ACPAtmospheric Chemistry and PhysicsACPAtmos. Chem. Phys.1680-7324Copernicus PublicationsGöttingen, Germany10.5194/acp-18-7841-2018Preface: The 10th International Carbon Dioxide Conference (ICDC10) and the
19th WMO/IAEA Meeting on Carbon Dioxide, Other Greenhouse Gases,
and Related Measurement Techniques (GGMT-2017)PrefaceJoosFortunatjoos@climate.unibe.chhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9483-6030BuchmannBrigitteClimate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute and Oeschger
Center for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Sidlerstr. 5,
3012 Bern, SwitzerlandEmpa, Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129,
8600 Dübendorf, SwitzerlandFortunat Joos (joos@climate.unibe.ch)4June2018181178417842This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is available from https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/18/7841/2018/acp-18-7841-2018.htmlThe full text article is available as a PDF file from https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/18/7841/2018/acp-18-7841-2018.pdf
Understanding the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide
(CO2) and other greenhouse gases is a relevant and extremely
topical research area. On the one hand, the complex natural cycles of these
gases, their fascinating past variations, and their massive perturbations by
humans pose interesting research questions and a need for curiosity-driven
ongoing investigations. One the other hand, anthropogenic emissions of
CO2 and other greenhouse gases perturb the climate with
far-reaching consequences for natural and socioeconomic systems. This calls
for comprehensive research studies to provide relevant, solution-oriented
scientific findings to policymakers. The parties of the Paris Agreement,
recognizing the threat of dangerous anthropogenic climate interferences,
agreed (i) to limit global warming to maximum 2 ∘C and (ii) “to
achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by
sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century”.
The major greenhouse gas sources and sinks are reasonably well understood. It
is also clear that CO2 emissions from fossil energy use is the
dominant driver of human-caused global warming. A significant fraction of
these emissions will stay in the atmosphere over many millennia; warm the
lower atmosphere and the ocean; and aggravate observed ocean acidification,
ocean deoxygenation, and sea level rise. However, in the details there remain
many open questions. Which processes led to past abrupt shifts and
glacial–interglacial variations in greenhouse gas concentrations, and may
similar abrupt shifts happen in the future? What are the drivers of
greenhouse gas sources and sinks, and how will the sinks evolve in the
future? What observational systems are to be in place to verify reported
country-based emission reductions? How can we refine the art of measuring
greenhouse gases? What can we learn from carbon isotopes? How will more
frequent and severe extreme events such as marine and atmospheric heat waves
affect the carbon cycle? How does global warming drive emissions of carbon
dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide from natural ecosystems such as peat- and
wetlands? How will land management by humans affect greenhouse gas emissions?
What are the options to limit and reduce human perturbations of the Earth
system?
Two conference series – the International Carbon Dioxide Conference (ICDC)
and the Carbon Dioxide, Other Greenhouse Gases, and Related Measurement
Techniques Conference (GGMT) – provide the interdisciplinary platform to
discuss these and related questions. ICDC returned for its anniversary event
to its origin, the Bernese area in Switzerland. The first two events of the
quadrennial conference series were organized in 1981 in Bern and in 1985 in
the village of Kandersteg by Hans Oeschger, Charles David Keeling, and Ulrich
Siegenthaler. Meanwhile the seeds of these pioneers in the fields of ice core
CO2 reconstructions, atmospheric CO2 measurements, and
carbon cycle modeling have matured. The conference has developed into an
established platform for the global scientific community for the exchange of
the latest scientific results and for the initiation of new collaborations.
The conference provides an integrated, interdisciplinary view of the global
carbon cycle and its perturbation by humans. Conference themes include the
contemporary carbon cycle, its trends, variability, and observations; the
paleo-perspective and planetary boundaries; biogeochemical processes and
their feedbacks and linkages with ecosystems as well as
climate and socioeconomic processes; scenarios for the future and steps
toward long-term Earth system stability; and carbon cycle research in support
of the Paris Agreement.
GGMT started in 1975 as a CO2 experts meeting initiated by Charles
David Keeling together with only a few experts. Nowadays organized in
2-year intervals at various locations around the globe, the GGMT
conferences have become cornerstone events of the international greenhouse gas
monitoring and research programs. The World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) provided the umbrella to all GGMT
meetings, and in 1997 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in
Vienna joined. The latest scientific findings are exchanged with respect to
measurement techniques and calibration strategies, urban network development
and megacities, comparison of reference materials, remote sensing and
integration of observations, and data products and policy. Target species
are carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, stable isotopes, and
radiocarbon in greenhouse gas measurements. Thus, GGMT serves as the scientific
backbone of the observation programs of the WMO, supporting worldwide compatibility of observations
relevant for scientists, policymakers, and international treaties.
ICDC10 (www.icdc10.ch, last access: 28 May 2018) took place in
Interlaken, Switzerland during 21–25 August 2017 and was hosted by the
Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research, University of Bern.
Contributions were invited from natural and social scientists and from all
disciplines addressing the global carbon cycle and its anthropogenic
perturbation. ICDC10 was attended by 520 participants from all inhabited
continents. Seven out of the 15 invited oral presentations were given by
female scientists. Thirty-four oral presentations in plenary and 48 in parallel
sessions were complemented by 374 poster presentations. Special sessions were
dedicated to our esteemed late
colleagues Ernst Maier-Reimer and Michael R. Raupach.
The 19th GGMT (GGMT-2017; www.empa.ch/ggmt2017, last access: 28 May
2018) conference was organized and hosted by Empa in Dübendorf from 27 to
31 August 2017. One hundred sixty-eight participants from 26 countries and
6 continents attended the conference. One hundred seventeen abstracts were
submitted prior to the meeting, and the advisory committee selected 47 and
70 abstracts for oral and poster presentations, respectively.
This special issue presents written contributions from ICDC10 and GGMT-2017. The special issue is open access and jointly
organized between the journals Atmospheric Measurement Techniques,
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Biogeosciences, Climate of the Past, and
Earth System Dynamics. The papers of the two conferences significantly
contribute to the understanding of our Earth system by improving
observational capabilities and by exploring and quantifying mechanisms,
variability, and human-induced change. The findings provide relevant
information to establish the best scientific knowledge on pressing
scientific, environmental, and societal challenges.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the authors for their contributions
to the conference and this special issue, the editors for handling the
manuscripts, and the scientific steering committees for their guidance in
establishing the scientific programs of ICDC10 and GGMT-2017. We are
grateful for the support received by the local organizing committees and the
many helpers to make the two conferences memorable events.
The ICDC10 organizers thank the following institutions for sponsorship:
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the World Climate
Research Programme (WCRP), Future Earth, the Global Carbon Project (GCP),
the Global Land Project (GLP), the High Altitude Research Stations
Jungfraujoch & Gornergrat (HFSJG), the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry
and Ecosystem Research (IMBER), the International Ocean Carbon Coordination
Project (IOCCP), the International Space Science Institute (ISSI), the Ocean
Acidification International Coordination Centre/International Atomic Energy
Agency (OA_ICC, IAEA), Past Global Changes (PAGES), the Forum
for Climate and Global Change of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (ProCLIM),
and the Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS). The ICDC10 organizers
are grateful for financial support by the Swiss Federal Office for the
Environment; the cogito foundation; Lotteriefonds des Kantons Bern; the Swiss
Academy of Sciences – Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics;
the Federal Office of Meteorology and
Climatology (MeteoSwiss); Fondation Johanna Dürmüller-Bol; the Swiss National Science
Foundation; the Center for Climate Systems Modelling, ETH Zürich; GVB
Kulturstiftung; OA-ICC, IAEA: Ocean Acidification International Coordination
Centre – International Atomic Energy Agency; and the International Space Science
Institute. ICDC10 thanks Gerber project management for outstanding
organizational support and the Congress Centre Interlaken for providing a
stimulating and pleasant conference environment.
The GGMT organizers thank the following institutions for their support and
sponsorship: WMO, IAEA, MeteoSwiss, the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), the
Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP) of the Swiss Academy
of Sciences (SCNAT), and HFSJG. In addition, the event was supported by the following corporate
sponsors: Ecotech, ABB Inc.–Los Gatos Research, Mirico, Decentlab, Air
Liquide, Aerodyne Research, LI-COR, and Picarro.