Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Global Biogeochemical Cycles
Volume
37
Issue
12
Publisher
Wiley
School
School of Science / Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research
RAS ID
64521
Funders
Funding information : https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GB007845
Abstract
Regional carbon budget assessments attribute and track changes in carbon sources and sinks and support the development and monitoring the efficacy of climate policies. We present a comprehensive assessment of the natural and anthropogenic carbon (C-CO2) fluxes for Australasia as a whole, as well as for Australia and New Zealand individually, for the period from 2010 to 2019, using two approaches: bottom-up methods that integrate flux estimates from land-surface models, data-driven models, and inventory estimates; and top-down atmospheric inversions based on satellite and in situ measurements. Our bottom-up decadal assessment suggests that Australasia's net carbon balance was close to carbon neutral (−0.4 ± 77.0 TgC yr−1). However, substantial uncertainties remain in this estimate, primarily driven by the large spread between our regional terrestrial biosphere simulations and predictions from global ecosystem models. Within Australasia, Australia was a net source of 38.2 ± 75.8 TgC yr−1, and New Zealand was a net CO2 sink of −38.6 ± 13.4 TgC yr−1. The top-down approach using atmospheric CO2 inversions indicates that fluxes derived from the latest satellite retrievals are consistent within the range of uncertainties with Australia's bottom-up budget. For New Zealand, the best agreement was found with a national scale flux inversion estimate based on in situ measurements, which provide better constrained of fluxes than satellite flux inversions. This study marks an important step toward a more comprehensive understanding of the net CO2 balance in both countries, facilitating the improvement of carbon accounting approaches and strategies to reduce emissions.
DOI
10.1029/2023GB007845
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Villalobos, Y., Canadell, J. G., Keller, E. D., Briggs, P. R., Bukosa, B., Giltrap, D. L., . . . Smith, B. (2023). A comprehensive assessment of anthropogenic and natural sources and sinks of Australasia's carbon budget. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 37(12), article e2023GB007845. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GB007845