Northern wildfires threaten runaway climate change, study reveals
Sunday, December 5, 2010 - 22:20
in Earth & Climate
A new study reveals that fires in the Alaskan interior have become more severe in the last decade, resulting in more carbon being released than is being stored. About half the world's soil carbon is locked in northern permafrost and peatland soils. The increased burning is shifting these ecosystems from a carbon sink to a carbon source.