1. Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Budgets of Europe: Trends, Interannual and Spatial Variability, and Their Drivers
- Author
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Lauerwald, Ronny, Bastos, Ana, McGrath, Matthew J., Petrescu, Ana Maria Roxana, Ritter, François, Andrew, Robbie M., Berchet, Antoine, Broquet, Grégoire, Brunner, Dominik, Chevallier, Frédéric, Cescatti, Alessandro, Filipek, Sara, Fortems‐Cheiney, Audrey, Forzieri, Giovanni, Friedlingstein, Pierre, Fuchs, Richard, Gerbig, Christoph, Houweling, Sander, Ke, Piyu, Lerink, Bas J. W., Li, Wanjing, Li, Wei, Li, Xiaojun, Luijkx, Ingrid, Monteil, Guillaume, Munassar, Saqr, Nabuurs, Gert‐Jan, Patra, Prabir K., Peylin, Philippe, Pongratz, Julia, Regnier, Pierre, Saunois, Marielle, Schelhaas, Mart‐Jan, Scholze, Marko, Sitch, Stephen, Thompson, Rona L., Tian, Hanqin, Tsuruta, Aki, Wilson, Chris, Wigneron, Jean‐Pierre, Yao, Yitong, Zaehle, Sönke, and Ciais, Philippe
- Abstract
In the framework of the RECCAP2 initiative, we present the greenhouse gas (GHG) and carbon (C) budget of Europe. For the decade of the 2010s, we present a bottom‐up (BU) estimate of GHG net‐emissions of 3.9 Pg CO2‐eq. yr−1(using a global warming potential on a 100 years horizon), which are largely dominated by fossil fuel emissions. In this decade, terrestrial ecosystems acted as a net GHG sink of 0.9 Pg CO2‐eq. yr−1, dominated by a CO2sink that was partially counterbalanced by net emissions of CH4and N2O. For CH4and N2O, we find good agreement between BU and top‐down (TD) estimates from atmospheric inversions. However, our BU land CO2sink is significantly higher than the TD estimates. We further show that decadal averages of GHG net‐emissions have declined by 1.2 Pg CO2‐eq. yr−1since the 1990s, mainly due to a reduction in fossil fuel emissions. In addition, based on both data driven BU and TD estimates, we also find that the land CO2sink has weakened over the past two decades. A large part of the European CO2and C sinks is located in Northern Europe. At the same time, we find a decreasing trend in sink strength in Scandinavia, which can be attributed to an increase in forest management intensity. These are partly offset by increasing CO2sinks in parts of Eastern Europe and Northern Spain, attributed in part to land use change. Extensive regions of high CH4and N2O emissions are mainly attributed to agricultural activities and are found in Belgium, the Netherlands and the southern UK. We further analyzed interannual variability in the GHG budgets. The drought year of 2003 shows the highest net‐emissions of CO2and of all GHGs combined. We have synthesized the European budgets of carbon and the greenhouse gases (GHG) carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. This synthesis includes estimates of direct emissions from fossil fuel burning, industrial production, waste management and agriculture, as well as of sources and sinks in the terrestrial biosphere. Summing up the sources and sinks of the three GHGs, we estimate for the decade of the 2010s an average annual net‐emission of 3.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalents. These net‐emissions are dominated by carbon dioxide from fossil fuel emissions (4.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide). In contrast, the terrestrial biosphere acts as a net sink of carbon dioxide, the effect of which is only partly counterbalanced by net emissions of methane and nitrous oxide. The net‐effect of the terrestrial biosphere's GHG budget is a sink of 0.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year. Over the last three decades, European GHG emissions have declined by 1.2 billion tons carbon dioxide equivalents per year, mainly due to reductions in fossil fuel emissions. However, the sink capacity of the terrestrial biosphere has diminished since the 2000s. We provide a bottom‐up estimate of CO2, CH4, N2O emissions of 3.9 Pg CO2‐eq. yr−1over Europe, 2010–2019Terrestrial ecosystems acted as a greenhouse gas net sink of 0.9 Pg CO2‐eq. yr−1, dominated by CO2sinkNet‐greenhouse gas emissions decreased by ∼1/4 since the 1990s, but land carbon sink is weakening since the 2000s We provide a bottom‐up estimate of CO2, CH4, N2O emissions of 3.9 Pg CO2‐eq. yr−1over Europe, 2010–2019 Terrestrial ecosystems acted as a greenhouse gas net sink of 0.9 Pg CO2‐eq. yr−1, dominated by CO2sink Net‐greenhouse gas emissions decreased by ∼1/4 since the 1990s, but land carbon sink is weakening since the 2000s
- Published
- 2024
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