New Climate Change Products

November 2008

• AGAGE files have been updated through March of 2008. The Recent Greenhouse Gas Concentrations page has also been updated to reflect the AGAGE update. Of some interest is a recent increase in atmospheric methane (CH₄) after a leveling off in the last few years.
   

October 2008

• CDIAC's NDP-040, Daily Temperature and Precipitation Data for 223 Former-USSR Stations, has been updated to include data through 2001. These data have been contributed by V. N. Razuvaev, E. B. Apasova, and R. A. Martuganov of the All-Russian Research Institute of Hydrometeorological Information-World Data Centre (RIHMI) in Obninsk, Russia.
   
  Data are available as early as 1881 for a few stations, and as late as 2001 for most stations. Data well beyond 2001 are expected to be made available by 2009, when CDIAC will prepare another update.
   
  This climate dataset is one of many that have been exchanged directly between RIHMI and NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) over the last few decades. This data exchange has its roots in a bilateral initiative between the U.S. and the former-USSR known as the Agreement on Protection of the Environment. CDIAC has partnered with NCDC and RIHMI since the early 1990s to help make former-USSR climate datasets available to the public.
   
  The stations in this dataset are considered by RIHMI to comprise one of the best networks for monitoring temperature and precipitation over the former-USSR. The database contains four variables: daily mean, minimum, and maximum temperature, and daily total precipitation.
   
• CDIAC has added a New IPCC Tier-1 Global Biomass Carbon Map for the Year 2000 to its data holdings. This new global map of biomass carbon stored in above and belowground living vegetation was created using the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Good Practice Guidance for reporting national greenhouse gas inventories. This map provides important benchmarks for climate policy dialogues aiming to reduce carbon emissions from land-use change, and may also advance global terrestrial and climate modeling efforts by providing improved representation of global vegetation carbon stocks. These data were submitted by Aaron Ruesch and Holly Gibbs of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment.
   

September 2008

• CDIAC has released the latest updates to their global, regional, and national time series of carbon releases from fossil-fuel use and cement production. The updates run through 2005 and contain sizeable revisions to previous estimates for some countries due to a change in the way CDIAC handles the United Nations natural gas liquids data, which CDIAC believes led to double-counting for some countries in past years. Preliminary global and national estimates through 2007 based on BP data and estimated by extrapolation of the 2005 CDIAC time series estimates are also now available.
  
   
  Based on the latest national time series and the preliminary national estimates, 2005 marked the first year fossil-fuel carbon emissions from non-participants in the Kyoto Protocol exceeded emissions from signatory countries.
   
• CDIAC's Recent Greenhouse Gas Concentrations page has been updated to include CO₂ concentrations through June 2008 and other greenhouse gas concentrations through 2005 as per the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2007). Radiative forcings and Global Warming Potentials have also been updated as per that report. The greenhouse gases included have been changed to be consistent with those included in the Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI) values posted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration�s Earth System Research Laboratory. Many of the explanatory notes have also been revised to make them better organized, more relevant, and more technically correct.
   
• Our CO₂ concentrations for Mauna Loa, generously provided by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, have been updated through 2007. The Mauna Loa atmospheric CO₂ measurements constitute the longest continuous record of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations available in the world.
   
• The new Version 2007 of the Global Surface pCO₂ (LDEO) Database is now available from CDIAC. The new V2007 is consists of more than 4.1 million measurements (V1.0 consisted of 3.5 million points). For simplicity and for ease of reference, this version is referred to as "V2007", meaning that data collected through 31 December 2007 has been included. It is our intention to update this database annually, and there are 37 new cruise/ship files in this update. Revisions to the NDP-088 and existing files have been made and a column reporting the partial pressure of CO₂ in seawater in units of Pascals was added, so this should be considered the "V2007" file.
   
• The NDP-089: "Carbon Dioxide, Hydrographic, and Chemical Data Obtained During the R/V Knorr Repeat Hydrography Cruise in the Atlantic Ocean: CLIVAR CO₂ Sections A20_2003 (22 September�20 October 2003) and A22_2003 (23 October-13 November, 2003)" is now available from CDIAC. This report presents methods, and analytical and quality control procedures for salinity, oxygen, nutrient, inorganic carbon, organic carbon, chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), and bomb carbon-14 system parameters performed during the A20_2003 and A22_2003 cruises, which took place between September 22 and November 13, 2003, aboard research vessel (R/V) Knorr under the auspices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Science Foundation (NSF). The R/V Knorr departed Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on September 22 for the Repeat Section A20, and ended this line in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on October 20. The Repeat Section A22 started on October 23 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and finished on November 13, 2003, in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The research conducted was one of a series of repeat hydrography sections jointly funded by NOAA and NSF as part of the Climate Variability Program (CLIVAR)/CO₂/repeat hydrography/tracer program. Samples were taken from 36 depths at 88 stations on section A20 and 82 stations on section A22.
   
  The data presented in this report include the analyses of water samples for total inorganic carbon (TCO₂), total alkalinity (TALK), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), CFC, carbon-14, hydrographic, and other chemical measurements.
   
  The R/V Knorr A20_2003 and A22_2003 data sets are available free of charge as a numeric data package (NDP) from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC). The NDP consists of the oceanographic data files and this printed documentation, which describes the procedures and methods used to obtain the data.
   

August 2008

• Two data sets for the U.S. EPA Particulate Matter (PM) Supersites Program have been updated and expanded. NARSTO EPA_SS_FRESNO PM2.5 Organic and Elemental Carbon Data contains measurements taken from a continuous carbon monitor (Model R&P5400C) that was operated at the Fresno, California supersite from January 2000 to March 2005. The PM2.5 Organic and Elemental Carbon data set was originally published in 2003, with data from January 2000 through April 2003. The update extends the data through March 2005 and completes data reporting for this data set.
   
  
  NARSTO EPA_SS_FRESNO Particle-bound Polycyclic Aromatic Compound Data contains measurements of particle-bound polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) from a Photoelectric Aerosol Sensor (PAS) monitor that has been operated at the Fresno, California supersite from September 1999 to December 2006. This data set was originally published in 2003, with data from September 1999 through September 2003. The data set has been extended through December 2006 and completes data reporting for this data set.
   
• We are pleased to announce the public release of the new version of our CDIAC Mercury Advanced Search tool. Mercury is a harvest, search, distribution, and data discovery system. From Mercury, you can search the CDIAC's data holdings using free text, fielded, spatial, or temporal parameters.
   
  Mercury is now open source and service oriented architecture based. Many new features have been added, including:
   
  • combined search results,
  • filtering the search results by logical groupings (faceted browsing),
  • dynamic sorting of search results,
  • enhanced search summary page,
  • enhanced metadata reports page, and an
  • enhanced browse tree search.
     
  The Mercury search query can now be saved using a browser's book mark feature, and search results can also be emailed or attached as a feed into any RSS reader. You may access Mercury at: http://mercury.ornl.gov/cdiac. We welcome your comments on new release. Feedback for the Mercury Team can be facilitated by emailing mercury-support@ornl.gov directly, or via the 'Contact Us' link on the Mercury Interface.
   

July 2008

• AGAGE data have been updated through September of 2007. A new compound HFC-365mfc (1,1,1,3,3-pentafluorobutane), an industrial chemical used for polyurethane foam blowing, has been added. It has been commercially produced since early 2003 as a substitute for chlorine-containing HCFC-141b, which has been banned in Europe since January 2004.
   

May 2008

• The NARSTO Quality Systems Science Center 2007-2008 Annual Report is now available. The report summarizes accomplishments for the 2007-2008 year including new user applications and data sets archived. Summaries of support provided to NARSTO projects, external interactions, plans for next year, and user statistics for the Permanent Data Archive, QSSC Web site and Public FTP site are included.
   
• Regular observations of atmospheric and sea surface CO₂ have been conducted since 1998 in the South-Western Indian Ocean and corresponding Antarctic sector from the French research and supply ship Marion-Dufresne. CDIAC has obtained the data from OISO 1-15 cruises from 1998 through 2007. These data complement other historical data and repeated lines in the Southern hemisphere and help to describe the seasonal climatology of pCO₂ and associated air-sea CO₂ fluxes and show the decadal variability of ocean pCO₂. This recent analysis suggests that pCO₂ in sea surface waters has increased faster than in the atmosphere (2.1 vs 1.7 uatm/year), implying a progressive reduction of the ocean sink in the South Indian Ocean region. This observation from in-situ observations is consistent with recent analyses based on atmospheric CO₂ data (using inverse atmospheric transport models) and sensitivity analysis of ocean models. The OISO data are also included in the international synthesis of pCO₂ observations and should help in determining how the ocean pCO₂ changed in various regions of the southern ocean.
   
  The database was submitted to CDIAC by Dr. Nicolas Metzl - LOCEAN-IPSL, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace Universite P. et M. Curie, France.
   
• National Land Cover Data 2001 is now available from CDIAC. The NLCD is composed of 16-classes, and is derived from Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper, and Landsat 5 satellite data centered around 2001. The NLCD data is distributed by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) as a collection of regional files. CDIAC has combined these regional files into one contiguous raster data file for the conterminous United States.
   
• Underway pCO₂ and DIC measurements collected by the Meteorological Research Institute (MRI), Japan, during the period of 1968-2003 are now available for public use through CDIAC oceanographic Web page, through the CDIAC VOS map, and the Mercury search engine. The MRI data base consists of underway water and air xCO₂ measurements, underway dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) measurements, sea surface temperature and salinity measurements, atmospheric pressure and wind speed and direction measurements during the cruises and VOS lines of 13 ships between 1968 and 2003 (see map). The database was submitted to CDIAC by Hisayuki Yoshikawa Inoue and Masao Ishii Geochemical Research Department, Meteorological Research Institute, 1-1 Nagamine, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0052, Japan.
   

April 2008

• Richard Houghton's "Carbon Flux to the Atmosphere from Land-Use Changes" data has been updated. These data, originally published as NDP-050 (1850-1980), and later included in CDIAC's TRENDS collection (1850-2000), now include regional and global estimates for the time period from 1850 through 2005.
   
  The estimated global total net flux of carbon from changes in land use increased from 500.6 Tg C (1 teragram = 1012 gram) in 1850 to a maximum of 1712.5 Tg C (or 1.7 Pg C, where 1 petagram = 1015 gram) in 1991, then declined to 1409.9 Tg C (1.4 Pg C) in 2000, and rose slightly to 1467.3 Tg C (or 1.46 Pg C) in 2005. The global net flux during the period 1850-2000 was 148.6 Pg C, about 55% of which was from the tropics. During the period 1990-2005, the greatest regional flux was from South and Central America (11.3 Pg C).
   
• In a recent publication in Geophysical Research Letters Jay Gregg of the University of Maryland and CDIAC's Robert Andres and Gregg Marland present an analysis of the seasonal and spatial pattern of CO₂ emissions in China from fossil fuel combustion and cement manufacture. Analyzing CDIAC data on yearly CO₂ emissions from China and the U.S., the authors found that China is now the largest national source of CO₂ emissions, surpassing the United States which had occupied that position until late 2006. The annual CO₂ emissions rate in the U.S. was relatively stable between 2001-2006 while the emission rate in China more than doubled during that time.
   
  The authors discuss the uncertainties in the data and their analysis and the implications of China's very rapid growth in CO₂ emissions. Currently, over half of the global growth in CO₂ emissions is occurring in China. Per capita emissions from China are now at global-average values and are reaching European-average values in some rapidly industrializing areas, propelling China into the position as the largest national source of CO₂.
   

March 2008

• The latest global cloudiness database compiled by Dr. Carole J. Hahn (University of Arizona) and Dr. Stephen G. Warren (University of Washington) is now available from CDIAC. "A Gridded Climatology of Clouds over Land (1971-96) and Ocean (1954-97) from Surface Observations Worldwide" (CDIAC NDP-026E) is the latest entry in CDIAC's NDP-026 global cloud data series.
   
  Surface synoptic weather reports from ships and land stations worldwide were processed to produce a global cloud climatology which includes: total cloud cover, the amount and frequency of occurrence of nine cloud types within three levels of the troposphere, the frequency of occurrence of clear sky and of precipitation, the base heights of low clouds, and the non-overlapped amounts of middle and high clouds. Synoptic weather reports are made every three hours; the cloud information in a report is obtained visually by human observers. Covering the period 1971-96 for land and 1954-97 for ocean, the database provides multi-year monthly, seasonal, and annual averages in 5×5-degree grid boxes (or 10×10-degree boxes for some quantities over the ocean). The analysis used 185 million reports from 5388 weather stations on continents and islands, and 50 million reports from ships; these reports passed a series of quality-control checks. This analysis updates (and in most ways supersedes) the previous cloud climatology constructed by the authors in the 1980s.
   
• The LDEO (Takahashi) database (Version 1.0) is now available for general public use through CDIAC. More than 3 million measurements of surface water partial pressure of CO₂ obtained over the global oceans during 1968 - 2006 are listed in the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) database, which includes open ocean and coastal water measurements. The data assembled include only those measured by equilibrator-CO₂ analyzer systems and have been quality-controlled based on the stability of the system performance, the reliability of calibrations for CO₂ analysis, and the internal consistency of data. To allow re-examination of the data in the future, a number of measured parameters relevant to pCO₂ measurements are listed. The overall uncertainty for the pCO₂ values listed is estimated to be ± 2.5 uatm on the average.
   
  The data presented in this database include the analysis of partial pressure of CO₂ (pCO₂), sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface salinity (SSS), pressure of the equilibration, and barometric pressure in the outside air from the ship's observation system. The global pCO₂ data set is available free of charge as a numeric data package (NDP-088) from CDIAC) The database is available as simple ASCII data and metadata files, as an ODV collection, and via two search engines: WAVES and LAS.
   
• A recent publication by CDIAC staff provides monthly estimates of the global emissions of anthropogenic CO₂. Monthly flux estimates were computed based on data for the United States, applied globally, and used to model atmospheric CO₂ concentrations in the NASA GEOS-4 data assimilation system. Model results show that the monthly resolved fluxes make a significant difference in the seasonal cycle of atmospheric CO₂ in and near those regions where anthropogenic CO₂ is released to the atmosphere. In the midlatitudes near the sources, synoptic scale atmospheric circulations are important in the winter and boundary layer venting and diurnal rectifier effects are more important in the summer. These findings have implications for inverse-modeling efforts that attempt to estimate surface source/sink regions, especially when the surface sinks are colocated with regions of strong anthropogenic CO₂ emissions.
   
  Reference: Erickson, DJ III, Mills RT, Gregg J, Blasing TJ, Hoffman FM, Andres RJ, Devries M, Zhu Z, Kawa SR (2008) An estimate of monthly global emissions of anthropogenic CO₂: Impact on the seasonal cycle of atmospheric CO₂. J. Geophys. Res., 113: G01023, doi:10.1029/2007JG000435.

February 2008

• CDIAC has launched a new data and information Web site for the Coastal Carbon Data, including data from VOS, moorings, and hydrography (bottle measurements from coastal cruises). At present, there are only three regions to chose from: North American East Coast, North American West Coast, and European Coast. Scientists with data in these three regions are requested to check the information provided and to provide corrections, data links and updates as necessary.
   
  Data and information from other regions is being sought to develop a truly global database. This is a tool that has been requested repeatedly over the years by many research and observation programs. This Web site will also compliment the North America Carbon Program (NACP) research.
   
• The CO₂ record for Jubany Station on the Antarctic Peninsula has been updated. The annual average concentration for 2007 was over 381 ppmv. Typically, Antarctic stations are below the global average because they are farthest from emissions sources which are largely in the Northern Hemisphere.
   
  
   

January 2008

• The "Guide to best practices for ocean CO₂ measurements" is now available. This Guide was originally prepared at the request, and with the active participation, of a science team formed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to carry out the first global survey of carbon dioxide in the oceans (DOE. 1994. Handbook of methods for the analysis of the various parameters of the carbon dioxide system in sea water; version 2, A.G. Dickson and C. Goyet, Eds. ORNL/CDIAC-74). The manual has been updated several times since, and the current version contains the most up-to-date information available on the chemistry of CO₂ in sea water and the methodology of determining carbon system parameters. This revision has been made possible by the generous support of the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), the Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Committee (IOC) and DOE through CDIAC.
   
  This manual should be cited as: Dickson, A.G., Sabine, C.L. and Christian, J.R. (Eds.) 2007. Guide to best practices for ocean CO₂ measurements. PICES Special Publication 3, 191 pp.
   
  To order a hard copy of the Guide, please send a message to Alex Kozyr of CDIAC at kozyra@ornl.gov with complete mailing address and the number of copies needed.
   
• CDIAC staff contributed to two recent publications on carbon emissions:
   
  • Gregg JS, Andres RJ (2008). A method for estimating the temporal and spatial patterns of carbon dioxide emissions from national fossil-fuel consumption. Tellus 60B:1-10.
     
  • Gurney K, Ansley W, Mendoza D, Seib B, Petron G, Frost G, Gregg J, Fischer M, Pataki D, Ackerman K, Houweling S, Corbin K, Andres R, Blasing TJ (2007). Research Needs for Finely Resolved Fossil Carbon Emissions. Eos 88:542-543.
     

December 2007

• Recent Additions to the NARSTO Permanent Data Archive at the Langley Atmospheric Science Data Center and ORNL's QSSC FTP Site.
   
  • 5-Year Black Carbon Record for Fresno Supersite Released December 20, 2007. A multiwavelength aethalometer (model AE30S) has been operated at the Fresno supersite from May 1999 to December 2006. The collected aerosol sample was illuminated with light from seven light emitting diodes at wavelengths of 370, 470, 520, 590, 660, 880, and 950 nm. Aerosol samples were collected for five minute periods through a sharp cut size-selective cyclone to limit the size of particles to aerodynamic diameters of 2.5 μm and less. The concentration of black carbon corresponds to the 880 nm measurement. The black carbon equivalents at the other six wavelengths are also determined.
     
  • 5-Year Elemental Carbon Record for Fresno Supersite Released December 14, 2007. This data set contains the measurements taken with a single and dual wavelength aethalometer. The single wavelength aethalometer (model AE14) was operated at the Fresno supersite from December 1999 to September 2002. It used a broad spectrum incandescent lamp to illuminate the collected aerosol. Aerosol samples were collected for five minute periods through a sharp cut size-selective cyclone to limit the size of particles to aerodynamic diameters of 2.5 μm and less. A single concentration of elemental carbon was determined for each five minute period.
     
    A dual-wavelength aethalometer (model AE21) operated at the Fresno supersite from February 2003 to December 2006. The collected aerosol sample was illuminated with light from two light emitting diodes at wavelengths of 370 and 880 nm. Aerosol samples were collected for five minute periods through a sharp cut size-selective cyclone to limit the size of particles to aerodynamic diameters of 2.5 μm and less. The concentration of elemental carbon corresponds to the 880 nm measurement. The elemental carbon equivalent at the ultraviolet wavelength was also determined.
     
• Gregg Marland is a lead author of the Overview of Part II of the recently published State of the Carbon Cycle Report. Part II covers fossil-fuel CO₂ emissions from energy, industry, and waste management activities. Other authors include Bob Andres and T.J. Blasing as well as our former students: Christine Broniak, Jay Gregg, and London Losey. The report was published in November by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.
   
  T.J. Blasing is an author of a paper presented at the Buildings X Conference of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers. The paper, entitled, "Zero-peak communities electric utility benefits" focuses on progress by ORNL scientists and engineers toward constructing houses that provide as much energy as they consume. Dr. Blasing is calculating demonstrable CO₂ emissions reductions resulting from the houses constructed and evaluated to date. Jeff Christian, of the Buildings Technology Center, Engineering Science and Technology Division, is the leader of this ORNL interdisciplinary effort.