Researchers have discovered that dry and arid areas take up more carbon dioxide than the amount previously believed.
Arid areas are characterized by low probability of rainfall, periodic droughts, and sparse vegetation. The rainfall average in this region is just as much as 350 mm. There are many of these in Africa and extends through Southeast Somalia and Nothern Kenya.
The findings were a product of a 10-year experiment conducted in the Mojave Desert. The researchers elevated the carbon dioxide levels to match the projected levels by 2050 and they found out that arid lands consume most of the carbon dioxide in their immediate atmosphere.
"It has pointed out the importance of these arid ecosystems," WSU professor of biological sciences specializing in ecology and global change, R. Dave Evans said in a press release. "They are a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide, so as CO2 levels go up, they'll increase their uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere. They'll help take up some of that excess CO2 going into the atmosphere. They can't take it all up, but they'll help."
The experiments were staged in the Nevada National Security Site and the researchers marked off nine octagonal areas measuring about 75 feet in diameter. A mixture of air with 380 parts-per-million amounts of CO2 were fed into the plots through PVC pipes.
Benjamin Harlow from the Washington State University's Stable Isotope Core Laboratory analyzed the data and found out that arid lands may be capable of consuming more carbon dioxide. Furthermore, this region can consume up to 15 to 28 percent more compared to other bodies of land.
The experiment did not consider other important factors such as the varying amounts of precipitation and higher temperature in the area.
The researchers concluded that by 2050, arid lands will be helping a lot in reducing carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere. On the other hand, they are not ruling out the possibility that these lands may be converted to residential areas as more people will need a place to live.
This study was published in the April 6 issue of Nature Climate Change.