北极野火释放古老碳

Wildfires are triggering the smouldering of buried organic materials in the soil, with some burning carbon that is 5000 years old, finds Michael Le Page THE wildfires that have been raging in many places around the Arctic in recent years could be contributing much more to global warming than currently thought. It has been assumed that what’s burning is mostly recent plant growth, but a study of soil cores from around the Arctic and boreal regions has shown that these fires are igniting stored carbon that is up to 5000 years old. In Greenland, fires are burning 10 centimetres down into the soil causing melting that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. …