Research Needs for Finely Resolved Fossil Carbon Emissions

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Print Version (81141 bytes) EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 88, NO. 49, PAGE 542, 2007 Research Needs for Finely Resolved Fossil Carbon Emissions Kevin Gurney Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA William Ansley Rosen Center for Advanced Computing, Purdue University, USA Daniel Mendoza Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Broc Seib Rosen Center for Advanced Computing, Purdue University, USA Gabrielle Petron NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA Greg Frost NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA Jay Gregg Department of Geography, University of Maryland at College Park, USA Marc Fischer Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif., USA Diane Pataki Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, USA Kate Ackerman U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, Mass., USA Sander Houweling Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands Kathy Corbin Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Colorado, Fort Collins, USA Robert Andres Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn., USA T. J. Blasing Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn., USA Abstract Scientific research on the global carbon cycle has emerged as a high priority in biogeochemistry, climate studies, and global change policy. The emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from fossil fuel combustion is a dominant driver of the current net carbon fluxes between the land, the oceans, and the atmosphere, and it is a key contributor to the rise in modern radiative forcing. Contrary to a commonly held perception, our quantitative knowledge about these emissions is insufficient to satisfy current scientific and policy needs. A more highly spatially and temporally resolved quantification of the social and economic drivers of fossil fuel combustion, and the resulting CO₂ emissions, is essential to supporting scientific and policy progress. In this article, a new community of emissions researchers called the CO₂ Fossil Fuel Emission Effort (CO₂FFEE) outlines a research agenda to meet the need for improved fossil fuel CO₂ emissions information and solicits comment from the scientific community and research agencies. Published 4 December 2007. Index Terms: 0428 Biogeosciences: Carbon cycling (4806); 0414 Biogeosciences: Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912); 0485 Biogeosciences: Science policy (6620). Print Version (81141 bytes) Citation: Gurney, K., et al. (2007), Research Needs for Finely Resolved Fossil Carbon Emissions, Eos Trans. AGU, 88(49), 542. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.

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