Root C

Litter

C

Eroded C

Cropland C

Wetland C

Eddy flux

Sample

probe

Soil profile

Remote

sensor

Respired C

Captured C

Heavy

fraction

C

Woodlot C

Harvested C

Buried C

Light

fraction

C

Respired C

Soil organic C

Soil inorganic C

Databases / GIS Simulation models

SOCt

 = SOC 0 + Cc + Cb - Ch - Cr - Ce

Elements of carbon dynamics and tools for monitoring and verifying changes in a heterogeneous landscape.

Measurements made at the field scale using sampling and analysis methods and eddy covariance methods will

require spatial and temporal extrapolation based on methods using information from geographic data, remote

sensing, and appropriate computer simulation and data integration. (Abbreviations: SOC = soil organic carbon,

0 = initial time, t = time t, C_c = C captured by photosynthesis, C_b = C buried, C_h = C harvested (removed),

C_r = C respired, C_e = C lost by erosion).

Monitoring and Verifying Changes 

of Organic Carbon in Soil

by Wilfred M. Post, R. Cesar Izaurralde, Linda K. Mann, Norman Bliss

Changes in soil and vegetation management can impact strongly on the rates of

carbon (C) accumulation and loss in

soil, even over short periods of time.

Detecting the effects of such changes in

accumulation and loss rates on the

amount of C stored in soil presents

many challenges. Consideration of the

temporal and spatial heterogeneity of

soil properties, general environmental

conditions, and management history is

essential when designing methods for

monitoring and estimating future

changes in soil C stocks. Several

approaches and tools are required to

develop reliable estimates of changes in

soil C at scales ranging from the

individual experimental plot to broad

regional and national inventories.

There are two basic methods for

determining soil C changes—direct

methods and indirect methods. Direct

methods include field sampling and

laboratory measurements of total C, 

Continued on p. 6

Summer 2000

Issue No. 27

http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/

 Co-editors: Sonja Jones

Karen Gibson

What’s Inside ...

Director’s Desk . . . . . . . . . 2

Trends Online . . . . . . . . . . 3

Focus Areas . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

New and Updated . . . . . . . 8

Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

CDIAC Publications . . . . 14

Reference Links . . . . . . . 16

CDIAC’s Home Page . . . 18

Order Form . . . . . . . . . . . 20

CDIAC Communications is funded by

the U.S. Department of Energy’s

Environmental Sciences Division,

Office of Biological and Environmental

Research. It is published periodically by

the Carbon Dioxide Information

Analysis Center, Environmental

Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National

Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN,

37831-6335, which is managed by UTBattelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department

of Energy under contract DE-AC05-

00OR22725. CDIAC Communications

is distributed free of charge.

ISSN 1053-1106.

CDIAC’s Program Manager:

Bobbi Parra
Summer 2000

2 CDIAC Communications

Continuing at a busy and productive pace, CDIAC staff have published a number of new and updated data

and information products since the last issue of CDIAC Communications was distributed. These data and

information products are outlined in this issue of the newsletter.

In addition to the “core” CDIAC activities, such as quality-assuring, documenting, and publishing

databases on global-change topics relating to emissions, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide

(CO2) and other greenhouse gases, and long-term climate records, staff have also been busy working in

four special CDIAC “focus areas”: AmeriFlux, FACE, NARSTO, and Ocean Data.

In this issue, we mention the AmeriFlux (the long-term study of carbon fluxes between the

terrestrial biosphere of the Western Hemisphere and the atmosphere) databases available from CDIAC.

AmeriFlux data management efforts were taken over by Tom Boden, assisted by Susan Holladay,

following Antoinette Brenkert’s move to Washington, D.C. As part of CDIAC’s focus on FACE (Free-Air CO2

Enrichment), we have a new Web site which begins the process of integrating the 30-something FACE sites around

the world. In the Oceans Data area, Alex Kozyr, assisted by Linda Allison, continues to quality-assure and

document databases on ocean carbon. Forrest Hoffman maintains Web sites for the Ocean Drifters project, as well

as the Web sites for the multi-agency Global Change Data and Information System, and the U.S. National

Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. We have also continued our focus on

the operation of the NARSTO Quality Systems Science Center to provide quality-assurance guidance for research

on tropospheric ozone and particulates.

At the end of the fiscal year, CDIAC’s talented secretary Dana Griffith (who also had a hand in 

preparing several databases for publication!) left CDIAC for the private sector. We’ll all miss 

Dana, and we wish her the best, however, we welcome Dana’s replacement, Gloria Taylor 

(previously with the ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center), to CDIAC!

Although most of our customers aren’t aware of this (unless they study our mailing address), 

about a year ago CDIAC moved from the “charming” confines of Building 1000 to more 

modern quarters in nearby Building 1509. The move, and all the logistics associated therewith, 

went smoothly, thanks to the heroic efforts of Dana Griffith, working with our division’s 

Linda Armstrong and Linda Jennings and the Instrumentation and Controls Division’s 

Randy Smith and Ed Stanford. Not only people and the contents of offices had to be 

moved, our inventory of printed documents and our computing network also had to 

be moved, in a manner that minimized disruption to our own work and our 

communications with the outside world.

I would like to acknowledge the guidance and support of the program managers 

within DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research: Bobbi Parra, 

who is CDIAC’s Program Manager; Roger Dahlman, who has oversight of 

CDIAC’s AmeriFlux and FACE work; Wanda Ferrell, who oversees CDIAC’s 

NARSTO effort; Anna Palmisano, who manages CDIAC’s Ocean Data project;

and all the other DOE global change program managers (Pat Crowley, 

Jerry Elwood, John Houghton, Peter Lunn, Rick Petty, and Mike Riches).

Robert M. Cushman 
Summer 2000

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center 3

 Trends Online

With the addition of the “Cloud” section, Trends

Online contents now include records on:

• historical and modern atmospheric CO2

concentrations

• estimates of global, regional, and national

CO2 emissions from the combustion of

fossil-fuels, gas flaring, and cement

production

• estimates of global anthropogenic methane

emissions

• long-term atmospheric temperature

records, and

• total cloud amounts over China

The following presents the new and updated

information included in Trends Online. 

Historical Isotopic Temperature Record from

the Vostok Ice Core (J.R. Petit et.al.)

(http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/temp/vostok/

jouz_tem.htm)

Because isotopic fractions of oxygen-18 (18O)

and deuterium (D) in snowfall are temperaturedependent and a strong spatial correlation exists

between the annual mean temperature and the

mean isotopic ratio (18O or 
D) of precipitation,

it is possible to derive ice-core climate records

from the isotopic composition. This record was

based on the 3623-m ice core drilled at the

Vostok station in central east Antarctica, the

deepest ice core ever recovered. The resulting

core allowed the ice core record of climate

properties at Vostok to be extended to 420,000

years BP.

From the extended Vostok record, Petit et al.

concluded that present-day atmospheric burdens

of carbon dioxide and methane seem to have

been unprecedented during the past 420,000

years. Although the third and fourth climate

cycles evident in the Vostok record are of

shorter duration than the first two cycles, all

four climate cycles show a similar sequence of a 

warm interglacial, followed by colder glacial

events, and ending with a rapid return to an

interglacial period. Minimum temperatures are

within 1°C for the four climate cycles. The

overall amplitude of the glacial-interglacial

temperature change is ~8°C for the temperature

above the inversion level and ~12°C for surface

temperatures. 

Global, hemispheric, and zonal temperature

deviations derived from radiosonde records

(J. K. Angell) 

(http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/temp/

angell/angell.html)

Data from a global network of 63 radiosonde

stations were used to estimate global,

hemispheric, and zonal annual and seasonal

temperature deviations from 1958 through 1998.

These estimates are categorized vertically (for

the surface, troposphere, tropopause, low

stratosphere, and the surface up to 100 mb) and

horizontally (for the globe, the Northern and

Southern Hemispheres, and the North and South

Polar, North and South Temperate, North and

South Subtropical, Tropical, and Equatorial

latitudinal zones).

The data were obtained from values published in

Monthly Climatic Data for the World and

Climatic Data for the World, from the Global

Telecommunications System (GTS) Network,

and from National Center for Atmospheric

Research files. Based on this network, Angell

reported that during 1958–1998 the global,

near-surface air temperature warmed by

0.14(C/decade and the troposphere layer

warmed by 0.10(C/decade. The tropopause

cooled in the extra tropics but warmed slightly

in the tropics. The low-stratospheric layer

cooled by about 0.4(C/decade in the tropics and

extra tropics. At both the surface and in the

troposphere, 1998 was the warmest year of the

41-year record, but when the influence of the
Summer 2000

4 CDIAC Communications

powerful El Niño of 1997–1998 on these

temperatures is taken into account, 1990

remains the warmest year of the record.

These data are also available in NDP-008 (see

page 12). 

Trends in Total Cloud Amount Over China 

(Dale P. Kaiser) 

(http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/clouds/

kaiser/kaiser98.html)

A new section on clouds has been added to

Trends Online. The first dataset offered in this

new section was contributed by CDIAC’s Dale

Kaiser. The cloud data were extracted from a

database of 6-hourly weather observations,

covering 196 stations from 1951 through 1994,

and provided by the National Climate Center of

the China Meteorological Administration to

CDIAC through a bilateral research agreement.

Station and regional trends in annual and

seasonal mean cloud amount clearly indicate

decreasing total cloud amount over much of

China during this period. Most stations in

central, eastern, and northeastern China show

statistically significant decreases of 1 to 3% sky

cover per decade. The decreasing trends in

cloud amount over some China regions are

especially interesting in light of recent

temperature trends observed over China, which

have shown significant increasing trends in

daily minimum temperatures since 1951. The

largest increases in minimum temperature have

been observed in the northeastern part of the

country, precisely where the strongest

decreasing trends in total cloud amount are

observed. In China, it seems that some different

mechanism(s) must be considered for understanding the observed increase in minimum

temperatures, perhaps relating to atmospheric

circulation or urbanization effects not fully

removed from the temperature record. 

Kyoto-Related Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emission

Totals (Gregg Marland et.al.) 

(http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/emis/

annex.htm)

Included in the carbon dioxide emissions

section, this table shows emissions of CO2 from

fossil-fuel combustion and cement production in

a format that is relevant for analyses relating to

the Kyoto Protocol. The table lists emissions for

those countries listed in Annex B of the Kyoto

Protocol and for those countries not listed in

Annex B (as well as providing lists of the

countries in each category). 

Atmospheric CO2 records from

NOAA/CMDL (Kirk Thoning et.al.)

(http:// cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/co2/nocm.htm)

The atmospheric carbon dioxide records from

four sites in the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration/Climate

Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory

(NOAA/CMDL) continuous monitoring network

have been updated to include data through 1998.

Based on this continuous CO2 record, since

1974 the annual average atmospheric CO2

concentration at Point Barrow, Alaska, has risen

from 333.94 parts per million by volume (ppmv)

to 367.41 ppmv in 1998; at Mauna Loa, Hawaii,

from 332.04 in 1976 to 366.49 ppmv in 1998; at

Cape Matatula, American Samoa, from 331.45

in 1976 to 360.92 ppmv in 1996; and at the

South Pole Observatory, from 329.33 in 1975 to

363.61 ppmv in 1998.

These observations are considered

representative of “clean”concentrations in the

well-mixed troposphere, free from confounding

influences such as from vegetation or urban and

industrial pollution; they quantify the increasing

atmospheric concentrations of this most

important greenhouse gas resulting from

fossil-fuel combustion, land-use change, and

cement production. 
Summer 2000

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center 5

Focus Areas

 Ocean Data

Carbon Dioxide In the North Atlantic Ocean

CARINA (CARbon Dioxide In the North

Atlantic Ocean), a new global-change program,

has been developed to synthesize CO2 data

collected in the North Atlantic for the last 15

years. CARINA was announced by marine

scientists from eleven countries who attended

the June 1999 workshop, “CO2 in the North

Atlantic” in Delmenhorst, Germany. CDIAC,

represented at the workshop by Alexander

Kozyr, was named as the primary data center for

preservation and distribution of this final

international North Atlantic data set. This

activity will complement CDIAC’s role in

PICES (North Pacific Marine Science

Organization) working group 13 on CO2,

making CDIAC the leading data center in the

world for oceanic CO2 measurements.

Global Ocean Data Analysis Project

The GLobal Ocean Data Analysis Project

(GLODAP) is a cooperative effort of

investigators funded for synthesis and modeling

projects through NOAA, DOE, and NSF.

Cruises conducted as part of the World Ocean

Circulation Experiment (WOCE), Joint Global

Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), and NOAA

Ocean-Atmosphere Exchange Study (OACES)

over the last decade 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 against which future

observational studies will be compared. They

also provide tools for the direct evaluation of

numerical ocean carbon models. 

 Free-Air CO2

 Enrichment 

As part of CDIAC’s focus on FACE (Free-Air

CO2 Enrichment), the most sophisticated

experimental approach to date for studying the

effects of elevated CO2 on vegetation, CDIAC

developed and launched a new FACE Web page

(http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/programs/

FACE/face.html) which begins the process of

integrating more than thirty FACE sites around

the world. This Web site is part of an overall

data and information management system being

developed for FACE research as a collaborative

effort between CDIAC and the FACE group at

Brookhaven National Laboratory. 

In collaboration with researchers at The Ohio

State University, CDIAC also published

numeric data packages that bring together

results from many published CO2-enrichment

studies of woody and herbaceous vegetation. 
Summer 2000

6 CDIAC Communications

Monitoring and Verifying Changes 

of Organic Carbon In Soil

Continued from p. 1

various physical and chemical C fractions, and

C isotopes. Carbon content changes are

differences resulting from changes in land

management and are expressed as the change in

C amount on an area (kg m-2) or volume basis

(kg m-3). The calculation is not difficult but

requires awareness of the vertical and horizontal

variability of soil properties in order to avoid

systematic errors. Another promising direct

method is eddy covariance measurement of CO2

fluxes. The vertical component of air

movements (eddies) over a vegetated surface

can be isolated and quantitatively measured as

can CO2 concentration associated with each

eddy. By correlating eddy size and CO2

concentration for each upward and downward

moving eddy, the net uptake or release of C by 

vegetation plus soil can be calculated. The

accuracy and precision of this method is

improving as more experience is gained. 

Direct methods are essential for determining

changes in soil C content for different land

management treatments at the plot scale. To

determine soil C pools and rates of change for

large areas, it is necessary to extrapolate the

relationships developed at the plot and field

scale. Indirect methods are suitable for large

areas. Indirect methods include simple and

stratified accounting where plot estimates are

multiplied by all applicable areas as determined

by soil survey, land cover, climate, and other

spatial data. Environmental and topographic

relationships with C storage and change and

modeling approaches can also be applied when

available. Remote sensing and other

geographical information are valuable in

appropriately representing areas in these

spatially aggregated estimation methods.

Web Sites of Interest

Using various economic factors and forecast periods, calculate global and regional emission scenarios by

source for CO2 and CH4 with CDIAC’s IEA/ORAU Long-Term Global Energy-CO2 Model

(http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/ndps/cmp002pc.html).

Want to calculate how many pounds of CO2 YOUR household produces daily? Try ABC’s Carbon Dioxide

Calculator (http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/co2_calc1007.html).

Need more climate change and global warming information? Visit EPA’s Global Warming site

(http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/) where special sites offering educational resources and classroom projects

are available to students and teachers.

Have questions about climate change issues and the greenhouse effect? Get answers from the Climate Change

Information Kit (http://www.unep.ch/iuc/submenu/infokit/factcont.htm) available from the United Nations

Environment Programme’s Information Unit for Conventions (IUC).

The Kids’ and Teachers’ Corner (http://www.yoto98.noaa.gov/kids.htm) of NOAA’s International Year of the

Ocean page provides lots to interest kids and teachers alike.

A “first of its kind” climate change search engine, dubbed the “Climate Ark” was recently released by the

Ecological Enterprises, Inc. (EEI) (http://www.climateark.org/) that allows users to perform full-text searches

and view the most targeted climate change information on the Web. 
Summer 2000

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center 7

Accurate science-based methods are available

for monitoring and verifying changes in soil C.

Codifying a set of methods into protocols that

can be used to account for C sequestration in

public agreements or private trading contracts

needs refinement and testing. The level of

precision and effort required will vary with the

purposes for which the measurements are

applied. Examples of purposes include (a)

determining compliance with local, regional,

and national laws or treaties regulating CO2

emissions; (b) evaluating joint implementation

projects; and (c) assigning C credits and offsets. 

Current methods are effective for evaluating soil

organic C changes at relatively low precision

(20 to 50% error) and at widely spaced time

intervals (minimum 3 to 5 years) with levels of 

effort that are reasonably affordable. Since

relatively small amounts of C sequestered in 

soils could significantly reduce the rate of

increase of atmospheric CO2 and effectively buy

time until low-cost methods for reducing CO2

emissions are available, there will be

considerable pressure to increase the reliability

and precision of monitoring soil organic C

changes on even shorter time scales.

Scientists are very interested in participating in

the development of soil C monitoring protocols.

However, in order to contribute to the

development of these monitoring mechanisms,

they need to know the economic and policy

rules under which these mechanisms are

anticipated to operate. A multi-sector, multidiscipline, and multi-national effort is required

if we are to make monitoring and verification of

C sequestration in soils a useful and widely used

procedure.

Current and future technologies for monitoring soil carbon. (RS = Remote Sensing, LULC = Land Use and Land Cover,

PAR=Photosynthetically Active Radiation, exp.= experimental, and SAR = Synthetic Aperature Radar)

Technology 

Current 

(1999 – 2001) 

Mid term 

(2002 – 2007) 

Long term 

(2008 – 2020) 

Direct methods

Soil sampling and

measurement

Reduce sampling errors,

improve root estimates, bulk

density measures 

Non-destructive field

measurement (exp.)

Non-destructive field

measurement (routine, low

cost)

Eddy covariance 60 sites world wide Expand to characterize

significant landcover types

Routine, part of automated

stations (low cost, at weather

stations with suitable fetch

requirements)

Indirect methods

Remote sensing Low resolution LULC,

absorbed PAR, hyperspectral

(exp.), SAR (exp.)

High resolution, satellitebased hyper spectral, SAR,

models (exp.)

High resolution, hyper

spectral, SAR, models

(routine)

C modeling Models linked to databases;

model intercomparisons

Models driven by RS input

(exp.)

Real time simulation of land

processes driven by RS

C accounting Databases, maps, census,

models (exp.)

Databases, maps, census,

models, new sensors

(refinement)

Databases, maps, census,

models, new sensors

(operational)

Acknowledgment

This article is excerpted from: Post, W.M.,1

 R.C. Izaurralde, 2 L.K. Mann, 1 and N. Bliss,3 1999. Monitoring and verifying soil

organic carbon sequestration. pp. 41–66. In: (N. Rosenberg, R.C. Izaurralde, and E. L. Malone, eds.) Carbon Sequestration in

Soils: Science, Monitoring, and Beyond. Proceeding of the St. Michaels Workshop, December 1998. Battelle Press. 

1

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN; 2 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA; 3 EROS Data Center,

Sioux Falls, SD 
Summer 2000

8 CDIAC Communications

New and Updated Databases

Extended Edited Synoptic Cloud Reports from Ships and

Land Stations Over the Globe, 1952–1996

Hahn, Carole J., Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson,

Arizona; Stephen G. Warren, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of

Washington, Seattle, Washington

Prepared by Dale Kaiser, CDIAC

NDP-026C (1999) (http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/epubs/ndp/ndp026c/ndp026c.html)

This fourth database in the NDP-026 series

contains surface synoptic weather reports for the

entire globe, gathered from various available

data sets. These reports were then processed,

edited, and rewritten to provide a single data set

of individual observations of clouds, spanning

44 years (1952–1996) for ship data and 26 years

(1971–1996) for land station data. In addition to

the cloud portion of the synoptic report, each

edited report also includes the associated

pressure, present weather, wind, air temperature,

and dew point (and sea surface temperature)

over oceans.

Reports from the source data sets that did not

meet certain quality control standards were rejected for the “Extended Edited Cloud Report

Archive” (EECRA). Minor correctable inconsistencies within reports were edited for 

consistency. Cases of “sky obscured” were

interpreted by reference to the present-weather

code as to whether they indicated fog, rain,

snow, or thunderstorm. Special coding was

added to indicate probable nimbostratus clouds

which are not specifically coded for in the

standard synoptic code. Any changes made to an

original report are also noted in the archived

edited report so that the original report can be

reconstructed if desired. This “extended edited 

cloud report” also includes the amounts, either

inferred or directly reported, of low, middle, and

high clouds, both overlapped and non-overlapped amounts. The relative lunar illuminance

and the solar zenith angle associated with each

report are also given, as well as an indicator that

tells whether the recommended illuminance

criterion was satisfied so that the “nightdetection bias” for clouds can be minimized. 

CDIAC’s data holdings provide coverage in a number of areas relevant to the greenhouse effect and global

climate change. Such areas include records of the concentration of 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 to the atmosphere; long-term climate trends; the effects of elevated CO2

on vegetation; and the vulnerability of coastal areas to rising sea level. Data distributed by CDIAC are

released as numeric data packages (NDPs), computer model packages (CMPs), and databases. Recently

released data are described in this section. The data and documentation (text or HTML version) may be

accessed and downloaded from CDIAC’s Web site (http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/), from CDIAC’s anonymous

FTP area (cdiac.esd.ornl.gov), or requested directly from CDIAC on a variety of media (e.g., CD-ROM, 8mm

tape, floppy diskette). Technical questions (e.g., methodology or accuracy) should be directed to the CDIAC

staff member who is responsible for preparing the individual NDP.
Summer 2000

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center 9

The EECRA contains over 72 million cloud

observations from ships and 311 million from

land stations, and the archive consists of 853

files of edited synoptic reports, one file for each

month of data for land and ocean separately. 

These data are useful for such applications as:

(1) developing user-defined cloud climatologies

for particular subtypes of clouds, 

or for different temporal and spatial resolutions

than have been chosen for previously published

atlases; (2) comparing satellite cloud retrievals

with surface observations to help diagnose

difficulties in cloud identification from

satellites; and (3) relating formation of

individual types of clouds to their

meteorological environments.

Carbon Dioxide, Hydrographic, and Chemical Data

Obtained During the R/V Thomas G. Thompson Cruise 

in the Pacific Ocean (WOCE Section P10, 

October 5–November 10, 1993)

Sabine, Christopher L., and Robert M. Key, Department of Geosciences, Princeton

University, Princeton, New Jersey; Melinda Hall, Department of Physical

Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Prepared by Alexander Kozyr, CDIAC

NDP-071 (1999) (http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/oceans/ndp_071/ndp071.html)

The oceans play a major role in the global

carbon-cycle processes and are estimated to

hold 38,000 gigatons of carbon, 50 times more

than that in the atmosphere and 20 times more

than that in plants, animals, and soil. If only 2%

of the carbon stored in the oceans were released,

the level of atmospheric CO2 would double.

Several large experiments have been conducted,

and others are under way, to help us better

understand the impact of the ocean in climate

and climatic changes.

The R/V Thomas G. Thompson oceanographic

expedition in the Pacific Ocean (Section P10),

which began in Suva, Fiji, on October 5, 1993,

and ended in Yokohama, Japan, on November

10, 1993, was conducted as part of the largest

oceanographic experiment ever attempted, the

World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE).

This database discusses the procedures and

methods used during the R/V Thomas G.

Thompson expedition to measure total carbon

dioxide (TCO2), total alkalinity (TALK), and

radiocarbon (14C), at hydrographic 

stations, as well as the underway partial pressure

of CO2 (pCO2), including measurements of

pressure, temperature, salinity [measured by 

conductivity, temperature, and depth sensor

(CTD)], bottle salinity, bottle oxygen,

phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, silicate, and the

chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12).

Section P10 is the westernmost section of the

WOCE survey in the North Pacific Ocean. It is

important for understanding the dynamics of the

far western equatorial Pacific. The results from

this cruise can be used to infer the relative

magnitude of various tracers to the North Pacific

from the South China Sea and the Sea of Japan.

WOCE Section P10 also provides a transect

across the Kuroshio Current which can be used

to better understand the northward transport of

heat, salt, and other important ocean tracers. 

The underway surface measurements show a

small outgassing of CO2 at the equator. The 

TCO2, TALK, and radiocarbon values show

profiles typical for the North Pacific. TALK
Summer 2000

10 CDIAC Communications

correlates strongly with salinity. 14C correlates

strongly with silicate. Deflection of the isolines 

of all parameters at the northern end of the

cruise results from the Kuroshio Current. WDC

database 

A Database of Woody Vegetation Responses to Elevated

Atmospheric CO2

Curtis, Peter S., Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio

State University, Columbus, Ohio

Prepared by Robert M. Cushman and Antoinette L. Brenkert, CDIAC

NDP-072 (1999) (http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/epubs/ndp/ndp072/ndp072.html)

Produced to perform a statistically rigorous

meta-analysis of research results on the response

by woody vegetation to increased atmospheric

CO2 levels, this multiparameter database of

responses was compiled from the published

literature and unpublished reports and released

as an enhancement to the previously published

database, A Comprehensive Database of Woody

Vegetation Responses to Elevated Atmospheric

CO2 (DB-1018). Eighty-four independent

CO2-enrichment studies, covering 65 species

and 35 response parameters, met the necessary

criteria for inclusion in the database: reporting

mean response, sample size, and variance of the

response (either as standard deviation or

standard error).

Physiological “acclimation” or “downward

regulation” of photosynthetic rates, stomatal

conductance, dark respiration, and water-use

efficiency of plants exposed to elevated CO2

levels can be analyzed. The effects of

environmental factors (e.g., nutrient levels, light

intensity, temperature), stress treatments (e.g.,

drought, heat, ozone, ultraviolet-B radiation),

and the effects of experimental conditions (e.g.,

duration of CO2 exposure, pot size, type of CO2

exposure facility) on plant responses to elevated

CO2 levels can be also be explored with this

database. 

A Database of Herbaceous Vegetation Responses to

Elevated Atmospheric CO2

Jones, Michael H., and Peter S. Curtis, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and 

Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Prepared by Robert M. Cushman and Antoinette L. Brenkert, CDIAC

NDP-073 (1999) (http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/epubs/ndp/ndp073/ndp073.html)

This database, which accompanies the

previously discussed database, NDP-072, is

used to support a meta-analysis of research

results on the response by herbaceous

vegetation to increased atmospheric CO2 levels,

and was also compiled from the published

literature. 
Summer 2000

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center 11

Seventy-eight independent CO2-enrichment

studies, covering 53 species and 26 response

parameters, reported mean response, sample

size, and variance of the response. An additional

43 studies, covering 25 species and 6 response

parameters, did not report variances.

This database may also be used to explore the

effects from many of the same environmental

factors, stress treatments, and the effects of

experimental conditions on plant responses to

elevated CO2 levels, as were investigated in

NDP-072. 

Global Distribution of Total Inorganic Carbon and Total

Alkalinity Below the Deepest Winter Mixed Layer Depths

Goyet, Catherine, and Richard J. Healy, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods

Hole, Massachusetts; and John P. Ryan, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute,

Moss Landing, California

Prepared by Alexander Kozyr, CDIAC

NDP-076 (2000) (http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/oceans/ndp_076/ndp076.html)

Modeling the global ocean-atmosphere CO2

system is becoming increasingly important to

greenhouse gas policy. These models require

initialization with realistic three- dimensional

(3-D) oceanic carbon fields. This report presents

an approach to establishing these initial

conditions from an extensive global database of

ocean CO2 system measurements and

well-developed interpolation methods. These

methods are limited to waters below the deepest

mixed layer. The data used for these

interpolations include the recent high-quality

data sets from the World Ocean Circulation

Experiment (WOCE), Joint Global Ocean Flux

Study (JGOFS), and Ocean-Atmosphere Carbon

Exchange Study (OACES) programs. Prior to

analysis, all carbon data were adjusted to the

established reference materials for oceanic

carbon dioxide measurements

(http://www-mpl.ucsd.edu/people/adickson/

CO2_QC/). The interpolation methodology

employs correlation between CO2 system

properties and other more widely measured

properties: potential temperature, salinity, and

apparent oxygen utilization. The correlations are

computed for each profile, and the coefficients 

are interpolated to the 1°×1°×32 vertical-layer

grid at a monthly temporal resolution. Finally,

the gridded coefficients are applied to a global

monthly climatology of ocean temperature,

salinity, and oxygen to compute total CO2

(TCO2) and total alkalinity (TALK) for the 3-D

grid. 

This approach offers advantages over spin up of

a single profile in defining spatial variation in

CO2 system properties because it reduces 

initialization time and provides a more accurate

carbon field. The results provide an

unprecedented “view” of the global distribution

of TALK and TCO2 in the ocean. These results,

as well as those from the monthly mixed layer

depths, can be used in diagnostic and prognostic

global ocean models. 

The interpolated data set includes seasonal

TCO2 and TALK fields, as well as the

coefficients used to estimate these

concentrations, and the monthly mixed layer

depths. WDC database 
Summer 2000

12 CDIAC Communications

Annual and Seasonal Global Temperature Deviations in the Troposphere and

Low Stratosphere, 1958–1998

Angell, J. K., Air Resources Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring,

Maryland 

Prepared by Dale Kaiser and Sonja Jones, CDIAC

NDP-008 (updated 1999) (http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/ndps/ndp008.html)

Surface temperatures and thickness-derived

temperatures from a global network of 63

radiosonde stations were used to estimate annual

and seasonal temperature deviations (calculated

relative to a 1958-1977 reference period mean) 

over the globe and several zonal regions from

1958 through 1998.

Most of the values are column-mean temperatures obtained from the differences in height

between constant-pressure surfaces at individual

radiosonde stations. The pressure-height data

before 1980 were obtained from published

values in Monthly Climatic Data for the World.

Between 1980 and 1990, Angell used data from

both the Climatic Data for the World and the 

Global Telecommunications System (GTS)

Network received at the National

Meteorological Center. Between 1990 and 1995,

the data were obtained only from GTS, and

since 1995 the data have been obtained from

National Center for Atmospheric Research files.

These temperature deviations may be used to

analyze long-term temperature trends for a layer

of the atmosphere (i.e., surface, troposphere,

tropopause, and low stratosphere), a region (i.e.,

polar, temperate, subtropical, and equatorial), a

hemisphere, or the globe.

Additional information, including updated

methods, trends, and graphics, are described in

CDIAC’s Trends Online (see page 3).

Atmospheric Methyl Chloride

Khalil, M.A.K., Department of Physics, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon; and R.A. Rasmussen,

Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Oregon Graduate Institute, Portland, Oregon 

Prepared by Tom Boden, CDIAC

(2000) (http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/epubs/other/methylchl.html)

Monthly average concentrations of atmospheric

methyl chloride from seven locations throughout

the polar, middle, and tropical latitudes of both

hemispheres are provided in this database. The

seven primary sites include Pt. Barrow, Alaska;

Cape Kumukahi and Mauna Loa, Hawaii; Cape

Matatula, Samoa; Cape Grim, Tasmania; and the

South Pole and Palmer Station, Antarctica.

Concentration measurements from these seven

sites cover a period of 16 years (1981–1997).

Monthly data and vertical distributions at 20 

short-term sites, from various latitudes, were

also measured between 1987–1989.

Air samples were collected from various sites in

stainless steel flasks and methyl chloride

concentrations were measured using an Electron

Capture Gas Chromatograph. Concentrations are

reported as mixing ratios in dry air. The

concentrations are determined by using a set of

calibration standards that are referenced against

a primary standard which is also used to

establish the absolute concentration. The

primary standards were prepared by the

investigators in the absence of an available

standard from a centralized location. 
Summer 2000

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center 13

These data are useful in global methyl chloride

budget analyses and for determining the

atmospheric distribution and trends of methyl 

chloride and estimating the total emissions at

various latitudes. WDC database 

 AmeriFlux Data 

Sponsored by the Environmental Sciences

Division of DOE’s Office of Biological and

Environmental Research, CDIAC provides the

data management for AmeriFlux (Long-term

CO2 flux measurements of the Americas).

Long-term measurements of CO2, water vapor,

and energy exchange through the eddy

covariance technique from different ecosystems

are integrated into consistent, quality assured,

and fully documented data sets.

The following presents the final databases

offered in CDIAC’s AmeriFlux data archive.

Detailed information on the data management is

also located on the AmeriFlux Web site (http://

cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/programs/ameriflux/):

AmeriFlux CO2, water vapor, and energy exchange measurements from the Walker Branch 

Watershed, Tennessee: 1995–1998 (March

2000) Author: Baldocchi, D.D., Wilson, K. 

AmeriFlux CO2, water vapor, and energy

exchange measurements from Ponca City wheat

site, Oklahoma: 1996–1997 (February 2000)

Author: Verma, S.B. 

AmeriFlux CO2, water vapor, and energy

exchange measurements from Shidler tallgrass

Prairie site, Oklahoma: 1996–1997 (February

2000) Author: Verma, S.B. 

AmeriFlux CO2, water vapor, and energy exchange measurements from Metolius Natural

Research Area old growth ponderosa pine site,

Oregon: 1996–1997 (October 1999) Author:

Anthoni, P.M., Baldocchi, D.D., Law, B.E, and

Unsworth, M.H. 
Summer 2000

14 CDIAC Communications

CDIAC Publications

Publications, Presentations, and Awards

Robert M. Cushman, CDIAC

ORNL/CDIAC-101 (2000) (http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/epubs/CDIAC/cdiac101/pubslist.htm)

Originally published in 1997, this online

publication was updated to include the journal

articles, book and proceedings chapters, numeric

data packages and online databases, and other

ORNL and DOE reports that have been

published by CDIAC since the original version

became available. Also included in this

publication are global change-related

presentations made by CDIAC staff and awards

that have been presented to CDIAC since its

inception in 1982. 

Awards and Accomplishments

CDIAC recently received two awards of Merit (printed copy and online version) for CDIAC Communications

(http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/newsletr/ccindex.html), submitted by Sonja B. Jones and Karen N. Gibson in the

East Tennessee Society for Technical Communication (STC) Chapter’s 1999 Technical Publications and Art

Competition.

Alex Kozyr presented the poster Data Management Provided by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis

Center for the U.S. Department of Energy CO2 Ocean Survey During WOCE/JGOFS Cruises (co-authored

with Tom Boden) at the International Symposium on Carbon Cycle in the North Pacific (Nagoya, Japan). The

poster, which describes CDIAC’s efforts to quality-assure, document, and distribute ocean carbon data,

received the symposium’s “Most Important Poster” award.

The ORNL Environmental Sciences Division presented Karen Gibson with the 1999 Distinguished Technical

Achievement Award for her outstanding technical support to CDIAC. 

The ORNL Computing, Information and Networking Division named Jim Simmons as the winner of the

Outstanding Customer Service Award for Networking and Workstation Services “for systems administration

support to the CDIAC.”

Dale Kaiser was elected President of the Smoky Mountain Chapter of the American Meteorological Society. 

Carbon dioxide-related publications are available from CDIAC while supplies last. Please note: Several

publications listed in prior versions of the catalog are no longer distributed by CDIAC. DOE personnel and

DOE contractors should request those copies from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information

(OSTI), P.O. Box 62, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (http://www.osti.gov/). Other individuals may purchase copies

from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) (703-487-4650 or http://www.ntis.gov/) in

microfiche or hard copy; prices will vary with the number of pages.
Summer 2000

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center 15

Comparison of the Carbon System Parameters at the 

Global CO2 Survey Crossover Locations in the North 

and South Pacific Ocean, 1990–1996

Feely, Richard A., Marilyn F. Lamb, Dana J. Greeley, NOAA, Pacific Marine

Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, Washington; and Rik Wanninkhof, NOAA, Atlantic

Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Miami, Florida

Prepared by Linda Allison and Dana Griffith, CDIAC

ORNL/CDIAC-115 (1999) (http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/epubs/CDIAC/cdiac115.htm)

As part of a collaborative program to measure

global ocean carbon inventories and provide

estimates of the anthropogenic CO2 uptake by

the oceans, NOAA and DOE cosponsored the

collection of ocean carbon measurements via the

U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS)

Program. Investigators supported by these

funding agencies collaborated to examine data

collected during the World Ocean Circulation

Experiment (WOCE) and Ocean-Atmosphere

Carbon Exchange Study (OACES) cruises.

The Pacific Ocean cruises in this report

occurred from 1990 through 1996 and

overlapped in the North and South Pacific

Ocean. Four parameters of the oceanic CO2

system from 30 crossover locations were

compared to ensure that a consistent global 

data set emerged from the survey cruises. These

parameters included dissolved inorganic carbon

(DIC), fugacity of CO2 (fCO2), total alkalinity 

(TALK), and pH, along with salinity and

dissolved oxygen (O2).

The world’s oceans, widely recognized to be the

major long-term control on the rate of CO2

increases in the atmosphere, are believed to be

absorbing about 2.0 GtC yr-1 (nearly 30 to 40%

of the annual release from fossil fuels). Our 

present understanding of oceanic sources and

sinks for CO2 is derived from a combination of

field data that are limited by sparse temporal

and spatial coverage and model results that are

validated by comparisons with oceanic bomb

14C profiles.

The results from the Pacific Ocean cruises

indicate that for DIC, fCO2, and pH, the

agreements at most crossover locations are well

within the design specifications for the global

CO2 survey; whereas, in the case of TALK, the

agreement between crossover locations is not as

close. 
Summer 2000

16 CDIAC Communications

Selected Translated Abstracts of Chinese-Language 

Climate Change Publications

Ge Quansheng, Zhang Peiyuan, Liu Xiuping, Zhang Xueqing, Chen Yuan, Peng Guitang,

and Zheng Jingyun, Institute of Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing,

China; Wei-Chyung Wang, Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, State University of

New York at Albany; and Robert M. Cushman and Marvel D. Burtis, CDIAC 

ORNL/CDIAC-117 (1999)

(http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/epubs/catalog/CDIAC/cdiac117/cdiac117.html) 

Much of the Chinese literature that has been

published on the topic of global climate change

is available in English to western researchers,

but much of it is not. This report contains the

English-translated abstracts of important global

climate change Chinese-language literature

published between 1995 and 1998. Topics

included in this compilation cover adaptation, 

ancient climate change, climate variation, the

East Asia monsoon, historical climate change,

impacts, modeling, and radiation and trace-gas

emissions. In addition to the bibliographic

citations and abstracts translated into English,

this report also presents the original citations

and abstracts in Chinese. 

Reference Links

American Meteorological Society (AMS), Smoky

Mountain Chapter -

http://www.korrnet.org/smc-ams/

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) FACE

Group - http://www.face.bnl.gov/

CARbon Dioxide in the North Atlantic Ocean

(CARINA) -

http://www.ifm.uni-kiel.de/ch/carina/index.htm

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Institute of

Geography - http://159.226.115.2/

China Meteorological Administration (CMA) - 

http://www.cma.gov.cn/

EROS Data Center - http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/

Global Change Data and Information Systems

(GCDIS) - http://globalchange.gov/

GLobal Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) -

http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/oceans/glodap/index.html

The Global Telecommunications System (GTS)

Network -

http://www.wmo.ch/web/www/TEM/gts.html

Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) - 

http://ads.smr.uib.no/jgofs/jgofs.htm

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

(MBARI) - http://www.mbari.org/

National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

- http://www.ncar.ucar.edu/ncar/

National Climate Center, Chinese Meteorological

Administration - http://ncc.cma.gov.cn/index.htm

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA) - http://www.noaa.gov/
Summer 2000

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center 17

NOAA/Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) -

http://www.arl.noaa.gov/

NOAA/Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological

Laboratory (AOML) - http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/

NOAA/Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics

Laboratory (CMDL) - http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/

NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

(PMEL) - http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/

National Science Foundation (NSF) -

http://www.nsf.gov/

North Pacific Marine Science Organization

(PICES) - http://pices.ios.bc.ca/

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) - 

http://www.ornl.gov/

Official Web site of the Third Conference of the

Parties to the UNFCCC - http://www.cop3.de/

ORNL/Environmental Sciences Division (ESD) - 

http://www.esd.ornl.gov/

ORNL/Computing, Information and Networking

Division - http://www.ornl.gov/cind/

Ocean-Atmosphere Carbon Exchange Study

(OACES) - 

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/co2-home.html

Ohio State University (OSU) - http://www.osu.edu/

OSU/Department of Evolution, Ecology, and

Organismal Biology - http://www.biosci.ohiostate.edu/~eeob/index.html

Oregon Graduate Institute, Department of

Environmental Science and Engineering - 

http://www.ese.ogi.edu/

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) -

http://www.pnl.gov/

Portland State University, Department of Physics -

http://physics.pdx.edu/index.htm

Princeton University, Department of Geosciences -

http://geoweb.princeton.edu/

Project NOPP (National Oceanographic Partnership Program) Drifters - http://drifters.doe.gov/

Society for Technical Communications (STC) - 

http://www.stc-va.org/

State University of New York-Albany, Atmospheric

Sciences Research Center -

http://www.asrc.cestm.albany.edu/

University of Arizona, Department of Atmospheric

Sciences - http://www.atmo.arizona.edu/

University of Washington, Department of

Atmospheric Sciences -

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) - 

http://www.doe.gov/

DOE/Environmental Sciences Division (ESD) - 

http://www.er.doe.gov/production/ober/

ESD_top.html

DOE/Office of Biological and Environmental

Research (OBER) - http://www.er.doe.gov/

production/ober/ober_top.html

U.S. National Assessment of the Potential

Consequences of Climate Variability and Change -

http://www.nacc.usgcrp.gov/

UT-Battelle, LLC - http://www.ut-battelle.com/

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) - 

http://www.whoi.edu/

WHOI/Department of Physical Oceanography -

http:// www.whoi.edu/science/PO/dept/

World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE)

Hydrographic Program - http://whpo.ucsd.edu/ 

NOTE!!

Internet Sites listed in CDIAC Communications

are Web sites that were available at the time of

publication. Internet users should realize that Web

sites come and go.
Summer 2000

18 CDIAC Communications

CDIAC’s Home Page

CDIAC’s home page design is basically the

same as that which premiered in the fall of

1996. However, we trust that the minute

changes we have since incorporated have

enabled users to find the information they are

interested in more quickly or helped them in

locating other sites with useful and relevant

information. Since becoming an online

presence in the mid-1990s, CDIAC’s Web site

has now been visited by over 250,000 unique

computer systems, with representation 

from 157 domains. The number of data and

information files that have been accessed has

grown into the millions.

As we continue updating and building our

repertoire (as well as our online data and

information holdings), we encourage users to

contact us concerning our data and information

holdings, the navigation of our site, or for ideas

 on what would make obtaining the information

 that is available from CDIAC even easier. 

http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/
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