The role of the biosphere in air quality and climate Klaus Butterbach-Bahl

K. Butterbach-Bahl | IMK-IFU | March 2008

KIT – die Kooperation vonForschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbHund Universität Karlsruhe (TH)

The role of the biosphere in air quality

and climate

Klaus Butterbach-Bahl

Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany


K. Butterbach-Bahl / M. Dannenmann | IMK-IFU | NEU meeting Ghent February 2008The NEU mediterranean burning experiment

Fossil fuel burning

Land use change

CO2

Industrial sources

Rice paddies, wetlands, ruminants

CH4

Industrial sources

Agriculture, forests, ozeans Soils: 60-70%

N2O

Why to study biosphere-

atmosphere interactions when

talking about climate change?



Erisman et al., 2008; Nature - Geosciences

Nitrogen and global population increase



N Fertilizer Produced

100

The fate of nitrogen




NConsumed

100 14

14% of the N produced in the Haber-Bosch process enters thehuman mouth……….

Galloway JN and Cowling EB. 2002





N Fertilizer Consumed

N in Crop

N Harvested

Nin Food

NConsumed

-6 -47 -12

100 144794 2631

-5-16

14% of the N produced in the Haber-Bosch process enters thehuman mouth……….if you are a vegetarian.





Global human population and meat production




N Fertilizer Applied

N in Crop

N In Feed

Nin Store

NConsumed

-6 -47 -3

100 44794 731

-24-16

4% of the N produced in the Haber-Bosch process and used for animal production enters the human mouth.





The global nitrogen cycle



Nr creation 1995 (left) and 2050 (right) [Tg N yr-1]



Hours days Weeks months years decades centuries

materialsclimate change

Vegetation changessoil processes

forest ecosystem health

soil nutrient reserves

Carbon sequestration

air concentrationsvisibility

Depositionhealth (acute) health (chronic)

aquatic (episodic) aquatic (chronic)plant responses

Ecological and social consequences of Nr



The Nr cascade



Increase in nitrogen flows in rivers



Nr deposition in 1860 and 1993 [mg m-2 yr-1]



Closed nutrient cycles

Man labor

Intensive agriculture

Industrialisation

Historical development



NONOyyNN22 NHNHxx

2121 2525

1616

2525

55

3333 2323 2626

66

3939

4848

1818

100100

N2 + 3H2

2NH3

mid

-199

0s

110110

66 77

88

0.30.3

66 99

1111 881515

2727

NONOyyNN22 NHNHxx

55 66

1860 120120

Galloway et al., 2003b

The Global Nitrogen Budget in 1860 and mid-1990s, TgN/yr



N2O

IPCC 2007



The effect of N on the GHG balance



ISRIC-WISE

ESDB v1

Clay contentpHbulk density

TemperaturePrecipitationPARLatitude

SOCMap of TopsoilOrganicCarbon

MM5

CAPRI Crop type/area

Sowing andHarvest date (2003)

LUCAS

Polygon

1x1 km2

Grid

10x10 km2

Grid

Fertilizer inputYield (kg/ha)

1x1 km2 Grid

NUTS Regions

Points

Data sourceData content format

SOIL

CLIMATE

MANAGEMENT

10km x 10km Grid

Spatialinformation

GISDATABASE

DNDC

EmissionInventoryof European

agricultural soils

EUStat

EMEP N deposition 50x50 km2

Grid

GIS database for DNDC

GIS coupling for Inventories



Simulated forest area of Europe: 1 410 477km2

NO Emissions

Minimum

Scenariokt N a-1

AverageScenariokt N a-1

Maximum

Scenariokt N a-1

199019952000

453845

988599

248220254

Inventorying soil N trace gas fluxes and identifying feedbacks

-50 -20 -10 0 10 20 50

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

Re

lativ

e c

ha

ng

e in

N2O

an

d N

O e

mis

sio

ns

[%]

N Deposition change in %

N2O

NO

Kesik et al., 2006; Biogeosciences



Agricultural soils – NO & N2O emissions

Butterbach-Bahl et al., 2008; Atm. Environm.



Soil NOx emissions are contributing in average for entire Europe

up to 10% to the tropospheric NOx burden

Soil sources versus industrial sources

Butterbach-Bahl et al., 2009; Atm. Environm.


K. Butterbach-Bahl / M. Dannenmann | IMK-IFU | NEU meeting Ghent February 2008The NEU mediterranean burning experiment31 | V. Name | Organisationseinheit | TT.MM.JJJJ

Summary

• Human activities have perturbed the global nitrogen cycling

• Acceleration by a factor of approx. 2 (C <10%)

• Large scale environmental impacts, e.g.

• eutrophication

• Biosphere-atmosphere exchange of GHG‘s

• Long-term effects and biosphere feedbacks to climate

change unknown

• Increase in N use efficiency urgently needed

The role of the biosphere in air quality and climate Klaus Butterbach-Bahl

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