The Global Carbon Project was formed to assist the international science community to establish a common, mutually agreed knowledge base supporting policy debate and action to slow the rate of increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The growing realization that anthropogenic climate change is a reality has focused the attention of the scientific community, policymakers and the general public on the rising concentration of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, and on the carbon cycle in general. Initial attempts, through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, are underway to slow the rate of increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These societal actions require a scientific understanding of the carbon cycle, and are placing increasing demands on the international science community to establish a common, mutually agreed knowledge base to support policy debate and action. The Global Carbon Project is responding to this challenge through a shared partnership between the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and Diversitas. This partnership constitutes the Earth Systems Science Partnership (ESSP). Mandate
1.To develop a research framework for integration of the biogeochemical, biophysical and human components of the global carbon cycle, including the development of data-model fusion schemes, and design of cost effective observational and research networks.
2.To synthesize current understanding of the global C cycle and provide rapid feedback to the research and policy communities, and general public.
3.To develop tools and conceptual frameworks to couple the biophysical and human dimensions of the carbon cycle.
4.To provide a global coordinating platform for regional/national carbon programs to improve observation network design, data standards, information and tools transfer, and timing of campaigns and process-based experiments.
5.To strengthen the broad carbon research programs of nations and regions, and those of more disciplinary projects in IGBP, IHDP, WCRP, and IGCO through better coordination, articulation of goals, and development of conceptual frameworks.
6.To develop a small number of new research initiatives that are feasible within a 3-5 year time framework on difficult and highly interdisciplinary problems of the carbon cycle.
7.To foster new carbon research in regions (e.g., tropical Asia) that will provide better constrains of continental and global carbon budgets through promoting partnerships between institutions and exchange visits.
Atmospheric CO2 growth
The annual growth rate of atmospheric CO2 was 1.6 ppm in 2009, below the average for the period 2000-2008 of 1.9 ppm per year (ppm = parts per million). The mean growth rate for the previous 20 years was about 1.5 ppm per year. This increase brought the atmospheric CO2 concentration to 387 ppm by the end of 2009, 39% above the concentration at the start of the industrial revolution (about 280 ppm in 1750). The present concentration is the highest during at least the last 2 million years. The increase in atmospheric CO2 of 3.4±0.1 Pg C yr−1 in 2009 was among the lowest since 2000. This cannot be explained by the decrease in CO2 emissions alone but is mainly caused by an increase in the land and ocean CO2 sinks in response to the tail of the La Niña event that perturbed the global climate system from mid 2007 until early 2009. Accumulation of atmospheric CO2 is the most accurately measured quantity in the global carbon budget with an uncertainty of about 4%. The estimated uncertainty in the global annual mean growth rate is 0.07 ppm/yr. The data is provided by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory.
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