Deep Soil Carbon Can Be Released In Boreal Forest Fires!

According to recent happenings, it is known that increasing frequent and very severe forest fires that are occurring have the ability that it could burn generation’s old carbon which is stored in the soils of boreal forests. According to results from these studies from the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) that was funded by NASA’s Earth Science Division. After releasing this it was known that previously buried carbon that was into the atmosphere have the ability to change these forests’ balance of carbon gain and loss, which is potentially accelerating warming.
After this Canada’s North West Territories were then scorched by record-breaking wildfires in the year 2014. The team of researchers that were from the United States and Canada took soil samples from almost 200 locations within the region. They discovered that for old forests of more than 70 years old and for forests in wet and humid locations, a dense thick layer of organic matter in the soil gave protection to the oldest carbon, called “legacy carbon,” that was not earlier burned in previous cycles of burn and regrowth.
However, in younger and drier forests, the soil which was shallower had organic matter with layers that allowed fires to reach the legacy carbon, releasing into the atmosphere.
As Earth’s northern regions grow drier and warmer due to climate change, seasons of fire are getting longer and fires are becoming more and more severe. Boreal forests have since long been thought to absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than they can release into it, making them the carbon “sinks.” But it is known that if bigger and more consecutive fires start burning the legacy carbon, these forests have the chances to start releasing more carbon than they have stored. Carbon dioxide is basically a greenhouse gas, so releasing more amount of it into the atmosphere can affect the balance of the global carbon cycle and also contributes to climate change.

By: Prerana Sharma
Content: https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2905/boreal-forest-fires-could-release-deep-soil-carbon/