Research summary
The global carbon cycle is the exchange of carbon between the atmosphere, oceans and land. Scientists understand less about the land carbon cycle than about the atmosphere or ocean carbon cycles. This is largely due to a lack of understanding of how significantly CO2 fertilization affects plant growth and of plants’ changing sensitivity to stress caused by warming. This knowledge gap contributes significantly to errors in global carbon budget estimates.
Dr. Alemu Gonsamo, Canada Research Chair in Remote Sensing of Terrestrial Ecosystems,
is exploring ways to develop more precise land carbon cycle estimates. He and his research team are integrating carbon cycle models and emerging satellite technologies that directly measure photosynthesis for better insights into photosynthetic processes.