International researchers, led by Australia’s Southern Cross University, have revealed in a recent study that coastal ecosystems worldwide act as a net greenhouse gas sink for carbon dioxide (CO2).
However, the study also highlights that emissions of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) partially counterbalance the CO2 absorption.
The new findings of the coastal greenhouse gas balance (CO2 + CH4 + N2O), encompassing ten regions globally, were recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
They found the strongest coastal greenhouse gas (GHG) sink was in Southeast Asia because of its extensive and productive tropical coastal wetlands that take up CO2. A second sink hotspot is North America, with its large areas of coastal wetlands but also CO2-uptaking fjords.
At the same time coastal wetlands, also called coastal ‘blue carbon’ wetlands, can be strong sinks of CO2 and some also take up N2O, which, on balance, makes them a net GHG sink for the atmosphere when all three greenhouse gases are considered.
Source: Oman News Agency