Here's the Science link:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6130/345.abstract

________________________________________
From: geoengineering@googlegroups.com [geoengineering@googlegroups.com] on 
behalf of Rau, Greg [r...@llnl.gov]
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2013 10:56 PM
To: geoengineering@googlegroups.com
Subject: [geo] Biochar: Downstream effects

Press Release 13-069
Where Does Charcoal, or Black Carbon, in Soils Go?


Scientists find surprising new answers in wetlands such as the Everglades
[Charred boreal forest after a fire]

Charred boreal forest after a fire has raged: where does the "charcoal" go?
Credit and Larger 
Version<http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_images.jsp?cntn_id=127577&org=NSF>


April 18, 2013

Scientists have uncovered one of nature's long-kept secrets--the true fate of 
charcoal in the world's soils.

The ability to determine the fate of charcoal is critical to knowledge of the 
global carbon budget, which in turn can help understand and mitigate climate 
change.

However, until now, researchers only had scientific guesses about what happens 
to charcoal once it's incorporated into soil. They believed it stayed there.

Surprisingly, most of these researchers were wrong.

The findings of a new study that examines the result of charcoal once it is 
deposited into the soil are outlined in a paper published this week in the 
journal Science.

The international team of researchers was led by scientists Rudolf Jaffe of 
Florida International University and Thorsten Dittmar of the German Max Planck 
Society.

"Most scientists thought charcoal was resistant," says Jaffe. "They believed 
that once it was incorporated into soils, it stayed there. But if that were the 
case, soils would be black."

Charcoal, or black carbon, is a residue generated by combustion including 
wildfires and the burning of fossil fuels.

When charcoal forms, it is usually deposited into the soil.

"From a chemical perspective, no one really thought it dissolved, but it does," 
Jaffe says.

"It doesn't accumulate for a long time. It's exported into wetlands and rivers, 
eventually making its way to the oceans."

It all started with a strange finding in the Everglades.

At the National Science Foundation (NSF) Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term 
Ecological Research (LTER) site--one of 26 such NSF LTER sites in ecosystems 
around the 
world<http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/goodbye?http://www.lternet.edu/sites/map>--Jaffe
 studied the glades' environmental chemistry.

Dissolved organic carbon is known to be abundant in wetlands such as the 
Everglades and plays a critical role in the ecology of these systems.

Jaffe wanted to learn more about what comprised the organic carbon in the 
Everglades.

He and colleagues discovered that as much as 20 percent of the total dissolved 
organic carbon in the Everglades is charcoal.

Surprised by the finding, the researchers shifted their focus to the origin of 
the dissolved charcoal.

In an almost serendipitous scientific journey, Dittmar, head of the Max Planck 
Research Group for Marine Geochemistry at the University Oldenburg in Germany, 
was also tracing the paths of charcoal, but from an oceanographic perspective.

To map out a more comprehensive picture, the researchers joined forces. Their 
conclusion is that charcoal in soils is making its way into the world's waters.

"This study affirms the power of large-scale analyses made possible through 
international collaborations," says Saran Twombly, program director in NSF's 
Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research along with NSF's 
Directorate for Geosciences.

"What started out as a puzzling result from the Florida Everglades engaged 
scientists at other LTER sites in the U.S., and eventually expanded worldwide," 
says Twombly. "The result is a major contribution to our understanding of the 
carbon cycle."

Fire is probably an integral part of the global carbon cycle, says Dittmar, its 
effects seen from land to sea.

The discovery carries significant implications for bioengineering, the 
scientists believe.

The global carbon budget is a balancing act between sources that produce carbon 
and sources that remove it.

The new findings show that the amount of dissolved charcoal transported to the 
oceans is keeping pace with the total charcoal generated by fires annually on a 
global scale.

While the environmental consequences of the accumulation of black carbon in 
surface and ocean waters are currently unknown, Jaffe said the findings mean 
that greater consideration should be given to carbon sequestration techniques.

Biochar addition to soils is one such technique.

Biochar technology is based on vegetation-derived charcoal that is added to 
agricultural soils as a means of sequestering carbon.

As more people implement biochar technology, says Jaffe, they should take into 
consideration the potential dissolution of the charcoal to ensure that these 
techniques are environmentally friendly.

Jaffe and Dittmar agree that there are still many unknowns when it comes to the 
environmental fate of charcoal, and both plan to move on to the next phase of 
the research.

They've proved where charcoal goes.

Now they'd like to answer how that happens, and what the environmental 
consequences are.

The more scientists can understand the process and the environmental factors 
controlling it, says Jaffe, the better the chances of developing strategies for 
carbon sequestration and mitigating climate change.

The research was also conducted at NSF's Bonanza Creek; Konza Prairie; Hubbard 
Brook; Coweeta; and Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER sites, and at other 
locations around the world.

Other authors of the paper are: Yan Ding of Florida International University; 
Jutta Niggemann of the Max Planck Research Group for Marine Geochemistry; Anssi 
Vahatalo of the University of Helsinki; Aron Stubbins of the Skidaway Institute 
of Oceanography in Savannah, Georgia; Robert Spencer of the Woods Hole Research 
Center in Massachusetts; and John Campbell of the USDA Forest Service.

-NSF-



Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdy...@nsf.gov<mailto:cdy...@nsf.gov>
JoAnn Adkins, FIU (305) 979-5276 jadk...@fiu.edu<mailto:jadk...@fiu.edu>
McOwiti Thomas, LTER Network Office (505) 277-2638 
tmcow...@lternet.edu<mailto:tmcow...@lternet.edu>

Related Websites
NSF Publication: Discoveries in Long-Term Ecological Research: 
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13083/nsf13083.pdf?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click
NSF Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network: 
http://www.lternet.edu<http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/good-bye?http://www.lternet.edu>
NSF Florida Coastal Everglades LTER Site: 
http://fce.lternet.edu/<http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/good-bye?http://fce.lternet.edu/>
NSF Bonanza Creek LTER Site: 
http://www.lternet.edu/sites/bnz<http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/good-bye?http://www.lternet.edu/sites/bnz>
NSF Konza Prairie LTER Site: 
http://www.lternet.edu/sites/knz<http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/good-bye?http://www.lternet.edu/sites/knz>
NSF Hubbard Brook LTER Site: 
http://www.lternet.edu/sites/hbr<http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/good-bye?http://www.lternet.edu/sites/hbr>
NSF Coweeta LTER Site: 
http://www.lternet.edu/sites/cwt<http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/good-bye?http://www.lternet.edu/sites/cwt>
NSF Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Site: 
http://www.lternet.edu/sites/gce<http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/good-bye?http://www.lternet.edu/sites/gce>



The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that 
supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and 
engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget was $7.0 billion. NSF funds 
reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and 
other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 50,000 competitive requests 
for funding, and makes about 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards about 
$593 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

[http://www.nsf.gov/images/mail_icon.gif] Get News Updates by Email 
<http://service.govdelivery.com/service/subscribe.html?code=USNSF_51>

Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News: http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media: http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/


--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"geoengineering" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.


-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"geoengineering" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.


Reply via email to