Researchers at the University of East Anglia have helped develop a new way to measure how Arctic plants respond to climate change.
Over the past few decades, the Arctic has been warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet. At the same time, long-term atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements have shown substantial increases in the amount of carbon absorbed into and emitted by plants and soil - the terrestrial ecosystem - in the Arctic every year.
Scientists had assumed this terrestrial ecosystem was playing a large role in the changes they’re seeing in the Arctic carbon cycle.
But they lacked a technique to measure carbon uptake and release independently. And this is key for understanding how the biosphere is responding to climate change driven by fossil fuel emissions.
Read more at University of East Anglia
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