Background

The North American Carbon Program is a joint, inter-agency effort to increase the scientific understanding of the sources and sinks of carbon-containing greenhouse gases. The NACP focuses on a few basic questions:

• What is the carbon balance of North America and adjacent ocean basins, and how is the balance changing over time?

• What are the sources and sinks, and the geographic patterns of carbon fluxes?

• What factors control the sources and sinks, and how do they change with time?

• Are there potential surprises, where sources could increase or sinks decrease?

• How can we enhance and manage long-lived carbon sinks to sequester carbon?

Resources:

• Mid-Continent NACP Intensive Campaign 2005

• Mid-Continent NACP Intensive Campaign 2005 – complimentary studies for goal 4

• The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) recently published a report which analyzes the role of agriculture in climate change. The report outlines seven potential methods for agricultural mitigation of greenhouse gases. For a summary and ordering information, go to the following website: Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation: Challenges and Opportunities for Agriculture

Other NACP meetings:

• NSF North American Carbon Program, Joint PI Meeting (May 2003)

• NACP workshop on remote sensing (sponsored by NASA) August 20-21, Missoula, MT

Associated meetings:

• USDA Agriflux meeting

• Missoula remote sensing meeting

• Reconciling supply and demand of C cycle science

• Ameriflux (in October; info forthcoming from Eldor)

Related Links:

• Carbon Cycle Science Program

• The Global Carbon Program is a shared partnership of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP), and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).

• The Iowa Carbon Storage Project

• The Indiana Carbon Storage Project