Posted on 12/08/2015 9:12:06 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
A study led by Princeton University researchers suggests that hotter nights may wield more influence than previously thought over the planet’s atmosphere as global temperatures rise — and could eventually lead to more carbon flooding the atmosphere. The researchers determined that warm nighttime temperatures, specifically in the tropics, lead plants to release more carbon through a process known as respiration. Average nighttime temperatures in tropical regions such as Manaus, Brazil, (above) have risen by 0.6 degrees Celsius since 1959. Further temperature increases risk turning Earth’s land-based carbon-storage capacity, or sink, into a carbon source. CREDIT William Anderegg, Princeton Environmental Institute.
From the PRINCETON UNIVERSITY and the department of 97% consensus and 911 Trutherism comes this study that I’d put zero stock in for two reasons: 1) Author William Anderegg, forerunner of the widely debunked 97% consensus meme and Pieter Tans, keeper of the official CO2 record and an avowed 911 “trutherâ€. 2) Besides, the study itself is nothing new, as biologists, farmers, botanists, and greenhouse operators have known for decades that warmer temperatures increase plant growth. In this case, they are arguing for a positive feedback that will put leave more CO2 in the atmosphere. Given a fixed amount of biomass, that “might†be true, but satellite remoste sensing studies have shown that the planet is greening, and biomass is increasing thanks to increased CO2.
Next!
Warm nights could flood the atmosphere with carbon under climate change
The warming effects of climate change usually conjure up ideas of parched and barren landscapes broiling in a blazing sun, its heat amplified by greenhouse gases. But a study led by Princeton University researchers suggests that hotter nights may actually wield much greater influence over the planet’s atmosphere as global temperatures rise — and could eventually lead to more carbon flooding the atmosphere.
Since measurements began in 1959, nighttime temperatures in the tropics have had a strong influence over year-to-year shifts in the land’s carbon-storage capacity, or “sink,†the researchers report in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Earth’s ecosystems absorb about a quarter of carbon from the atmosphere, and tropical forests account for about one-third of land-based plant productivity.
During the past 50 years, the land-based carbon sink’s “interannual variability†has grown by 50 to 100 percent, the researchers found. The researchers used climate- and satellite-imaging data to determine which of various climate factors — including rainfall, drought and daytime temperatures — had the most effect on the carbon sink’s swings. They found the strongest association with variations in tropical nighttime temperatures, which have risen by about 0.6 degrees Celsius (33 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1959.
First author William Anderegg, an associate research scholar in the Princeton Environmental Institute, explained that he and his colleagues determined that warm nighttime temperatures lead plants to put more carbon into the atmosphere through a process known as respiration.
Just as warm nights make people more active, so too does it for plants. Although plants take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, they also internally consume sugars to stay alive. That process, known as respiration, produces carbon dioxide, which plants step up in warm weather, Anderegg said. The researchers found that yearly variations in the carbon sink strongly correlated with variations in plant respiration.
“When you heat up a system, biological processes tend to increase,†Anderegg said. “At hotter temperatures, plant respiration rates go up and this is what’s happening during hot nights. Plants lose a lot more carbon than they would during cooler nights.â€
Previous research has shown that nighttime temperatures have risen significantly faster as a result of climate change than daytime temperatures, Anderegg said. This means that in future climate scenarios respiration rates could increase to the point that the land is putting more carbon into the atmosphere than it’s taking out of it, “which would be disastrous,†he said.
Of course, plants consume carbon dioxide as a part of photosynthesis, during which they convert sunlight into energy. While photosynthesis also is sensitive to rises in temperature, it only happens during the day, whereas respiration occurs at all hours and thus is more sensitive to nighttime warming, Anderegg said.
“Nighttime temperatures have been increasing faster than daytime temperatures and will continue to rise faster,†Anderegg said. “This suggests that tropical ecosystems might be more vulnerable to climate change than previously thought, risking crossing the threshold from a carbon sink to a carbon source. But there’s certainly potential for plants to acclimate their respiration rates and that’s an area that needs future study.â€
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This research was supported by the National Science Foundation MacroSystems Biology Grant (EF-1340270), RAPID Grant (DEB-1249256) and EAGER Grant (1550932); and a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate and Global Change postdoctoral fellowship administered by the University Corporation of Atmospheric Research.
William R. L. Anderegg, Ashley P. Ballantyne, W. Kolby Smith, Joseph Majkut, Sam Rabin, Claudie Beaulieu, Richard Birdsey, John P. Dunne, Richard A. Houghton, Ranga B. Myneni, Yude Pan, Jorge L. Sarmiento,? Nathan Serota, Elena Shevliakova, Pieter Tan and Stephen W. Pacala. †Tropical nighttime warming as a dominant driver of variability in the terrestrial carbon sink.†Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published online in-advance of print Dec. 7 2015. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1521479112
Oooh 0.6 degrees in 60 years, the sky is falling.
Reduce the plants.....?
Stop farming!???
BAck to the Stone Age????
Just more Bull
This feedback should have already occurred and have been predicted by their “models”.
Always, always remember what scientists and engineers call those students who had only the intellect for politics or community organizing, but somehow cheated/paid their way into passing: Climate Researchers.
Secondly, the plants need that carbon dioxide in order to do their jobs of supplying us with oxygen.
These people must think we are utter fools.
Deserts are nice and cold at night. No plants, no carbon, no nothing.
The pinheads conducting the “study” seem to have conveniently forgotten about conservation of matter. When plants ultimately die and decay, they give up all of the CO2 they “sequestered”. All of it.
We are doomed!??
fyi
Will also lead to more oxygen by that reasoning, more food by other reasoning.
Get back to me when they sucessfully model the largest “greenhouse” gas: water vapor.
The tropics become deserts. The temperate regions become tropics, the tundra sprouts trees. There is a heck of a lot of land north of the 48th parallel that would benefit by warmer temperatures and become more lush and forested rather than be tundra and steppe. So there's your carbon sink.
Make mud! Bury the plants and make more coal (oh, they'll love that!)
a rise of .6C is actually about 1.08F..........the way it's printed is comparing the temperature of .6C to the equivalent of F which is 33 degrees....If they're going to write bull crap then at least get their fraudulent facts correct.
179 thoughts on “Claim: positive CO2 feedback from plants due to “warm nights†will flood atmosphere with carbonâ€
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Trebla says:
That’s obviously ridiculous. If the amount of plant mass increases with increased CO2 levels, the plants are converting CO2 into plant matter at a greater rate, and regardless of how they breathe, more carbon is captured in the plant itself as plant matter. The plants don’t create CO2 out of nothing. For the plants to increase the atmospheric CO2 level, they would have to decrease in mass themselves which is the opposite to reality (ref. the greening of the planet and case/control studies of plant growth under enhanced CO2 levels)
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prjindigo says:
Plants and trees survive darkness by converting sugar to energy and heat, the warmer the night the LESS they need that energy for warmth. There is an effect where trees will actually protect the grass underneath them in parts of the world where frost is just an early morning event that then goes away. The trees are generating heat, the average plants DO NOT DO IT. They simply die.
Its the energy cycle of the plants. This is why in dense no-breeze conifer copses you can get that “not enough air†effect, they’ve chewed up a higher average of the ambient oxygen overnight and replaced it with a denser gas.
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TomB says:
Well, since you replied to tobyglyn’s post, I have to assume you’re one of those horrible “de-nayers†with his head in the sand. Running off on some crazy rant about “more plants means more breathing†or some-such nonsense whilst refusing to address – at all – the unicorn issue!
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Bob Burban says:
You are so wrong … 97% of scientists agree that unicorns poop diamonds
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Yeah, and then the massive accumulation of heat energy sequestered at the bottoms of the oceans will suddenly rise, raising atmospheric temperatures by 30 degrees and melting the icecaps overnight, resulting in thousands of mass shootings, millions of rapes, worldwide jihad... /s Thanks Ernest.
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