Drought ‘makes Amazonia emit carbon’ | Climate News Network
▻http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2014/03/drought-makes-amazon-emit-carbon
From « sink » to « emitter »...
By Alex Kirby
Drought and fire can dry the Amazon forest to the point where instead of storing carbon it releases it to the atmosphere, several studies suggest.
LONDON, 5 March – Scientists think there is growing evidence to show that the Amazon forest is less effective at absorbing carbon dioxide than previously thought. Instead, they say, it may often be releasing huge quantities of CO2 to the atmosphere, acting not as a carbon sink but as a source.
Their reasons for this potentially significant rethink were published in two reports in the journal Nature. The first describes the results of researchers who sampled the amount of carbon in the air at four points over the Amazon, to build up a more comprehensive picture of the forest’s response to both light and water.