The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), which includes the World Data Center (WDC) for Atmospheric Trace Gases, is the primary global change data and information analysis center of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). More than just an archive of data sets and publications, CDIAC has, since its inception in 1982, enhanced the value of its holdings through intensive quality assurance, documentation, and integration. Whereas many traditional data centers are discipline-based (for example, meteorology or oceanography), CDIAC’s scope includes potentially anything and everything that would be of value to users concerned with the greenhouse effect and global climate change, including concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other radiatively active gases in the atmosphere; the role of the terrestrial biosphere and the oceans in the biogeochemical cycles of greenhouse gases; emissions of CO₂ and other trace gases to the atmosphere; long-term climate trends; the effects of elevated CO₂ on vegetation; and the vulnerability of coastal areas to rising sea levels.

CDIAC is located within the Environmental Sciences Division (ESD) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. CDIAC is co-located with ESD researchers investigating global-change topics, such as the global carbon cycle and the effects of carbon dioxide on climate and vegetation. CDIAC staff are also connected with current ORNL research on related topics, such as renewable energy and supercomputing technologies.

CDIAC is supported by the Environmental Sciences Division (Jerry Elwood, Director) of DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research. CDIAC represents DOE in the multi-agency Global Change Data and Information System (GCDIS). Wanda Ferrell is DOE’s Program Manager with overall responsibility for CDIAC. Roger Dahlman is responsible for CDIAC’s AmeriFlux tasks, and Anna Palmisano for CDIAC’s Ocean Data tasks.

CDIAC is made up of three groups: Data Systems, Information Services, and Computer Systems, with nineteen full-time or part-time staff. The following section provides details on CDIAC’s staff and organization.

• The Data Systems Group identifies and obtains databases important to global-change research; analyzes data; compiles needed databases; provides data management and support to specific programs [e.g., NARSTO, Free-Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE), AmeriFlux, Oceans]; and prepares documentation to ensure the long-term utility of CDIAC’s data holdings.
• The Information Services Group responds to data and information requests; maintains records of all request activities; analyzes user statistics; assists in Web development and maintenance; and produces CDIAC’s newsletter (CDIAC Communications), the fiscal year Annual Reports, and various information materials.
• The Computer Systems Group provides computer system support for all CDIAC and WDC activities; designs and maintains CDIAC’s computing system network; ensures compliance with ORNL/DOE computing security regulations; ensures long-term preservation of CDIAC data holdings through systematic backups; evaluates, develops, and implements software; ensures standards compliance; generates user statistics; provides Web design, development, and oversight; and provides systems analysis and programming assistance for scientific data projects.

Our philosophy can be expressed in terms of five interrelated principal objectives:

• Focus on the data and information products that are most in demand by our diverse user community of researchers, educators, students, policymakers, corporate officials, and the interested lay public. These products include the landmark record of rising atmospheric CO₂ at Mauna Loa, Hawaii; long-term U.S. global climate data; and global, regional, and national CO₂ emissions from fossil-fuel combustion.

• Emphasize data quality so that our understanding of global climate change is based on reliable information.

• Thoroughly document important databases so that 20 years from now, users (especially those who are not experts in the particular disciplinary area) will be able to understand how a database was produced and what the data mean.

• Provide proper credit to data contributors so that our users will understand that the data they receive from us originated not with CDIAC but rather with the investigators who so generously chose to share their data with CDIAC.

• Offer data and information to all users without restriction or charge so that society receives the greatest possible benefit from the originating research programs. Take advantage of current developments in computing technologies for data archival and distribution so that we provide a secure home for important data and provide the information to our users in the format most appropriate for them. At the same time, CDIAC appreciates that many users still prefer to receive information in more traditional formats, and we do our best to accommodate the diversity in the needs of our user community.

2.1 AmeriFlux
(http://public.ornl.gov/ameriflux/Participants/Sites/Map/index.cfm)

Since 1997, CDIAC has been funded by DOE to provide data management support for the AmeriFlux network. Using the eddy-covariance (EC) method, AmeriFlux investigators measure the net flux of CO₂ to and from major terrestrial ecosystems. The aim of this long-term, continuous monitoring network is to better understand the factors regulating CO₂ exchange, including soil processes; vegetation structure, physiology, and stage of succession; and to determine principal feedbacks that affect future states, such as response to changes in climate, air pollution, and CO₂ concentrations.

The scientific objectives of AmeriFlux are to establish an infrastructure for guiding, collecting, synthesizing, and disseminating long-term measurements of CO₂, water, and energy exchange involving a variety of ecosystems; collect critical new information to help define the current global CO₂ budget; enable improved predictions of future concentrations of atmospheric CO₂; and enhance understanding of carbon fluxes, net ecosystem production (NEP), and carbon sequestration in the terrestrial biosphere.

The present AmeriFlux network now comprises approximately 60 sites in Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the United States. These sites span a large variety of ecosystems, climate regimes, elevations, and stand ages. For more details on AmeriFlux and related data activities, please visit the AmeriFlux Web site (http://public.ornl.gov/ameriflux/Participants/Sites/Map/index.cfm).

The primary responsibilities of the CDIAC AmeriFlux data archive are to continually archive AmeriFlux data; examine contributed AmeriFlux data to ensure quality and consistency; assemble consistent documentation to ensure long-term use of AmeriFlux data; compile ancillary information for each AmeriFlux site [e.g., leaf area index (LAI), land-use histories] for the purpose of creating network-wide databases; and create and maintain the AmeriFlux Web site.

The AmeriFlux data archive at CDIAC offers two types of data: preliminary and final. Preliminary data are contributed by AmeriFlux principal investigators (PIs). The file formats and contents are unchanged from their original submission state. Any descriptive files provided are those furnished by the site PIs. The values provided in these preliminary files have been scrutinized by the PIs but are subject to change. Preliminary AmeriFlux data are generously contributed to CDIAC and made available in order to make AmeriFlux data available as quickly as possible. Preliminary AmeriFlux data sent to CDIAC are checked, processed into a consistent data format, and documented by CDIAC before release as a final data set. All data issues investigated by CDIAC are resolved with the contributing PIs, and no values are changed without the approval of the contributing PIs.

A prototype Web-based AmeriFlux Data Viewing and Retrieval System was completed and tested during FY 2001. The system allows users to query a network-wide AmeriFlux database by site, time, and parameter and to view results graphically. Users may also extract and download data by the same features. The initial version of the system will be made available, and the system will be further developed (e.g., additional sites, additional search criteria), during FY 2002.

A new AmeriFlux Web site was launched in July 2001. The new site generates dynamic Web pages from centralized databases shared by the AmeriFlux and FLUXNET communities. Other new features include uniform site descriptions, easier access to AmeriFlux data, and a Java-enabled map depicting past and present AmeriFlux sites.

• Tom Boden attended the AmeriFlux Science Team Meeting at Harvard Forest (October 2000).

• The CDIAC AmeriFlux archive continues to support the model and data evaluation exercise initiated during FY 2000 by Steve Running (University of Montana). CDIAC’s primary role in the exercise involves processing real-time meteorological and radiation measurements from 17 AmeriFlux sites for use in models estimating site-specific gross primary production (GPP), net primary production (NPP), and NEP. Additional roles for the exercise include posting model results on a Web site developed by CDIAC for the exercise (http://public.ornl.gov/ameriflux/model-evaluation), providing access to MODIS satellite products, and assembling site characterization information (e.g., carbon pools, species composition, land-use histories) necessary for running the models. During each month of FY 2001, Tom Boden coordinated teleconferences among exercise participants.
  

- La Selva (tropical forest), 1998­2000

Canada

- Lethbridge, Alberta (mixed grass prairie), 1999­2000
- BOREAS NSA-OBS, Manitoba (old black spruce), 1994­2001
- Campbell River, British Columbia (Douglas fir), 1999
- Camp Borden, Ontario (Mixed deciduous), 1995­1997

United States

2.2 Free-Air CO₂ Enrichment (FACE)
(http://cdiac.ornl.gov/programs/FACE/face.html)

FACE research technology creates a platform for multidisciplinary, ecosystem-scale research on the effects of elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentrations over extended periods of time. In doing so, a large amount and variety of high-CO₂-grown plant material can be produced to support the research of many cooperating scientists studying different aspects of an ecosystem’s response to CO₂ enrichment. This concurrent use by numerous independent scientists provides the potential to gain new insights into ecosystem responses that are difficult or impossible to obtain with smaller scale, enclosed, studies.

CDIAC continued to develop its FACE Web site to support the global network of approximately thirty research sites that are operational, in development, or proposed. During FY 2001, CDIAC updated the links to, and information about, the research sites; updated the list of FACE-related publications; and provided links to news items of interest to the FACE community (including information about new FACE sites and the latest FACE research results). CDIAC has begun to format its Web and FTP sites to archive and distribute data (and accompanying documentation) from FACE research sites.

2.3 NARSTO Quality Systems Science Center (QSSC)
(http://cdiac.ornl.gov/programs/NARSTO/narsto.html)

The tri-national (Canada, United States, and Mexico) NARSTO program (formerly the North American Research Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone) has broadened its objectives to include atmospheric pollutants besides ozone. NARSTO is a nonbinding public/private alliance, open to science agencies, regulatory agencies, regulated industries, academic institutions, environmentalists, and public interest groups in North America. Its primary mission is to coordinate and enhance policy-relevant scientific research, and assessment of tropospheric pollution behavior, with the central programmatic goal of determining workable, efficient, and effective strategies for local and regional air-pollution management.

In January 1997, DOE’s Environmental Sciences Division began their sponsorship of the NARSTO Quality Systems Science Center (QSSC) within CDIAC. The QSSC reports to the NARSTO Executive Steering Committee through the NARSTO Management Coordinator and collaborates with the Science Teams.

The QSSC works to ensure that relevant quality management systems are planned and implemented by NARSTO technical programs. The NARSTO Quality Systems Management Plan (QSMP) (http://cdiac.ornl.gov/programs/NARSTO/pdf/qsmp_current_version.PDF) and the Quality Planning Handbook (QPHB) (http://cdiac.ornl.gov/programs/NARSTO/pdf/qphb_current_version.PDF), developed and maintained by the QSSC, provide the framework within which all quality-related activities are conducted.

The QSSC reviews project management and fieldwork planning documents and provides information to NARSTO partners seeking assistance with quality assurance, quality control, data management, and data archival. The QSSC plans and coordinates NARSTO data management, data archival, and data dissemination activities. Timely sharing of, and access to, quality-assured NARSTO data and research products (e.g., computer models, methods, procedures, and reports) by the scientific community is essential to the success of the NARSTO program. The QSSC developed and maintains the NARSTO Data Management Handbook (DMHB) (http://cdiac.ornl.gov/programs/NARSTO/pdf/dmhb_current_version.PDF) that contains metadata and data format conventions and data validation guidance. Data archive format specifications are implemented in the NARSTO Data Exchange Standard template. The QSSC performs a final quality assurance check of data sets submitted for archival, prepares archive documentation, and coordinates their transfer to the publicly available NARSTO permanent data archive (PDA) at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). Data are online at http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/.

NARSTO quality systems and data management documents are available online at http://cdiac.ornl.gov/programs/NARSTO/.

In addition to these quality and data management activities, the QSSC continues to develop the NARSTO Measurement Methods Compendium Web site for ozone and particulate matter sampling and analysis technologies and methodologies. Method descriptions are available online at http://narsto.ornl.gov/.

QSSC staff expertise includes atmospheric chemistry, quality systems management, environmental data quality management, and data management coordination.

The FY 2001 QSSC’s activities fall into three general areas: data management and archiving, data management support for projects, and external interactions.

2.3.1 Data Management and Archiving

The QSSC implemented and maintains the NARSTO Data and Information Sharing Tool (DIST). DIST is a Web-based index and clearinghouse of atmospheric measurement, chemistry data, and metadata. It can be used by a small group of investigators to securely share project data before the data are generally available, as well as allow the larger research community to locate and access data from numerous data sources in the public domain. The data in the NARSTO DIST includes results from NARSTO studies and non-NARSTO studies with data of interest to the atmospheric research community. Data are indexed using consistent metadata categories to support searching by project, location, date, keyword, investigator, etc. Projects and investigators with relevant data products (e.g., measurement data, model outputs, images, etc.) are invited to participate. Data providers can use the Web-based DIST to conveniently enter metadata and to link their data and documents into the searchable DIST index. A File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site is now associated with DIST for storage and retrieval of data sets. DIST is a key component in the flow of data from projects to the NARSTO PDA with output capabilities that facilitate metadata and data archiving.

The QSSC provides assistance to NARSTO research managers, principal investigators, and data managers. A good example of this is our work with principal investigators from the Southern Oxidants Studies in Nashville and Atlanta, 1999.

The QSSC is also providing data management support to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Particulate Matter (PM) Supersites Program. In consultation with EPA and the data coordinators of the Supersite projects, the QSSC, with the financial support of EPA, is coordinating the following activities:

1. Support for development and maintenance of a consistent set of metadata for the Supersites measurement data. Metadata are the data that describe, for measured results, the important details as to: what, where, when, how, why, and by whom. Several working groups were initially established to develop consensus on formats for site names, variable names, units, methods, and flags. Weekly teleconference discussions keep the process moving. The Supersites Program will be providing quality-assured data to the QSSC for archiving in accordance with the published NARSTO guidelines.

2. Implementation of the NARSTO DIST for the Supersites Program to support sharing of data among investigators and to use DIST’s output capabilities to facilitate data archiving. The addition of new features and modifications to metadata will be made as necessary for effective implementation. The addition of new DIST users, system administration, and user support is included in this support.

3. Implementation of a Supersites FTP Site to support the sharing of data using DIST among Supersites Program participants. Supersite project data coordinators may add and maintain data on the FTP site to allow program-wide access to data, while not permitting access to secure project systems.

To address these activities in a coordinated and efficient manner, the QSSC and the Supersites working groups are utilizing the considerable technical, measurement, and data management knowledge and system resources that already exist across the Supersites projects, NARSTO, EPA, and externally. Other NARSTO, EPA, and similar atmospheric research projects are encouraged to take advantage of these results and contribute their experience and data. This coordinated effort, envisioned as a model for future cooperation, is a prime example of why NARSTO was formed and how it can function.

2.3.3 External Interactions

QSSC promotes coordination of NARSTO Data Exchange standards and automated processing programs with Bill Sukloff of Environment Canada, Meteorological Service Canada. We continue to utilize existing experts and computer software to the benefit of both programs. The QSSC cosponsored a 10-day visit by Bill Sukloff for this purpose.

2.3.4 Meetings Attended

Les Hook and Meng-Dawn Cheng represented NARSTO’s QSSC at the NARSTO 2000 meeting "Tropospheric Aerosols Science and Decisions in an International Community" held in Queretaro, Mexico. Les co-chaired the Data Management/Quality session, presented "The NARSTO Data and Information Sharing Tool", and displayed a poster, "The Truth about Data Management" (both the presentation and poster were co-authored with Sigurd Christensen). Meng-Dawn presented "Real-Time Emission Measurement of Fine Particulates and Heavy Metals" (co-authored with Madhavi Martin and Thomas Wainman, also of the ORNL Environmental Sciences Division) in the session on Stationary Sources/Controls.

Les Hook and Sig Christensen attended the Third Annual Governors’ Summit on Mountain Air Quality, June  1, 2001, Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Informational posters about NARSTO were displayed and copies were distributed of the recently released NARSTO publication "An Assessment of Tropospheric Ozone Pollution – A North American Perspective."

2.4 Ocean Data
(http://cdiac.ornl.gov/oceans/home.html)

The World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) Hydrographic Program (WHP) is a major component of the World Climate Research Program with the overall goal of better understanding the ocean’s role in climate and climatic changes resulting from both natural and anthropogenic causes. The levels of CO₂ in the oceans are unevenly distributed because of complex circulation patterns and biogeochemical cycles. Although CO₂ is not an official WOCE measurement, a coordinated effort, supported in the U.S. by DOE, was made on WOCE cruises through 1998 to measure the global-scale and temporal distributions of total carbon dioxide (TCO₂) and related parameters.

Goals of the survey were to estimate the meridional transport of inorganic carbon in a manner analogous to the estimation of the transport of oceanic heat and to build a database suitable for carbon cycle modeling and the estimation of anthropogenic CO₂ increase in the oceans. The CO₂ survey took advantage of the sampling opportunities provided by the WHP cruises during this period. The final data set is expected to cover approximately 23,000 stations from 42 WOCE cruises.

CDIAC provides data management support for the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) CO₂ measurements taken aboard research vessels during WHP cruises. DOE sponsored CO₂ measurement operations and continues to sponsor CDIAC’s data support activities, which include data archival, data checking and evaluation, preparation of data documentation, and data dissemination. All CO₂-related data are checked before documentation and distribution. Through the end of FY 2000, DOE-supported investigators had collected CO₂ measurements on 42 WOCE cruises. CDIAC has received data from 40 of these cruises, and 39 of these data sets have undergone quality assurance checks with 19 fully documented as numeric data products (NDPs). CDIAC also received carbon-related data from 6 international WOCE cruises.

CDIAC provides data management support for the GLobal Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP). GLODAP is a cooperative effort of investigators funded for synthesis and modeling projects through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), DOE, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Cruises conducted as part of the WOCE, JGOFS, and the NOAA Ocean-Atmosphere Carbon Exchange Study (OACES) over the decade of the 1990’s have generated oceanographic data of unparalleled quality and quantity.

Most of the data have been reported to national archive facilities but have not been integrated into an internally consistent global data set. GLODAP will compile that data set and examine the global distribution and inventories of oxygen, nutrients, natural and anthropogenic carbon species, natural and bomb-produced radiocarbon (¹⁴C), and ¹³C. These estimates will be used to infer nutrient remineralization ratios (Redfield ratios) and the rate of anthropogenic CO₂, ¹³C, and bomb ¹⁴C uptake in the oceans. These estimates provide an important benchmark for comparison with future observational studies. They also provide tools for the direct evaluation of numerical models of the transport and fate of carbon in the oceans.

CDIAC provides data management support for the project CARINA (CARbon dioxide In the North Atlantic ocean). The CARINA objectives are:

• to bring together research groups that measure CO₂ in the North Atlantic Ocean;
• to create an inventory of CO₂ measurements carried out in the North Atlantic Ocean;
• to make available unpublished data to the data contributors (data access);
• to form working groups that cooperate on various aspects of the CO₂ system in the North Atlantic; and
• to exchange information concerning CO₂ research in the North Atlantic.

CDIAC also plays a major role in the CO₂ data management for the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) Working Group 13 (WG-13). The main goal of the WG-13 is to work with the data centers [Japan Oceanographic Data Center (JODC), National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), CDIAC, Marine Environmental Data Service (MEDS), et al.] to complete an International North Pacific data set for CO₂ and CO₂-related parameters (TCO₂, total alkalinity, partial pressure carbon dioxide (pCO₂), etc.] and to encourage PICES countries (Japan, South Korea, China, Canada, Russia, and United States) and non-PICES countries to contribute data and information on data to the PICES data inventory.

CDIAC’s carbon dioxide-related products provide data and information in several areas relevant to the greenhouse effect and global climate change. These areas include records of atmospheric trace gases [CO₂, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and aerosols], global carbon cycle, long-term climate records, coastal vulnerability to rising sea level, demographics, land use and ecosystems, oceanic trace gases, solar and atmospheric radiation, trace gas emissions, and vegetation response to CO₂ and climate.

CDIAC packages and distributes holdings in the form of data products [e.g., numeric data packages (NDPs), databases (DBs), and a computer model package (CMP)] and printed publications. All products are provided free of charge and are available while supplies last. Data files and documentation (text or HTML version), which accompany the data products, may be accessed and downloaded from CDIAC’s Web site (http://cdiac.ornl.gov/), from CDIAC’s anonymous FTP area (ftp://cdiac.ornl.gov), or requested directly from CDIAC on various types of media (e.g., CD-ROM, floppy diskette). Printed reports are available from CDIAC on request. All technical questions (e.g., methodology or accuracy) should be directed to the CDIAC staff member responsible for preparing the particular data product.

During FY 2001, CDIAC published four new NDPs and one CDIAC publication under the auspices of DOE. CDIAC updated five NDPs and one DB. CDIAC also added four new records to Trends Online (http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/trends.htm) and updated six existing records.

This database was generated from estimates of geographically referenced carbon densities of forest vegetation in tropical Southeast Asia for 1980 by providing detailed geographically referenced information on actual and potential biomass carbon (1 g biomass = 0.5 g C). A geographic information system (GIS) was used to incorporate spatial databases of climatic, edaphic (soil characteristic), and geomorphological indices and vegetation to estimate potential (i.e., in the absence of human intervention and natural disturbance) carbon densities of forests in 1980. The resulting estimates were then modified to produce a map estimating actual 1980 carbon density as a function of population density and climatic zone. The database covers the following 13 countries: Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia (Campuchea), India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The 3.75-km data in this database yield an actual total carbon estimate of 42.1 Pg (1 petagram = 10¹⁵ grams) and a potential carbon estimate of 73.6 Pg; whereas the 0.25-degree data produced an actual total carbon estimate of 41.8 Pg and a total potential carbon estimate of 73.9 Pg.

Brown et al. (1993) compared their estimates of biomass carbon density with those of other recent assessments for the same 13-country study area. They found that estimates of biomass carbon densities derived from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Tropical Forest Resource Assessment 1990 Project were about 75% of their own, and that estimates of 1980 biomass carbon density of Flint and Richards (1994) for forests and woodlands were about 65% of their own. Although differences exist between the estimates of Brown et al. and the other two studies, the three sets of values are similar in order of magnitude despite differences in methodology, input data, and time of assessment. The general similarity of the estimates provides compelling evidence that forests of tropical Asian countries have generally low biomass carbon densities; these low densities are most likely due to the long history of human use in the region.

Carbon Dioxide, Hydrographic, and Chemical Data Obtained During the R/V John V. Vickers Cruise in the Pacific Ocean (WOCE Section P13, NOAA CGC92 Cruise, August 4 - October 21, 1992) (ORNL/CDIAC-128, NDP-075) http://cdiac.ornl.gov/oceans/ndp_075/ndp075.html 

Atmospheric CO₂ Concentrations--Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, 1958-2000 (NDP-001)

Contributors: C. D. Keeling and T. P. Whorf

Updated by Tom Boden, CDIAC; August 2001.

Since 1958, air samples have been continuously collected at Mauna Loa Observatory and analyzed by infrared spectroscopy for CO₂ concentrations. Data are averaged to give monthly and annual atmospheric CO₂ concentrations.

These data represent the longest continuous record of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations in the world. This precise data record covers a single site and is a reliable indicator of the regional trend in the concentration of atmospheric CO₂ in the middle layers of the troposphere and is critical to CO₂-related research. Atmospheric CO₂ records from sites in the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) air sampling network are described in Section 3.3.1.1.

The data files now include information on medium, minimum, and maximum estimates of carbon density (in addition to latitude, longitude, ecosystem code, ecosystem name, and gridcell area). The data were reformatted by Sonja Jones, and the documentation was updated accordingly by Sonja, along with Bob Cushman and Dale Kaiser. In 1980, this database (and the corresponding map) were completed after more than 20 years of field investigations, consultations, and analyses of published literature. They characterize the use and vegetative cover of the Earth’s land surface with a 0.5-degree grid. This world-ecosystem-complex database provides a current reference base for interpreting the role of vegetation in the global cycling of CO₂ and other gases and a basis for improved estimates of vegetation and soil carbon, of natural exchanges of CO₂, and of net historic shifts of carbon between the biosphere and the atmosphere.

Carbon Flux to the Atmosphere from Land-use Changes: 1850 - 1990 (NDP-050/R1)

Contributors: R. A. Houghton and J. L. Hackler, The Woods Hole Research Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Updated by Bob Cushman, CDIAC; February 2001.

The database documented in this NDP, a revision to a database originally published by CDIAC in 1995, consists of annual estimates, from 1850 through 1990, of the net flux of carbon between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere resulting from deliberate changes in land cover and land use, especially forest clearing for agriculture and the harvest of wood for wood products or energy. The data are provided on a year-by-year basis for nine regions (North America, South and Central America, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, Tropical Africa, the Former Soviet Union, China, South and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Developed Region) and the globe. Some data begin earlier than 1850 (e.g., for six regions, areas of different ecosystems are provided for the year 1700) or extend beyond 1990 (e.g., fuelwood harvest in South and Southeast Asia, by forest type, is provided through 1995).

The global net flux during the period 1850 to 1990 was 124 petagrams (Pg) of carbon. During this period, the greatest regional flux was from South and Southeast Asia (39 Pg of carbon), while the smallest regional flux was from North Africa and the Middle East (3 Pg of carbon). For the year 1990, the global total net flux was estimated to be 2.1 Pg of carbon.

Atmospheric CO₂ record from continuous measurements at Jubany Station, Antarctica

Contributors: Luigi Ciattaglia and Claudio Rafanelli, Italy; Marcelo Lombardo and Jorge Araujo, Argentina

Updated by Tom Boden, CDIAC; May 2001.

The Italian PNRA (National Research Program in Antarctica) has taken continuous atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements at Jubany Station, Antarctica, since March 1994. The Jubany station is situated on King George Island, in the South Shetland archipelago north of the Antarctic Peninsula. On the basis of annual averages calculated from monthly averages running from March 1994 through December 2000, CO₂ levels at Jubany have risen from 356.75 ppmv in 1994 to 366.69 ppmv in 2000. An anomalous trend of the atmospheric CO₂ concentration was observed first during 1997-1998 at Jubany and other Antarctic stations of the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO’s) Global Atmospheric Watch network. This general 1998 deceleration of the CO₂ growth rate may have been caused by several things including sea surface temperature anomalies, air temperature anomalies, and changes in general atmospheric circulation. Among all the factors affecting the atmospheric CO₂ concentration, the most convincing cause seems related to the 1997-1998 El Niño and subsequent La Niña episodes, in which the hypothesis is based on the behavior of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and CO₂ concentrations at several Antarctic and non-Antarctic sites and from cross correlations between the two parameters.

Atmospheric Fluoroform (CHF₃, HFC-23) at Cape Grim, Tasmania

Monthly surface air temperature time series area-averaged over the 30-degree latitudinal belts of the Globe

Contributors: K.M. Lugina, Russia, Dept. of Geography, St. Petersburg State University; P.Ya. Groisman, National Climate Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina; K.Ya. Vinnikov, University of Maryland; V. V. Koknaeva, and N. A. Speranskaya, State Hydrological Unit, St. Petersburg, Russia

Prepared by Daria Scott and Dale Kaiser, CDIAC; August 2001.

Supplemented with information from different national publications, these mean monthly and annual values of surface air temperature have been taken mainly from the World Weather Records, Monthly Climatic Data for the World, and Meteorological Data for Individual Years over the Northern Hemisphere, excluding the former USSR. This new version of the station temperature archive (used for evaluation of the zonally-averaged temperatures) was created in 1995. The total number of stations in the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere was 384 and 301, respectively.

Based on these mean monthly and annual surface air temperature anomaly data, it was reported that both hemispheres were warming at a rate of 0.5°C/100 yrs. The present update of the series through 1999 shows that the Northern Hemisphere has warmed at a rate of 0.6°C/100 yrs, and the Southern Hemisphere at a rate slightly greater than 0.5°C/100 yrs. The warming rate for the globe is slightly less than 0.6°C/100 yrs (0.58°C/100 yrs), a trend very close to that calculated using other well-known global data [e.g., those of NASA and the Climate Research Unit (CRU), University of East Anglia, England] compilations.

In the global records, like other records, these anomalies show that the 1980s and particularly the 1990s were much warmer than the rest of the record. In the global record, the ten warmest years have occurred since 1981. In descending order they are 1998, 1995, 1990, 1997, 1991, 1988, 1987, 1981, 1994, and 1989. The mean temperature deviation for the 1990s is 0.42°C. The warming in the 1990s is unprecedented.

Tropospheric and Lower Stratospheric Temperature Anomalies Based on Global Radiosonde Network Data

Contributor: Alexander M. Sterin, Russian Research Institute for Hydrometeorological Information-World Data Center (RIHMI-WDC), Russia

Prepared by Daria Scott and Dale Kaiser, CDIAC; September 2001.

CDIAC published the Winter 2000 issue (#28) of CDIAC’s newsletter "CDIAC Communications". This issue featured a lead story on "Carbon Emitted, Carbon Saved" and described global change databases and other publications released by CDIAC.

Fiscal Year 2000 Annual Report (ORNL/CDIAC-133)

Contributors: R. M. Cushman, Thomas A. Boden, Leslie A. Hook, Sonja B. Jones, Dale P. Kaiser, Alexander Kozyr, and Tommy Nelson, CDIAC

Prepared by Carolyn Householder and Sonja Jones, CDIAC; August 2001.

The report documents highlights from the fiscal year (new data products and other publications); provides information on CDIAC Focus Areas; provides statistics, such as the number of requests for global change data and information from CDIAC and citations in the published literature of data obtained from CDIAC; alerts users to new data products that CDIAC hopes to release in FY 2001; lists awards received by CDIAC and publications and presentations of its staff; and lists the many organizations with which CDIAC has collaborated to produce the data and information products it released in FY 2000.

CDIAC is currently working on, or has completed, the following new or existing data and information products for FY2002.

CDIAC continually expands Trends Online with new records and updates to existing records.

Statistics reflecting CDIAC’s FY 2001 Web activity were calculated using data generated by Sane Solutions, LLC, Web log analysis tool, NetTracker®. While CDIAC continues to receive and respond to users via traditional methods (e.g., email, mail, fax, telephone) and users continue to access data products through direct FTP, statistics from these areas are minuscule in comparison to statistics generated from the activity on CDIAC’s Web site.

In FY 2001, more than 240,500 unique hosts visited CDIAC’s Web site (Figure 4.1) utilizing 340 browsers. The browsers of choice were the various versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and America Online, respectively.

During FY 2001, CDIAC’s Web site received more than 430,000 visits with users viewing over 2,641,000 Web pages (Figure 4.2). These statistics reflect an approximate 50 % increase in CDIAC Web traffic in FY 2001 over Web traffic in FY 2000, where 1,735,000 Web pages were viewed during 250,000 visits. The average number of pages accessed per day in FY 2001 increased from 4,754 to 7,268, while the average length of a visit to CDIAC’s Web site remained at 15 minutes. A view as defined by NetTracker® is a hit to a Web page, excluding user defined files (CDIAC excludes such files as .jpg, .gif, etc.). A visit is defined as a series of consecutive views of a web site by the same unique host within a specified period of time. (Because the number of visits are calculated using complex algorithms, these figures are considered estimates).

Visits to CDIAC’s Web site were made from 112 different domains (Figure 4.3) with the top domain being the U.S. Commercial sector. Of these 112 domains, 103 domains represented hosts from foreign countries (Figure 4.4).

An analysis by Net Tracker® of hosts and their individual paths (path being defined as the first three consecutive pages viewed by a Web site visitor) on the CDIAC Web site indicates that users entering the CDIAC Web site accessed CDIAC material via the "Search," "Products," "Trends," "WDC," "About," and "Top 10," respectively.

Major keywords used to locate CDIAC data and information products via online search engines (e.g., Yahoo, google.com, AltaVista, msn.com, Excite, Lycos, netscape.com) are:

- carbon dioxide,
- greenhouse effect,
- carbon,
- CO2,
- cdiac,
- carbon dioxide emissions,
- global warming.

• Educators (teachers, professors)
• Students (elementary, high school, college graduate and undergraduate)
• General Public (interested citizens, special interest groups)
• Specialists (scientists, engineers, business and industry)
• Government (legislative assistants, policymakers, agencies)
• Media (radio, television, newspapers)
  
  

CDIAC’s computer systems development team continues to search for ways to improve our operation and increase efficiency. To keep pace with the proliferation of data and increasing global interest in climate change data, we must continue to anticipate the impact of emerging information technologies and position ourselves to apply those technologies to meet the needs of our global user community.

We implemented the hardware/software suite chosen to replace our aged desktop hardware. We replaced all CDIAC desktop systems with a cost-effective combination providing tremendous flexibility. The new desktop systems consist of the Linux operating system, Intel® hardware, VMware®, and Windows 2000®. VMware® is a thin software layer that sits between the hardware architecture and the operating system, creating a virtual machine and managing all hardware resources.  This software allows us to run any version of Microsoft Windows®, from Windows 3.1® to Windows 2000®, as a guest operating system. This configuration affords us the features and security of a UNIX®-based operating system while allowing us to utilize Windows-based tools and test our products in various Windows® environments.  One attractive feature VMware® provides is the ability to move in and out of applications across the different operating systems without rebooting.  Migration to the new desktop systems was completed mid-year, and we have been pleased with the results to date.

We continue to operate the server for the Carbon Sequestration Web site, at the request of DOE program management. In FY 2001, this Sun workstation based system received over 200,000 requests and averaged 550 visits per day from countries around the world.

Since its inception in 1982, CDIAC has maintained a World Directory of users in order that we may easily provide information regarding new products, updates, and corrections as necessary. Information contained in the CDIAC World Directory has been voluntarily provided by users and is not distributed to any other agencies or individuals.

In order to keep CDIAC’s directory information as current as possible, we began development of a new service to allow users to add their information to the directory, or modify their existing information as contained in the directory. Since we verify and confirm all additions or changes to the directory, only users with a valid e-mail of record will be permitted to modify their information via the Web. As part of this feature, we will also provide a blind e-mail service to facilitate consensual communication between researchers, educators, students, and others sharing this common interest. We made significant progress on the development of this feature and expect to complete development and implementation in FY 2002.

We began development of a CDIAC implementation of Mercury. Mercury, developed at ORNL, is a data search and retrieval system that utilizes metadata to perform very accurate searches. Mercury will provide our users with sophisticated data search tools, including browse trees and dynamic pick lists. In addition to these tools, the CDIAC implementation of Mercury will provide tools to perform spatial and temporal data searches. Mercury offers but one example of the benefits to be derived from implementation of CDIAC’s new metadata standard. The CDIAC prototype system was completed and beta testing was initiated. Beta testing brought to light several areas where the CDIAC implementation of Mercury would benefit from minor metadata modifications. We will perform the metadata modifications to existing metadata files and rewrite the CDIAC ORNL Metadata Editor (OME) to incorporate and automatically apply these modifications to new metadata files at the time of creation.

There are many new, rapidly developing information management tools designed to help users accurately locate pertinent data while eliminating extraneous information. These tools, typically based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language), require complete and accurate metadata to be useful. To take full advantage of these tools at CDIAC, we created and implemented a new metadata standard (.met) in FY 2000. While being legible and readily understandable by humans, our new standard is compliant with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata content standard and will work well with evolving XML-based tools.  This year, we worked with the Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) staff to develop a tool for CDIAC based on the OME. This new tool (the CDIAC OME) expedites metadata generation by providing user-friendly metadata collection forms, via a dynamic interface, for the input and modification of metadata. We also developed tools to automatically generate .xml files from existing CDIAC .met files. We used this tool to create .xml files for each of CDIAC’s data products. These .xml and .met files were placed in the CDIAC ftp area along with the data files for each product. These .xml metadata files will make CDIAC data much more visible through Internet indexing services and will improve the accuracy of those services.

We also spent a considerable amount of time performing necessary routine functions in support of the CDIAC Computing System Network. These tasks included backing up nightly, upgrading/replacing disk drives, creating new file systems, installing/upgrading application software and operating system enhancements, restoring user-deleted files, installing/replacing uninterruptible power supply (UPS), responding to a wide variety of CDIAC staff calls for help, producing Web statistics, making wholesale Web changes (i.e., path changes), providing Web design direction, and maintaining the Web development area.

Based on system improvements implemented at CDIAC, we are well positioned to take full advantage of evolving computing and information management technologies. We have plans to build upon several new information management tools under continuing development at ORNL. We are excited by what these tools will offer our user community and look forward to a productive year in FY 2002.

We will work to complete implementation of the CDIAC OME. We plan to make the CDIAC OME available to all CDIAC staff via the Web. This will expedite metadata generation by providing a dynamic interface for the input and modification of metadata.  This will encourage staff to keep product metadata current and to create proper metadata as new products are developed. Additionally, we will implement several minor modifications that will benefit the CDIAC implementation of Mercury. Proper use of metadata files and standards will make CDIAC data much more visible through Internet indexing services and will improve the accuracy of those services. We will complete implementation of the CDIAC version of Mercury.

We will complete the implementation of the World Directory User Interface. This system provides a Web interface whereby users can add themselves or modify their entries in the CDIAC World Directory. This product will feature an e-mail validation routine for user modifications, and requires staff validation of all new entries. In addition to the functional specifications originally defined, the system will be expanded to perform necessary functions previously accomplished via the Request Response Record (R³) system. This will allow us to eventually remove the long-lived R³ system from production. The system will provide an exclusive set of CDIAC staff functions. This will allow CDIAC staff to perform extensive ad hoc queries of the data and perform data modifications without requiring specific knowledge of the underlying data structure or structured query language (SQL) language. The system will also provide CDIAC staff with the capability to generate mailing labels and lists via Microsoft Access® and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) drivers.

Kozyr, A. Part of a multi-institution synthesis team of oceanographers presenting posters at The Oceanography Society’s Biennial Scientific Meeting (Miami Beach, Florida). "Organic Carbon Remineralization and Calcium Dissolution in the North Pacific Ocean" was presented by R. A. Feely of the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), Seattle; C. L. Sabine of the University of Washington, Seattle; K. Lee of the Atlantic Ocean Marine Laboratory (AOML), Miami; F. J. Millero of the University of Miami; M. F. Lamb and J. L. Bulister (PMEL); R. M. Key of Princeton University; R. Wanninkhof and T.-H. Peng (AOML); and Kozyr. "Anthropogenic Tracers in the Pacific Ocean" was presented by Sabine, Key, Bullister, Feely, Lamb, Millero, Wanninkhof, Peng, Lee, and Kozyr. January 2001.

Kozyr, A. Attended the PICES (the North Pacific Marine Science Organization) CO₂ Data Integration Test Workshop, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada. Participated in discussions on the synthesis of ocean CO₂ data from the North Pacific region. January 2001.

Kaiser, D. P. "Assessing Observed Temperature and Cloud Amount Trends for China Over the Last Half of the Twentieth Century: What Can the Sunshine Duration Record Tell Us?" 81st Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society and 12th Symposium on Global Change and Climate Variations, Albuquerque, New Mexico, January 2001.

Hook, L. "The NARSTO Data and Information Sharing Tool." NARSTO 2000 Meeting, Tropospheric Aerosols: Science and Decisions in an International Community. Queretaro, Mexico, October 2000.

Cheng, M. D., "Real-Time Emission Measurement of Fine Particulates and Heavy Metals." NARSTO 2000 Meeting, Tropospheric Aerosols Science and Decisions in an International Community. Querétaro, Mexico, October 2000.

Kozyr, A. The new CDIAC data access, through Web maps, and the new CDIAC - World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) Collection created using the Ocean Data View Program. Symposium on North Pacific CO₂ Data Synthesis, Tsukuba, Japan. October 2000.

Marland, G. Presented "The Increasing Concentration of Atmospheric CO₂: How Much, When, and Why?" (co-authored with Tom Boden) at the 26th Erice International Seminar on Planetary Emergencies in Erice, Sicily, Italy. The paper examines the evidence that the observed increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have been caused by man-made emissions. October 2000.

Lamb, M. F., C. L. Sabine, R. A. Feely, R. Wanninkhof, R. M. Key, G. C. Johnson, F. J. Millero, K. Lee, T.-H. Peng, A. Kozyr, J. L. Bullister, D. Greeley, R. H. Byrne, D. W. Chipman, A. G. Dickson, C. Goyet, P. R. Guenther, M. Ishii, K. M. Johnson, C. D. Keeling, T. Ono, K. Shitashima, B. Tilbrook, T. Takahashi, D. W. R. Wallace, Y. Watanabe, C. Winn, and C. S. Wong. 2001. "Consistency and Synthesis of Pacific Ocean CO₂ survey data." Deep-Sea Research, 11 49:21-58, 2001.

CDIAC received four merit awards from the Society for Technical Communications/East Tennessee Chapter in its annual competitions.

• In the online communications competition, the CDIAC Web site (http://cdiac.ornl.gov) and the newsletter "CDIAC Communications (http://cdiac.ornl.gov/newsletr/ccindex.html) received awards.
• In the technical publications competition, the "CDIAC and WDC-A for Atmospheric Trace Gases Fiscal Year 1999 Annual Report" (http://cdiac.ornl.gov/epubs/cdiac/cdiac126/99annual.pdf) and "Selected Translated Abstracts of Chinese-Language Climate Change Publications" (http://cdiac.ornl.gov/epubs/cdiac/cdiac117/cdiac117.html) received awards.

CDIAC’s Web site has been selected as a featured site in the StudyWeb (http://www.studyWeb.com/) online listing of educational resources on the Web.

Feely, R. A., C. L. Sabine, T. Takahashi, and R. Wanninkhof. 2001. Uptake and storage of carbon dioxide in the ocean: The global CO₂ survey. Oceanography 14:18-32.

Dauncy, G., and P. Mazza. 2001. Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Wang, J. X. L., and D. J. Gaffen. 2001. Late-twentieth-century climatology and trends of surface humidity and temperature in China. Journal of Climate 14:2833-2845.

Ramankutty, N., K. K. Goldewijk, R. Leemans, J. Foley, and F. Oldfield. 2001. Land cover change over the last three centuries due to human activities. Global Change Newsletter No. 47, pp. 17-19.

Sun, B., P. Ya. Groisman, and I. I. Mokhov. 2001. Recent changes in cloud-type frequency and inferred increases in convection over the United States and the Former USSR. Journal of Climate 14(8):1864-1880.

Gurevitch, J., P. S. Curtis, and M. H. Jones. 2001. Meta-analysis in Ecology, pp. 199-247. In H. Caswell (ed.), Advances in Ecological Research, Vol. 32. Academic Press, San Diego.

Gurevitch, J., P. S. Curtis, and M. H. Jones. 2001. Meta-analysis in Ecology, pp. 199-247. In H. Caswell (ed.), Advances in Ecological Research, Vol. 32. Academic Press, San Diego.

Gurevitch, J., P. S. Curtis, and M. H. Jones. 2001. Meta-analysis in Ecology, pp. 199-247. In H. Caswell (ed.), Advances in Ecological Research, Vol. 32. Academic Press, San Diego.

Dauncy, G., and P. Mazza. 2001. Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada.

CDIAC realizes that it would not be possible to produce global-change data and information products without the generosity and cooperation of researchers at institutions throughout the United States and around the world. In this annual report, we have noted the collaborating individuals and institutions for each product. Listed below are the many institutions that have collaborated with CDIAC in the publication of the databases and other information products described in this report.

• Brookhaven National Laboratory

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