The land-to-ocean loops of the global carbon cycle: How much do we know about long-term trends and drivers of changes in CO2 fluxes ?
- 1Biogeochemistry & Modelling of the Earth System-BGEOSYS, Department of Geoscience, Environment and Society, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
- 2Department of Geosciences, High Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- 3Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University, Australia
- 4Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
- 5Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement – UVSQ, UPSaclay, Gif sur Yvette, France
This contribution presents a new view of the global carbon cycle which accounts for the land-to-ocean transport of carbon through inland waters, estuaries, tidal wetlands and continental shelf waters—the ‘land-to-ocean aquatic continuum’ (LOAC). We highlight how biogeochemical and ecological processes from land-to-ocean have been perturbed by human interventions, including atmospheric composition change, climate change and land-use change. The extend to which these anthropogenic perturbations have altered regional and global CO2 budgets and trends along the LOAC are also presented and the knowledge gaps that are key to reduce uncertainties in future assessments of LOAC fluxes are identified. Finally, broader implications regarding the quantification of the terrestrial and open ocean sinks of anthropogenic carbon are briefly discussed
How to cite: Regnier, P., Resplandy, L., Rosentreter, J., Najjar, R., and Ciais, P.: The land-to-ocean loops of the global carbon cycle: How much do we know about long-term trends and drivers of changes in CO2 fluxes ?, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-16001, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-16001, 2023.
