Submission + - Aral Sea Has Been Drying Up, but Also Releasing Massive Amounts of Carbon (sciencealert.com)
schwit1 writes: If you've ever walked past a drying lakebed in the peak of summer, you might have noticed some very unpleasant smells emanating from the mud.
That pungent odor is a mix of gases being released from the soil, as enormous quantities of organic matter – a rich sludge of poop, algae, plants, decaying bodies, and other pondy things – dry out.
On a larger scale, that phenomenon stinks much worse than a bad smell.
In many parts of the world, lakes are drying out at a scale so massive that scientists are warning they may be emitting enough greenhouse gases to rival our fossil fuel habit.
In a new study published in Science , scientists say the Aral Sea – the world's largest desiccated lake – has emitted a whopping 204 megatons (~225 million US tons) of carbon dioxide since it was drained in the 1960s.
But it might not be too late to turn the tide.
That pungent odor is a mix of gases being released from the soil, as enormous quantities of organic matter – a rich sludge of poop, algae, plants, decaying bodies, and other pondy things – dry out.
On a larger scale, that phenomenon stinks much worse than a bad smell.
In many parts of the world, lakes are drying out at a scale so massive that scientists are warning they may be emitting enough greenhouse gases to rival our fossil fuel habit.
In a new study published in Science , scientists say the Aral Sea – the world's largest desiccated lake – has emitted a whopping 204 megatons (~225 million US tons) of carbon dioxide since it was drained in the 1960s.
But it might not be too late to turn the tide.
