The tundra could become a source of carbon emission

  Tundra

The tundra is an excellent well of carbon... At least it was. Nowadays, its storage capacity is seriously damaged, due to the increase in temperature: the CABA agencies living they emit more and more CO2 into the atmosphere, while the photosynthesis capture mechanism is affected at certain levels.

With climate change, vegetation and living organisms could emit more carbon, in form of carbon dioxide or methane, than they could store. For more than ten years now, the researchers stationed at the research station of Zackenberg, in northern Greenland, assess the carbon balance of the entire tundra the hemisphere north.

In a study published in the journal Journal of Geophysical Research, the team led by Magnus Lund shows that CO2 emissions caused by living organisms increase as the temperature rises.

To set the carbon balance of the tundra, scientists have studied two criteria: the rate of carbon emitted in the form of CO2 breathing, and the rate stored by plants through the photosynthesis. From these two criteria, it is possible to determine if the tundra is a source or a well of carbon.

El study shows that CO2 emissions caused by animal respiration increase linearly with the temperature. On the other hand, the carbon storage capacity related to the photosynthesis decreases as the temperature increases. Apparently this storage ceases when temperature exceeds 7ºC.

More information - Google makes its carbon footprint public


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