Airborne fraction
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Airborne fraction
The airborne fraction is a scaling factor defined as the ratio of the annual increase in atmospheric CO2 to the CO2 emissions from anthropogenic sources.[1] It represents the proportion of human emitted CO2 that remains in the atmosphere. The fraction averages about 45%, meaning that approximately half the human-emitted CO2 is absorbed by ocean and land surfaces. There is some evidence for a recent increase in airborne fraction, which would imply a faster increase in atmospheric CO2 for a given rate of human fossil-fuel burning.[2] However, other sources suggest that the "fraction of carbon dioxide has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades".[3][4]
Changes in carbon sinks can affect the airborne fraction.
References
- ^ Forster, P, V Ramaswamy, P Artaxo, et al. (2007) Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcing. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S. et al. (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK & New York, USA.[1]
- ^ Canadell, Josep G.; Corinne Le Quere, Michael R. Raupach, Christopher B. Field, Erik T. Buitenhuis, Philippe Ciais, Thomas J. Conway, Nathan P. Gillett, R. A. Houghton, and Gregg Marland (November 20, 2007). "Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks". PNAS 104 (47): 18866–18870. doi:10.1073/pnas.0702737104. PMC 2141868. PMID 17962418. http://www.pnas.org/content/104/47/18866.full.pdf. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- ^ "No Rise of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Fraction in Past 160 Years, New Research Finds". ScienceDaily LLC. 31 Dec 2009. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091230184221.htm. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
- ^ Knorr, Wolfgang (7 Nov 2009). "Is the airborne fraction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions increasing?". GRL. http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2009GL040613.shtml. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
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