Saturday, February 12, 2011

The Amazon goes from sink to source of greenhouse gases

Droughts could turn the Amazon basin from greenhouse gas eater to a source of gases.

A long-lasting drought that affected the Amazon Rain Forest last year was worse than the once-in-a-lifetime drought that the region suffered in 2005 and a team of British and Brazilian scientists say it may have a bigger impact on global warming than the United States does in a year.

The widespread drought has raised concerns about the rainforest's future as a major absorber of carbon emissions, the scientists said in a study released last week, local media reported. Frequent severe dry spells like the ones in 2005 and last year risk turning the Amazon from a greenhouse gas eater into a source of the gases, which could definitely accelerate global warming, the report said.

Since the droughts killed off many trees, the team predicts that the Amazon will not be able to absorb as much carbon dioxide as usual in the coming years. Even worse, rotting trees may release as much as 5 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in the years to come, almost as much as the entire United States emitted from fossil fuel usage in 2009.

Source GreenMomentum

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