Sessions
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Diagnosis and Attribution of NA Carbon Cycle
The North American Carbon Program has facilitated a significant US effort to quantify and diagnose CO2, CH4 and CO sources and sinks, attribute change through a detailed process-level understanding, and develop scientific and technical tools to forecast future increases in CO2 and CH4 concentrations. Remote sensing, land surface models, and flux observations provide valuable information about the impacts of the changing climate and anthropogenic drivers on the North America carbon cycle. This session solicits abstracts that use models, observations, or combination thereof, to provide new insights on diagnosis of the carbon cycle to better quantify the natural and anthropogenic drivers behind North American carbon dynamics. Studies that are focused on diagnosing and attributing ecosystem responses, as well as quantifying the uncertainty in North America carbon cycle are encouraged. We particularly invite contributions on: 1) estimating carbon flux budgets at a variety of spatiotemporal scales using data from various observational platforms; 2) advances in atmospheric inverse modeling or data assimilation systems for obtaining carbon fluxes, or strategies for coupling atmospheric inversions to biogeochemical models; 3) analyses targeting the verification of flux estimates and/or reconciling flux estimates from top-down and bottom-up approaches; 4) studies examining the role of observational errors and model uncertainties on carbon budgets; 5) studies related to progresses and challenges in constraining and upscaling North America carbon variables (e.g. GPP, NEE, soil respiration, and above ground biomass); and 6) the fusion of data and models for improving our understanding of the soil-vegetation interactions, and uncertainties in North American carbon cycle across scales.
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Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder engagement in carbon cycle science often results in broader, societally relevant research outcomes and longer-term impacts. This session focuses on such research in carbon cycle science across North America, highlighting not only the successes but also the challenges, gaps, needs, and future opportunities. This session/panel will connect to the separate brainstorming and networking stakeholder and practitioner event.
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Spatial and Temporal Extremes in Carbon Cycling (posters only)
Weather and climate events, ecosystem disturbances, nutrient pulses and other extremes have large, and often disproportionate impacts on the carbon cycle. This session will explore natural and human systems that are undergoing large carbon cycle changes either because they are facing large exposure to extremes (e.g. permafrost thaw/wildfire/ocean warming/tropical storms etc.), because they are highly sensitive to change (e.g. exhibit abrupt state changes such as large-scale forest dieback and shifts in ecotones), or because they impose large feedbacks to the coupled carbon-climate system. We encourage submissions that document carbon cycle sensitivities and vulnerabilities to extremes, and especially those that build a predictive understanding of the underlying mechanisms and responses. Submissions may span the measurement approaches necessary to capture their spatial and temporal extents, detailed investigation of underlying processes, and/or broad assessments of impacts on the global carbon cycle.
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Indigenous Peoples and Multinational Experiences
This session invites presentations on carbon science, policy, and management from local, regional, national, and international scales, from Indigenous peoples as well as US, Mexican, and Canadian collaborators. Presentations may explore: experiences and advances in co-production of knowledge, inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in carbon cycle science and decision-making, and multi-national collaborations, including carbon mapping and monitoring.
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Vulnerability, Resilience, Adaptation and Mitigation in the Context of Carbon-Climate Feedbacks
Carbon-climate feedbacks (such as carbon release from permafrost and tropical wetlands) affect the global carbon cycle, and future climate projections. Current estimates of the remaining carbon budget to meet the 1.5° target do not include these possible Earth system feedbacks. Improving our understanding carbon-climate feedbacks across timescales and regions is necessary to first identify which systems are vulnerable or resilient to predicted change and then evaluate possible responses to either meet targets or adapt to predicted change.
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Alternative Carbon Futures
Recognition is growing among policymakers, land managers, industry, and society-at-large that a low-carbon future is critical for mitigating the most damaging effects of climate change and ocean acidification. A low C future may include an economy that is less reliant on energy from fossil fuels, systems technologies that use energy more efficiently and produce less waste, negative emissions technologies (carbon sinks), and innovative business models and lifestyles that adopt less carbon-intensive practices of production and consumption. Carbon cycle science has a central role to play in assessing the potential of these and other opportunities for decreasing the carbon-intensity of modern society, as well as appraising associated impacts. This session will explore opportunities being considered for a low carbon future and the mechanisms by which they might be achieved. The session takes an interdisciplinary approach to the topic and welcomes insights from the physical and social sciences, natural resources sciences, engineering, economics, business, policy, and cultural studies. Discussion will focus on practical mechanisms, techniques, and policies that could play a part in the transition to a low-carbon way of life.
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Linkages among the Air-Land-Water Continuum
The Land-Air-Water continuum plays a key role in the global carbon cycle and provides major feedbacks to climate and biogeochemistry of the Earth system. This continuum is central to the function of Earth System Models which are themselves critical to the prediction of weather and future change in Earth’s climate, as well as change in supplies of water and energy. The continuum also is a physical space hosting rapid development of the built environment in which the nexus of food-water-energy occurs, influencing sectors ranging from agriculture and fisheries to energy production to recreation and tourism. However, parameterizations of C stocks and vertical and lateral fluxes between these three reservoirs are continuing challenges to their representation in both regional and Earth system models. This session will explore current best estimates of carbon stocks and fluxes within and across the Land-Air-Water continuum highlighting knowledge gaps and discussing challenges to defining and modeling these parameters across scales and under a period of rapid environmental change.
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Advances in Methane Measurements, Attribution and Modeling
A multi-tiered approach to measuring methane is required for understanding the diversity and complexity of sources that vary in space and time. Plot scale chambers and cuvettes, flux-towers, aircraft, and remote sensing provide valuable information on concentrations and fluxes and their responses to land cover and meteorology. Integrating these measurements to provide insights at larger spatial scales and timeframes is particularly relevant for understanding the mechanisms responsible for the 150% increase in methane concentrations and the surprising renewed growth of methane since 2007. This session will address new technologies for measuring and modeling methane emissions, ranging from low-cost sensors used in urban settings, flux-towers in natural and agricultural lands, the use of aircraft to measure concentrations or fluxes, and remote sensing opportunities. Modeling approaches taking advantage of new isotopic source signature databases, forward or inverse modeling using co-emissions of ethane or other gases to partition biogenic, thermogenic and pyrogenic emissions will be presented.
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From Manipulative Experiments to Models (and back)
Quantifying the response of terrestrial ecosystems to a changing environment will improve our understanding of the mechanisms driving the terrestrial ecosystem carbon (C) cycle. Site experiments that manipulate the local environmental conditions (e.g. FACE, soil drought) provide valuable information about the effects of changes in environmental drivers on the terrestrial ecosystem C cycle. These experiments are crucial to constrain earth system models in order to improve models capability to detect and predict North American carbon dynamics in a rapidly changing environmental conditions. Still very few site experiments are designed to address critical gaps in the predictive capability of earth system models (coupled carbon-climate models). This session solicits abstracts that integrate site experiments with models to address critical gaps in the predictive capability of earth system models. Studies that are focused on diagnosing earth system models, as well as quantifying the uncertainty of the models North America carbon cycle are encouraged. We also invite studies that addresses: (1) site experimental design aimed at improving models soil-vegetation interactions; (2) methods for reconciling different spatial and temporal scales between site experiments and model processes; and (3) multi-model synthesis that provides insights for improving earth system models.
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Next-Gen Data Management, Syntheses, and Products
Effective data management is needed to ensure that carbon cycle observations, and model results are available for synthesis efforts and the development of value-added products. This is increasingly essential in order to translate observations into insights that can enhance our understanding of the global carbon, water and energy cycles, and guide society's adaptation and mitigation efforts. Societal needs for carbon cycle information come from end users in private industry, public policy, government legislation and regulatory bodies, and those doing education and outreach. Only through engagement with these end users can scientists working on carbon cycle science create useful products that will underpin plans to reduce carbon emissions. Underpinning all of the above are effective data management structures to facilitate data interoperability and accessibility for generating these information products. Early stakeholder involvement with design of data management, synthesis, and information products is critical to ensure that the products developed will have end users and fulfill societal needs. This session invites presentations about next generation data management efforts aimed at facilitating scientific use of the growing diversity of observations, synthesis efforts that exemplify the potential of using advanced data management to improve our understanding of key unknowns in the global carbon, water and energy cycles, and studies that derive added value products from harmonized datasets employing advanced data management approaches. Of particular interest is the potential or actual use of next generation data management, synthesis and added value products that use NACP science to address policy and societal needs, particularly those highlighting pathways illustrating effective integration from data generators to societal end users.
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From observations to predictions
A wide range of collaborative scientific research networks have emerged within the past two decades. By consolidating observations, these networks seek to generate new scientific insights. Examples are sought of how are these insights are leading to improved capacity to make predictions about the future of the carbon cycle. We also seek examples of where scientists are missing opportunities for impactful discoveries. Suggestions for refinement or expansion of networks, both geographically and topically are welcome.
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The Social Embeddedness of Carbon (posters only)
Carbon is embedded in every aspect of our lives, from individual choices that we may make about food and transportation, to institutional and governance structures determining power sources and natural resource management, to societal and economic influences on production and consumption systems (often spatially disconnected). Carbon is largely invisible in the daily lives of most people, but individual, political, societal, and cultural drivers determine where and how carbon is emitted, conserved, or captured. This session invites research examining social structures and practices across a range of sectors (such as agriculture, energy systems, urban planning), that influence the carbon cycle.
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Other (posters only)
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