Summarised by Centrist
Scientists have discovered that plants absorb 31% more carbon dioxide than previous estimates suggested, increasing global carbon absorption to 157 petagrams annually (1 petagram or ‘Pg’ = one billion metric tons).
This breakthrough study, published in Nature, could make climate predictions more accurate.
Led by scientists from Cornell University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the team tracked carbonyl sulphide (OCS)–a gas which is simpler to measure than CO₂ and closely linked to plant photosynthesis.
Using OCS as a proxy for photosynthesis allows for better estimates of how much CO₂ plants absorb, especially in areas like tropical rainforests.
Researcher Peter Thornton stated this breakthrough “improves our predictions of future CO₂ in the atmosphere.”
Researcher Lianhong Gu explained, “It’s important that we get a good handle on global GPP,” referring to Gross Primary Production, a measure of CO₂ uptake through photosynthesis.
