Polar ice reveals secrets of carbon-climate feedbacks
An international team of scientists has used air bubbles in polar ice from pre-industrial times to measure the sensitivity of the Earth's land biosphere to changes in temperature.
In a paper published this week in Nature Geoscience the researchers have verified and quantified the relationship for the first time and shown how it impacts the cycles of carbon between land, ocean and the atmosphere. Up until now, this relationship has been assumed.
About half of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by human activities since 1850 has been taken out of the atmosphere by the land biosphere and the ocean. How these sinks will behave in the future has been a significant source of uncertainty in climate projections.
The paper reveals that the Earth's land biosphere takes up less carbon in a warmer climate.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-07-polar-ice-reveals-secrets-carbon-climate.html#jCp
