Collaborative Research: ULTRA-Ex: Metabolism of Boston

在过去的几十年里，城市化和人口的增长产生了前所未有的规模和形式的城市，它们排放了大量的废物，改变了栖息地，改变了主要的生物地球化学循环，改变了当地的气候，并削弱了人类健康。碳交换是城市新陈代谢强度和模式的一个关键指标，但目前的科学状况并没有解决城市和城市化系统中人类和自然子系统内和之间的碳交换的密切耦合问题。几乎所有的研究都集中在城市碳排放上，或单独研究城市植被碳交换。因此，不可能回答一些基本的问题，比如自然系统是否比与大都市地区交换碳更多地在当地进行。这项研究将为从波士顿到农村哈佛森林长期生态研究场地的城乡梯度耦合碳交换开发一个综合的测量和分析框架。该项目将把碳交换和能量流动的地面测量与社会经济、气象和卫星测量以及对人类活动以及建筑和自然环境的建模结合起来。这些数据将被整合到一个动态的地理空间信息系统中，该系统将以亚米的空间分辨率描述从每日到季节的碳交换的现有模式，跨越城乡梯度。这一分析框架将被用于预测未来土地利用变化和城市增长情景的碳交换影响，促进关于碳交换在城市化系统中耦合的基础知识，并为政策制定者提供具体和相关的信息，使城市增长规划与可持续发展目标保持一致。量化碳交换和能源使用的气候、生态和社会经济驱动因素将允许预测碳流，并评估旨在改变符合社会目标的碳流的政策。例如，这项研究将有助于评估实现波士顿减排目标的选择。更广泛地说，它为马萨诸塞州全球变暖解决方案法案、区域温室气体倡议和美国清洁能源与安全法案等更大规模的努力提供了工具。由于这项研究包括精细时空分辨率的自然和社会科学决定因素，它可以评估无法在单一学科范围内评估的选择，并预测对人类人口的意外后果。例如，这项研究可以用来评估城市林业、屋顶反照率的变化和交通基础设施的变化如何抵消碳排放，或者研究交通选择如何影响碳排放和城市居民可获得的经济机会。

The urbanization and growth of the human population over past decades has yielded cities of unprecedented size and form, which emit significant quantities of waste, transform habitat, modify major biogeochemical cycles, alter local climate, and diminish human health. Carbon exchange is a key indicator of the intensity and pattern of urban metabolism, but the state of science currently does not address the close coupling of carbon exchange within and across human and natural subsystems of urban and urbanizing systems. Almost all research has focused on urban carbon emissions, or separately on urban vegetation carbon exchange. Thus, it is not possible to answer basic questions such as whether natural systems exchange carbon more locally than they do with a metropolitan region. This research will develop an integrated measurement and analysis framework for coupled carbon exchange in an urban-to-rural gradient from Boston to the rural Harvard Forest Long Term Ecological Research Site. This project will combine ground-based measurements of carbon exchange and energy flows with socioeconomic, meteorological and satellite measurements and modeling of human activity and the built and natural environments. These data will be integrated into a dynamic, Geospatial Information System that will characterize extant patterns of carbon exchange from daily to seasonal time scales at sub-meter spatial resolution across the urban-to-rural gradient. This analytical framework will then be used to forecast carbon exchange impacts of future land use change and urban growth scenarios, to advance fundamental knowledge about coupling of carbon exchange in urbanizing systems, and provide policy makers with specific and relevant information to align urban growth planning with sustainability goals.Quantifying climatic, ecological, and socioeconomic drivers of carbon exchange and energy use will allow for forecasting carbon flows and evaluating policies aimed at altering flows consistent with social goals. For example, this research will help evaluate options for achieving Boston's emissions reduction targets. More broadly, it provides tools for larger-scale efforts like the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Because this research includes natural and social science determinants at fine spatiotemporal resolution, it can evaluate options that cannot be assessed within a single discipline and anticipate unintended consequences for the human population. For example, this research can be used to evaluate how urban forestry, changes in rooftop albedo, and changes in transportation infrastructure can offset carbon emissions, or to examine how transportation options affect both carbon emissions and the economic opportunities available for urban dwellers.