Variations in Atmospheric CO 2 Mixing Ratios across a Boston, MA Urban to Rural Gradient

Brittain M. Briber, Lucy R. Hutyra, Allison L. Dunn, Steve M. Raciti and J. William Munger
Additional contact information
Brittain M. Briber: Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, 685 Commonwealth Ave., Room 130, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Lucy R. Hutyra: Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, 685 Commonwealth Ave., Room 130, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Allison L. Dunn: Physical and Earth Sciences Department, Worcester State University, 486 Chandler St., Worcester, MA 01602, USA
Steve M. Raciti: Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, 685 Commonwealth Ave., Room 130, Boston, MA 02215, USA
J. William Munger: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Land, 2013, vol. 2, issue 3, 1-24

Abstract: Urban areas are directly or indirectly responsible for the majority of anthropogenic CO 2 emissions. In this study, we characterize observed atmospheric CO 2 mixing ratios and estimated CO 2 fluxes at three sites across an urban-to-rural gradient in Boston, MA, USA. CO 2 is a well-mixed greenhouse gas, but we found significant differences across this gradient in how, where, and when it was exchanged. Total anthropogenic emissions were estimated from an emissions inventory and ranged from 1.5 to 37.3 mg·C·ha −1 ·yr −1 between rural Harvard Forest and urban Boston. Despite this large increase in anthropogenic emissions, the mean annual difference in atmospheric CO 2 between sites was approximately 5% (20.6 ± 0.4 ppm). The influence of vegetation was also visible across the gradient. Green-up occurred near day of year 126, 136, and 141 in Boston, Worcester and Harvard Forest, respectively, highlighting differences in growing season length. In Boston, gross primary production—estimated by scaling productivity by canopy cover—was ~75% lower than at Harvard Forest, yet still constituted a significant local flux of 3.8 mg·C·ha −1 ·yr −1 . In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we must improve our understanding of the space-time variations and underlying drivers of urban carbon fluxes.

Keywords: CO 2; emissions; urban; gradient; land cover (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/2/3/304/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/2/3/304/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:2:y:2013:i:3:p:304-327:d:26862

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().