14 DAY TRIAL // The Amazon rainforest might one day switch from being a carbon sink, i.e. a region that absorbs and stores carbon, to being a carbon source, i.e. a region that releases carbon.
In a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers say that this is bound to happen should the Amazon rainforest be exposed to severe drought and an increased number of fires in the years to come.
Mongabay details that, after spending as much as two years monitoring this region with the help of aircraft, an international team of researchers found that, during wet years, forests in the Amazon are pretty much carbon neutral.
However, during years when they experience drought and a high incidence of wildfires, they switch to being carbon sources.
“Amazonia is changing. We are observing more very wet years and more very dry years,” explains researcher John Miller.
“If these trends continue, the region may become a net source of carbon to the atmosphere, moving carbon embedded in ecosystems into the atmosphere as greenhouse gas, thus accelerating global warming,” he adds.