Minnesota's peat bogs 'wild card' in global warming

[Viking12]

Flat, scrubby, too wet to walk on but too dry to fish, Minnesota's vast peatlands have long been regarded as good for almost nothing, including sightseeing.

But now, in an age of climate change, the bogs are the target of a security alert.

Experts fear that a warmer climate will speed the decomposition of peatland vegetation, which has been slowly decaying for 4,000 years. Carbon is naturally released as a byproduct of that decomposition, and the addition of an untold amount would cause the climate to warm even faster than it already is.

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Methane is the wild card

Many fear that methane, a gas with 20 times the heat-trapping potential of carbon dioxide, will be the sleeping dog awakened if peatlands and wetlands change with the climate, because those land forms also store large quantities of methane.


http://www.startribune.com/local/13581681.html?page=1&c=y

[rodeodance]

1. Peatlands cover about 14 percent of the state's land area,

Peatlands cover about 14 percent of the state's land area, but they hold 37 percent of its stored carbon, the highest of any land or vegetative form. (Lake sediments are next at 31 percent; forests hold only 3 percent.)

Lots of carbon in storage

As a result, Minnesota likely has more carbon in natural storage than most other states, said John Pastor, a professor of biology at the University of Minnesota-Duluth who also has published research on peatlands.

Minnesota peatlands, while extensive, comprise less than 1 percent of the world's total. Most, by far, are in Canada and Russia.

Even so, Minnesota was particularly well-suited for the formation of peatlands. Much of the northern part of the state was once the flat bottom of glacial Lake Agassiz. Once that drained, the cool climate kept it from drying out and prevented vegetation from decomposing completely. The result was carbon-holding peat.

[hobbit709]

2. If you throw in the methane hydrate

in ocean sediments we could have a major problem.