Scientists record rapid carbon loss from warming peatlands

[FfFfFfFF 58,135]

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated a direct relationship between climate warming and carbon loss in a peatland ecosystem. Their study published in AGU Advances provides a glimpse of potential futures where significant stores of carbon in peat bogs could be released into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases.

Peatlands currently cover around 3% of Earth’s landmass and hold at least a third of global soil carbon — more carbon than is stored in the world’s forests.

Peat bogs are particularly good at locking away carbon because of the cold, wet, acidic conditions that preserve meters-deep layers of ancient plant matter.

Enter the SPRUCE project, a unique whole ecosystem manipulation experiment in the forests of northern Minnesota. SPRUCE uses a series of enclosures to expose large peatland plots to five different temperatures, with the hottest of the chambers experiencing an increase of about 16 degrees Fahrenheit above and deep belowground. Half the enclosures also received elevated levels of carbon dioxide.

This futuristic experiment allows scientists to measure the effects of conditions this ecosystem has never experienced before, providing a glimpse of potential future climates.

Warmer temperatures directly translated into greater carbon emissions, with the warmest of the experimentally heated plots emitting the most carbon dioxide and methane. 

Source

[OysterBaby 450]

Woah I live right by that lab!

[Economy 52,861]

I had never heard of Peatlands

[shoful 13,304]

4 minutes ago, Economy said:

I had never heard of Peatlands

Legit same. I still kinda have no idea what they are 

[Luc 4,776]

1 hour ago, shoful said:

Legit same. I still kinda have no idea what they are 

I live on peatlands so I can explain  

 

Most of the Netherlands used to be peatlands till they started using it as fuel and for agricultural purposes.

 

it's basically plants and other organisms that haven't completely composted because they're too wet for that (no oxygen), they call it 'humus'. It's very nutritious for plants. You can imagine that this soil stores a lot of carbon, as it's basically dead plants. When it's dried, it burns very easily and can be used as a fuel, kinda like biomass. It also sinks, so where I grew up the houses and streets had to be highered by one or two metres every few years until they just filled it with styrofoam .

It looks like

when it dries out, oxygen can reach the humus, thus leading to carbon emissions as aerobic bacteria 'eat up' the complex carbon molecules, emitting CO2. You can clearly see the shade differences in the picture above: higher up it's dried out, but when you go deeper it's very dark (and moist, almost like clay).

 

 

finally putting my high school geography knowledge to use  

 

[Economy 52,861]

30 minutes ago, Luc said:

I live on peatlands so I can explain  

 

Most of the Netherlands used to be peatlands till they started using it as fuel and for agricultural purposes.

 

it's basically plants and other organisms that haven't completely composted because they're too wet for that (no oxygen), they call it 'humus'. It's very nutritious for plants. You can imagine that this soil stores a lot of carbon, as it's basically dead plants. When it's dried, it burns very easily and can be used as a fuel, kinda like biomass. It also sinks, so where I grew up the houses and streets had to be highered by one or two metres every few years until they just filled it with styrofoam .

It looks like

when it dries out, oxygen can reach the humus, thus leading to carbon emissions as aerobic bacteria 'eat up' the complex carbon molecules, emitting CO2. You can clearly see the shade differences in the picture above: higher up it's dried out, but when you go deeper it's very dark (and moist, almost like clay).

 

 

finally putting my high school geography knowledge to use  

 

Thanks for explaining. I had no idea