Estimation of the global carbon fluxes due to agricultural management activities using a land surface model (ISAM)

Agricultural activities contribute to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate. The worldwide hike in the food demand due to the rapidly growing population over time has intensified agricultural activities, resulting in a significant amount of GHG emissions (e.g., CO2, CH4, and N2O). Previous global studies have focused on non-CO2 emissions (i.e., CH4, N2O) and ignored the CO2 emissions from the agriculture sector. This study uses a land surface model with spatially heterogeneous representations of agricultural land management practices to estimate the carbon dynamics induced by agricultural land management practices (i.e., planting crops, fertilization, irrigation, harvesting, and grazing) and land-use change (i.e., agricultural land expansion). The estimated global net carbon emission from agriculture and its related land-use change is 2.26 Pg C/yr (net source) in ca. 2010. The land management activities released 0.85 Pg C/yr (38%), and the land-use change activities emitted 1.41 Pg C/yr (62%). Cropland and grazing land released about 72% and 28% of the total agriculture emissions. Maize, rice, and wheat are the greatest contributing crops. South America (22%), North America (19%) and, South and Southeast Asia (13%) are the leading emitting regions. By quantifying the carbon emissions induced by different agricultural management practices, this study help in improving the representations of land management practices in the climate models.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Atmospheric Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2021

Author dc:creator

• Sharma, Prateek

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jain, Atul

• Land-use change
• Greenhouse gas
• Agricultural land management

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2020 Prateek Sharma

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109638

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/109638