More plants in the Arctic, more global warming

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS

Larger Arctic plants are more likely to speed up climate change than slow it down, a study published last week in the scientific journal Nature says.

According to previous studies on global warming, a warmer climate will lead to bigger plants in the Arctic. These larger plants will absorb more carbon dioxide, one of the “greenhouse gases” warming up the atmosphere.

But the researchers found that much more carbon was released from the deep layers of soil than was absorbed by the plants.

In 2000, researchers measured plants at the Toolik Field Station on Alaska’s North Slope that have been used for the past 20 years as part of an experiment to monitor long-term changes to Arctic plants due to warming trends.

Experimenters fertilized the plants to simulate one of the expected long-term effects of warmer soil. The plants grew bigger with the added nitrogen and were storing more carbon. This process could lead to an even more rapid warming of the atmosphere.