US Climate Change Science Strategy Review Carbon Cycle

1
US Climate Change Science Strategy Review-
Carbon Cycle -

• Suzie Greenhalgh
• World Resources Institute

2
Overall Thoughts

• Questions are logical
• BUT
• There is insufficient detail on each core
  question to truly judge the true worth of the
  strategy

3
Overall Thoughts

• It is an ambitious and expensive research agenda
• Further thought needed on
• partnerships (international, federal, state,
  university, private collaborators)
• definition of research questions
• research priorities (as very expensive)

4
Other general points

• Linkages to other environmental problems is
  important and needs more attention
• Many of the questions are overlapping and could
  be subsumed under other questions- found this
  confusing e.g.
• Q1 is technically a subset of Q3
• The ocean portion of Q1 can be dealt with in Q2

5
Other general points

• Suggestion Divide the research agenda into
• size and magnitude of carbon sources
  (terrestrial, oceanic and atmospheric)
• Physical and biological process affecting the
  carbon cycle (includes landuse change, climate
  feedbacks)
• Economic and social influences to the carbon
  cycle
• Policies for managing carbon

6
Other general points

• The economic and policy influences need to be
  more clearly defined - what are the influences
  and how are they going to be modeled and
  accounted for

7
Some Specifics Question 1

• permanence of the sinks
• spatial variability and need to know how to
  account/address this
• influence on other factors e.g. N cycle -
  availability of N for sinks
• the impact of climate change on North American
  Sinks
• economic and policy decisions

8
Some Specifics Question 2

• specific linkage to the water cycle chapter
  (especially since land based water flows will
  significantly impact oceanic processes)
• any ties to water quality problems such as hypoxia

9
Some Specifics Question 3

• economic and policy influences on the carbon
  sources, esp. the terrestrial sources
• animal based sources
• landfill gas based sources (important with
  growing populations and quantities of disposable
  waste)

10
Some Specifics Question 4

• spatial variability of land use change and
  management practices
• influence of climate change on these choices
• animal sources of emissions (seems to concentrate
  only on carbon sequestration activities)

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Some Specifics Question 6

• ties to and impact of carbon management options
  on other ecosystem services or environmental
  problems e.g. fertilization of oceans on other
  aquatic processes
• carbon management options on freshwater
  ecosystems (many are positive)