Surprisingly, with the onslaught of climate change, rising carbon dioxide levels in the planet's atmosphere has been increasing plant growth all over the world in the past 30 years, according to a new study.
According to lead author, Zaichun Zhu of Peking University in China, this growth has the ability to fundamentally change the Earth's water and carbon system within the climate. According to co-author of the study, Pep Canadell of CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research) in Australia and the Global Carbon Project, this is a clear picture of human influence that can entirely change the functions the planet's biosphere.
In this new study, 33 years worth of data were analyzed that was obtained from three different satellite missions that focused on measuring the reflection of green light from trees, plants and vegetation that use photosynthesis in leaves.
Canadell says that this remote sensing data was incorporated within 10 global climate and environmental models in order to identify this greening effect on the planet.
Earth's land mass is covered with plants and trees, excluding the polar regions that are entirely covered in ice. Every year, the process of photosynthesis from these plants are helping absorb almost 10 billion tons of man made carbon, acting like a natural carbon sink.
The team also discovered that there is 46 parts for every million increase in the carbon dioxide our atmosphere that occurred between 1982 to 2009, that produced an estimated 50 to 70 percent of this greening of the planet.
Canadell says that this carbon fertilization is a driving process in the greening growth of plants and trees around the globe, especially in tropical regions when there is so much leaf area. Numerous studies have proven that humans are the major driving force in excessive production of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, based on chemical signatures obtained by scientists that present distinct differences in carbon sources.
The team adds that this sudden spike of carbon in the atmosphere is almost entirely caused by fossil fuel burning and deforestation. Apart from this, this greening is also driven by nitrogen and fertilizers used for agriculture. This new study is published in the journal Nature Climate Change.