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

碳循环描述了二氧化碳这种温室气体在大气、海洋和陆地之间的流动，是地球维持生命的关键机制之一。众所周知，二氧化碳和其他温室气体排放到大气中会提高全球气温，并对地球的生物地球化学产生不利影响。全球约70%的温室气体排放来自城市地区，排放到大气中的约一半仍留在那里：其余的被陆地和海洋清除。对与碳循环相关的气体进行长期、频繁、高质量的大气测量是进一步科学理解碳循环的关键。*我的研究计划将重点放在北方森林和城市碳循环的研究上。我的小组将利用高精度和精密的地面仪器开发和分析二氧化碳和甲烷等与碳循环有关的气体的大气测量数据。*我们将重点关注气候和加拿大北方森林之间的相互作用，加拿大北方森林是全球碳循环最重要的生物圈地区之一。北方森林是世界上对气温变化最敏感的地区，人们对其在不断变化的气候条件下从大气中清除二氧化碳的能力知之甚少。尽管它很重要，但对北方森林中与碳循环相关的气体的系统测量很少。我们将通过在萨斯喀彻温省东特劳特湖的加拿大北方森林建立和维护一个长期监测站来填补这一测量空白，该监测站将测量大气中二氧化碳、甲烷、一氧化碳和其他痕量气体的丰度。*在城市尺度上，监测温室气体排放对于独立评估政府机构报告的估计值很重要。可以说，城市地区的排放比农村或自然排放更容易控制，因此找到它们的来源对于遏制这些排放至关重要。超过80%的加拿大人生活在城市地区，因此，量化和确定城市内温室气体和其他污染物的排放源对于评估加拿大的排放清单尤为重要。我们将在多伦多建立和维护一个移动碳监测站，开发计算和核实甲烷和其他温室气体排放的方法，并在城市内定位大型排放源。*我们将利用北方和城市监测站的测量结果，为测量大气温室气体的卫星--温室气体观测卫星(GOSAT)和轨道碳观测站(OCO-2)--以及计划在未来几年发射的卫星提供“地面真相”。总而言之，这些研究将对加拿大对碳循环的影响产生新的见解。

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.