More CO2 – More Photosynthesis – More Greening

Someone decided to study plants that have grown for generations near high CO2 springs.

Normally these studies look at FACE experiments and then criticize those experiments because they are only single generation.

Guess what they found.?

In a new meta-analysis, Saban et al. took a different approach and assessed all of the data collected for plant response to high CO2 concentration from plants grown for multiple generations over many decades in naturally high CO2 springs. Such springs are found across the world – with 23 highlighted here- and many have been the focus of studies on the physiological responses of plants to rising CO2, similar to those undertaken in FACE experiment. Comparing these two approaches, plants subjected to higher CO2against plant lineages that have had time to acclimate, has never been done before.

High CO2 springs harbour a vast array of plant types and in contrast to FACE, provide critical insight into the decadal, long-term response of plants such as those likely to occur in future, where multiple generations ensure that time-travelling seed sources are no longer an issue. Remarkably, the analysis shows that many of the responses for spring plants are similar to those observed in FACE experiments. This gives us confidence that plants are likely to keep responding positively to rising CO2. They will not become acclimated and the increased global greening that is currently happening across the world, 80% of which is attributed to rising CO2 is likely to continue.

 

CO2 Greening : equivalent to two times the continental United States

Wow …

Carbon Dioxide Fertilization Greening Earth, Study Finds

From a quarter to half of Earth’s vegetated lands has shown significant greening over the last 35 years largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change

An international team of 32 authors from 24 institutions in eight countries led the effort, which involved using satellite data from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer instruments to help determine the leaf area index, or amount of leaf cover, over the planet’s vegetated regions. The greening represents an increase in leaves on plants and trees equivalent in area to two times the continental United States.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth

 

CO2 is Making the Planet Greener

CO2 is making the planet greener.

We show a persistent and widespread increase of growing season integrated LAI (greening) over 25% to 50% of the global vegetated area, whereas less than 4% of the globe shows decreasing LAI (browning). Factorial simulations with multiple global ecosystem models suggest that CO2 fertilization effects explain 70% of the observed greening trend, followed by nitrogen deposition (9%), climate change (8%) and land cover change (LCC) (4%).

http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v6/n8/full/nclimate3004.html

Betcha that made the nightly news headlines for weeks right … right?

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Arctic is Greening

The arctic is greening. So says NASA. Its probably all that extra CO2.

Scientists from America’s space agency have found that nearly a third of the land cover in Canada and Alaska has greened in recent decades as a result of climate change.

As the far north warms as a result of climate changes, plants are moving north as well, “greening” the far north.

It also shows that the boreal forest is “browning” as a result of hotter and drier weather.

Greening is unmistakeable

NASA analyzed some 87,000 images captured by the Landsat satellite showing a trend towards much more plant life across the north. Their findings were reported in the science publication Journal of Remote Sensing under the title- The vegetation greenness trend in Canada and US Alaska from 1984–2012 Landsat data.

The data shows that about a third of the previously mostly barren tundra had become covered with plants. Areas that were previously grassland showed small shrubs had moved in, and in turn larger shrubs then took over even as the grasslands and other small plants moved further north.

The article also says:

a warming Arctic could release massive amounts of carbon stored in the Arctic soil and permafrost

Hey! Doesn’t more vegetation suck CO2 out of the air and store it in the ground?