Articles | Volume 12, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-835-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-835-2015
Research article
 | 
11 Feb 2015
Research article |  | 11 Feb 2015

Recent changes in the global and regional carbon cycle: analysis of first-order diagnostics

P. J. Rayner, A. Stavert, M. Scholze, A. Ahlström, C. E. Allison, and R. M. Law

Abstract. We analyse global and regional changes in CO2 fluxes using two simple models, an airborne fraction of anthropogenic emissions and a linear relationship with CO2 concentrations. We show that both models are able to fit the non-anthropogenic (hereafter natural) flux over the length of the atmospheric concentration record. Analysis of the linear model (including its uncertainties) suggests no significant decrease in the response of the natural carbon cycle. Recent data points rather to an increase. We apply the same linear diagnostic to fluxes from atmospheric inversions. Flux responses show clear regional and seasonal patterns driven by terrestrial uptake in the northern summer. Ocean fluxes show little or no linear response. Terrestrial models show clear responses, agreeing globally with the inversion responses, however the spatial structure is quite different, with dominant responses in the tropics rather than the northern extratropics.

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Short summary
Recent papers suggest a slow-down in the natural uptake of anthropogenic CO2. We analyse recent trends in atmospheric concentration and known inputs to test for such a slow-down. We see, rather, an increase in uptake compared to a simple response to changing CO2 concentration. Using atmospheric models and statistical techniques we isolate this increased uptake to the northern temperate and boreal continents during summer, suggesting a stronger growing season.
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