Original Research Papers
Contribution of anthropogenic land cover change emissions to pre-industrial atmospheric CO2
Authors:
- Christian H. ReickEmail Christian H. Reick
- Thomas Raddatz
- Julia Pongratz
- Martin Claussen
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.
- Year: 2010
- Volume: 62 Issue: 5
- Page/Article: 329–336
- DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0889.2010.00479.x
- Submitted on 15 Nov 2009
- Accepted on 11 Jun 2010
- Published on 1 Jan 2010
- Peer Reviewed