Collaborative Research: ULTRA-Ex: Metabolism of Boston

过去几十年来，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，这些城市排放了大量废物，改变了生境，改变了主要的生物地球化学循环，改变了当地气候，损害了人类健康。碳交换是城市代谢强度和模式的关键指标，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部和之间碳交换的密切耦合。几乎所有的研究都集中在城市碳排放上，或者单独研究城市植被碳交换。因此，要回答一些基本问题是不可能的，比如自然系统在本地的碳交换是否比在大都市地区的碳交换更多。本研究将开发一个综合的测量和分析框架，用于从波士顿到农村哈佛森林长期生态研究站点的城市到农村梯度的耦合碳交换。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人类活动、建筑和自然环境的建模相结合。这些数据将被整合到一个动态的地理空间信息系统中，该系统将在亚米空间分辨率下，在城市到农村的梯度上，从每日到季节性的时间尺度上描述现有的碳交换模式。然后，该分析框架将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，推进关于城市化系统中碳交换耦合的基本知识，并为政策制定者提供具体和相关的信息，以使城市增长规划与可持续性目标保持一致。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有助于预测碳流量，并评估旨在改变碳流量、使其符合社会目标的政策。例如，这项研究将有助于评估实现波士顿减排目标的各种选择。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》等大规模努力提供了工具。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内评估的选项，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用的经济机会。

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.