Antinuclear

250m tonnes of CO2 emitted from Australia’s bushfires

Australia’s bushfires have emitted 250m tonnes of CO2, almost half of country’s annual emissions. Forest regrowth can reabsorb emissions from fires but scientists fear natural carbon ‘sinks’ have been compromised, Guardian,Graham Readfearn @readfearn, Fri 13 Dec 2019

Bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland have emitted a massive pulse of CO2 into the atmosphere since August that is equivalent to almost half of Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Analysis by Nasa shows the NSW fires have emitted about 195m tonnes of CO2 since 1 August, with Queensland’s fires adding a further 55m tonnes over the same period.

In 2018, Australia’s entire greenhouse gas footprint was 532m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Experts say the pulse of CO2 from this season’s bushfires is significant, because even under normal conditions it could take decades for forest regrowth to reabsorb the emissions.

But scientists have expressed doubt that forests already under drought stress would be able to reabsorb all the emissions back into soils and branches, and said the natural carbon “sinks” of forests could be compromised.

The figures were provided to Guardian Australia by Dr Niels Andela, a scientist at the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center and a collaborator in the Global Fire Emissions Database……….

Prof David Bowman, a fire ecologist at the University of Tasmania, said that under normal conditions the regrowth would reabsorb the CO2. But he said the ongoing drought, combined with climate change, meant conditions were not normal.

“Drought-stressed trees recover less well – carbohydrates reserves are exhausted – and under climate change tree growth may be slow and fires more frequent, meaning less tree biomass and even loss of forest cover.

“This is a nasty negative feedback cycle of a biosphere carbon sink becoming a source [of carbon].” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/13/australias-bushfires-have-emitted-250m-tonnes-of-co2-almost-half-of-countrys-annual-emissions

December 13, 2019 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming