wood products could substantially alter future carbon trajectories of forests under different management regimes. A key advantage of the CBM-CFS3 model is that in addition to tracking live tree, dead tree, and dead organic matter (DOM) carbon pools in the forest, it also tracks carbon stock changes in harvested wood products. We calibrated the CBM-CFS3 model with US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data for seven forest types across three ownership types to predict carbon stock changes under different natural disturbance and harvested wood product utilization futures. Our results illustrate the importance of using a tractable model that can integrate future changes in forest carbon cycling to keep pace with our changing climate and usage of wood products.

Cross-scale modelling of the climate-change mitigation potential of biochar systems: Global implications of nano-scale processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woolf, Dominic; Lehmann, Johannes

2014-05-01

With CO2 emissions still tracking the upper bounds of projected emissions scenarios, it is becoming increasingly urgent to reduce net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and increasingly likely that restricting future atmospheric GHG concentrations to within safe limits will require an eventual transition towards net negative GHG emissions. Few measures capable of providing negative emissions at a globally-significant scale are currently known. Two that are most often considered include carbon sequestration in biomass and soil, and biomass energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). In common with these two approaches, biochar also relies on the use of photosynthetically-bound carbon in biomass. But, because biomass and land are limited, it is critical that these resources are efficiently allocated between biomass/soil sequestration, bioenergy, BECCS, biochar, and other competing uses such as food, fiber and biodiversity. In many situations, biochar can offer advantages that may make it the preferred use of a limited biomass supply. These advantages include that: 1) Biochar can provide valuable benefits to agriculture by improving soil fertility and crop production, and reducing fertlizer and irrigation requirements. 2) Biochar is significantly more stable than biomass or other forms of soil carbon, thus lowering the risk of future losses compared to sequestration in biomass or soil organic carbon. 3) Gases and volatiles produced by pyrolysis can be combusted for energy (which may offset fossil fuel emissions). 4) Biochar can further lower GHG emissions by reducing nitrous oxide emissions from soil and by enhancing net primary production. Determining the optimal use of biomass requires that we are able to model not only the climate-change mitigation impact of each option, but also their economic and wider environmental impacts. Thus, what is required is a systems modelling approach that integrates components representing soil biogeochemistry, hydrology, crop production, land use, thermochemical conversion (to both biochar and energy products), climate, economics, and also the interactions between these components. Early efforts to model the life-cycle impacts of biochar systems have typically used simple empirical estimates of the strength of various feedback mechanisms, such as the impact of biochar on crop-growth, soil GHG fluxes, and native soil organic carbon. However, an environmental management perspective demands consideration of impacts over a longer time-scale and in broader agroecological situations than can be reliably extrapolated from simple empirical relationships derived from trials and experiments of inevitably limited scope and duration. Therefore, reliable quantification of long-term and large-scale impacts demands an understanding of the fundamental underlying mechanisms. Here, a systems-modelling approach that incorporates mechanistic assumptions will be described, and used to examine how uncertainties in the biogeochemical processes which drive the biochar-plant-soil interactions (particularly those responsible for priming, crop-growth and soil GHG emissions) translate into sensitivities of large scale and long-term impacts. This approach elucidates the aspects of process-level biochar biogeochemistry most critical to determining the large-scale GHG and economic impacts, and thus provides a useful guide to future model-led research.

Reimagining Carbon Sequestration in Fluviodeltaic Systems: Contributions from Clastic Overbank Deposits versus Peat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jankowski, K. L.; Shen, Z.; Tornqvist, T. E.; Steponaitis, E.; Rosenheim, B. E.

2017-12-01

Understanding how natural systems sequester carbon, and at what rates, is critical for planning future climate change mitigation strategies. For the decade from 2006-2015, average annual CO2 emissions to the atmosphere ( 11 Pg C) are not completely offset by atmospheric retention and oceanic uptake ( 5 Pg C and 2.5 Pg C, respectively) (LeQuéré et al., 2016) implying residual terrestrial C sinks that are not fully understood. Rivers are increasingly recognized as playing a complex role in the global C cycle which, beyond acting as a source of CO2to the atmosphere, may act as a C sink. Here, we find that the mechanisms of C transfer through fluviodeltaic systems include various means of C storage and contribute significantly to the global unidentified terrestrial C sink. C sequestration by coastal wetlands - at a globally averaged rate of 200 g C/m2/yr - has been widely recognized as an important mechanism for terrestrial C sequestration, with less attention paid to the role of inland fluvial to deltaic deposition. We sampled three cores in the central Mississippi Delta for C content (using elemental analysis) and bulk density in fluviodeltaic overbank deposits as well as intercalated peat. We also established a flexible, Bayesian age-depth model using Bacon (Blaauw and Christen 2011) in order to calculate sediment accumulation rates from 14C and OSL ages. Peat deposits sequester C at an average rate of 40 g C/m2/yr. The relatively organic-poor overbank sediments sequester C at an average rate of 200 g C/m2/yr including what are likely punctuated periods of very fast deposition. While the episodic nature of overbank deposits make quantifying an annual impact difficult, it is clear that overbank deposition is an important and efficient mechanism for C sequestration in fluviodeltaic systems that deserves continued investigation.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Patrick Gonzalez; Antonio Lara; Jorge Gayoso

Deforestation of temperate rainforests in Chile has decreased the provision of ecosystem services, including watershed protection, biodiversity conservation, and carbon sequestration. Forest conservation can restore those ecosystem services. Greenhouse gas policies that offer financing for the carbon emissions avoided by preventing deforestation require a projection of future baseline carbon emissions for an area if no forest conservation occurs. For a proposed 570 km{sup 2} conservation area in temperate rainforest around the rural community of Curinanco, Chile, we compared three methods to project future baseline carbon emissions: extrapolation from Landsat observations, Geomod, and Forest Restoration Carbon Analysis (FRCA). Analyses of forestmore » inventory and Landsat remote sensing data show 1986-1999 net deforestation of 1900 ha in the analysis area, proceeding at a rate of 0.0003 y{sup -1}. The gross rate of loss of closed natural forest was 0.042 y{sup -1}. In the period 1986-1999, closed natural forest decreased from 20,000 ha to 11,000 ha, with timber companies clearing natural forest to establish plantations of non-native species. Analyses of previous field measurements of species-specific forest biomass, tree allometry, and the carbon content of vegetation show that the dominant native forest type, broadleaf evergreen (bosque siempreverde), contains 370 {+-} 170 t ha{sup -1} carbon, compared to the carbon density of non-native Pinus radiata plantations of 240 {+-} 60 t ha{sup -1}. The 1986-1999 conversion of closed broadleaf evergreen forest to open broadleaf evergreen forest, Pinus radiata plantations, shrublands, grasslands, urban areas, and bare ground decreased the carbon density from 370 {+-} 170 t ha{sup -1} carbon to an average of 100 t ha{sup -1} (maximum 160 t ha{sup -1}, minimum 50 t ha{sup -1}). Consequently, the conversion released 1.1 million t carbon. These analyses of forest inventory and Landsat remote sensing data provided the data to evaluate the three methods to project future baseline carbon emissions. Extrapolation from Landsat change detection uses the observed rate of change to estimate change in the near future. Geomod is a software program that models the geographic distribution of change using a defined rate of change. FRCA is an integrated spatial analysis of forest inventory, biodiversity, and remote sensing that produces estimates of forest biodiversity and forest carbon density, spatial data layers of future probabilities of reforestation and deforestation, and a projection of future baseline forest carbon sequestration and emissions for an ecologically-defined area of analysis. For the period 1999-2012, extrapolation from Landsat change detection estimated a loss of 5000 ha and 520,000 t carbon from closed natural forest; Geomod modeled a loss of 2500 ha and 250 000 t; FRCA projected a loss of 4700 {+-} 100 ha and 480,000 t (maximum 760,000 t, minimum 220,000 t). Concerning labor time, extrapolation for Landsat required 90 actual days or 120 days normalized to Bachelor degree level wages; Geomod required 240 actual days or 310 normalized days; FRCA required 110 actual days or 170 normalized days. Users experienced difficulties with an MS-DOS version of Geomod before turning to the Idrisi version. For organizations with limited time and financing, extrapolation from Landsat change provides a cost-effective method. Organizations with more time and financing could use FRCA, the only method where that calculates the deforestation rate as a dependent variable rather than assuming a deforestation rate as an independent variable. This research indicates that best practices for the projection of baseline carbon emissions include integration of forest inventory and remote sensing tasks from the beginning of the analysis, definition of an analysis area using ecological characteristics, use of standard and widely used geographic information systems (GIS) software applications, and the use of species-specific allometric equations and wood densities developed for local species.« less

Carbon Sequestration in Unconventional Reservoirs: Geophysical, Geochemical and Geomechanical Considerations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakharova, Natalia V.

In the face of the environmental challenges presented by the acceleration of global warming, carbon capture and storage, also called carbon sequestration, may provide a vital option to reduce anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, while meeting the world's energy demands. To operate on a global scale, carbon sequestration would require thousands of geologic repositories that could accommodate billions of tons of carbon dioxide per year. In order to reach such capacity, various types of geologic reservoirs should be considered, including unconventional reservoirs such as volcanic rocks, fractured formations, and moderate-permeability aquifers. Unconventional reservoirs, however, are characterized by complex pore structure, high heterogeneity, and intricate feedbacks between physical, chemical and mechanical processes, and their capacity to securely store carbon emissions needs to be confirmed. In this dissertation, I present my contribution toward the understanding of geophysical, geochemical, hydraulic, and geomechanical properties of continental basalts and fractured sedimentary formations in the context of their carbon storage capacity. The data come from two characterization projects, in the Columbia River Flood Basalt in Washington and the Newark Rift Basin in New York, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnerships and TriCarb Consortium for Carbon Sequestration. My work focuses on in situ analysis using borehole geophysical measurements that allow for detailed characterization of formation properties on the reservoir scale and under nearly unaltered subsurface conditions. The immobilization of injected CO2 by mineralization in basaltic rocks offers a critical advantage over sedimentary reservoirs for long-term CO2 storage. Continental flood basalts, such as the Columbia River Basalt Group, possess a suitable structure for CO2 storage, with extensive reservoirs in the interflow zones separated by massive impermeable basalt in flow interiors. Other large igneous provinces and ocean floor basalts could accommodate centuries' worth of world's CO2 emissions. Low-volume basaltic flows and fractured intrusives may potentially serve as smaller-scale CO2 storage targets. However, as illustrated by the example of the Palisade sill in the Newark basin, even densely fractured intrusive basalts are often impermeable, and instead may serve as caprock for underlying formations. Hydraulic properties of fractured formations are very site-specific, but observations and theory suggest that the majority of fractures at depth remain closed. Hydraulic tests in the northern Newark basin indicate that fractures introduce strong anisotropy and heterogeneity to the formation properties, and very few of them augment hydraulic conductivity of these fractured formations. Overall, they are unlikely to provide enough storage capacity for safe CO 2 injection at large scales, but can be suitable for small-scale controlled experiments and pilot injection tests. The risk of inducing earthquakes by underground injection has emerged as one of the primary concerns for large-scale carbon sequestration, especially in fractured and moderately permeable formations. Analysis of in situ stress and distribution of fractures in the subsurface are important steps for evaluating the risks of induced seismicity. Preliminary results from the Newark basin suggest that local stress perturbation may potentially create favorable stress conditions for CO2 sequestration by allowing a considerable pore pressure increase without carrying large risks of fault reactivation. Additional in situ stress data are needed, however, to accurately constrain the magnitude of the minimum horizontal stress, and it is recommended that such tests be conducted at all potential CO 2 storage sites.

Carbon sequestration by Australian tidal marshes

PubMed Central

Macreadie, Peter I.; Ollivier, Q. R.; Kelleway, J. J.; Serrano, O.; Carnell, P. E.; Ewers Lewis, C. J.; Atwood, T. B.; Sanderman, J.; Baldock, J.; Connolly, R. M.; Duarte, C. M.; Lavery, P. S.; Steven, A.; Lovelock, C. E.

2017-01-01

Australia’s tidal marshes have suffered significant losses but their recently recognised importance in CO2 sequestration is creating opportunities for their protection and restoration. We compiled all available data on soil organic carbon (OC) storage in Australia’s tidal marshes (323 cores). OC stocks in the surface 1 m averaged 165.41 (SE 6.96) Mg OC ha−1 (range 14–963 Mg OC ha−1). The mean OC accumulation rate was 0.55 ± 0.02 Mg OC ha−1 yr−1. Geomorphology was the most important predictor of OC stocks, with fluvial sites having twice the stock of OC as seaward sites. Australia’s 1.4 million hectares of tidal marshes contain an estimated 212 million tonnes of OC in the surface 1 m, with a potential CO2-equivalent value of $USD7.19 billion. Annual sequestration is 0.75 Tg OC yr−1, with a CO2-equivalent value of $USD28.02 million per annum. This study provides the most comprehensive estimates of tidal marsh blue carbon in Australia, and illustrates their importance in climate change mitigation and adaptation, acting as CO2 sinks and buffering the impacts of rising sea level. We outline potential further development of carbon offset schemes to restore the sequestration capacity and other ecosystem services provided by Australia tidal marshes. PMID:28281574

Carbon cycle dynamics within Oregon’s urban-suburban-forested-agricultural landscapes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Law, Beverly E.; Still, Christopher Jason; Schmidt, Andres

Our overarching goal was to develop and utilize an observation-based analysis framework to assess interactions between climate and mosaics of land use, land cover and urbanization on regional carbon, water, and energy dynamics, and potential changes associated with land management and climate. Carbon, water and energy cycling was quantified for the range of current and potential land uses under present and future climates. The study region of Oregon has a strong climatic gradient from the coastal mesic forests (2500mm ppt) to the Willamette Valley, Cascade Mountains, and the Northern Great Basin semi-arid “cold desert” to the east (300 mm). Themore » study was focused on the effects of (1) conversion of semi-arid sagebrush and Willamette Valley agricultural crops to bioenergy production; (2) afforestation of idle land and rangelands deemed suitable for forests or poplar crops under future climate conditions. We found that net ecosystem production (NEP), the net of ecosystem photosynthesis and respiration, was 10 times higher in the high biomass forests of the Coast Range compared with drier regions like sagebrush in the Northern Great Basin, which was nearly zero (Schmidt et al. 2016). The state total NEP averaged about 30 teragrams carbon (Tg C) per year for the years 2012 to 2014 using our model framework that we developed for predictions of current and future NEP, and compared well with our detailed inventory estimates (28 Tg C annual average for 2011-2015 for forests only; Law et al. 2017). Running our model framework until the year 2050, we found that climate alone only increased NEP by less than 1 Tg C per decade (~3%) using the current trajectory of carbon dioxide emissions, however, changes are expected to be more rapid in subsequent years. We evaluated the possibility of land use change from grass seed crops to poplar for bioenergy, which slightly increased NEP by 2050. The most important variable for carbon sequestration estimates (net carbon sources and sinks) is net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB), which accounts for NEP and losses associated with harvest removals and wildfire emissions. Here, we focus on forests because they have the largest effect on carbon sequestration. We found that NECB in Oregon averaged 18.8 Tg C per year in 2011-2015, offsetting fossil fuel emissions (16 Tg C per year). Annual fire emissions reducing NECB by about 5% (0.97 Tg C per year) in the state. The mesic Coast Range and West Cascades ecoregions that make up the western third of Oregon account for 60% of the forest NECB. This analysis illustrates that annual emissions from forests disturbances are low relative to annual fossil fuel emissions for the same area (Law et al. 2017, Hudiburg et al. in review).« less

Rates and potentials of soil organic carbon sequestration in agricultural lands in Japan: an assessment using a process-based model and spatially-explicit land-use change inventories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yagasaki, Y.; Shirato, Y.

2013-11-01

In order to develop a system to estimate a country-scale soil organic carbon stock change (SCSC) in agricultural lands in Japan that enables to take account effect of land-use changes, climate, different agricultural activity and nature of soils, a spatially-explicit model simulation system using Rothamsted Carbon Model (RothC) integrated with spatial and temporal inventories was developed. Future scenarios on agricultural activity and land-use change were prepared, in addition to future climate projections by global climate models, with purposely selecting rather exaggerated and contrasting set of scenarios to assess system's sensitivity as well as to better factor out direct human influence in the SCSC accounting. Simulation was run from year 1970 to 2008, and to year 2020, with historical inventories and future scenarios involving target set in agricultural policy, respectively, and subsequently until year 2100 with no temporal changes in land-use and agricultural activity but with varying climate to investigate course of SCSC. Results of the country-scale SCSC simulation have indicated that conversion of paddy fields to croplands occurred during past decades, as well as a large conversion of agricultural fields to settlements or other lands that have occurred in historical period and would continue in future, could act as main factors causing greater loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) at country-scale, with reduction organic carbon input to soils and enhancement of SOC decomposition by transition of soil environment to aerobic conditions, respectively. Scenario analysis indicated that an option to increase organic carbon input to soils with intensified rotation with suppressing conversion of agricultural lands to other land-use types could achieve reduction of CO2 emission due to SCSC in the same level as that of another option to let agricultural fields be abandoned. These results emphasize that land-use changes, especially conversion of the agricultural lands to other land-use types by abandoning or urbanization accompanied by substantial changes in the rate of organic carbon input to soils, could cause a greater or comparable influence on country-scale SCSC compared with changes in management of agricultural lands. A net-net based accounting on SCSC showed potential influence of variations in future climate on SCSC, that highlighted importance of application of process-based model for estimation of this quantity. Whereas a baseline-based accounting on SCSC was shown to have robustness over variations in future climate and effectiveness to factor out direct human-induced influence on SCSC. Validation of the system's function to estimate SCSC in agricultural lands, by comparing simulation output with data from nation-wide stationary monitoring conducted during year 1979-1998, suggested that the system has an acceptable levels of validity, though only for limited range of conditions at current stage. In addition to uncertainties in estimation of the rate of organic carbon input to soils in different land-use types at large-scale, time course of SOC sequestration, supposition on land-use change pattern in future, as well as feasibility of agricultural policy planning are considered as important factors that need to be taken account in estimation on a potential of country-scale SCSC.

FACTORS AFFECTING CARBON ACCUMULATION IN NEW ENGLAND EELGRASS MEADOWS

EPA Science Inventory

As atmospheric and oceanic concentrations of carbon dioxide continue to increase, quantifying the carbon storage potential of seagrass meadows and improving the understanding of the factors controlling carbon sequestration in seagrass meadows is essential information for decision...

Quantification of carbon accumulation in eleven New England eelgrass meadows

EPA Science Inventory

As atmospheric and oceanic concentrations of carbon dioxide continue to increase, quantifying the carbon storage potential of seagrass meadows and improving the understanding of the factors controlling carbon sequestration in seagrass meadows is essential information for decision...

Projected carbon stocks in the conterminous USA with land use and variable fire regimes.

PubMed

Bachelet, Dominique; Ferschweiler, Ken; Sheehan, Timothy J; Sleeter, Benjamin M; Zhu, Zhiliang

2015-12-01

The dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM) MC2 was run over the conterminous USA at 30 arc sec (~800 m) to simulate the impacts of nine climate futures generated by 3GCMs (CSIRO, MIROC and CGCM3) using 3 emission scenarios (A2, A1B and B1) in the context of the LandCarbon national carbon sequestration assessment. It first simulated potential vegetation dynamics from coast to coast assuming no human impacts and naturally occurring wildfires. A moderate effect of increased atmospheric CO2 on water use efficiency and growth enhanced carbon sequestration but did not greatly influence woody encroachment. The wildfires maintained prairie-forest ecotones in the Great Plains. With simulated fire suppression, the number and impacts of wildfires was reduced as only catastrophic fires were allowed to escape. This greatly increased the expansion of forests and woodlands across the western USA and some of the ecotones disappeared. However, when fires did occur, their impacts (both extent and biomass consumed) were very large. We also evaluated the relative influence of human land use including forest and crop harvest by running the DGVM with land use (and fire suppression) and simple land management rules. From 2041 through 2060, carbon stocks (live biomass, soil and dead biomass) of US terrestrial ecosystems varied between 155 and 162 Pg C across the three emission scenarios when potential natural vegetation was simulated. With land use, periodic harvest of croplands and timberlands as well as the prevention of woody expansion across the West reduced carbon stocks to a range of 122-126 Pg C, while effective fire suppression reduced fire emissions by about 50%. Despite the simplicity of our approach, the differences between the size of the carbon stocks confirm other reports of the importance of land use on the carbon cycle over climate change. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Magnitude and Uncertainty of Carbon Pools and Fluxes in the US Forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, N.; Saatchi, S. S.; Fore, A.; Yu, Y.; Woodall, C. W.; Ganguly, S.; Nemani, R. R.; Hagen, S.; Birdsey, R.; Brown, S.; Salas, W.; Johnson, K. D.

2015-12-01

Sassan Saatchi1,2, Stephan Hagen3, Christopher Woodall4 , Sangram Ganguly,5 Nancy Harris6, Sandra Brown7, Timothy Pearson7, Alexander Fore1, Yifan Yu1, Rama Nemani5, Gong Zhang5, William Salas4, Roger Cooke81 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA2 Institute of Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA3 Applied Geosolutions, 55 Main Street Suit 125, Newmarket, NH 03857, USA4 USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA5 NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA6 Forests Program, World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, 20002, USA7 Winrock International, Ecosystem Services Unit, Arlington, VA 22202, USA8 Risk Analysis Resources for the Future, Washington DC 20036-1400Assessment of the carbon sinks and sources associated with greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes across the US forestlands is a priority of the national climate mitigation policy. However, estimates of fluxes from the land sector are less precise compared to other sectors because of the large sources of uncertainty in quantifying the carbon pools, emissions, and removals associated with anthropogenic (land use) and natural changes in the US forestlands. As part of the NASA's Carbon Monitoring System, we developed a methodology based on a combination of ground inventory and space observations to develop spatially refined carbon pools and fluxes including the gross emissions and sequestration of carbon at each 1-ha land unit across the forestlands in the continental United States (CONUS) for the period of 2006-2010. Here, we provide the magnitude and uncertainty of multiple pools and fluxes of the US forestlands and outline the observational requirements to reduce the uncertainties for developing national climate mitigation policies based on the carbon sequestration capacity of the US forest lands. Keywords: forests, carbon pools, greenhouse gas, land use, attribution

Built-up resilience to climate change in peatlands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, H.; Tian, J.; Ho, M.; Flanagan, N. E.; Vilgalys, R.; Richardson, C. J.

2017-12-01

Peatlands have stored about 30% of global soil carbon over millennia. Most studies suggest that climate change effects, like drought and warming, may decrease C sequestration and increase C loss in peatlands, thus resulting in a positive feedback on climate change. However, the long-term feedback between plant-microbe mediated carbon processes and climate change still remains highly uncertain. Here, we conducted a series of field and lab experiments in southern shrub and northern Sphagnum peatlands to document how previously unrecognized mechanisms regulate the buildup of anti-microbial phenolics, which protects stored carbon directly by reducing phenol oxidase activity during short-term drought, and indirectly through a shift from low-phenolics Sphagnum/herbs to high-phenolics shrubs after long-term moderate drought. We further showed a symbiosis of slow-growing decomposers concomitant with a shift of high-phenolic plants, which increased peat resistance to disturbance. Our results indicate that shrub expansion induced by climate change in boreal peatlands may be a long-term self-adaptive mechanism not only increasing carbon sequestration, but also potentially protecting soil carbon. Therefore, peatlands are highly resilient ecosystems in which the symbiotic adaption of both plants and microbes, triggered by persistent climate change, likely can acclimate to the stressors and maintain their carbon sequestration function and processes.

Numerically Simulating Carbonate Mineralization of Basalt with Injection of Carbon Dioxide into Deep Saline Formations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

White, Mark D.; McGrail, B. Peter; Schaef, Herbert T.

2006-07-08

The principal mechanisms for the geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide in deep saline formations include geological structural trapping, hydrological entrapment of nonwetting fluids, aqueous phase dissolution and ionization, and geochemical sorption and mineralization. In sedimentary saline formations the dominant mechanisms are structural and dissolution trapping, with moderate to weak contributions from hydrological and geochemical trapping; where, hydrological trapping occurs during the imbibition of aqueous solution into pore spaces occupied by gaseous carbon dioxide, and geochemical trapping is controlled by generally slow reaction kinetics. In addition to being globally abundant and vast, deep basaltic lava formations offer mineralization kinetics that makemore » geochemical trapping a dominate mechanism for trapping carbon dioxide in these formations. For several decades the United States Department of Energy has been investigating Columbia River basalt in the Pacific Northwest as part of its environmental programs and options for natural gas storage. Recently this nonpotable and extensively characterized basalt formation is being reconsidered as a potential reservoir for geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide. The reservoir has an estimated storage capacity of 100 giga tonnes of carbon dioxide and comprises layered basalt flows with sublayering that generally alternates between low permeability massive and high permeability breccia. Chemical analysis of the formation shows 10 wt% Fe, primarily in the +2 valence. The mineralization reaction that makes basalt formations attractive for carbon dioxide sequestration is that of calcium, magnesium, and iron silicates reacting with dissolved carbon dioxide, producing carbonate minerals and amorphous quartz. Preliminary estimates of the kinetics of the silicate-to-carbonate reactions have been determined experimentally and this research is continuing to determine effects of temperature, pressure, rock composition and mineral assemblages on the reaction rates. This study numerically investigates the injection, migration and sequestration of supercritical carbon dioxide in deep Columbia River basalt formations using the multifluid subsurface flow and reactive transport simulator STOMP-CO2 with its ECKEChem module. Simulations are executed on high resolution multiple stochastic realizations of the layered basalt systems and demonstrate the migration behavior through layered basalt formations and the mineralization of dissolved carbon dioxide. Reported results include images of the migration behavior, distribution of carbonate formation, quantities of injected and sequestered carbon dioxide, and percentages of the carbon dioxide sequestered by different mechanisms over time.« less

Association of Soil Aggregation with the Distribution and Quality of Organic Carbon in Soil along an Elevation Gradient on Wuyi Mountain in China.

PubMed

Li, Liguang; Vogel, Jason; He, Zhenli; Zou, Xiaoming; Ruan, Honghua; Huang, Wei; Wang, Jiashe; Bianchi, Thomas S

2016-01-01

Forest soils play a critical role in the sequestration of atmospheric CO2 and subsequent attenuation of global warming. The nature and properties of organic matter in soils have an influence on the sequestration of carbon. In this study, soils were collected from representative forestlands, including a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest (EBF), a coniferous forest (CF), a subalpine dwarf forest (DF), and alpine meadow (AM) along an elevation gradient on Wuyi Mountain, which is located in a subtropical area of southeastern China. These soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory to examine the distribution and speciation of organic carbon (OC) within different size fractions of water-stable soil aggregates, and subsequently to determine effects on carbon sequestration. Soil aggregation rate increased with increasing elevation. Soil aggregation rate, rather than soil temperature, moisture or clay content, showed the strongest correlation with OC in bulk soil, indicating soil structure was the critical factor in carbon sequestration of Wuyi Mountain. The content of coarse particulate organic matter fraction, rather than the silt and clay particles, represented OC stock in bulk soil and different soil aggregate fractions. With increasing soil aggregation rate, more carbon was accumulated within the macroaggregates, particularly within the coarse particulate organic matter fraction (250-2000 μm), rather than within the microaggregates (53-250μm) or silt and clay particles (< 53μm). In consideration of the high instability of macroaggregates and the liability of SOC within them, further research is needed to verify whether highly-aggregated soils at higher altitudes are more likely to lose SOC under warmer conditions.

Association of Soil Aggregation with the Distribution and Quality of Organic Carbon in Soil along an Elevation Gradient on Wuyi Mountain in China

PubMed Central

Li, Liguang; Vogel, Jason; He, Zhenli; Zou, Xiaoming; Ruan, Honghua; Huang, Wei; Wang, Jiashe; Bianchi, Thomas S.

2016-01-01

Forest soils play a critical role in the sequestration of atmospheric CO2 and subsequent attenuation of global warming. The nature and properties of organic matter in soils have an influence on the sequestration of carbon. In this study, soils were collected from representative forestlands, including a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest (EBF), a coniferous forest (CF), a subalpine dwarf forest (DF), and alpine meadow (AM) along an elevation gradient on Wuyi Mountain, which is located in a subtropical area of southeastern China. These soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory to examine the distribution and speciation of organic carbon (OC) within different size fractions of water-stable soil aggregates, and subsequently to determine effects on carbon sequestration. Soil aggregation rate increased with increasing elevation. Soil aggregation rate, rather than soil temperature, moisture or clay content, showed the strongest correlation with OC in bulk soil, indicating soil structure was the critical factor in carbon sequestration of Wuyi Mountain. The content of coarse particulate organic matter fraction, rather than the silt and clay particles, represented OC stock in bulk soil and different soil aggregate fractions. With increasing soil aggregation rate, more carbon was accumulated within the macroaggregates, particularly within the coarse particulate organic matter fraction (250–2000 μm), rather than within the microaggregates (53–250μm) or silt and clay particles (< 53μm). In consideration of the high instability of macroaggregates and the liability of SOC within them, further research is needed to verify whether highly-aggregated soils at higher altitudes are more likely to lose SOC under warmer conditions. PMID:26964101

Sympodial bamboo species differ in carbon bio-sequestration and stocks within phytoliths of leaf litters and living leaves.

PubMed

Xiang, Tingting; Ying, Yuqi; Teng, Jiangnan; Huang, Zhangting; Wu, Jiasen; Meng, Cifu; Jiang, Peikun; Tang, Caixian; Li, Jianmin; Zheng, Rong

2016-10-01

Phytolith-occluded carbon (PhytOC) with high resistance against decomposition is an important carbon (C) sink in many ecosystems. This study compared concentrations of phytolith in plants and the PhytOC production of seven sympodial bamboo species in southern China, aiming to provide the information for the managed bamboo plantation and selection of bamboo species to maximize phytolith C sequestration. Leaf litters and living leaves of seven sympodial bamboo species were collected from the field sites. Concentrations of phytoliths, silicon (Si), and PhytOC in leaf litters and living leaves were measured. Carbon sequestration as PhytOC was estimated. There was a considerable variation in the PhytOC concentrations in the leaf litters and living leaves among the seven bamboo species. The mean concentrations of PhytOC ranged from 3.4 to 6.9 g kg(-1) in leaf litters and from 1.6 to 5.9 g kg(-1) in living leaves, with the PhytOC production rates ranging from 5.7 to 52.3 kg e-CO2 ha(-1) year(-1) as leaf litters. Dendrocalamopsis oldhami (Munro) Keng f. had the highest PhytOC production rate. Based on a bio-sequestration rate of 52.3 kg e-CO2 ha(-1) year(-1), we estimated that the current 8 × 10(5) ha of sympodial bamboo stands in China could potentially acquire 4.2 × 10(4) t e-CO2 yearly via phytolith carbon. Furthermore, the seven sympodial bamboo species stored 5.38 × 10(5) t e-CO2 as PhytOC in living leaves and leaf litters in China. It is concluded that sympodial bamboos make a significant contribution to C sequestration and that to maximize the PhytOC accumulation, the bamboo species with the highest PhytOC production rate should be selected for plantation.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brian McPherson

The Southwest Partnership on Carbon Sequestration completed its Phase I program in December 2005. The main objective of the Southwest Partnership Phase I project was to evaluate and demonstrate the means for achieving an 18% reduction in carbon intensity by 2012. Many other goals were accomplished on the way to this objective, including (1) analysis of CO{sub 2} storage options in the region, including characterization of storage capacities and transportation options, (2) analysis and summary of CO{sub 2} sources, (3) analysis and summary of CO{sub 2} separation and capture technologies employed in the region, (4) evaluation and ranking of themore » most appropriate sequestration technologies for capture and storage of CO{sub 2} in the Southwest Region, (5) dissemination of existing regulatory/permitting requirements, and (6) assessing and initiating public knowledge and acceptance of possible sequestration approaches. Results of the Southwest Partnership's Phase I evaluation suggested that the most convenient and practical ''first opportunities'' for sequestration would lie along existing CO{sub 2} pipelines in the region. Action plans for six Phase II validation tests in the region were developed, with a portfolio that includes four geologic pilot tests distributed among Utah, New Mexico, and Texas. The Partnership will also conduct a regional terrestrial sequestration pilot program focusing on improved terrestrial MMV methods and reporting approaches specific for the Southwest region. The sixth and final validation test consists of a local-scale terrestrial pilot involving restoration of riparian lands for sequestration purposes. The validation test will use desalinated waters produced from one of the geologic pilot tests. The Southwest Regional Partnership comprises a large, diverse group of expert organizations and individuals specializing in carbon sequestration science and engineering, as well as public policy and outreach. These partners include 21 state government agencies and universities, five major electric utility companies, seven oil, gas and coal companies, three federal agencies, the Navajo Nation, several NGOs, and the Western Governors Association. This group is continuing its work in the Phase II Validation Program, slated to conclude in 2009.« less

Carbon sequestration and fertility after centennial time scale incorporation of charcoal into soil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Criscuoli, Irene; Alberti, Giorgio; Baronti, Silvia; Favilli, Filippo; Martinez, Cristina; Calzolari, Costanza; Pusceddu, Emanuela; Rumpel, Cornelia; Viola, Roberto; Miglietta, Franco

2014-05-01

The addition of pyrogenic carbon (C) in the soil is considered a sustainable strategy to achieve direct C sequestration and potential reduction of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper, we investigated the long term effects of charcoal addition on C sequestration and soil chemico-physical properties by studying a series of abandoned charcoal hearths in the Eastern Alps established in the XIX century. This natural setting can be seen as an analogue of a deliberate experiment with replications. Carbon sequestration was assessed indirectly by comparing the amount of C present in the hearths with the estimated amount of charcoal that was left on the soil after the carbonization. Approximately 80% of the C originally added to the soil via charcoal can still be found today, thus supporting the view that charcoal incorporation is an effective way to sequester atmospheric CO2. We also observed an improvement in the physical properties (hydrophobicity and bulk density) of charcoal hearth soils and an accumulation of nutrients compared to the adjacent soil without charcoal. Then, we focused on the morphological and physical characterization of several fragments, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Such study enabled the identification of peculiar morphological features of tracheids, which were tentatively associated to a differential oxidation of the structures that were created during carbonization from lignine and cellulose. In order to assess the effect of soil-aging we compared the old-biochar with a modern one obtained from the same feedstock and with similar carbonization process. XRD and XRF analysis were performed on both old and modern biochar, in order to study the multiphase crystalline structure and chemical elements found. We observed mineralization and a fossilization of old biochar samples respect to the modern ones, with accumulation of several mineral oxides and a substantial presence of quartz. A graphene structure was also found, indicating weak bonds in the carbon structures, explained by inter-molecular Van der Waals forces. Furthermore, we have detected a graphite oxide structure responsible of the bending effect in the tracheid, revealed in SEM images. We consider that those results may contribute to the ongoing debate on the best, most suitable geo-engineering strategies that can potentially enable effective and sustainable carbon sequestration in agricultural soils using biochar.

Anthropogenic Impacts on Biological Carbon Sequestration in the Coastal Waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiao, N.

2016-02-01

The well-known biological mechanism for carbon sequestration in the ocean is the biological pump (BP) which is driven by primary production initially in the surface water and then dependent on particulate organic carbon sinking process in the water column. In contrast microbial carbon pump (MCP) depends on microbial transformation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to refractory DOC (RDOC).Although the BP and the MCP are distinct mechanisms, they are intertwined. Both mechanisms should be considered regarding maximum sequestration of carbon in the ocean. Recent studies have showed that excess nutrients could facilitate the uptake of DOC and enhance both bacterial production and respiration. Bacterial growth efficiency increases with increasing nitrogen concentration to certain levels and then decreases thereafter, while the remaining DOC in the water usually decreases with increasing nitrogen concentration, suggesting that excess nitrogen could simulate uptake of DOC in the environment and thus have negative impacts on the ocean DOC storage.This is somehow against the case of the BP which is known to increase with increasing availability of nutrients. Another responsible factor is the nature of algal products. If it is labile, the organic carbon cannot be preserved in the environment.On top of that, labile organic carbon has priming effects for river discharged semi-labile DOC for bacterial respiration.That is, labile organic matter will become the incubator for bacteria. While bacteria respire DOC into CO2, they consume oxygen, and finally result in hypoxia. Under anoxic condition, anaerobic bacteria successively work on the rest of the organic carbon and produce harmful gasses such as methane and H2S. Such story did have happened during geological events in the history of the earth. The above processes not only result in ecological disasters but also reduce the capacity of carbon sequestration in the ocean. To achieve maximum carbon sinks, both BP and MCP should be considered in management, especially in the coastal waters where eutrophication and hypoxia are severe. Currently, farm over-fertilization is found world widely to be responsible for coastal water eutrophication. Therefore nutrients input must be under control for optimum outputs of the sum of BP and MCP towards sustainable coastal ecosystems.

BIG SKY CARBON SEQUESTRATION PARTNERSHIP

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Susan M. Capalbo

2004-10-31

The Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership, led by Montana State University, is comprised of research institutions, public entities and private sectors organizations, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Nez Perce Tribe. Efforts under this Partnership fall into four areas: evaluation of sources and carbon sequestration sinks; development of GIS-based reporting framework; designing an integrated suite of monitoring, measuring, and verification technologies; and initiating a comprehensive education and outreach program. At the first two Partnership meetings the groundwork was put in place to provide an assessment of capture and storage capabilities for CO{sub 2} utilizing the resources foundmore » in the Partnership region (both geological and terrestrial sinks), that would complement the ongoing DOE research. During the third quarter, planning efforts are underway for the next Partnership meeting which will showcase the architecture of the GIS framework and initial results for sources and sinks, discuss the methods and analysis underway for assessing geological and terrestrial sequestration potentials. The meeting will conclude with an ASME workshop. The region has a diverse array of geological formations that could provide storage options for carbon in one or more of its three states. Likewise, initial estimates of terrestrial sinks indicate a vast potential for increasing and maintaining soil C on forested, agricultural, and reclaimed lands. Both options include the potential for offsetting economic benefits to industry and society. Steps have been taken to assure that the GIS-based framework is consistent among types of sinks within the Big Sky Partnership area and with the efforts of other western DOE partnerships. Efforts are also being made to find funding to include Wyoming in the coverage areas for both geological and terrestrial sinks and sources. The Partnership recognizes the critical importance of measurement, monitoring, and verification technologies to support not only carbon trading but all policies and programs that DOE and other agencies may want to pursue in support of GHG mitigation. The efforts begun in developing and implementing MMV technologies for geological sequestration reflect this concern. Research is also underway to identify and validate best management practices for soil C in the Partnership region, and to design a risk/cost effectiveness framework to make comparative assessments of each viable sink, taking into account economic costs, offsetting benefits, scale of sequestration opportunities, spatial and time dimensions, environmental risks, and long-term viability. Scientifically sound information on MMV is critical for public acceptance of these technologies. Two key deliverables were completed in the second quarter--a literature review/database to assess the soil carbon on rangelands, and the draft protocols, contracting options for soil carbon trading. The protocols developed for soil carbon trading are unique and provide a key component of the mechanisms that might be used to efficiently sequester GHG and reduce CO{sub 2} concentrations. While no key deliverables were due during the third quarter, progress on other deliverables is noted in the PowerPoint presentations and in this report. A series of meetings held during the second and third quarters have laid the foundations for assessing the issues surrounding carbon sequestration in this region, the need for a holistic approach to meeting energy demands and economic development potential, and the implementation of government programs or a market-based setting for soil C credits. These meetings provide a connection to stakeholders in the region and a basis on which to draw for the DOE PEIS hearings. In the fourth quarter, three deliverables have been completed, some in draft form to be revised and updated to include Wyoming. This is due primarily to some delays in funding to LANL and INEEL and the approval of a supplemental proposal to include Wyoming in much of the GIS data sets, analysis, and related materials. The deliverables are discussed in the following sections and greater details are provided in the materials that are attached to this report. In August 2004, a presentation was made to Pioneer Hi-Bred, discussing the Partnership and the synergies with terrestrial sequestration, agricultural industries, and ongoing, complimentary USDA efforts. The Partnership organized a Carbon session at the INRA 2004 Environmental and Subsurface Science Symposium in September 2004; also in September, a presentation was made to the Wyoming Carbon Sequestration Advisory Committee, followed up with a roundtable discussion.« less

Incorporating changes in albedo in estimating the climate mitigation benefits of land use change projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bird, D. N.; Kunda, M.; Mayer, A.; Schlamadinger, B.; Canella, L.; Johnston, M.

2008-04-01

Some climate scientists are questioning whether the practice of converting of non-forest lands to forest land (afforestation or reforestation) is an effective climate change mitigation option. The discussion focuses particularly on areas where the new forest is primarily coniferous and there is significant amount of snow since the increased climate forcing due to the change in albedo may counteract the decreased climate forcing due to carbon dioxide removal. In this paper, we develop a stand-based model that combines changes in surface albedo, solar radiation, latitude, cloud cover and carbon sequestration. As well, we develop a procedure to convert carbon stock changes to equivalent climatic forcing or climatic forcing to equivalent carbon stock changes. Using the model, we investigate the sensitivity of combined affects of changes in surface albedo and carbon stock changes to model parameters. The model is sensitive to amount of cloud, atmospheric absorption, timing of canopy closure, carbon sequestration rate among other factors. The sensitivity of the model is investigated at one Canadian site, and then the model is tested at numerous sites across Canada. In general, we find that the change in albedo reduces the carbon sequestration benefits by approximately 30% over 100 years, but this is not drastic enough to suggest that one should not use afforestation or reforestation as a climate change mitigation option. This occurs because the forests grow in places where there is significant amount of cloud in winter. As well, variations in sequestration rate seem to be counterbalanced by the amount and timing of canopy closure. We close by speculating that the effects of albedo may also be significant in locations at lower latitudes, where there are less clouds, and where there are extended dry seasons. These conditions make grasses light coloured and when irrigated crops, dark forests or other vegetation such as biofuels replace the grasses, the change in carbon stocks may not compensate for the darkening of the surface.

RESTORING SUSTAINABLE FORESTS ON APPALACHIAN MINED LANDS FOR WOOD PRODUCTS, RENEWABLE ENERGY, CARBON SEQUESTRATION, AND OTHER ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

James A. Burger; J. Galbraith; T. Fox

2005-06-08

The overall purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological and economic feasibility of restoring high-quality forests on mined land, and to measure carbon sequestration and wood production benefits that would be achieved from forest restoration procedures. We are currently estimating the acreage of lands in VA, WV, KY, OH, and PA mined under SMCRA and reclaimed to non-forested post-mining land uses that are not currently under active management, and therefore can be considered as available for carbon sequestration. To determine actual sequestration under different forest management scenarios, a field study was installed as a 3 x 3 factorialmore » in a random complete block design with three replications at each of three locations, Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia. The treatments included three forest types (white pine, hybrid poplar, mixed hardwood) and three silvicultural regimes (competition control, competition control plus tillage, competition control plus tillage plus fertilization). Each individual treatment plot is 0.5 acres. Each block of nine plots is 4.5 acres, and the complete installation at each site is 13.5 acres. During the reporting period we compiled and evaluated all soil properties measured on the study sites. Statistical analysis of the properties was conducted, and first year survival and growth of white pine, hybrid poplars, and native hardwoods was assessed. Hardwood species survived better at all sites than white pine or hybrid poplar. Hardwood survival across treatments was 80%, 85%, and 50% for sites in Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio, respectively, while white pine survival was 27%, 41%, and 58%, and hybrid poplar survival was 37%, 41%, and 72% for the same sites, respectively. Hybrid poplar height and diameter growth were superior to those of the other species tested, with the height growth of this species reaching 126.6cm after one year in the most intensive treatment at the site in Virginia. To determine carbon in soils on these sites, we developed a cost-effective method for partitioning total soil carbon to pedogenic carbon and geogenic carbon in mine soils. We are in the process of evaluating the accuracy and precision of the proposed carbon partitioning technique for which we are designing an experiment with carefully constructed mine soil samples. In a second effort, as part of a mined land reforestation project for carbon sequestration in southwestern Virginia we implemented the first phase of the carbon monitoring protocol that was recently delivered to DOE.« less

Molecular and Metabolic Mechanisms of Carbon Sequestration in Marine Thrombolites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mobberley, Jennifer

2013-01-01

The overall goal of my dissertation project has been to examine the molecular processes underlying carbon sequestration in lithifying microbial ecosystems, known as thrombolitic mats, and assess their feasibility for use in bioregenerative life support systems. The results of my research and education efforts funded by the Graduate Student Researchers Program can be summarized in four peer-reviewed research publication, one educational publication, two papers in preparation, and six research presentations at local and national science meetings (see below for specific details).

Soil carbon sequestration by three perennial legume pastures is greater in deeper soil layers than in the surface soil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guan, X.-K.; Turner, N. C.; Song, L.; Gu, Y.-J.; Wang, T.-C.; Li, F.-M.

2015-07-01

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a vital role as both a sink for and source of atmospheric carbon. Revegetation of degraded arable land in China is expected to increase soil carbon sequestration, but the role of perennial legumes on soil carbon stocks in semiarid areas has not been quantified. In this study, we assessed the effect of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and two locally adapted forage legumes, bush clover (Lespedeza davurica S.) and milk vetch (Astragalus adsurgens Pall.) on the SOC concentration and SOC stock accumulated annually over a 2 m soil profile, and to estimate the long-term potential for SOC sequestration in the soil under the three forage legumes. The results showed that the concentration of SOC of the bare soil decreased slightly over the 7 years, while 7 years of legume growth substantially increased the concentration of SOC over the 0-2.0 m soil depth measured. Over the 7 year growth period the SOC stocks increased by 24.1, 19.9 and 14.6 Mg C ha-1 under the alfalfa, bush clover and milk vetch stands, respectively, and decreased by 4.2 Mg C ha-1 under bare soil. The sequestration of SOC in the 1-2 m depth of soil accounted for 79, 68 and 74 % of SOC sequestered through the upper 2 m of soil under alfalfa, bush clover and milk vetch, respectively. Conversion of arable land to perennial legume pasture resulted in a significant increase in SOC, particularly at soil depths below 1 m.

Carbon sequestration in managed temperate coniferous forests under climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dymond, Caren C.; Beukema, Sarah; Nitschke, Craig R.; Coates, K. David; Scheller, Robert M.

2016-03-01

Management of temperate forests has the potential to increase carbon sinks and mitigate climate change. However, those opportunities may be confounded by negative climate change impacts. We therefore need a better understanding of climate change alterations to temperate forest carbon dynamics before developing mitigation strategies. The purpose of this project was to investigate the interactions of species composition, fire, management, and climate change in the Copper-Pine Creek valley, a temperate coniferous forest with a wide range of growing conditions. To do so, we used the LANDIS-II modelling framework including the new Forest Carbon Succession extension to simulate forest ecosystems under four different productivity scenarios, with and without climate change effects, until 2050. Significantly, the new extension allowed us to calculate the net sector productivity, a carbon accounting metric that integrates aboveground and belowground carbon dynamics, disturbances, and the eventual fate of forest products. The model output was validated against literature values. The results implied that the species optimum growing conditions relative to current and future conditions strongly influenced future carbon dynamics. Warmer growing conditions led to increased carbon sinks and storage in the colder and wetter ecoregions but not necessarily in the others. Climate change impacts varied among species and site conditions, and this indicates that both of these components need to be taken into account when considering climate change mitigation activities and adaptive management. The introduction of a new carbon indicator, net sector productivity, promises to be useful in assessing management effectiveness and mitigation activities.

Does peatland restoration make a difference to the millennial scale carbon balance?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quillet, Anne; Roulet, Nigel; Wu, Jianghua

2017-04-01

Millennial peatland carbon balance is of crucial importance to assess the past and future forcing of peatlands carbon sequestration on climate. However drainage and exploitation of peatlands over the last and current centuries greatly affect the carbon balance of 25% of the global peatlands (Parish et al. 2008). Moreover, the impact of drainage is likely to remain for unforeseeable time, modifying the hydrology and the ecology of peatlands. The aim of this study is to assess the influence on the long-term carbon balance of restoration practices over abandonment on vacuum-extracted peatlands. We modified the Holocene Peat Model (Frolking et al. 2010) to simulate peat extraction as well as different post-extraction management strategies: abandonment, drainage blocking and restoration. Simulation results enable the comparison of the response of the system to different management strategies. The carbon balance is estimated for the millennia following extraction for different management strategies and different climate conditions. The difference between restoration practices and abandonment allows the assessment of the net carbon gain associated with restoration. Although it is expected that successful restoration practices are beneficial to the carbon budget of the ecosystem, it will take millennia to restore what has been extracted. In cases where the site is left abandoned, it is estimated that peat would degrade within centuries. The management strategies and the duration of the period of latency between extraction and restoration are key factors controlling the magnitude of the future carbon loss or gain of a peatland.

Climate Change Impacts on Forest Succession and Future Productivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohan, J. E.; Melillo, J. M.; Clark, J. S.; Schlesinger, W. H.

2012-12-01

Change in ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics with forest succession is a long-studied topic in ecology, and secondary forests currently comprise a significant proportion of the global land base. Although mature forests are generally more important for conserving species and habitats, early successional trees and stands typically have higher rates of productivity, including net ecosystem productivity (NEP), which represents carbon available for sequestration. Secondary forests undergoing successional development are thus major players in the current global carbon cycle, yet how forests will function in the future under warmer conditions with higher atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations is unknown. Future forest C dynamics will depend, in part, on future species composition. Data from "Forests of the Future" research in a number of global change experiments provide insights into how forests may look in terms of dominant species composition, and thus function, in a future world. Studies at Free-Air Carbon Dioxide (FACE) experiments at Duke Forest and other facilities, plus climate warming experiments such as those at the Harvard Forest, suggest a common underlying principle of vegetation responses to environmental manipulation: Namely, that shade-tolerant woody species associating with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi show greater growth stimulation than ectomycorrhizal-associating (ECM) trees which are more common in temperate and boreal forests (Fig. 1 of relative growth rates standardized by pre-treatment rates). This may be due in part to the role of AM fungi in obtaining soil phosphorus and inorganic forms of nitrogen for plant associates. In combination, these results suggest a shift in future forest composition towards less-productive tree species that generally acquire atmospheric CO2 at lower annual rates, as well as a competitive advantage extended to woody vines such as poison ivy. Due to higher atmospheric CO2 and warmer temperatures, forests of the future may become less-productive than those of today.

Managing carbon sequestration and storage in northern hardwood forests

Treesearch

Eunice A. Padley; Deahn M. Donner; Karin S. Fassnacht; Ronald S. Zalesny; Bruce Birr; Karl J. Martin

2011-01-01

Carbon has an important role in sustainable forest management, contributing to functions that maintain site productivity, nutrient cycling, and soil physical properties. Forest management practices can alter ecosystem carbon allocation as well as the amount of total site carbon.

CARBON IN FORESTS: QUALITY MATTERS

EPA Science Inventory

The nature of carbon in forests is discussed from the perspective of carbon sequestration and global climate change. Carbon inventories, specifically in the area of land use and forestry are reviewed for the Pacific Northwest. Areas vulnerable to climate change with respect to ca...

Carbon dioxide sequestration induced mineral precipitation healing of fractured reservoir seals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Welch, N.; Crawshaw, J.

2017-12-01

Initial experiments and the thermodynaic basis for carbon dioxide sequestration induced mineral precipitation healing of fractures through reservoir seals will be presented. The basis of this work is the potential exists for the dissolution of reservoir host rock formation carbonate minerals in the acidified injection front of CO2 during sequestration or EOR. This enriched brine and the bulk CO2 phase will then flow through the reservoir until contact with the reservoir seal. At this point any fractures present in the reservoir seal will be the preferential flow path for the bulk CO2 phase as well as the acidified brine front. These fractures would currently be filled with non-acidified brine saturated in seal formation brine. When the acidifeid brine from the host formation and the cap rock brine mix there is the potential for minerals to fall out of solution, and for these precipitated minerals to decrease or entirely cut off the fluid flow through the fractures present in a reservoir seal. Initial equilibrium simulations performed using the PHREEQC1 database drived from the PHREEQE2 database are used to show the favorable conditions under which this mineral precipitation can occurs. Bench scale fluid mixing experiments were then performed to determine the kinetics of the mineral precipitation process, and determine the progress of future experiemnts involving fluid flow within fractured anhydrite reservoir seal samples. 1Parkhurst, D.L., and Appelo, C.A.J., 2013, Description of input and examples for PHREEQC version 3—A computer program for speciation, batch-reaction, one-dimensional transport, and inverse geochemical calculations: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods, book 6, chap. A43, 497 p., available only at https://pubs.usgs.gov/tm/06/a43/. 2Parkhurst, David L., Donald C. Thorstenson, and L. Niel Plummer. PHREEQE: a computer program for geochemical calculations. No. 80-96. US Geological Survey, Water Resources Division,, 1980.

U.S. Department of Energy's site screening, site selection, and initial characterization for storage of CO2 in deep geological formations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rodosta, T.D.; Litynski, J.T.; Plasynski, S.I.; Hickman, S.; Frailey, S.; Myer, L.

2011-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is the lead Federal agency for the development and deployment of carbon sequestration technologies. As part of its mission to facilitate technology transfer and develop guidelines from lessons learned, DOE is developing a series of best practice manuals (BPMs) for carbon capture and storage (CCS). The "Site Screening, Site Selection, and Initial Characterization for Storage of CO2 in Deep Geological Formations" BPM is a compilation of best practices and includes flowchart diagrams illustrating the general decision making process for Site Screening, Site Selection, and Initial Characterization. The BPM integrates the knowledge gained from various programmatic efforts, with particular emphasis on the Characterization Phase through pilot-scale CO2 injection testing of the Validation Phase of the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (RCSP) Initiative. Key geologic and surface elements that suitable candidate storage sites should possess are identified, along with example Site Screening, Site Selection, and Initial Characterization protocols for large-scale geologic storage projects located across diverse geologic and regional settings. This manual has been written as a working document, establishing a framework and methodology for proper site selection for CO2 geologic storage. This will be useful for future CO2 emitters, transporters, and storage providers. It will also be of use in informing local, regional, state, and national governmental agencies of best practices in proper sequestration site selection. Furthermore, it will educate the inquisitive general public on options and processes for geologic CO2 storage. In addition to providing best practices, the manual presents a geologic storage resource and capacity classification system. The system provides a "standard" to communicate storage and capacity estimates, uncertainty and project development risk, data guidelines and analyses for adequate site characterization, and guidelines for reporting estimates within the classification based on each project's status. 

Response to droughts and heat waves of the productivity of natural and agricultural ecosystems in Europe within ISI-MIP2 historical simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

François, Louis; Henrot, Alexandra-Jane; Dury, Marie; Jacquemin, Ingrid; Munhoven, Guy; Friend, Andrew; Rademacher, Tim T.; Hacket Pain, Andrew J.; Hickler, Thomas; Tian, Hanqin; Morfopoulos, Catherine; Ostberg, Sebastian; Chang, Jinfeng; Rafique, Rashid; Nishina, Kazuya

2016-04-01

According to the projections of climate models, extreme events such as droughts and heat waves are expected to become more frequent and more severe in the future. Such events are known to severely impact the productivity of both natural and agricultural ecosystems, and hence to affect ecosystem services such as crop yield and ecosystem carbon sequestration potential. Dynamic vegetation models are conventional tools to evaluate the productivity and carbon sequestration of ecosystems and their response to climate change. However, how far are these models able to correctly represent the sensitivity of ecosystems to droughts and heat waves? How do the responses of natural and agricultural ecosystems compare to each other, in terms of drought-induced changes in productivity and carbon sequestration? In this contribution, we use ISI-MIP2 model historical simulations from the biome sector to tentatively answer these questions. Nine dynamic vegetation models have participated in the biome sector intercomparison of ISI-MIP2: CARAIB, DLEM, HYBRID, JULES, LPJ-GUESS, LPJml, ORCHIDEE, VEGAS and VISIT. We focus the analysis on well-marked droughts or heat waves that occured in Europe after 1970, such as the 1976, 2003 and 2010 events. For most recent studied events, the model results are compared to the response observed at several eddy covariance sites in Europe, and, at a larger scale, to the changes in crop productivities reported in national statistics or to the drought impacts on gross primary productivity derived from satellite data (Terra MODIS instrument). The sensitivity of the models to the climatological dataset used in the simulations, as well as to the inclusion or not of anthropogenic land use, is also analysed within the studied events. Indeed, the ISI-MIP simulations have been run with four different historical climatic forcings, as well as for several land use/land cover configurations (natural vegetation, fixed land use and variable land use).

Carbon Storages in Plantation Ecosystems in Sand Source Areas of North Beijing, China

PubMed Central

Liu, Xiuping; Zhang, Wanjun; Cao, Jiansheng; Shen, Huitao; Zeng, Xinhua; Yu, Zhiqiang; Zhao, Xin

2013-01-01

Afforestation is a mitigation option to reduce the increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels as well as the predicted high possibility of climate change. In this paper, vegetation survey data, statistical database, National Forest Resource Inventory database, and allometric equations were used to estimate carbon density (carbon mass per hectare) and carbon storage, and identify the size and spatial distribution of forest carbon sinks in plantation ecosystems in sand source areas of north Beijing, China. From 2001 to the end of 2010, the forest areas increased more than 2.3 million ha, and total carbon storage in forest ecosystems was 173.02 Tg C, of which 82.80 percent was contained in soil in the top 0–100 cm layer. Younger forests have a large potential for enhancing carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems than older ones. Regarding future afforestation efforts, it will be more effective to increase forest area and vegetation carbon density through selection of appropriate tree species and stand structure according to local climate and soil conditions, and application of proper forest management including land-shaping, artificial tending and fencing plantations. It would be also important to protect the organic carbon in surface soils during forest management. PMID:24349223

Fundamentals of carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR): a supporting document of the assessment methodology for hydrocarbon recovery using CO2-EOR associated with carbon sequestration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Verma, Mahendra K.

2015-01-01

The objective of this report is to provide basic technical information regarding the CO2-EOR process, which is at the core of the assessment methodology, to estimate the technically recoverable oil within the fields of the identified sedimentary basins of the United States. Emphasis is on CO2-EOR because this is currently one technology being considered as an ultimate long-term geologic storage solution for CO2 owing to its economic profitability from incremental oil production offsetting the cost of carbon sequestration.

Geophysical monitoring technology for CO2 sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Jin-Feng; Li, Lin; Wang, Hao-Fan; Tan, Ming-You; Cui, Shi-Ling; Zhang, Yun-Yin; Qu, Zhi-Peng; Jia, Ling-Yun; Zhang, Shu-Hai

2016-06-01

Geophysical techniques play key roles in the measuring, monitoring, and verifying the safety of CO2 sequestration and in identifying the efficiency of CO2-enhanced oil recovery. Although geophysical monitoring techniques for CO2 sequestration have grown out of conventional oil and gas geophysical exploration techniques, it takes a long time to conduct geophysical monitoring, and there are many barriers and challenges. In this paper, with the initial objective of performing CO2 sequestration, we studied the geophysical tasks associated with evaluating geological storage sites and monitoring CO2 sequestration. Based on our review of the scope of geophysical monitoring techniques and our experience in domestic and international carbon capture and sequestration projects, we analyzed the inherent difficulties and our experiences in geophysical monitoring techniques, especially, with respect to 4D seismic acquisition, processing, and interpretation.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

James P. Barry; Peter G. Brewer

OAK-B135 This report summarizes activities and results of investigations of the potential environmental consequences of direct injection of carbon dioxide into the deep-sea as a carbon sequestration method. Results of field experiments using small scale in situ releases of liquid CO2 are described in detail. The major conclusions of these experiments are that mortality rates of deep sea biota will vary depending on the concentrations of CO2 in deep ocean waters that result from a carbon sequestration project. Large changes in seawater acidity and carbon dioxide content near CO2 release sites will likely cause significant harm to deep-sea marine life.more » Smaller changes in seawater chemistry at greater distances from release sites will be less harmful, but may result in significant ecosystem changes.« less

A national look at carbon capture and storage-National carbon sequestration database and geographical information system (NatCarb)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, T.R.; Iqbal, A.; Callaghan, N.; ,; Look, K.; Saving, S.; Nelson, K.

2009-01-01

The US Department of Energy's Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs) are responsible for generating geospatial data for the maps displayed in the Carbon Sequestration Atlas of the United States and Canada. Key geospatial data (carbon sources, potential storage sites, transportation, land use, etc.) are required for the Atlas, and for efficient implementation of carbon sequestration on a national and regional scale. The National Carbon Sequestration Database and Geographical Information System (NatCarb) is a relational database and geographic information system (GIS) that integrates carbon storage data generated and maintained by the RCSPs and various other sources. The purpose of NatCarb is to provide a national view of the carbon capture and storage potential in the U.S. and Canada. The digital spatial database allows users to estimate the amount of CO2 emitted by sources (such as power plants, refineries and other fossil-fuel-consuming industries) in relation to geologic formations that can provide safe, secure storage sites over long periods of time. The NatCarb project is working to provide all stakeholders with improved online tools for the display and analysis of CO2 carbon capture and storage data. NatCarb is organizing and enhancing the critical information about CO2 sources and developing the technology needed to access, query, model, analyze, display, and distribute natural resource data related to carbon management. Data are generated, maintained and enhanced locally at the RCSP level, or at specialized data warehouses, and assembled, accessed, and analyzed in real-time through a single geoportal. NatCarb is a functional demonstration of distributed data-management systems that cross the boundaries between institutions and geographic areas. It forms the first step toward a functioning National Carbon Cyberinfrastructure (NCCI). NatCarb provides access to first-order information to evaluate the costs, economic potential and societal issues of CO2 capture and storage, including public perception and regulatory aspects. NatCarb online access has been modified to address the broad needs of a spectrum of users. NatCarb includes not only GIS and database query tools for high-end user, but simplified display for the general public using readily available web tools such as Google Earth???and Google Maps???. Not only is NatCarb connected to all the RCSPs, but data are also pulled from public servers including the U.S. Geological Survey-EROS Data Center and from the Geography Network. Data for major CO2 sources have been obtained from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) databases, and data on major coal basins and coalbed methane wells were obtained from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). ?? 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Seasonal copepod lipid pump promotes carbon sequestration in the deep North Atlantic

PubMed Central

Jónasdóttir, Sigrún Huld; Visser, André W.; Richardson, Katherine; Heath, Michael R.

2015-01-01

Estimates of carbon flux to the deep oceans are essential for our understanding of global carbon budgets. Sinking of detrital material (“biological pump”) is usually thought to be the main biological component of this flux. Here, we identify an additional biological mechanism, the seasonal “lipid pump,” which is highly efficient at sequestering carbon into the deep ocean. It involves the vertical transport and metabolism of carbon rich lipids by overwintering zooplankton. We show that one species, the copepod Calanus finmarchicus overwintering in the North Atlantic, sequesters an amount of carbon equivalent to the sinking flux of detrital material. The efficiency of the lipid pump derives from a near-complete decoupling between nutrient and carbon cycling—a “lipid shunt,” and its direct transport of carbon through the mesopelagic zone to below the permanent thermocline with very little attenuation. Inclusion of the lipid pump almost doubles the previous estimates of deep-ocean carbon sequestration by biological processes in the North Atlantic. PMID:26338976

Computational Modeling of the Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide

EPA Science Inventory

Geologic sequestration of CO2 is a component of C capture and storage (CCS), an emerging technology for reducing CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, and involves injection of captured CO2 into deep subsurface formations. Similar to the injection of hazardous wastes, before injection...

SUBSURFACE PROPERTY RIGHTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR GEOLOGIC CO2 SEQUESTRATION

EPA Science Inventory

The chapter discusses subsurface property rights as they apply to geologic sequestration (GS) of carbon dioxide (CO2). GS projects inject captured CO2 into deep (greater than ~1 km) geologic formations for the explicit purpose of avoiding atmospheric emission of CO2. Because of t...

Three approaches for estimating recovery factors in carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery

USGS Publications Warehouse

Verma, Mahendra K.

2017-07-17

PrefaceThe Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 authorized the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a national assessment of geologic storage resources for carbon dioxide (CO2) and requested the USGS to estimate the “potential volumes of oil and gas recoverable by injection and sequestration of industrial carbon dioxide in potential sequestration formations” (42 U.S.C. 17271(b)(4)). Geologic CO2 sequestration associated with enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using CO2 in existing hydrocarbon reservoirs has the potential to increase the U.S. hydrocarbon recoverable resource. The objective of this report is to provide detailed information on three approaches that can be used to calculate the incremental recovery factors for CO2-EOR. Therefore, the contents of this report could form an integral part of an assessment methodology that can be used to assess the sedimentary basins of the United States for the hydrocarbon recovery potential using CO2-EOR methods in conventional oil reservoirs.

Guiding U.S. Afforestation Policy through Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mykleby, P.; Snyder, P. K.; Twine, T. E.

2015-12-01

Afforestation has been proposed as a practical and viable solution for curtailing the ever-increasing levels of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere. Individual states and multi-region cooperatives have established initiatives to offset carbon emissions using a variety of strategies, afforestation being one of them. While afforestation provides a positive benefit of increased carbon sequestration, this land cover change also produces a lower surface albedo, which can lead to local warming. Given these competing effects, carbon balance and surface energy budget analyses were performed for the northern United States and southern Canada, to determine where and for how long forest plantations should be planted to provide a positive benefit to the climate system. We use a dynamic vegetation model to analyze the competing effects of increased carbon sequestration versus increased net radiation at the surface from afforestation. In addition to determining where carbon sequestration (biogeochemical) would outweigh albedo (biophysical) effects, we calculate the amount of emissions offset for a variety of land use scenarios. As an example, in the state of Minnesota state officials have mandated that carbon emissions be reduced 80% from 2005 to 2050. While only taking into consideration land that is currently forested by mature forests and grasslands, the state would only offset about 11% of 2005 emissions annually by reforesting this land with younger, more productive forests. This example suggests that a significant amount of agricultural land would need to be converted into forest to make any sizeable offset to statewide greenhouse gas emissions.

Technical Progress Report on Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bill Stanley; Patrick Gonzalez; Sandra Brown

2006-06-30

The Nature Conservancy is participating in a Cooperative Agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to explore the compatibility of carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems and the conservation of biodiversity. The title of the research project is ''Application and Development of Appropriate Tools and Technologies for Cost-Effective Carbon Sequestration''. The objectives of the project are to: (1) improve carbon offset estimates produced in both the planning and implementation phases of projects; (2) build valid and standardized approaches to estimate project carbon benefits at a reasonable cost; and (3) lay the groundwork for implementing cost-effective projects,more » providing new testing ground for biodiversity protection and restoration projects that store additional atmospheric carbon. This Technical Progress Report discusses preliminary results of the six specific tasks that The Nature Conservancy is undertaking to answer research needs while facilitating the development of real projects with measurable greenhouse gas reductions. The research described in this report occurred between April 1st and July 30th 2006. The specific tasks discussed include: Task 1: carbon inventory advancements; Task 2: emerging technologies for remote sensing of terrestrial carbon; Task 3: baseline method development; Task 4: third-party technical advisory panel meetings; Task 5: new project feasibility studies; and Task 6: development of new project software screening tool. Work is being carried out in Brazil, Belize, Chile, Peru and the USA.« less

Carbon and Nitrogen Accumulation Rates in Salt Marshes in Oregon, USA

EPA Science Inventory

Two important ecosystem services of wetlands are carbon sequestration and filtration of nutrients and particulates. We quantified the carbon and nitrogen accumulation rates in salt marshes at 135 plots distributed across eight estuaries located in Oregon, USA. Net carbon and ...

Mitigation of greenhouse gases emissions impact and their influence on terrestrial ecosystem.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wójcik Oliveira, K.; Niedbała, G.

2018-05-01

Nowadays, one of the most important challenges faced by the humanity in the current century is the increasing temperature on Earth, caused by a growing emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Terrestrial ecosystems, as an important component of the carbon cycle, play an important role in the sequestration of carbon, which is a chance to improve the balance of greenhouse gases. Increasing CO2 absorption by terrestrial ecosystems is one way to reduce the atmospheric CO2 emissions. Sequestration of CO2 by terrestrial ecosystems is not yet fully utilized method of mitigating CO2 emission to the atmosphere. Terrestrial ecosystems, especially forests, are essential for the regulation of CO2 content in the atmosphere and more attention should be paid to seeking the natural processes of CO2 sequestration.