The following are some of the major accomplishments of the USGCRP's Carbon Cycle Science Initiative during Fiscal Year 2001:

   In 2001,the SeaWiFS satellite instrument marked its third anniversary of  uninterrupted remote-sensing data set on ocean color. An instrument aboard the EOS Terra satellite also began producing a wide array of data products on marine ecosystems. Ocean color measurements can be converted into estimates of phytoplankton (or "plant") biomass in the ocean surface layer, and can indicate the presence of certain species. Phytoplankton are important to measure because they process carbon in the upper ocean, transforming carbon from dissolved form to particulate, and are therefore essential components of the ocean carbon cycle. Without phytoplankton living in the ocean's surface layer, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels would be many times higher than they are today.

Uptake of carbon in North America and European ecosystems was demonstrated across a wide range of latitude locations. The rates of carbon storage range from near zero at high latitudes to 7.5 tonnes of carbon gain per hectare at southern latitudes in North America.  Differences in the data between North American and  European sites suggest that, at a given latitude, higher temperatures promote greater carbon uptake.

Preliminary results from the ongoing Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia have led to new insights into the complexity of carbon cycling in Amazonia, with significant implications for quantifying the global carbon budget and for how processes known to affect the cycling of carbon are represented in biogeochemical cycling models.

Additional Fiscal Year 2001 Progress & Breakthroughs