Carbon-Rich Peat is Disappearing. but is it Also Growing?

posted by hubie on Tuesday May 24 2022, @12:57PM

from the roasting-my-feet-by-the-furnace-of-peat dept.

Scientists have discovered "proto-peat" forming in the Arctic as the Earth naturally sequesters carbon, but it could take centuries to mature:

Thank peat for that scotchy flavor of Scotch whisky: The muck forms in Scotland's bogs, when layer after layer of dead vegetation resists decay and compresses into fuel, which is burned during scotch distillation. But you can also thank peat for helping keep our planet relatively cool, as all that muck—which is particularly common across the Arctic—traps a tremendous amount of carbon that would otherwise heat the atmosphere.
That peat is in serious trouble, and not because the world is drinking too much Scotch. As the Arctic warms, peat is drying out and igniting thanks to lightning strikes. These become some of the strangest wildfires on Earth, because they can smolder through the ground, moving slowly across the landscape until they pop up somewhere else—earning them the nickname "zombie fires." Peat fires will even "overwinter," burning under the snow and igniting new fires aboveground in the spring. These blazes can burn for months and release astonishing amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
At the same time, the Arctic is greening, which might sound great, but it's actually a slow-motion nightmare for the region's ability to keep carbon sequestered. [...]
Scientists, though, just discovered that there might be a small ray of hope as the Arctic greens. All of that plant growth may be building new peat, potentially offsetting at least some of the losses of carbon from peat fires and permafrost thaw. [...]

All of this creates a contradiction that scientists are only beginning to investigate: As the Arctic warms, more peat dries out and ignites, but more vegetation grows, which could eventually form new peat. "People think that there are no new peatlands initiating at the moment, but our data is—very tentatively, at least—showing that this is not the case," says Väliranta.
[...] After all, there are only a small number of Arctic ecosystems that appear to be accumulating organic matter, compared to the widespread destruction of established peatlands. And proto-peat still has a long way to go before it's full-blown peat—and only if it can stay wet. [...]
Which is all to say: Betting on new peat to sequester the extra carbon that humanity is pumping into the atmosphere is a bad move, as there's no guarantee the balance between recent growth and ongoing loss will tip in our favor. If we don't massively crash emissions, no amount of natural carbon removal will save us from ourselves.

Journal Reference:
Juselius, T., Ravolainen, V., Zhang, H. et al. Newly initiated carbon stock, organic soil accumulation patterns and main driving factors in the High Arctic Svalbard, Norway [open]. Sci Rep 12, 4679 (2022).
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-08652-9

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