NASA Says Tropical Forests Are Now Losing Their Ability to Absorb Carbon Dioxide

Tropical forests are losing their ability to absorb harmful gases as the globe produces carbon dioxide and global warming warms the earth. According to a NASA-funded study, tropical forests' ability to absorb carbon dioxide has deteriorated during the previous two decades.

Researchers, led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), have researched carbon sinks and sources in forests and plants. Carbon sinks are areas that absorb more carbon than they emit. In a world where emissions are rising, and global warming is reshaping the globe, scientists are investigating if and how plants serve as sources or sinks on a forest scale.

A study titled "Changes in Global Terrestrial Live Biomass Over the 21st Century" said terrestrial carbon fluxes are the source of the most uncertainty in the global carbon cycle. According to the study, living woody plants were responsible for more than 80% of the sources and sinks on land during those two decades. The soil, leaf litter, and decomposing organic matter were accounting for the remainder.

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Aerial view showing a boat speeding on the Jurura river in the municipality of Carauari, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon Forest, on March 15, 2020. - Many young people in the heart of the Amazon rainforest choose their community over the city.

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Researchers claimed per Phys.org that the overall quantity of carbon dioxide emitted and absorbed in the tropics was also four times greater than in temperate and boreal zones combined. Deforestation, ecosystem degradation, and climate change impacts are all blamed for reducing tropical forests' ability to absorb carbon dioxide.

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The study said that the amount of carbon absorbed by forests throughout the world is countered by the amount of carbon released by severe disturbances such as deforestation and droughts. They created maps of carbon sources and sinks from land-use changes using NASA's Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) onboard ICESat and the agency's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra and Aqua satellites.

It's crucial to know where plants take up carbon and emit it if you want to track how forests and other vegetated areas adapt to climate change.

Amazon Was a Significant Carbon Sink

Sassan Saatchi, the study lead author, said in a statement released by NASA that the Amazon was considered a "significant carbon sink." She attributed her claim to the huge expanses of virgin forest that soak up carbon dioxide. However, she stated that the recent research revealed that the Amazon Basin is approaching carbon neutrality due to deforestation, degradation, and the effects of warming, frequent droughts, and fires.

The study's satellite-based carbon maps spanned approximately 100 square kilometers at a time, but they couldn't always detect changes in smaller sizes. Researchers anticipate that by developing a more systematic and consistent strategy to track which portions of the world are serving as carbon sources or sinks, they would better monitor carbon sources and sinks across regions and nations.