Table 1: Global carbon stocks in vegetation and soil carbon pools down to a depth of 1 m. | ||||
|
||||
Biome |
Area
(109 ha) |
Global Carbon Stocks (Gt C)
|
||
Vegetation
|
Soil
|
Total
|
||
|
||||
Tropical forests |
1.76
|
212
|
216
|
428
|
Temperate forests |
1.04
|
59
|
100
|
159
|
Boreal forests |
1.37
|
88
|
471
|
559
|
Tropical savannas |
2.25
|
66
|
264
|
330
|
Temperate grasslands |
1.25
|
9
|
295
|
304
|
Deserts and semideserts |
4.55
|
8
|
191
|
199
|
Tundra |
0.95
|
6
|
121
|
127
|
Wetlands |
0.35
|
15
|
225
|
240
|
Croplands |
1.60
|
3
|
128
|
131
|
|
||||
Total |
15.12
|
466
|
2011
|
2477
|
|
||||
Note: There is considerable uncertainty in the numbers given, because of ambiguity of definitions of biomes, but the table still provides an overview of the magnitude of carbon stocks in terrestrial systems. | ||||
|
Table 2: Average annual budget of CO2 for 1980 to 1989 and for 1989 to 1998, expressed in Gt C yr-1 (error limits correspond to an estimated 90% confidence interval). | ||
|
||
1980 to 1989
|
1989 to 1998
|
|
|
||
1) Emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production |
5.5 � 0.5
|
6.3 � 0.6a
|
2) Storage in the atmosphere |
3.3 � 0.2
|
3.3 � 0.2
|
3) Ocean uptake |
2.0 � 0.8
|
2.3 � 0.8
|
4) Net terrestrial uptake = (1) - [(2)+(3)] |
0.2 � 1.0
|
0.7 � 1.0
|
5) Emissions from land-use change |
1.7 � 0.8
|
1.6 � 0.8b
|
6) Residual terrestrial uptake = (4)+(5) |
1.9 � 1.3
|
2.3 � 1.3
|
|
||
a Note that there is a 1-year overlap (1989) between the two decadal time
periods. b This number is the average annual emissions for 1989-1995, for which data are available. |
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