Carbon Emissions From Soil May Intensify Global Warming

While most of the studies on climate change are conducted at atmospheric levels, the findings of a new study are based on 26 years' worth of observations in a Massachusetts hardwood forest, where scientists artificially heated certain sections of the soil and measured the amount of carbon released.

Study researcher Jerry Melillo, from the Marine Biological Laboratory, and colleagues studied three different types of forest plot. In one set of plot, they installed heating cables in the soil and heated them so the soil would be about 10 degrees warmer than the air around it.

Heaters were also installed in the second set of plot but these were not turned on and the third set of plot was left untouched.

Analysis revealed that rising temperatures may cause a two-stage cycle characterized by the carbon output increasing for several years and then levelling off, which can be explained by soil microbes adjusting to the warmer condition.

Scientists are concerned that warmer soil may cause a warmer atmosphere that in turn may heat up the ground and perpetuate increase in temperatures.

UCJ, UNILORIN.