C-CASCADES — Carbon Cascades from Land to Ocean in the Anthropocene

Results in brief

Carbon Cascades from Land to Ocean in the Anthropocene

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report (5th IPCC AR) includes the transport of carbon across the Land-Ocean Aquatic Continuum (LOAC) as a key component of the global carbon cycle but fails to quantify the historic changes of this transport due to human activities (land-use and climate change, hydraulic management, and agricultural, domestic and industrial activities). Earth System Models (ESMs) also do not account for the lateral flows of carbon and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange with the atmosphere. This is a major knowledge gap because these fluxes have recently been demonstrated to contribute significantly to policy-relevant global and regional carbon budgets in high-profile research papers. In the absence of this assessment, large uncertainties remain concerning the fate of the anthropogenic CO2 emitted into the atmosphere and its potential impact on climate projections. To make a breakthrough in this field, the ‘C-CASCADES – Carbon Cascades from Land to Ocean in the Anthropocene’ project was launched on January 1st, 2015. The ambition was to significantly advance the predictive capability of Earth System Models (ESMs) by integrating within them observations, analyses and mechanisms of the carbon transfer in the LOAC. The 3 science objectives were to: • Understand the critical mechanisms that transport carbon in the LOAC from technical developments, observations and experiments (WP1) • Assess carbon transfers in the LOAC for selected “hotspot” regions and river catchments (WP2) • Model the LOAC at the global scale, for attribution of historical changes and future feedbacks on climate (WP3) As further elaborated below, the 3 science objectives have been fully fulfilled. In particular, the LOAC carbon cycle is now integrated into three European ESMs. Simulations encompassing the historical period and 21st century projections have successfully been carried out in hotspot regions (e.g. Pan Arctic, Amazon, Congo) and at the global scale. In addition, C-CASCADES delivered policy-relevant tools and technological innovations to agencies responsible for environmental monitoring. C-CASCADES also trained 15 Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) both as future scientists and scientifically skilled professionals, able to pursue a successful career in academia, industry or the policy-sector. It is anticipated that 14 ESRs will receive a PhD degree.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

C-CASCADES will produce a new generation of young scientists trained to span the boundaries between disciplines and with the skill-sets required to address one of the grand research challenges of the 21st century: the role of the carbon cycle in regulating Earth’s climate. Training will be embedded within and guided by the overriding science objective of the programme, to make a breakthrough in understanding the transfer of carbon between land and ocean at planetary scale and the consequences for atmospheric CO2 and climate. This will require cutting-edge research and innovation to permit characterization of the transport, transformation and ultimate fate of carbon in rivers, lakes and coastal waters and their representation in Earth System Models. This will allow a better quantification of the fluxes of greenhouse gases (primarily CO2 and CH4) exchanged with the atmosphere and their impacts on the climate system. The closely related training objective is to engage the next generation of Earth system scientists in an integrated, cutting-edge and highly relevant joint research programme. The research undertaken will capture technological innovation in sensor development; advance mechanistic understanding of the carbon transformations that occur during lateral transfer between land and ocean; embed this understanding in enhanced catchment, regional and global-scale models; and, assess quantitatively carbon transfer fluxes and carbon transformations along the land to ocean aquatic continuum at the global scale, from terrestrial ecosystems to the open ocean via rivers, lakes and coastal waters. The suite of C-CASCADES models will be progressively improved during the course of the project and evaluated against observations. These models will be applied to disentangle human impacts (e.g. land-use, river management, wastewater production, CO2, climate) on the land-to-ocean carbon cycle, for the historical period and future IPCC climate scenarios.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

UNIVERSITE LIBRE DE BRUXELLES · Bruxelles / BrusselCoordinatorBelgium
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisFrance
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · ZuerichSwitzerland
HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR OZEANFORSCHUNG KIEL (GEOMAR) · KielGermany
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme · StockholmSweden
KONGSBERG MARITIME CONTROS GMBH · KIELGermany
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · MUNCHENGermany
STICHTING DELTARES · DelftNetherlands
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER · ExeterUnited Kingdom
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL · BRISTOLUnited Kingdom
UPPSALA UNIVERSITET · UppsalaSweden

C-CASCADES · Carbon Cascades from Land to Ocean in the Anthropocene

Results in brief

Carbon Cascades from Land to Ocean in the Anthropocene

Project objective

Participants

Links