[MCN] UM researcher: Rapid warming slows forest carbon sink

[Lance Olsen]

Excerpt from release: "The study focused on Earth's natural carbon 
cycle responded during both periods of rapid, and less rapid, warming 
that would normally be expected.

"It revealed that the total amount of carbon taken up by land 
ecosystems slowed during periods of rapid warming, and sped up during 
periods of slower warming.

"More significantly, the team demonstrated that while rates of 
photosynthesis remained constant during the periods of slower 
warming, the forests released less carbon back into the atmosphere - 
meaning the Earth is storing much more carbon during these warming 
hiatuses.

" 'The global carbon sink has been surprisingly strong during the 
period from 1998 to 2012, and we now begin to understand the causal 
mechanisms', says Ashley Ballantyne of University of Montana, and 
lead author of the new research. "

Full release
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-01/uoe-ft012317.php

Nature Climate Change article
Satellite and atmospheric observations show that the rate of net 
biome productivity has accelerated over the warming 'hiatus' period 
(1998-2012). This net gain results from reduced respiration, rather 
than increased primary productivity.
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate3204.html
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"The individual scientist can survive for a long time by lying low in 
the valley of specialized intellectual interest ... We in science 
must get up and face the wind, confront the future." 

William Bevan, "The Sound of the Wind That's Blowing."
American Psychologist. July 1976
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