Carbon Released by Warming Soils Could Trigger a Disastrous Feedback Loop

  • Thread starter Thread starter frobert
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

frobert

Guest

"Once it starts it may be very difficult to turn off. - Science Alert
Warming soils are releasing more carbon into the atmosphere than previously thought, suggesting a potentially disastrous feedback mechanism whereby increases in global temperatures will trigger massive new carbon releases in a cycle that may be impossible to break.
Click to expand...
“The future is a warmer future. How much warmer is the issue,” Melillo said. “In terms of carbon emissions from fossil fuels, we could control that. We could shut down coal-fired power plants, for example. But if the microbes in all landscapes respond to warming in the same way as we’ve observed in mid-latitude forest soils, this self-reinforcing feedback phenomenon will go on for a while and we are not going to be able to turn those microbes off. Of special concern is the big pool of easily decomposed carbon that is frozen in Arctic soils. As those soils thaw out, this feedback phenomenon would be an important component of the climate system, with climate change feeding itself in a warming world.”

The research has been published in Science.
 
Theo520 said:
I guess the science isn’t settled yet

Dueling science: Yesterday – "Soil will accelerate global warming" Today – "Soil holds potential to slow global warming" – Watts Up With That?
Click to expand...
The headline of that blog post is misleading. Typical attention-hungry click bait.

The scientists are uniformly applying the same principle to say that appropriate soil management can increase the natural carbon storage in managed soils, which may help to offset carbon release from unmanaged permafrost and poorly-managed soils elsewhere in the world. Makes good sense.

The article cited in the OP is still worthy of consideration. There is a heck of a lot of permafrost thawing out these days, and it’s not clear whether soil management in temperate and tropical zones can completely absorb the carbon released in the arctic.
 
Last edited:
Random
There is nothing misleading about my headline, though my quip introduction was wrong.

The papers are on soil but not conflicting.
My link did not demean the research in the OP link, just covered it without all the alarmism
 
frobert said:
Warming soils are releasing more carbon into the atmosphere than previously thought, suggesting a potentially disastrous feedback mechanism whereby increases in global temperatures will trigger massive new carbon releases in a cycle that may be impossible to break.

“The future is a warmer future. How much warmer is the issue,” Melillo said. “In terms of carbon emissions from fossil fuels, we could control that. We could shut down coal-fired power plants, for example. But if the microbes in all landscapes respond to warming in the same way as we’ve observed in mid-latitude forest soils, this self-reinforcing feedback phenomenon will go on for a while and we are not going to be able to turn those microbes off. Of special concern is the big pool of easily decomposed carbon that is frozen in Arctic soils. As those soils thaw out, this feedback phenomenon would be an important component of the climate system, with climate change feeding itself in a warming world.”

The research has been published in Science.
Click to expand...
It’s interesting to consider the CO2 release that has occurred in the last 150 years simply due to agriculture. Most claims of MMGW use the last 150 years as the indicator, because that’s the age of industrialization. But that’s also the period during which immense parts of the world were first brought into agricultural production.

There’s no question at all that agriculture increases CO2 in the atmosphere and also heats the atmosphere. Denude almost any soil and its temp will go up pretty significantly. This is not something new.
 
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

I can’t wait to roast
 
Ahh, the ‘runaway greenhouse effect’
One of the most ludicrous scare stories pushed by alarmists
A story that has no basis in earth science.

Another example of why skepticism is justified.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top