Chris Osburn is an associate professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences at NC State. His latest work, published in Geophysical Research Letters, looks at the effect that large, destructive storms – such as 2016’s Hurricane Matthew – have on carbon sinks and on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) being released into the atmosphere around North Carolina’s Neuse River estuary and Pamlico Sound.
The Abstract (TA): Let’s start by defining what you mean when you talk about carbon sinks.
Osburn: A carbon sink is a place where CO2 is stored as organic matter on land, either in soils or in wetlands, or in coastal water such as estuaries. CO2 is a natural byproduct of existence, and it’s released when organic materials decay. For example, leaves that fall from trees are a source of organic carbon that can decay to CO2, but if the leaves fall and get buried in soil or fall into water in a wetland, they get stored there – the material doesn’t decay and release CO2. That storage is a carbon sink.
Read more at North Carolina State University