Consistent land- and atmosphere-based U.S. carbon sink estimates.

For the period 1980-89, we estimate a carbon sink in the coterminous United States between 0.30 and 0.58 petagrams of carbon per year (petagrams of carbon = 10(15) grams of carbon). The net carbon flux from the atmosphere to the land was higher, 0.37 to 0.71 petagrams of carbon per year, because a net flux of 0.07 to 0.13 petagrams of carbon per year was exported by rivers and commerce and returned to the atmosphere elsewhere. These land-based estimates are larger than those from previous studies (0.08 to 0.35 petagrams of carbon per year) because of the inclusion of additional processes and revised estimates of some component fluxes. Although component estimates are uncertain, about one-half of the total is outside the forest sector. We also estimated the sink using atmospheric models and the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (the tracer-transport inversion method). The range of results from the atmosphere-based inversions contains the land-based estimates. Atmosphere- and land-based estimates are thus consistent, within the large ranges of uncertainty for both methods. Atmosphere-based results for 1980-89 are similar to those for 1985-89 and 1990-94, indicating a relatively stable U.S. sink throughout the period.

Apoplastic antioxidants as decisive elimination factors within the uptake process of nitrogen dioxide into leaf tissues.

Uptake of NO2 via stomata and its elimination in the mesophyll are investigated by use of mathematical models. Systems of differential equations describe simultaneous diffusion and reaction of the chemical species taken into account. The common hypothesis, postulating the disproportionation reaction of NO2 being the predominant path for the transformation of NO2 into the cellular nitrate and nitrite pools, could be false because of its failure to reproduce the measured sorption characteristics. If however the reduction of the pro-oxidative NO2 by apoplastic ascorbate is taken into account the calculated uptake rates and the effects of changes in immission concentration and vegetational characteristics fit well within corresponding experimental results. The onset of acute injury in case of a fall in apoplastic ascorbate concentration below a critical level is postulated.