Assessment of the Impacts of Different Carbon Sources and Sinks on Atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> Concentrations Based on GEOS-Chem
Global atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations, driven by anthropogenic emissions and natural carbon cycle dynamics, have emerged as a critical accelerator of climate change. However, due to the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of carbon sources and sinks, estimating CO<sub>2</sub...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/6/1009 |
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| Summary: | Global atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations, driven by anthropogenic emissions and natural carbon cycle dynamics, have emerged as a critical accelerator of climate change. However, due to the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of carbon sources and sinks, estimating CO<sub>2</sub> flux remains highly uncertain. Accurately quantifying the contribution of various carbon sources and sinks to atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentration is essential for understanding the carbon cycle and global carbon balance. In this study, GEOS-Chem (version 13.2.1), driven by MERRA-2 meteorological data, was used to simulate monthly global CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations from 2006 to 2010. The model was configured with a horizontal resolution of 2.5° longitude × 2.0° latitude and 47 vertical hybrid-sigma layers up to 0.01 hPa. To evaluate the impact of different emission sources and sinks, the “Inventory switching and replacing” approach was applied, designing a series of numerical experiments in which individual emission sources were selectively disabled. The contributions of eight major CO<sub>2</sub> flux components, including fossil fuel combustion, biomass burning, balanced biosphere, net land exchange, aviation, shipping, ocean exchange, and chemical sources, were quantified by comparing the baseline simulation (BASE) with source-specific perturbation experiments (no_X). The results show that global CO<sub>2</sub> concentration exhibits a spatial pattern with higher concentrations in the Northern Hemisphere and land areas, with East Asia, Southeast Asia, and eastern North America being high-concentration regions. The global average CO<sub>2</sub> concentration increased by 1.8 ppm year<sup>−1</sup> from 2006 to 2010, with China’s eastern region experiencing the highest growth rate of 3.0 ppm year<sup>−1</sup>. Fossil fuel combustion is identified as the largest CO<sub>2</sub> emission source, followed by biomass burning, while oceans and land serve as significant CO<sub>2</sub> sinks. The impact of carbon flux on atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentration is primarily determined by the spatial distribution of emissions, with higher flux intensities in industrialized and biomass-burning regions leading to more pronounced local concentration increases. Conversely, areas with strong carbon sinks, such as forests and oceans, exhibit lower net CO<sub>2</sub> accumulation. |
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| ISSN: | 2072-4292 |