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Airborne fraction

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The airborne fraction is a scaling factor defined as the ratio of the annual increase in atmospheric CO
2 to the CO
2 emissions from anthropogenic sources. It represents the proportion of human emitted CO2 that remains in the atmosphere. The fraction averages about 45%, meaning that approximately half the human-emitted CO
2 is absorbed by ocean and land surfaces. There is some evidence for a recent increase in airborne fraction, which would imply a faster increase in atmospheric CO
2 for a given rate of human fossil-fuel burning. However, other sources suggest that the "fraction of carbon dioxide has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades".

Changes in carbon sinks can affect the airbourne fraction.

References

  1. Forster, P, V Ramaswamy, P Artaxo, et al. (2007) Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcing. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK & New York, USA.
  2. Canadell, Josep G. (November 20, 2007). "Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks" (PDF). PNAS. 104 (47): 18866–18870. Retrieved 2010-01-02. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. "No Rise of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Fraction in Past 160 Years, New Research Finds". ScienceDaily LLC. 31 Dec 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  4. Knorr, Wolfgang (7 Nov 2009). "Is the airborne fraction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions increasing?". GRL. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
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