The thesis presents observations on the CO2 mixing ratio and the carbon isotopic ratio (13C/12C i.e. δ13) of atmospheric CO2 from the Indian region, for the period 2008 - 2011. An experimental system was established at the Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The experimental protocol involves collection of air samples, extraction of CO2 from the air samples collected, and finally the measurement of the CO2 mixing ratio and isotopic ratios of the extracted CO2 using pressure gauge readings and the dual inlet peripheral of the isotope ratio mass spectrometer, IRMS MAT 253. The isotopic ratios measured are scaled to VPDB and corrected for their N2O contribution. The experimental set up is calibrated with primary carbonate standards (NBS19) and an air CO2 reference mixture. The analytical precision (reproducibility of paired samples) obtained for the atmospheric CO2 measurement is ±7 µ mol.mol-1, ±0.05‰ and ±0.17‰ for the mixing ratio, δ 13C and δ 18Oof atmospheric CO2 respectively. The present study lays emphasis on the CO2 mixing ratio and the δ 13C of atmospheric CO2. There are very few atmospheric CO2 monitoring stations in India. There exists only one long-term monitoring station, Cabo de Rama, on the west coast of India. Of late, a few new stations for measuring atmospheric trace gases have been in operation, with the major focus being on remote locations. Urban stations in India have never been monitored before for both the mixing ratio and the δ13C of atmospheric CO2 together. Monitoring urban stations in India is crucial today as they have become prime emitters of CO2 due to industrial activity. The emission from the sources varies seasonally and is influenced by factors like the Indian monsoon. The Indian subcontinent is surrounded by the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal which act differentially in terms of CO2 uptake or release. There is also a differential transport of CO2 to and from the open ocean. Thus, understanding the spatial pattern of CO2 in the marine region close to the Indian subcontinent is essential to understand the oceanic uptake/release of CO2. As part of this thesis, an urban area was monitored during 2008 - 2011 and the marine region was observed during the southwest monsoon of 2009. The temporal variation of the CO2 mixing ratio and δ13C of atmospheric CO2 was observed over an urban station, Bangalore (12° 58′ N, 77° 38′ E, masl= 920 m), India. Since Bangalore is one of the developing urban cities in India, it is interesting to monitor Bangalore air to understand the impact of anthropogenic emissions on atmospheric CO2 variability. The region has four distinct seasons, dry summer (March – May), southwest monsoon (June – September), post monsoon (October – November) and winter (December – February). Thus, it is also an ideal location to identify the effect of different seasons on the contribution of CO2 from various sources. Air samples were collected from the Indian Institute of Science campus, Bangalore, during 2008 - 2011. Both the diurnal and seasonal variations of the mixing ratio and δ13C of CO2 were observed in Bangalore. On the diurnal scale, a higher mixing ratio with lighter carbon isotopes (negative value) of δ13C of CO2 was recorded in the air-CO2 analyzed during the early morning compared to the late afternoon samples. The observations suggest that coal combustion, biomass burning and car exhausts are possible sources for CO2 identified based on the Keeling plot method. The nocturnal boundary layer (NBL) is found to influence the buildup of CO2 concentration in the early morning. The presence of the NBL in the early morning prevents the mixing of locally produced air with the CO2 from the free atmosphere above. Thus, the free air contribution of CO2 is reduced during the early morning rather than in the afternoon. The effect of seasonal variability in the height of the NBL on the air CO2 mixing ratio and the 13C of atmospheric CO2 were documented in the present study. On a seasonal scale, the free air contribution of CO2 was found to be higher during the southwest monsoon and winter compared to the dry hot summer and post monsoon period. On a seasonal time scale, a sinusoidal pattern in both the mixing ratio and δ13C has been recorded in the observations. While compared with nearby CO2 monitoring stations like the coastal station, Cabo de Rama, and the Open Ocean station, Seychelles, maintained by CSIRO Australia and NOAA-CMDL respectively, Bangalore recorded higher amplitudes of seasonal variation. Seasonal scale variations have revealed an additional source i.e. emission from the cement industry along with other sources identified from diurnal variations. The emission of CO2 from these different sources is not constant; rather it was found to vary with different seasons. The enhanced biomass burning during the dry season drives the δ13C of atmospheric CO2 towards more negative values, while during the southwest monsoon; the increased biosphere cover pushes the δ13C value of atmospheric CO2 towards positive values. The effect of La Nina in 2011 is also prominent in the observation. The study also intends to identify the spatial variability of both the mixing ratio and δ 13C air-CO2 close to the urban station, Bangalore based on the simultaneous sampling of air from three locations, Bangalore and two coastal stations, Mangalore and Chennai, which are equidistant from Bangalore. Samples were collected during the southwest monsoon and winter of 2010 - 2011. The observations documented a similar source of CO2 for all the three stations irrespective of the season. The factor responsible for the variability in the mixing ratio and the δ 13C of air CO2 among these stations is the differential transport of air from the marine region and its mixing with locally produced air. To identify the variability of atmospheric CO2 over the marine region, the atmosphere over the Bay of Bengal was monitored during the southwest monsoon of 2009 as part of the Continental Tropical Convergence Zone (CTCZ) Cruise expedition. The ocean surface water was also monitored simultaneously for the δ18O of water and the δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon measurement. The combined observations of both air and water have shown the transport of continental air to the marine region and its uptake by the ocean during the period. The variability of atmospheric-CO2 is also observed during special events like the solar eclipse. During the annular solar eclipse of 15th January, 2010 an unusually depleted source value was identified for Bangalore air. The role of the boundary layer and a change in photosynthesis were identified as possible factors affecting air CO2 composition. In conclusion, the thesis has provided the first observations on air CO2 variability from an urban station in India. The observations have identified the possible sources of CO2 and have demonstrated the role of climatic phenomena like the Atmospheric Boundary Layer, Indian Monsoon, and La Nina in controlling the behaviour of sources and sinks and thus affecting the air CO2 variability over land and ocean. The seasonal scale variation based on day-to-day variability in the afternoon samples has revealed the important contribution of emissions from the cement industry whose contribution was absent in the diurnal variability. Thus, it is evident from this study that the timing of air sampling is crucial while identifying the sources. The per capita emission of individual urban stations in India is different; thus, it is essential to monitor more urban stations to identify sources and their different contributions. In future, the simultaneous monitoring of both continental and marine air over both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal will enable us to understand the long range transport of atmospheric CO2. The long term monitoring of CO2 from the Indian region can give us a better perspective on the effect of the Indian monsoon on air CO2 variability and vice versa.

Earth’s climate is intricately linked to the carbon cycle through the radiative effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The ocean plays a central role in this climate-carbon system; as oceans store ∼50 times more carbon than the atmosphere, even small changes in ocean chemistry could greatly affect global climate. Understanding how the oceanic carbon reservoir has evolved across changing climates is thus critical for both constraining mechanisms of climate change and predicting impacts from anthropogenic carbon addition. This dissertation contributes to knowledge of the ocean carbon reservoir’s evolution across the last 1.5 million years of Earth’s history, with a particular focus on two key intervals of climatic change: 1) Present day, when a large, human-sourced perturbation to the carbon cycle is underway, the effects of which are not yet fully realized; and 2) The mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT; ∼900,000 years ago), when natural cycles of global warming and cooling increased in intensity and duration. Without direct observations for both these time intervals, I focus on documenting changes to ocean carbon chemistry using proxies for seawater composition. The primary tools for this purpose are boron concentrations (B/Ca ratios) and the boron isotopic composition (δ11B) of carbonate skeletons produced by marine organisms. These tools are rooted in the aqueous chemistry of boron, in which the speciation and isotopic composition of boron compounds change with seawater pH. To test present-day changes in the oceanic carbon reservoir, I measured δ11B on the calcitic skeletons of deep-sea corals (genus Keratoisis). Results show that while coral δ11B does correlate with deep ocean pH, δ11B variations within coral skeletons are too large to be explained by changes in deep ocean pH over the corals’ lifespan. These variations most likely reflect the biology of the coral organism, suggesting that δ11B measurements in Keraotisis cannot be utilized to track ocean pH until coral growth mechanisms are better understood. To complement these δ11B data, I measured the radiocarbon (14C) content of Keratoisis skeletons. Results show that coral skeletal 14C tightly correlates to the 14C content of the deep ocean, and that bamboo corals live for 50 to 300 years with radial growth rates of 10 to 80 μm per year. This supports the use of 14C for generating bamboo coral ages and growth rates, and for tracking perturbations to the 14C content of the deep ocean. Through my deep-sea coral study, I learned the importance of accurate and precise δ11B measurements for sound interpretations of ocean carbon chemistry. These interpretations necessitate highly specialized analysis protocols. While two protocols are commonly applied for δ11B measurements, existing comparisons found relatively large offsets between both protocols. To trace the cause and implications of this offset, I established a new δ11B measurement protocol and performed an internal comparison between the new and existing measurement protocols. Results confirm that carbonate δ11B values are significantly offset between techniques. Although the nature of this offset remains enigmatic, I show that both techniques show the same δ11B-to-pH sensitivity, and consistent pH estimates are obtained when a protocol-specific constant offset is applied. This suggests that both δ11B analysis protocols can be applied for reconstructing pH with equal confidence. To test for changes in the ocean carbon reservoir across the MPT, I investigated the B/Ca and Cd/Ca composition of the benthic foraminifer Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi to track deep ocean carbonate saturation state (∆[CO32−]) and nutrient inventories. At 4.3 km water depth in the South Atlantic Ocean, B/Ca abruptly decreased by 20% and Cd/Ca increased by 40% between 950 and 900 ka, equivalent to a 60 μmol/kg increase in abyssal ocean carbon storage. Coincident shifts in deep ocean circulation and atmospheric pCO2 around 900 ka suggest that a new regime of deep ocean carbon sequestration developed during the MPT. I argue that this regime was intricately linked with the increased magnitude and duration of glacial cycles following the MPT.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Predicting how increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration will affect the hydrologic cycle is of utmost importance for water resource management, ecological systems and for human life and activities. A typical perspective is that the water cycle will mostly be altered by atmospheric effects of climate change, precipitation and radiation, and that the land surface will adjust accordingly. Terrestrial processes can however feedback significantly on the hydrologic changes themselves. Vegetation is indeed at the center of the carbon, water and energy nexus. This work investigates the processes, the timing and the geography of these feedbacks. Using Earth System Models simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 5 (CMIP5), with decoupled surface (vegetation physiology) and atmospheric (radiative) responses to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, we first evaluate the individual contribution of precipitation, radiation and physiological forcings for several key hydrological variables. Over the largest fraction of the globe the physiological response indeed not only impacts, but also dominates the change in the continental hydrologic cycle compared to either radiative or precipitation changes due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. It is however complicated to draw any conclusion for the soil moisture as it exhibits a particularly nonlinear response. The physiological feedbacks are especially important for extreme temperature events. The 2003 European heat wave is an interesting and crucial case study, as extreme heat waves are anticipated to become more frequent and more severe with increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. The soil moisture and land-atmosphere feedbacks were responsible for the severity of this episode unique for this region. Instead of focusing on statistical change, we use the framework of Regional Climate Modeling to simulate this specific event under higher levels of surface atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and to assess how this heat wave could be altered by land-atmosphere interactions in the future. Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration modifies the seasonality of the water cycle through stomatal regulation and increased leaf area. As a result, the water saved during the growing season through higher water use efficiency mitigates summer dryness and the heat wave impact. Land-atmosphere interactions and carbon dioxide fertilization together synergistically contribute to increased summer transpiration if rainfall does not change. This, in turn, alters the surface energy budget and decreases sensible heat flux, mitigating air temperature rise during extreme heat periods. This soil moisture feedback, which is mediated and enabled by the vegetation on a seasonal scale is a European example of the impacts the vegetation could have in an atmosphere enriched in carbon dioxide. We again use Earth System Models to systematically and statistically investigate the influence of the vegetation feedbacks on the global and regional changes of extreme temperatures. Physiological effects typically contribute to the increase of the annual daily maximum temperature with increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, accounting for around 15% of the full trend by the end of the XXIth Century. Except in Northern latitudes, the annual daily maximum temperature increases at a faster pace than the mean temperature, which is reinforced by vegetation feedbacks in Europe but reduced in North America. This work highlights the key role of vegetation in influencing future terrestrial hydrologic responses. Accurate representation of the response to higher atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration levels, and of the coupling between the carbon and water cycles are therefore critical to forecasting seasonal climate, water cycle dynamics and to enhance the accuracy of extreme event prediction under future climates in various regions of the globe.

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The CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is rising dramatically each year. Increases are certain to influence growth of C3 plants. This thesis focuses on the growth and development of rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Jarrah).The major questions addressed in this thesis were whether elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations would : 1/ increase grain yield where the soil was flooded or unflooded under conditions of varying phosphorus supply; 2/ change the timing of development; 3/ alter the partitioning of dry weight and nutrients between the roots and shoots; and, 4/ influence grain quality. The mechanisms underlying growth and developmental changes at elevated CO2 were also investigated. After experimentation, it is concluded that the grain yield of rice will increase as the atmospheric CO2 concentration rises even when phosphorus supplies are low. The largest response to rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations will occur under dryland conditions but increases of up to 60 per cent are likely in flooded rice. Importantly, there is likely to be a reduction in the life cycle of rice crops as the CO2 concentration rises. This would have the advantage that more crops could be sown in one season. The quality of the rice grain produced at high CO2 concentrations will also change, with milling quality appearance likely to improve. The cooked rice will be firmer. Experiments also showed that rice grown in flooded soil at different CO2 concentrations is an excellent system for investigating the control of plant growth and development, particularly the influence of hormones. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This project aims at investigating the effect of CO2 enrichment on the growth and gas exchange of C3, C3-C4 and C4 Panicum grasses. Potted plants were grown in soil under well watered conditions, in artificially lit environmentally controlled cabinets or naturally lit greenhouses at varying levels of CO2 enrichment. CO2 enrichment enhanced the dry weight of C3 and C4 Panicum species under optimal light and N supplies, but had no effect on the total leaf N or TNC concentrations. The high-CO2 induced photosynthetic reaction in the C3 species was accompanied by a reduced Rubisco concentration and was related to the conservation of the relative growth rate of the plant. Elevated CO2 had no effect on the photosynthetic capacity of the C4 species, but enhanced its CO2 assimilation rates under high light and N supplies. The effect of elevated CO2 on the leaf and stem anatomy reflected increased carbon supply at high CO2 in the C3 grass, and reduced transpiratory demand at high CO2 in C4 grasses. Consequently, it is clear that both C3 and C4 grasses are likely to be more productive under rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)