Greenhouse Gas 'Bookkeeping' Turned on Its Head

For the first time scientists have looked at the net balance of the three major greenhouse gases--carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide--for every region of Earth's landmasses.  They found surprisingly, that human-induced emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from ecosystems overwhelmingly surpass the ability of the land to soak up carbon dioxide emissions, which makes the terrestrial biosphere a contributor to climate change.  The results published in the March 10, 2016, Nature, revises our understanding of how human activity contributes to global warming.

Co-author Anna Michalak of Carnegie's Department of Global Ecology remarked, "Typically we think of land as a net 'sink' of carbon dioxide.  But we found that the sign of the human-induced impact is reversed if we also take into account methane and nitrous oxide."

Read more at Greenhouse Gas 'Bookkeeping' Turned on Its Head