Jul 16, 2021 16:00:00

Finally, climate change causes Amazon rainforest carbon dioxide emissions to exceed absorption

Until now, carbon dioxide emissions and absorption have been balanced in the

Amazon rainforest , but as a result of a nine-year field survey, it was reported that emissions exceed absorption in some areas. It was.

Amazonia as a carbon source linked to deforestation and climate change | Nature
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03629-6

Southeast Amazonia is no longer a carbon sink

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01871-6

Amazon rainforest now emitting more CO2 than it absorbs | Amazon rainforest | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/14/amazon-rainforest-now-emitting-more-co2-than-it-absorbs

Luciana Gatti and colleagues at the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil conducted an aircraft survey 4.5 km above the rainforest from 2010 to 2018. Twice a month, we regularly measured the concentrations of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the air.

Research has shown that the eastern part of the rainforest, where about 30% of the forest is destroyed, emits nearly 10 times more carbon dioxide than the western part, where only about 11% of the forest is destroyed. Emissions were particularly pronounced in the southeast, revealing that more carbon dioxide was emitted than forests could absorb.

A study by Gatti et al. Found that fires increased in the southeast due to intensification of the dry season due to deforestation and climate change. The temperature in the dry season is nearly 3 degrees higher than before the Industrial Revolution, which is about three times the world's annual average.

According to a satellite data study published by Yuanwei Qin and colleagues at the University of Oklahoma in April 2021, 'From 2010 to 2019, the Amazon rainforest released 16.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide, but it was absorbed. It was only 13.9 billion tons. '

'We are in a virtuous cycle where deforestation leads to reduced rainfall and higher temperatures, intensifying the dry season,' Gatti and colleagues pointed out. 'The fact that deforestation and climate change drive carbon emissions from rainforests and lead to further warming is exactly what scientists were afraid of,' said Simon Lewis of University College London. These studies are good evidence that the impact on climate is accelerating. '