Contribution of anthropogenic land cover change emissions to pre-industrial atmospheric CO2

Christian H. Reick; Thomas Raddatz; Julia Pongratz; Martin Claussen

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0889.2010.00479.x

Contribution of anthropogenic land cover change emissions to pre-industrial atmospheric CO2

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

Volume 62 (2010): Issue 5

By: Christian H. Reick, Thomas Raddatz, Julia Pongratz and Martin Claussen

Open Access

|Jan 2010

Abstract

Based on a recent reconstruction of anthropogenic land cover change (ALCC), we derive the associated CO₂ emissions since 800ADby two independent methods: a bookkeeping approach and a process model. The results are comparedwith the pre-industrial development of atmospheric CO₂ known from antarctic ice cores. Our results show that pre-industrial CO₂ emissions from ALCC have been relevant for the pre-industrial carbon cycle, although before 1750 AD their trace in atmospheric CO₂ is obscured by other processes of similar magnitude. After 1750 AD, the situation is different: the steep increase in atmospheric CO₂ until 1850 AD—this is before fossil fuel emissions rose to significant values—is to a substantial part explained by growing emissions from ALCC.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2010.00479.x | Journal eISSN: 1600-0889

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Language: English

Page range: 329 - 336

Submitted on: Nov 15, 2009

Accepted on: Jun 11, 2010

Published on: Jan 1, 2010

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 2010 Christian H. Reick, Thomas Raddatz, Julia Pongratz, Martin Claussen, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 62 (2010): Issue 5