Lead Authors:
Richard Birdsey, Woods Hole Research Center
Melanie A. Mayes, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Paty Romero-Lankao, National Center for Atmospheric Research (currently at National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
Raymond G. Najjar, The Pennsylvania State University
Sasha C. Reed, U.S. Geological Survey
Nancy Cavallaro, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Gyami Shrestha, U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program and University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Daniel J. Hayes, University of Maine
Laura Lorenzoni, NASA Earth Science Division
Anne Marsh, USDA Forest Service
Kathy Tedesco, NOAA Ocean Observing and Monitoring Division and University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Tom Wirth, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Zhiliang Zhu, U.S. Geological Survey
Review Editor:
Rachel Melnick, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture
All Chapter Leads:
Vanessa L. Bailey, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Lori Bruhwiler, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
David Butman, University of Washington
Wei-Jun Cai, University of Delaware
Abhishek Chatterjee, Universities Space Research Association and NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office
Sarah R. Cooley, Ocean Conservancy
Grant Domke, USDA Forest Service
Katja Fennel, Dalhousie University
Kevin Robert Gurney, Northern Arizona University
Alexander N. Hristov, The Pennsylvania State University
Deborah N. Huntzinger, Northern Arizona University
Andrew R. Jacobson, University of Colorado, Boulder, and NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
Jane M. F. Johnson, USDA Agricultural Research Service
Randall Kolka, USDA Forest Service
Kate Lajtha, Oregon State University
Elizabeth L. Malone, Independent Researcher
Peter J. Marcotullio, Hunter College, City University of New York
Maureen I. McCarthy, University of Nevada, Carnegie Institution for Science and Stanford University
John B. Miller, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
David J. P. Moore, University of Arizona
Elise Pendall, Western Sydney University
Stephanie Pincetl, University of California, Los Angeles
Vladimir Romanovsky, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Edward A. G. Schuur, Northern Arizona University
Carl Trettin, USDA Forest Service
Rodrigo Vargas, University of Delaware
Tristram O. West, DOE Office of Science
Christopher A. Williams, Clark University
Lisamarie Windham-Myers, U.S. Geological Survey

Birdsey, R., M. A. Mayes, P. Romero-Lankao, R. G. Najjar, S. C. Reed, N. Cavallaro, G. Shrestha, D. J. Hayes, L. Lorenzoni, A. Marsh, K. Tedesco, T. Wirth, and Z. Zhu, 2018: Executive summary. In Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2): A Sustained Assessment Report [Cavallaro, N., G. Shrestha, R. Birdsey, M.A. Mayes, R. G. Najjar, S. C. Reed, P. Romero-Lankao, and Z. Zhu (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 21-40, https://doi.org/10.7930/SOCCR2.2018.ES.

Executive Summary

Boden, T. A., G. Marland, and R. J. Andres, 2017: Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emissions Technical Report. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA. doi: 10.3334/CDIAC/00001_V2017.

CARB, 2018: Compliance Offset Program. California Air Resources Board. [URL]

CCSP, 2007: First State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR): The North American Carbon Budget and Implications for the Global Carbon Cycle. A Report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research. [A. W. King, L. Dilling, G. P. Zimmerman, D. M. Fairman, R. A. Houghton, G. Marland, A. Z. Rose, and T. J. Wilbanks (eds.)]. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, NC, USA, 242 pp.

Ciais, P., C. Sabine, G. Bala, L. Bopp, V. Brovkin, J. Canadell, A. Chhabra, R. DeFries, J. Galloway, M. Heimann, C. Jones, C. Le Quéré, R. B. Myneni, S. Piao, and P. Thornton, 2013: Carbon and other biogeochemical cycles. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. [T. F. Stocker, D. Qin, G. K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S. K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex, and P. M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY, USA, pp. 465-570.

Melillo, J. M., T. Richmond, and G. W. Yohe, (eds.) 2014: Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment. U.S. Global Change Research Program, 841 pp. [URL]

Michalak, A. M., R. Jackson, G. Marland, C. Sabine, and Carbon Cycle Science Working Group, 2011: A U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan. University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. [URL]

UNFCCC, 2015. The Paris Agreement. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. [URL]

USGCRP, 2017: Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I. [D. J. Wuebbles, D. W. Fahey, K. A. Hibbard, D. J. Dokken, B. C. Stewart, and T. K. Maycock (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, 666 pp. [URL]

  1. Soils and wetlands store both carbon and nitrogen in organic molecules that may be broken down to release CO2, CH4, and N2O via various processes, many of which are linked and interdependent. In addition, the magnitude of these emissions depends on land-management practices and the biophysical environment, as well as the amount of (carbonaceous) organic matter in soils. In addition to CO2 and CH4 fluxes, N2O exchanges between the biosphere and the atmosphere influence global carbon and nitrogen cycling.↩

  2. “Absolute carbon emissions” refers to the total quantity of carbon being emitted rather than the total quantity in relation to some product or property. In contrast, carbon emissions intensity is the amount of carbon emitted per some unit of economic output, such as gross domestic product.↩

  3. All GHGs absorb radiant energy, but two carbon-containing GHGs, CO2 and CH4, are responsible for a large fraction of this effect.↩

  4. Amount of CO2 that would produce the same effect on the radiative balance of Earth’s climate system as another greenhouse gas, such as CH4 or N2O, on a 100-year timescale. For comparison to units of carbon, each kg CO2e is equivalent to 0.273 kg C (0.273 = 1/3.67). See Box P.2, p. 12, in the Preface for details.↩

  5. These values are for CO2 emissions. Ch. 1: Overview of the Global Carbon Cycle further explains and expands on these

    estimates and includes consideration of the non-CO2 greenhouse gases, CH4 and N2O.↩


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