East Asian terrestrial ecosystems - the richest in the world - are distributed continuously from tundra and boreal forests through temperate to subtropical and tropical forests latitudinally, as well as from monsoonal rainforests through semi-arid grassland to desert longitudinally. Therefore, they play a key role in the global carbon cycle. Moreover, the temporal and spatial variations of their carbon sequestration caused by the monsoon climate impose an additional scientific challenge. CarboEastAsia - capacity building among JapanFlux, ChinaFLUX and KoFlux to cope with climate change protocols by synthesizing measurement, theory and modeling in quantifying and understanding of carbon fluxes and storages in East Asia - is the first international attempt that brings together scientists from Japan, China and Korea to (1) measure carbon and water fluxes in individual ecosystems; (2) scale up site-specific results to regional and national values; (3) evaluate the dynamics and feedback of East Asian terrestrial ecosystems to global warming. This symposium will present the great results from KoFlux, ChinaFLUX and JapanFlux.

Commentator: Kaneyuki NAKANE (Hiroshima University)