The World's Largest Environmental Experiment

Roland Piquepaille writes "The Amazon in South America is more than a forest or an habitat. It's a climate regulator which has to absorb between 200 and 300 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions produced by the 8,000 square miles of destroyed forests every year. In 1998, the Brazilian community, helped by many international institutions, launched the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment (LBA). The LBA Experiment is made up of 120 projects, 61 of which are already complete. The status of these projects is currently being reviewed by 800 delegates from 170 Brazilian and foreign institutions at the III LBA Scientific Conference held in Brasilia between July 27 and 29. NASA says it plays a key role in the LBA experiment through the use of its satellites and its computer scientists. But Inter Press Service reports that the Mega-Amazon Research Project Holds Surprises -- Good and Bad: good because it provides opportunities for 400 researchers to work on postgraduate studies in the area, bad because it's still not known if the forests absorb enough carbon to compensate the emissions caused by deforestation, therefore contributing to global warming. Please read this overview for more details, references and a map of the LBA sites spanning the Amazon."

Comments

Subject: Sad news ... Francis Crick, dead at 88

[orthogonal]

I just heard some sad news on talk radio - DNA co-discoverer/founder of molecular biology Francis Harry Compton Crick OM (Order of Merit) was found dead in Thornton Hospital, San Diego this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to science. Truly an icon of our modern era.

Not just iron

[Engineer-Poet]

The utility of iron fertilization to "solve" atmospheric CO2 issues is being questioned. Ask for support of all claims.

The carbon-uptake of N. American landmass may be due in large part to the adoption of zero-till farming; here is an article on it.

Half-truths and other nonsense

[prof_peabody]

I hate to say it, but most of the insightful comments here are only half true, and some of the answers provided only scratch the surface and miss ALL the important complications. I have spent years reading scientific literature on these topics, and the conversations here highlight 1) the complexity of the problem; 2) the quick/poorly thought out solutions offered; and 3) our lack of understanding of the Earth system.

Go read some more on ocean chemistry and biology folks...
I'd explain GEOCARB II, but I don't think most people want to hear anout the modelling side of things!