The Conversion of Natural Wetlands to Agriculture Produces a Significant Increase of the Atmospheric Radiative Forcing

Automatic flux measurement chambers and an eddy covariance system to determine turbulent exchange fluxes of heat, water vapor, CO2, and CH4 between a re-wetted peatland and the atmosphere at Zarnekow, NE Germany.  D. Franz, GFZ.

reportingclimatescience.com - March 26, 2015

From the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam

Natural wetlands usually emit methane and sequester carbon dioxide. Anthropogenic impacts however, in particular the conversion of wetlands into cropland, result in a significant increase in CO2 emissions, which overcompensate potential decreases in methane emission, caused by the reduction of wetlands.

A large international research team now calculated that the conversion of arctic and boreal wetlands into agricultural land would result in an additional cumulative radiative forcing of about 0,1 mJ per square meter for the next 100 years. The conversion of temperate wetlands into agricultural land would even result in a cumulative radiative forcing of 0,15 mJ per square meter. Converting forested wetlands into managed forests also contributes to increased warming, albeit much less than the conversion of non-forested wetlands.

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CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - The uncertain climate footprint of wetlands under human pressure

(ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES BELOW)

CLICK HERE - GFZ - Greenhouse gases unbalanced

CLICK HERE - ScienceDaily - Greenhouse gases unbalanced: How human intervention changes wetlands

Radiative Forcing - (see related posts in the links below)

http://resiliencesystem.org/global-warming-natural-cycle-human-induced

http://resiliencesystem.org/soot-european-industrial-age-melted-alps-glaciers-prematurely-stopped-‘little-ice-age’