Soils Contain Huge Amounts Of Ancient Carbon: When Does This Carbon Enter The Atmosphere?
Thursday, May 15, 2008 - 09:14
in Earth & Climate
Knowing that soils are a potential climate change time-bomb is nothing new -- but now, for the first time, a group of international scientists have found a way to distinguish just how much of these ancient carbon stores are being lost to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. This means that in the future they may be able to accurately forecast how loss of soil carbon will impact on climate change. Globally, soils contain over 300 times the amount of carbon released each year due to the burning of fossil fuels, and this carbon has until now, been safely locked up below ground.