Pieter Tans

  • Fellow Emeritus

Climate & global change • Stable isotopes & paleoclimate • Biogeochemical cycles

Global atmospheric measurements of CO2, CH4, CO, H2, N2O, SF6, and isotopic ratios in several of those species. Numerical models of atmospheric transport. Field measurements of air-sea gas exchange.

Pieter Tans has been actively interested in mankind's influence on climate since he was a student. Convinced that man-made climate change was a problem certain to grow in importance over time, he changed direction from solid state physics to Earth sciences. His PhD study used carbon-14 and carbon-13 in tree rings to reconstruct the increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide since the late 19th century. As part of this work he developed a new way to calculate the behavior of CO2 isotopic ratios, separating the influence of net exchange of total carbon between Earth reservoirs from pure isotopic exchange in which 12CO2 and 13CO2 molecules are exchanged between air and water, for example, without changing total carbon in either reservoir. This formalism to deal with isotopic exchange is now universally followed in the field.

Pieter led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases group from 1985 until 2019. He discovered the existence of a very large sink (uptake) of CO2 by terrestrial ecosystems at mid-latitudes in the northern hemisphere, partially offsetting the emissions caused by the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas. Over four decades the carbon cycle group has maintained what we now call NOAA’s (GGGRN), producing the most widely used data of atmospheric CO2, CH4, and several other greenhouse gases.

Since 1991, and still ongoing, we have had a very close collaboration between the NOAA GGGRN and INSTAAR's Stable Isotope Laboratory. This resulted in global measurements of 13C/12C and 18O/16O ratios in CO2 and 13C/12C and D/H ratios in CH4, which can unravel the contribution of different source types to the observed trends. In 2004 a similar cooperation started between GGGRN and INSTAAAR's AMS Radiocarbon Preparation & Research Lab for measurements of the 14C/total C ratio in atmospheric CO2, which uniquely separates the recent emissions of fossil fuel CO2 from other sources.

GGGRN is also active in the development of , a global measurement and modeling system developed to keep track of sources (emissions to the atmosphere) and sinks (removal from the atmosphere) of carbon dioxide around the world. A version of CarbonTracker for methane (CH4) has also been developed, as well as CarbonTracker-Lagrange (CT-L), a regional inverse modeling framework designed for estimating North American greenhouse gas emissions and uptake fluxes.

Inspired by the observation that 90 year old air was present near the bottom of the firn layer at South Pole, despite being in contact with today’s atmosphere, Pieter invented the AirCore in 2002. It is a 100-150 m long coiled tube hoisted by balloon to 30 km altitude. One side is open, the other end is closed. It is initially filled with a known reference gas that streams out from the open end during ascent to lower pressures. During the subsequent descent by parachute, atmospheric air streams back in, providing a continuous sample from 30 km to the surface.

Education

  • PhD: University of Groningen, 1978

Awards

  • Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2011
  • Roger Revelle Medal, American Geophysical Union, 2010
  • Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2004
  • Corresponding Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1995

Public engagement

  • . Opinion by Barbara G. Schneider, Mike Nelson and Pieter Tans, The Tennessean, July 11, 2022.
  • The World's Littlest Book on Climate: Ten facts in ten minutes about CO2, by Mike Nelson, Pieter Tans, and Michael Banks, .
  • on 97 Hours of Consensus, Sceptical Science.
  • on the pace of climate change, sea level rise, the unsettling implications of climate change, and making the abstract concrete via the Science History Institute.

Selected publications

Basu, S., Lan, X., Dlugokencky, E., Michel, S., Schwietzke, S., Miller, J. B., Bruhwiler, L., Oh, Y., Tans, P. P., Apadula, F., Gatti, L. V., Jordan, A., Necki, J., Sasakawa, M., Morimoto, S., Di Iorio, T., Lee, H., Arduini, J., Manca, G., 2022: . Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 22(23): 15351-15377. doi 10.5194/acp-22-15351-2022

Tans, P., 2022: . Atmospheric Measuring Techniques, 15(6):1903-1916. doi 10.5194/amt-15-1903-2022

Tans, P., 2022: . Radiocarbon 64(4): 747-760. doi 10.1017/RDC.2022.7

Lan, X., Basu, S., Schwietzke, S., Bruhwiler, L., Dlugokencky, E., Michel, S., Sherwood, O., Tans, P., Thoning, K., Etiope, G., Zhyuang, Q., Liu, L., Miller, J., Petron, G., Vaughn, B., Crippa, M., 2021: . Global Biogeochemical Cycles 35(6): e2021GB007000. doi 10.1029/2021GB007000

Basu, S., Lehman, S. J., Miller, J. B., Andrews, A. E., Sweeney, C., Gurney, K. R., Southon, J., Tans, P., 2020: . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(24): 13300-13307. doi 10.1073/pnas.1919032117

Hu, L., Andrews, A. E., Thoning, K. W., Sweeney, C., Miller, J. B., Michalak, A., Dlugokencky, E., Tans, P., Shiga, Y., Mountain, M., Nehrkorn, T., Montzka, S., McKain, K., Kofler, J., Trudeau, M., Michel, S., Biraud, S., Fisher, M. L., Worthy, D., Vaughn, B., White, J., Yadav, V., Basu, S., van der Velde, I., 2019: , Science Advances, 5(6): eaaw0076. doi 10.1126/sciadv.aaw0076

Van der Velde, I., Miller, J. B., van der Molen, M., Tans, P., Vaughn, B., White, J. W. C., Schaefer, K., Peters, W., 2018: . Geoscientific Model Development, 11(1): 283-304. doi 10.5194/gmd-11-283-2018

Tans, P., Crotwell, A., Thoning, K., 2017: . Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 10(7): 2669-2685. doi 10.5194/amt-10-2669-2017

Schwietzke, S., Sherwood, O., Bruhwiler, L., Miller, J. B., Etiope, G., Dlugokencky, E., Michel, S. E., Arling, A., Vaughn, B., White, J. W. C., Tans, P., 2016: . Nature, 538, 88-91. doi 10.1038/nature19797

Masarie, K. A., Peters, W., Jacobson, A., Tans, P. P., 2014: . Earth Systems Science Data 6(2): 375-384. doi 10.5194/essd-6-375-2014

Lehman, S., Miller, J. B., Wolak, C., Southon, J., Tans, P. P., Montzka, S. A., Sweeney, C., Andrews, A., LaFranchi, B., Guilderson, T. P., Turnbull, J. C., 2013: . Radiocarbon, 55(3): 1484-1495. doi 10.1017/S0033822200048414

Ballantyne, A. P., Alden, C. B., Miller, J. B., Tans, P. P., White, J. W. C., 2012: . Nature, 488: 70-72. doi 10.1038/nature11299

Turnbull, J. C., Karion, A., Fisher, M. L., Falloona, I., Guilderson, T., Lehman, S. J., Miller, B. R., Miller, J. B., Montzka, S., Sherwood, T., Saripalli, S., Sweeney, C., Tans, P. P., 2011: . Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 11(2): 705-721. doi 10.5194/acp-11-705-2011

Karion, A., Sweeney, C., Tans, P., Newberger, T., 2010: . Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 27(11): 1839-1853. doi 10.1175/2010JTECHA1448.1

Wouter, P., Jacobson, A. R., Sweeney, C., Andrews, A. E., Conway, T. J., Masarie, K., Miller, J. B., Bruhwiler, L. M. P., Petrón, G., Hirsch, A. I., Worthy, D. E. J., van der Werf, G. R., Randerson, J. T., Wennberg, P. O., Krol, M. C., Tans, P. P., 2007: . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(48): 18925-18930. doi 10.1073/pnas.0708986104

Turnbull, J. C., Lehman, S. J., Miller, J. B., Sparks, R. J., Southon, J. R., Tans, P. P., 2007: . Journal of Geophysical Research, 112(D11): D11310. doi: 10.1029/2006JD008184

Hofmann, D., Butler, J. H., Dlugokencky, E. J., Elkins, J. W., Masarie, K., Montzka, S. A., Tans, P., 2006: . Tellus B, 58(5): 614-619. doi 10.1111/j.1600-0889.2006.00201.x

Turnbull, J. C., Miller, J. B., Lehman, S. J., Tans, P. P., Sparks, R. J., Southon, J., 2006: . Geophysical Research Letters, 33(1): L01817. doi 10.1029/2005GL024213

Miller, J. B., Tans, P. P., White, J. W. C., Conway, T. J., Vaughn, B. W., 2003: . Tellus B, 55(2): 197-206. doi 10.3402/tellusb.v55i2.16696

Miller, J. B., Mack, K. A., Dissly, R., White, J. W. C., Dlugokencky, E. J., Tans, P. P., 2002: . Journal of Geophysical Research—Atmospheres, 107(D13). doi 10.1029/2001JD000630

Masarie, K. A., Langenfelds, R. L., Allison, C. E., Conway, T. J., Dlugokencky, E. J., Francey, R. J., Novelli, P. C., Steele, L. P., Tans, P. P., Vaughn, B., White, J. W. C., 2001: . Journal of Geophysical Research—Atmospheres, 106(D17): 20445-20464. doi 10.1029/2000JD000023

Battle, M., Bender, M. L., Tans, P. P., White, J. W. C., Ellis, J. T., Conway, T., Francey, R. J., 2000: . Science, 287(5462): 2467-2470. doi 10.1126/science.287.5462.2467

Peylin, P., Ciais, P., Denning, A. S., Tans, P. P., Berry, J. A., White, J. W. C., 1999: . Tellus B, 51(3): 642-667. doi 10.3402/tellusb.v51i3.16452

Miller, J. B., Yakir, D., White, J. W. C., Tans, P. P., 1999: . Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 13(3): 761-774. doi 10.1029/1999GB900028

Tans, P. P., 1998: . Tellus B, 50(2): 163-178. doi 10.3402/tellusb.v50i2.16094

Zhao, C., Tans, P. P., Thoning, K. W., 1997: . Journal of Geophysical Research—Atmospheres, 102(D5): 5885-5894. doi 10.1029/96JD03764

Bender, M., Ellis, T., Tans, P., Francey, R., Lowe, D., 1996: . Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 10(1): 9-21. doi 10.1029/95GB03295

Ciais, P., Tans, P. P., Trolier, M., White, J. W. C., Francey R. J., 1995: . Science, 269(5227): 1098-1102.

Francey, R. J., Tans, P. P., Allison, C. E., Enting, I. G., White, J. W. C., Trolier, M., 1995: . Nature, 373: 326-330. doi 10.1038/373326a0

Masarie, K. A., Tans, P. P., 1995: . Journal of Geophysical Research—Atmospheres, 100(D6): 11593-11610. doi 10.1029/95JD00859

Ciais, P., Tans, P. P., White, J. W. C., Trolier, M., Francey, R. J., Berry, J. A., Randall, D. R., Sellers, P. J., Collatz, J. G., Schimel, D. S., 1995: . Journal of Geophysical Research—Atmospheres, 100(D3): 5051-5070. doi 10.1029/94JD02847

Dlugokencky, E. J., Masarie, K. A., Lang, P. M., Tans, P. P.,  Steele, L. P., Nisbet, E. G., 1994: . Geophysical Research Letters, 21(1): 45-48. doi 10.1029/93GL03070

Tans, P. P., Berry, J. A., Keeling, R. F., 1993: . Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 7(2): 353-368. doi 10.1029/93GB00053

Tans, P. P., Fung, I. Y., Takahashi T., 1990: . Science, 247(4949): 1431-1438. doi 10.1126/science.247.4949.1431

Thoning, K. W., Tans, P. P., Komhyr, W. D., 1989: . Journal of Geophysical Research—Atmospheres, 94(D6): 8549-8565. doi 10.1029/JD094iD06p08549

Tans, P. P., Conway, T. J., Nakazawa, T., 1989: . Journal of Geophysical Research—Atmospheres, 94(D4): 5151-5172. doi 10.1029/JD094iD04p05151

Francey, R. J., Tans, P. P., 1987: . Nature, 327: 495-497. doi 10.1038/327495a0

Tans, P. P., Mook, W. G., 1980: . Tellus, 32(3): 268-283. doi 10.3402/tellusa.v32i3.10582

Tans, P. P., Mook, W. G., 1979: . Radiocarbon, 21(1): 22-40. doi 10.1017/S0033822200004197

Keeling, C. D., Mook, W. G., Tans, P. P., 1979: . Nature, 277: 121-123. doi 10.1038/277121a0