14 DAY TRIAL // A team of experts from the Bangor University in Wales, UK is now able to correlate pear areas, a great source of carbon, with the impact they have on climate change. Apparently, it seems that these surfaces contribute to the acceleration of this phenomenon, as drought releases a much higher CO2 concentration that scientists previously expected.
Peatlands are mostly located in areas affected by severe droughts and the situation is expected to worsen, as global warming effects will start revealing their true power.
This process will influence the activity of peatlands, eliminating its otherwise characteristic moisture meant to absorb harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Such a dramatic change will trigger a superior quantity of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, reports the Environmental News Network. The emission growth will be experienced even after the peatlands will be completely dried, due to the contribution of rainwater.
"As our global climate and rainfall patterns change, our peatlands may not have sufficient opportunity to recover between these drought-induced episodes of CO2 loss. What we previously perceived as a 'spike' in the rate of carbon loss during drying out, now appears far more prolonged- with a potential peak after the initial drought period is over,” explains Dr Fenner.
The result of this entire process dissolved organic carbon is expected to affect the quality of our drinking water resources. The increased amount of emissions will leave peatlands powerless, possibly contributing to the destruction of an otherwise functional habitat.
So far, the team of experts managed to study the extended period of severe drought, illustrating how this phenomenon affects the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, in the absence of water.
Their findings are significantly important, taking into account global peats covers up to 2 percent of overall land area and has to offer more than 8 billion terajoules of energy.