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High sensitivity of the continental-weathering carbon dioxide sink to future climate change
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Beaulieu, E. Goddéris, Yves Donnadieu, Yannick Labat, D. Roelandt, C. |
| Copyright Year | 2012 |
| Abstract | According to future anthropogenic emission scenarios, the atmospheric CO2 concentration may double before the end of the twenty-first century1. This increase is predicted to result in a global warming of more than 6 C in the worst case1. The global temperature increase will promote changes in the hydrologic cycle through redistributions of rainfall patterns and continental vegetation cover1,2. All of these changes will impact the chemical weathering of continental rocks. Long considered an inert CO2 consumption flux at the century timescale, recent works have demonstrated its potential high sensitivity to the ongoing climate and land-use changes3,4. Here we show that the CO2 consumption flux related to weathering processes increases by more than 50% for an atmospheric CO2 doubling for one of the most important Arctic watersheds: the Mackenzie River Basin. This result has been obtained using a process-based model of the chemical weathering of continental surfaces forced by models describing the atmospheric general circulation and the dynamic of the vegetation5,6 under increased atmospheric CO2. Our study stresses the potential role that weathering may play in the evolution of the global carbon cycle over the next centuries. Chemical weathering of continental surfaces consumes 0.3Gt yr−1 of atmospheric carbon7. This flux is of the same importance as the net uptake of CO2 by the terrestrial biosphere in pre-industrial conditions (0.4Gt C yr−1; ref. 1). The 0.3Gt C yr−1 weathering flux encompasses the dissolution of the outcropping silicate and carbonateminerals under the corrosive action of dissolved atmospheric or biologically respired CO2 in continental waters. Both processes can be summarized by two generic equations : |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://b792871c-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/donnadieuclimate/files/Beaulieu12NatClimCh.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7cq4BCz9920NP2eqC-qBYYDaUHjtqOG0Nnunux0sHxmtadePrX6dCI392CNR5ouBuhFzcfIIspJzjV1c81sE_8tZUrymvQNwty3dnjzyuozqb9b1fO1pOUG4lprzZrSzUOaf1emVCqCwY2Jws3lxUWr2OGGE5DVxXkrBgMqzM4k9saGuJq_KI8v4yGrJ5UfLi4K2qfqor3MVqw0OTIq1qG1bfarG5PUbFuDZaoQpX13X8oaObQY%3D&attredirects=0 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | ALYREF gene Biosphere Blood Circulation Carbon Cycle Carbon Dioxide Doubling Ephrin Type-B Receptor 1, human Fever Flux qubit Generic programming Global Warming Greater Than Köppen climate classification Silicates Terrestrial television Water |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
