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The world's forests are increasingly taking up more carbon, partially offsetting the carbon being released by the burning of fossil fuels and by deforestation in the tropics, according to a new study.
The findings, published in the journal Biogeosciences, suggest that forests are growing more vigorously, and therefore, locking away more carbon. Even so, the concentration of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is still on the rise.
[...] The increased plant growth in global forests could be due to several factors, including higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, warmer temperatures and increased availability of nitrogen.
Perhaps we should re-forest the deserts of the world.
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World's Forests Increasingly Taking up More Carbon
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(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday February 26 2019, @03:29AM (2 children)
A lot of that carbon is in the soil, that is now gone and took 10,000+ years to generate. There is also a lot more ways that carbon is getting released then the massive fires of the last 2 years. Here in BC, the forests seem to sequester about 28 million tons of CO2 a year and have been releasing 245 million tons a year. Sure in a few thousand years it'll balance. BTW, officially we (BC) emit 63 million tons a year, so over double what the forests can absorb. A good chunk of BC is also rain forest, which probably absorbs more CO2 per hectare then most forests.
Long range predictions are also a drying trend here, which will mean more fires.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/11/30/opinion/bc-must-stop-ignoring-surging-forest-carbon-emissions [nationalobserver.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 26 2019, @05:37AM (1 child)
I think rainforests absorb /less/ carbon. I might be remembering this wrong, but the humidity causes more rapid breakdown of organic matter, and it never gets a chance to be incorporated into the soil. Most rainforest soils are actually pretty poor, the fertility is because there's so much water.
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday February 26 2019, @06:35AM
You might be thinking of tropical rain forests, which are quite different from the temperate one that grows along the coast from California to Alaska. There's some pretty fertile soil in the bottom lands but there are also a lot of steep mountains where the soil has a habit of washing away without trees to hold it.