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Global warming could cause Canadian forests to absorb more carbon mongabay.com February 19, 2007
Speaking last week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Francisco, Kevin Robert Gurney, the associate director of the Climate Change Research Center at Purdue University, said that boreal forests in North America "removes carbon from the Earth's atmosphere during years in which the region experiences warm Spring temperatures and rainfall," according to a statement from Purdue. Boreal forests in Asia exhibit the opposite response, emitting carbon in years with above average fall temperatures and rainfall. "A warming Canada may mean Canadian forests will act as a sink to atmospheric CO2," said Gurney, "while boreal Asia could lose ecosystem carbon to the atmosphere as the regions warms." Gurney also found links between boreal forests and the atmospheric phenomenon knows as el Niño.
Gurney noted that temperature and precipitations "are not the only drivers of ecosystem carbon exchange," saying that human factors such as logging and fire can also have an impact. Gurney said his work should help modelers make better projections about the regional impact of climate change. Related articles Forest fires may cool climate. Boreal forest fires may actually cool climate according to research published in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), found that cooling may occur in regions where burned trees -- and reduced canopy cover -- exposes more snow, which reflects the sun's rays back into space. This effect may outweigh the climate warming impact of the greenhouse gases released by forest burning. Temperate forests may worsen global warming, tropical forests fight higher temperatures. At this week's climate conference in Montreal there have been a number of proposals to plant trees for the purpose of absorbing carbon emissions and helping mitigate climate change. However, a new study from the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory says that careful consideration should be given as to where these forests are planted. Planting trees in temperate regions could actually contribute to global warming. This article is based on a news release from Purdue University. Comments? News options
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