Half of Alaska’s methane emissions occur in winter — mostly during times when soil temperatures are poised near freezing.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The amount of methane gas escaping from the ground during the long cold period in the Arctic each year and entering Earth’s atmosphere is likely much higher than estimated by current carbon cycle models, concludes a major new study led by San Diego State University and including scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
After Four Years, CARVE Makes Its Last Arctic Flight
On Nov. 12 of this year, NASA’s Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment (CARVE) completed its final aircraft flight. During its four-year campaign, CARVE accumulated more than 1,000 science flight hours of measurements over Alaska, collecting data on important greenhouse gases during seven to eight months of each year.
The permafrost (perennially frozen) and peat soils of Arctic and boreal (northern region) ecosystems are the single largest reservoir of terrestrial carbon, containing twice as much […]
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