As Temperatures Rise, Soil Will Relinquish Less Carbon to the Atmosphere Than Currently Predicted

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2014/11/17/soil-microbes-climate/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]As Temperatures Rise, Soil Will Relinquish Less Carbon to the Atmosphere Than Currently Predicted[/font]
[font size=4]New Berkeley Lab model quantifies interactions between soil microbes and their surroundings[/font]

News Release Dan Krotz 510-486-4019 • November 17, 2014

[font size=3]Here’s another reason to pay close attention to microbes: Current climate models probably overestimate the amount of carbon that will be released from soil into the atmosphere as global temperatures rise, according to research from the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

The findings are from a new computer model that explores the feedbacks between soil carbon and climate change. It’s the first such model to include several physiologically realistic representations of how soil microbes break down organic matter, a process that annually unleashes about ten times as much carbon into the atmosphere as fossil fuel emissions. In contrast, today’s models include a simplistic representation of microbial behavior.

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Based on their results, the Berkeley Lab scientists recommend that future Earth system models include a more nuanced and dynamic depiction of how soil microbes go about the business of degrading organic matter and freeing up carbon.

This approach could help scientists more accurately predict what will happen to soil carbon as Earth’s climate changes. These predictions are especially important in vulnerable regions like the Arctic, which is expected to warm considerably this century, and which holds a vast amount of carbon in the tundra.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2438

[yeoman6987]

1. This sounds like great news

We want less carbons. This will help get us to our emissions goal. The Earth seems to be helping us somehow.

[bobalew]

2. This does not so conveniently preclude

The enormous MASS of METHANE locked into the Northern Siberian permafrosts & arctic oceans, however. The microbes there have already done their job.... This as an overall hope, may be just a drop in the bucket, as the earth warms.