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Study: Soils Could Release Much More Carbon Than Expected as Climate Warms2 min read

by Maryann Villavert on March 10, 2017

Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions Program Domain Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Climate Sciences Department GC-Climate Carbon Sink Publication Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program
Scientists working in Blodgett Forest

Soil sampling in the Blodgett Forest near Georgetown conducted by Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division researchers Caitlin Hicks Pries, Cristina Castanha and Neslihan Tas Baas – sterile sample six 1 meter deep cores in 10 cm increments down to 1m.

Soils could release much more CO2 than expected into the atmosphere as the climate warms, according to new research by scientists in EESA’s Climate and Ecosystems Sciences Division—Caitlin Hicks Pries, Christina Castanha, Rachel Porras, and Margaret Torn.

Their findings are based on a field experiment that, for the first time, explored what happens to organic carbon trapped in soil when all soil layers are warmed, which in this case extend to a depth of 100 centimeters. The scientists discovered that warming both the surface and deeper soil layers at three experimental plots increased the plots’ annual release of CO2 by 34 to 37 percent over non-warmed soil. Much of the CO2 originated from deeper layers, indicating that deeper stores of carbon are more sensitive to warming than previously thought.

Their work is available online in the journal Science, as of March 9, “The whole-soil carbon flux in response to warming“.

Read more from the Berkeley Lab News Center (March 9, 2017)

In the news

  • Soils Could Release Much More Carbon than Expected as Climate Warms, BER Highlights (July 12, 2017).
  • How Much Carbon Could Soils Release Amid Warming Climate?, AG Web (May 24, 2017).
  • Warming soils may belch much more carbon, Science News (April, 2017).
  • Study: Soils Could Release Much More Carbon Than Expected as Climate Warms, Technology Org (March 12, 2017).
  • Why Soil Could Make Climate Change Worse Than Scientists Thought, Time (March 9, 2017).
  • As the World Gets Hotter, Soils May Emit More CO2 Than Previously Thought, Seeker (March 9, 2017).
  • This soil study has some deeply disturbing predictions about CO2 emissions, Project Earth (March 9, 2017).
  • Soils could release much more carbon than expected as climate warms, Phys.org (March 9, 2017).

News & Events

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DOE Funds Projects to Advance Forest Carbon Dioxide Removal Efforts and Agricultural Soil Carbon Conservation4 min read

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Quantifying the strength of the land carbon sink3 min read

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This article first appeared at nature.berkeley.edu/news. The world’s forests, grasslands, and other terrestrial ecosystems have played a substantial role in offsetting human carbon emissions—a capability that UC Berkeley researchers say would be threatened by continued global change. The assessment, published today as a new review paper in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, presents a comprehensive analysis of…

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