Forests Damaged By Katrina May Contribute To Global Warming
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Researchers led by biologist Jeffrey Chambers of Tulane University have determined that the losses inflicted by Hurricane Katrina on Gulf Coast forest trees are enough to cancel out a year’s worth of new tree biomass (trunks, branches and foliage) growth in other parts of the country.
"The carbon that will be released as these trees decompose is enough to cancel out an entire year’s worth of net gain by all U.S. forests. And this is only from a single storm," says Chambers, lead author of an article detailing the team’s findings, "Hurricane Katrina’s Carbon Footprint on Gulf Coast Forests," published in the Nov. 16 issue of the journal Science.
The study was carried out by researchers at Tulane and the University of New Hampshire. Using NASA satellite sensing technology, ecological field investigations and statistical analysis, the investigators estimate that 320 million large trees were killed or severely damaged by the August 2005 storm.
As the Earth’s climate warms, evidence is accumulating that hurricanes, tornados and frontal systems will gain in energy, producing more violent storms and stronger winds. Increased wind disturbance will cause more tree mortality and damage, and this dead wood will release additional carbon to the atmosphere, potentially amplifying global warming.
Young, healthy forests play a vital role in removing carbon, in the form of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere by photosynthesis, and are thus important in the battle against warming. These young forests are valued as "carbon sinks," removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it as growing vegetation.
The total amount of carbon stored in a forest is the result of the growth of new and existing trees, and tree death from age and disturbance. Dead trees and downed wood decompose and release carbon to the atmosphere. Thus, an increase in disturbance frequency, for example from more powerful storms, can tilt this balance toward the loss side, reversing the storing process and becoming a source of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
This increase in carbon emissions can enhance global warming in what is termed by scientists a "positive feedback mechanism." Increased carbon dioxide warms the climate, causing more intense storms and elevated tree mortality, releasing yet more carbon dioxide and further warming the climate.
4 Comments
Wayne
November 15th, 2007
at 7:15pm
Global warming is a money scam people,the world is doing what it allway’s has for million’s of year’s.
Plus the the people of the United States will have to pay for someone’s ideas while the rest of the world look’s at us and laugh’s.
So I laugh at our country’s people for being so gullable.
David
November 16th, 2007
at 9:34am
Since Wayne has finally shown the world the proper way to spell “allways”, I MUST concede that he is indeed a TRUE scientist, and that his refutation of all widely-accepted, freely available [empirical] data which support(’s) our model for global warming should be recognized as “US” just being “gullable”.
Susan
November 17th, 2007
at 6:33pm
Humans cannot continue to use the earth’s resources indiscriminately and thoughtlessly. The term global warming is a bit of a misnomer, as the original effects of human pollution from factory and car emissions could be measured by a slow rise in summer temperatures, but they didn’t understand all the forces at work and all the effects. The earth is experiencing increases in the extremes of weather: stronger storms, more severe weather in places that it hasn’t traditionally.
As for paying for someone else’s ideas, we declined the Kyoto Protocol because our president believes such measures wouldn’t be good for the economy. His buddies would have to give up a yacht because the majority of people may be driving cars that no longer depended upon OIL, and other manufacturers would have to spend the money to clean up the emissions from their factories.
It may be that if we don’t act now to take care of our planet, a few short generations into the future may be crying about your short sightedness.
Dan
November 19th, 2007
at 5:16am
Wayne is right to be skeptical. The Global Warming machine is in fact a huge money machine, with many scientists (and non-scientists (Al Gore)), politicians and other interested partties, while perhaps non on the global warming payroll directly, their income is definitely tied to it. So it is in their best interests to continue trying to scare the hell out of us, all while offering nothing but junk-science and ridiculous claims to further the cause. The number of scientists who formerly supported the theory, but who are now backing off, is growing everyday. I predict that in twenty to thirty years, when it is finally clear that we had nothing to worry about (remember Y2K?), Al Gore wil be shamed into giving his Nobel Peace Prize back. Maybe then he’ll finally shut up!