HR: 0800h
AN: B41B-0455    [Abstracts]
TI: Carbon Storage in Urban Areas in the USA
AU: * Churkina, G
EM: churkina@bgc-jena.mpg.de
AF: University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environemtn, Dana Building 440 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
AU: * Churkina, G
EM: churkina@bgc-jena.mpg.de
AF: Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knohl str 10, Jena, 07745, Germany
AU: Brown, D
EM: danbrown@umich.edu
AF: University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environemtn, Dana Building 440 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
AU: Keoleian, G
EM: gregak@umich.edu
AF: University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environemtn, Dana Building 440 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
AB: It is widely accepted that human settlements occupy a small proportion of the landmass and therefore play a relatively small role in the dynamics of the global carbon cycle. Most modeling studies focusing on the land carbon cycle use models of varying complexity to estimate carbon fluxes through forests, grasses, and croplands, but completely omit urban areas from their scope. Here, we estimate carbon storage in urban areas within the United States, defined to encompass a range of observed settlement densities, and its changes from 1950 to 2000. We show that this storage is not negligible and has been continuously increasing. We include natural- and human-related components of urban areas in our estimates. The natural component includes carbon storage in urban soil and vegetation. The human related component encompasses carbon stored long term in buildings, furniture, cars, and waste. The study suggests that urban areas should receive continued attention in efforts to accurately account for carbon uptake and storage in terrestrial systems.
DE: 0414 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912)
DE: 0428 Carbon cycling (4806)
DE: 1622 Earth system modeling (1225)
DE: 1632 Land cover change
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting