Canada's Impact on the Global-Scale and Urban-Scale Carbon Cycle

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The carbon cycle describes the flow of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, between the atmosphere, oceans and land, and is one of the key mechanisms by which the Earth sustains life. It is well understood that the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere raises global temperatures and adversely impacts the biogeochemistry of the planet. About 70% of the global greenhouse gas emissions originate from urban regions, and about half of what is emitted into the atmosphere remains there: the rest is removed by the land and the oceans. Long-term, frequent, high-quality atmospheric measurements of carbon cycle-relevant gases are the key to further our scientific understanding the carbon cycle.***My research program will focus on the study of the Boreal forest and urban carbon cycles. My group will develop and analyse atmospheric measurements of carbon-cycle relevant gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, from highly accurate and precise ground-based instruments. ***We will focus on the interactions between climate and the Canadian Boreal forest, one of the most important biospheric regions for the global carbon cycle. The Boreal forest is the region most sensitive in the world to changing temperatures, and its ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere under changing climate conditions is poorly understood. Despite its importance, there are few systematic measurements of carbon-cycle relevant gases in the Boreal forest. We will fill that measurement gap by building and maintaining a long-term monitoring station in the Canadian Boreal forest at East Trout Lake, Saskatchewan, which will measure atmospheric column abundances of carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, and other trace gases. ***On urban scales, monitoring greenhouse gas emissions is important to independently evaluate the estimates reported by government agencies. Emissions from urban regions are arguably more easily controlled than rural or natural emissions, thus locating their sources is essential to curbing those emissions. More than 80% of Canadians live in urban regions, and therefore quantifying and attributing emission sources of greenhouse gases and other pollutants within cities is particularly important for evaluating the emissions inventories of Canada. We will build and maintain a mobile carbon monitoring station in Toronto, develop methods of calculating and verifying emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases, and locate large sources of emissions within the city. ***We will use the measurements from both the Boreal and urban monitoring stations to provide “ground-truth” for satellites measuring atmospheric greenhouse gases: the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2), and for the satellites planned for launch in the next few years. Together, these studies will result in new insights into Canada's impacts on the carbon cycle.