Element could stay locked in soil, 20-year study suggests
The Arctic’s stockpile of carbon may be more secure than scientists thought. In a 20-year experiment that warmed patches of chilly ground, tundra soil kept its stored carbon, researchers report.
Almost half of the world’s soil carbon is stored at high latitude, in the form of dead and decaying organisms. Some scientists worry that rising temperatures could accelerate decomposition, which unleashes carbon dioxide.
In 1989, ecologists set up greenhouses on plots of tundra in northern Alaska. Air temperature inside the greenhouses was on average 2 degrees Celsius warmer than outside.