Current Biology
Shaky Ground - Selling sequestration credits is shaky, for several reasons. 1. Carbon may only move from the lower solis layers to the top foot. 2. Carbon may not stay in the ground nearly as long (a century) as the soil credit is sold for. 3. The error bars for measurements or claims are very wide, and include zero. 4. Sampling is relatively costly, so samples from a few sampled fields are combined in a computer model to estimate savings for many more unsampled fields. 5. Other lesser issues.
2019-2024 Articles
Surging Methane Emissions Could Be a Sign of a Major Climate Shift 0824 - Permafrost's natural CH4 emissions trail only those of tropical wetlands. Not all permafrost CH4 emissions come from under fresh water; some come from upland areas: yedomas.
Earth’s Oldest, Tiniest Creatures to Be Climate Winners, for Huge Repercussions 0824 - Blue-green algae projected to decrease less than other microscopic sea creatures (phyoplankton) and fish that consume them (1.5% versus 3-5% per 1°C of ocean warming). The result is lower overall ocean biomass and an additional 800 million tonnes of CO2 a year net emissions from the oceans (carbon sink turning to carbon source).
How Factory Farming Ends, Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions 0824
Turning Methane from Dairy Barns and Coal Mines to CO2 Fights Climate Change 0124
Canada’s 2023 Wildfires Spewed More CO2, So Far, than Mexico Did in 2021 - 0923
Greece’s Wildfires Are Burning through Its Natural Carbon Stores 0723
Wildfires Are Set to Triple Canada’s Climate Emissions This Year 0723
Hydropower Reservoirs, Once Called Clean Energy, Are ‘Giant Methane Factories’ 0723
Canada’s Explosive Wildfires Have Damaged a Forest Carbon Offset Project 0623
Federal Regulations Fail to Contain Methane Emissions from Landfills 0523
Tropical Biomass Loss from Climate Change Could Increase CO2 Emissions 0123
Scientists Now Know Why Methane Mysteriously Surged during Lockdowns 0223
Low Salt Marsh Habitats Release More Carbon in Response to Warming 0123
Termites in Australia Are Hungrier and on the March as Climate Heats Up 0123
A Trash Heap 62 Meters High Shows the Scale of India’s Climate Challenge 1222
Forest Fires Wipe Out California’s 2020 Record for Greenhouse Gas Reductions 1022
Deforestation Surges in World’s #2 Tropical Forest 1122
‘Carbon Time Bomb’ - Climate Crisis Threatens to Destroy Congo Peatlands 1122
Click for more
GT Carbon Net Loss in Forests of Canada, Amazon & Australia + Permafrost 0922
Wildfires Are Destroying California's Forest Carbon Credit Reserves 0822
Forest Fires Burn Twice as Many Trees as 2 Decades Ago 0822
No-Till May Not Be the Agricultural Panacea We Thought It Was 0822 - With no-till, more carbon is found in the top 10 cm of soil, but even less (than before) 10-60 cm down, for less carbon (0.28 to 2.29 tonnes / hectare) stored aross the whole soil profile. Based on 144 studies over the last 50 years. Un-tilled soil becomes compacted over time.
Methane Emissions Much More Sensitive to Global Heating than Earlier Thought 0722
Cattle Burp Methane Emissions Measured From Space for First Time 0422
DR Congo to Auction Oil Blocks in One of the World’s Largest Carbon Sinks 0522
Experts Fear These Forests Could Shift from Absorbing CO2 to Emitting It 0422
How Corn Ethanol for Biofuel Fed Climate Change 0222
Amazon Losing Far More Carbon from Forest Degradation than Deforestation 0222
Across the Boreal Forest, Scientists Are Tracking Warming’s Toll 0122
The Corn Belt’s Topsoil Loss Is Increasing Carbon Emissions, Lowering Yields 0122
The Race to Defuse Congo’s Carbon Bomb 1221
Trees in the Wetlands Emit More Methane than Researchers Thought 1221
Siberia’s Massive Wildfires Are Unlocking Extreme Carbon Pollution 0821
Fires Are Harming California’s Efforts to Curb Climate Change 0821
Soil-Science Revolution Upends Plans to Fight Climate Change 0721 - Many, more recent, studies indicate that, when soil carbon building practices (no-till, cover crops, etc.) are used, more carbon shows up in the top. "When farmers skipped the tilling and instead drilled seeds into the ground, carbon stores grew in upper soil layers, but they disappeared from lower layers. Most experts now believe that the practice redistributes carbon within the soil rather than increases it.”
Moreover, that the researchers found — or, more specifically, what they didn’t find — was shocking: there were few or no long “recalcitrant” carbon molecules — the kind that don’t break down. Almost everything seemed to be small and, in principle, digestible.
Hotter and Drier - Deforestation and Wildfires Take a Toll on the Amazon 0721
Brazil’s Amazonia, Led by Its East, Is Now a Carbon Source 0721
Nitrous Oxide, Powerful Greenhouse Gas, Is on the Rise from Ocean Dead Zones 0721
Northern Farms Are Releasing Massive Amounts of Carbon from Peat 0621
'Quick Fixes' to the Climate Crisis Risk Harming Nature 0621 e.g., trees that burn or are unsuited to where they are planted
Enormous Missing Contribution to Global Warming Is Right under Our Feet 0621 - peat
Why Indonesia’s Rice Paddy Expansion Is Raising Climate Concerns 0521 - draining peat / swamps and peat fires
The Brazilian Amazon Is Burning, Again 0621
Fish ‘Not as Carbon Friendly' as Previously Thought 0521
Trawling for Fish May Unleash as Much Carbon as Air Travel 0321
All-Amazon Greenhouse-Gas Study Suggests Forest Worsens Climate Change 0321
500+ Experts Call on World’s Nations to Not Burn Forests for Energy 0221
Net, Land Absorbs Carbon Now, but It Could Emit It in Just a Few Decades 0121
Many Overheated Forests May Soon Release More Carbon than They Absorb 0121
Human Use Has Increased Grasslands' Contribution to Climate Change 0121
Brazilian Forests Are Transitioning from Carbon Sinks to Carbon Sources 1220
Sicker Livestock Emit More Methane, Accelerating Climate Change 1020
Global Warming Could Unlock Carbon from Tropical Soil 0820
Cow Burps, Leaky Pipelines Put Earth on High-End Warming Track 0720
Siberian Fires Have Released a Record Amount of Carbon This Year 0720
Amazon Fires at 13-Year High for June 0720
‘Zombie Fires’ in the Arctic Pump Out Carbon at Record Pace 0720
Arctic Battling Climate Change and Beavers 0720 - beaver ponds mean carbon emerges as CH4 more than CO2
Frequently Dry Waterways Still Contribute to Carbon Emissions 0620
Why ‘Carbon-Cycle Feedbacks’ Could Drive Temperatures Even Higher 0420
Surge in Global Methane Emissions Traced Back to East African Wetland 1219
One California Wildfire is Spewing Enough Smoke to Rival 320,000 Cars 1019
Bigger, More Frequent Wildfires Turn Canada’s Boreal Forest into Carbon Source 0819
The Bizarre, Peaty Science of Arctic Wildfires 0719 - So far in 2019, Arctic fires have released more CO2 into the air than what Belgium emits annually. That beats the previous ecord, set in 2004—and we’re only in June.
Arctic Wildfires Continue to Burn, Releasing Record Amounts of CO2 - 0719 - The amount of CO2 emitted from Arctic Circle fires in June 2019 is larger than all of the CO2 released from Arctic Circle fires in the same month from 2010 through to 2018 put together.
Scientists Zero in on Trees as a Surprisingly Large Source of Methane 0619
Climate Change Being Fueled by Soil Damage 0419
Worsening Algae Blooms Could Significantly Increase Global Methane Emissions 0319
2018 Articles and earlier
Why Peatlands Matter in the Battle against Climate Change 1218
The Seafloor Is Dissolving Because of Climate Change 1118
Latitudinal Limits to Predicted Increased Peatland Carbon Sink with Warming 0918
Rice Farming Up to Twice as Bad for Climate Change as Previously Thought 0918
Globally Rising Soil Heterotrophic Respiration over Recent Decades 0818 - abstract of study
Rising Temperatures Are Causing Soil to Dump More CO2 into the Air 0818 - summary of study
Why BECCS Might Not Produce ‘Negative’ Emissions after All 0818
Another Climate Change Effect Is Superheated Bugs in the Soil, Belching Carbon 0818
Tracking the Shift of Tropical Forests from Carbon Sink to Source 0718
Marine Heat Wave Set Off 'Carbon Bomb' in World's Largest Seagrass Meadow 0318
In California’s Wildfires, a Looming Threat to Climate Goals 1217
El Niño Might Speed Up Climate Change 1217
El Niño’s Warning - Satellite Shows How Forest CO2 Emissions Can Skyrocket 1017
Baltic Sea Clams 'Giving Off as Much Gas as 20,000 Cows' 1017
There’s a Climate Bomb Under Your Feet 1017
A Solution to the Atmosphere’s Methane Mystery? 0917
Volcanic Eruptions Triggered Global Warming 56 Million Years Ago 0817
Tropical Peat Forests Risk Turning from Carbon ‘Drains' to Emitters 0617
Frozen Farmers’ Fields Emit Nitrous Oxide, a Climate Change Culprit 0417
Soil Microbes Hold Key to Climate Puzzle 0317 - Complex soil ecosystems harbor carbon sinks and sources.
Small Ponds Have Big Impact on Global Warming 0217
Arctic Soils Set to Release Lots of Carbon, More than Plants Can Absorb 1216 - Global soil can release 55 billion tons of carbon by 2050. Take 2 on study
Scientists Have Long Feared Soil Climate ‘Feedback’. Now It’s Happening. 1116 - more than just permafrost soils - take 1
Soil Could Become Significant CO2 Contributor in Near Future 1116
Quantifying global soil carbon losses in response to warming 1116 - Abstract. Soils lose 30± GT of carbon for 1°C warming.
How Earth Will Pay Back Our Carbon Emissions with Even More - from Peat, etc. 1016
Reservoirs Now Recognized a Key Source of Greenhouse Gas Methane 0916 - rotting vegetation drowned by reservoirs
Zombie Carbon Emissions Haunt the Planet 0716 - carbon from trees rotting that were killed by drought
Russian Wildfires Put Key Climate Change Resource at Risk 0716
These Peat Fires Are Huge, Hidden and Harmful. What Can We Do? 0616
Fort McMurray Fire’s Stunning Pulse of Carbon to the Atmosphere 0516
To Help Curb Climate Change, Stop Wasting Food 0416
Is Climate Change Putting the World's Micro-Biomes at Risk? 0316
Indonesia's Peat Fires Make It World’s 4th-Largest Carbon Emitter 1015
Why Scientists Are So Worried about Drylands (40% of Earth’s Land) 0915
Climate Models May Misjudge Soils' Carbon Emissions 0815
Coal Renaissance Means Switching to Plan B - Carbon Pricing and CO2 Removal 0715
The Complex Relationship between Agriculture and Climate Change 0715
Obama Tackles Agriculture’s Role in Climate Change - Why That’s a Big Deal 0415
Acidic Oceans Helped Fuel Greatest Extinction 0415
Is Grass-Fed Beef Really Better for You, the Animal and the Planet? 0215 - cow farts (vs sequestration from trampling soil)
Farming Now Worse For Climate Than Deforestation 0215
Climate Change Mitigation’s Best-Kept Secret - Methane 0115
Smoldering Peat Fires Pose Global Threat 0115
Squirrels and Beavers Contributing More Than Thought to Global Warming 1214
Hydropower May Be Huge Source of Methane Emissions 1014
Drowned Tropical Forests Add to Climate Change 0914
Warning over Vulnerability of Soil Carbon to Warming 0914
Greenhouse Gas Fear over Increased Meat Eating 0814
Measuring Cow and Pig Emissions Goes to New Heights 0714
Peatland Fires Biggest Contributor to Carbon Emissions 0514
Are Gassy Cattle a Bigger Problem Than US Government Thought? 1113
Wasted Food is World's 3rd-Biggest Carbon Emitter, after China and US 0913
Global Methane Releases Could Be Wetlands or Wellheads 0913
Tropical Ecosystems Boost Carbon Dioxide as Temperatures Rise 0713
Global Warming at Your Doorstep - Lawns 0513
Wild Weather Can Send GHGs Spiraling 0413
Earthworms Increase Soils’ GHG Emissions, Take 2 0313
Earthworms Increase Soils’ GHG Emissions 0213
Black Soot Warms 2nd Only to CO2 0113
Food May Cause Almost 33% of GHG Emissions 1012
Aquatic Dead Zones Contributing to Climate Change 0310
World's Plants and Soils to Switch from Carbon Sink to Source by 2100 - 0415 - Limits to other nutrients are important.
Maps of carbon storage on land. Upper map shows historical levels of storage (1860-69).
Lower map shows model projections of the change in storage by 2100 as a result of nitrogen and phosphorus limits, under a high emissions scenario (RCP8.5). Source: Wieder et al. (2015).
Pg = billion tons (GT). Fossil fuel emissions to date are 300-400 GT (Pg).
Change in land carbon storage projections from CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5) models, under a high emissions scenario (RCP8.5). Coloured lines show average model projection for no nutrient constraints (black), limits to nitrogen (red), and limits to nitrogen and phosphorus (blue). Box plots on right-hand side show range in model results. Source: Wieder et al. (2015).
Section Map: Carbon Emissions