Get an umbrella to go with your new cloudy-screen lotion. ;^)
Earth gets wetter to fight global warming
by Amanda Hodge, May 11, 2004
theaustralian.news.com.au
The earth may be more resilient in the face of global warming than originally thought, according to scientists who believe the world is getting wetter as it warms, enhancing the biosphere's ability to soak up carbon dioxide.
Research from Australian scientists released during the annual science meeting of the Co-operative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting, supports the notion that the earth is self-regulating.
The centre's communique suggests that, contrary to popular perceptions, the earth is getting wetter - not necessarily through greater rainfall but through a reduction in evaporation caused by cloudier days that prompt more efficient photosynthesis.
Research centre chief Chris Mitchell said such conditions could favour long-lived woody plants such as trees, which were capable of storing greater amounts of atmospheric carbon than shorter-lived plants such as grass.
In Australia that trend could already be seen in the tropical north, where grasslands were being replaced by woodlands, although scientists had still to determine whether that was caused by warmer temperatures or by factors including changes in grazing and fire regimes.
Scientists expect that trend will continue. "The CRC's work suggests the global biosphere is more resilient than we first thought," Dr Mitchell said.
"It's certainly going to be debated within the science community but ... if we continue to deforest and burn the benefits of this resilience won't last.
"What we do know is if we push the system in the wrong direction we could make global climate change worse."
The research is further confused by recent evidence that Australia's phosphorous-poor soils could negate the benefits to plants from increased carbon and cloudy conditions.
And while climate changes might be good news for some species, the future is not so bright for animals endemic to grassland which are dying out at rates faster than ever before witnessed.
Earlier this year a comprehensive study published in Nature found that climate change could drive up to 40 per cent of all land animals and plants into extinction within 50 years.
CSIRO atmospheric research scientist Penny Whetton, a member of the International Panel on Climate Change, said there was no inconsistency between the IPCC findings - which indicated that global rainfall would increase even though it would decline markedly in areas such as southern Australia - and the CRC research.
GR@raindropskeepfallinonmyhead |
