Carbon Sinks Turning into Carbon Sources

Scientists from the School of Natural Resources & Agricultural Sciences of the University of Alsaka Fairbanks carried out and published a research revealing how the Arctic thundra could turn from a carbon sink into a carbon source, if temperature will continue to rise.

Using cores sampled from more than 100 Alaskan sites, scientists discovered a layer of organic matter on top of and in the upper part of permafrost, which is much thicker than it was thought.
Previous researches had in fact sampled as deep as about 40 centimeters, while this time core boring has been more than one meter in depth.
Under normal environmental conditions this soil layer is able to store great quantities of organic matter, slowly transferring it towards the inner and permanently frozen part of the soil. However, if temperatures will continue to get warmer, less and less organic matter will be able to reach this deeper part of the soil column. On the contrary, an increasing quantity will degrade into methane, CO₂ and other greenhouse gases.

This study raises therefore further concern about the consequences of climate change, highlighting the fact that we have started modifying ecosystems whose functioning we still don’t know in detail.