Greenhouse Gas Pollution Greening World's Deserts
Increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels are causing deserts of the world to bloom with new green foliage, according to a new study. Randall Donohue, from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, used satellite observations from the past 30 years and found green foliage increased in arid regions during that period.
Higher levels of CO2 help the leaves during photosynthesis, the process by which green plants convert sunlight into sugar.
The increased greenhouse gas allows the plant to extract more carbon from the air, lose less water to the air or both, according to the study.
“While a CO2 effect on foliage response has long been speculated, until now it has been difficult to demonstrate,” said Donohue.
“Our work was able to tease-out the CO2 fertilization effect by using mathematical modeling together with satellite data adjusted to take out the observed effects of other influences such as precipitation, air temperature, the amount of light and land-use changes," said Donohue.
The findings were published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Satellite data shows the amount that foliage cover has changed around the world from 1982 to 2010.
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