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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Nick Winder
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This paper deals with two specimens of the species known as 'chemical time-bombs'. One has to do with small-scale soil acidification, the other with carbon in Arctic soils. There are 290 gigatonnes of organic material locked into the peaty soils of the Arctic. That’s 11% of the world’s soil-bound carbon. As these regions get warmer, these carbon sinks may become sources, the soils dry out, the peats decompose and vast amounts of carbon and methane will be released. This will accelerate global warming. It is spontaneous positive feedback loops like these that make many scientists think it too late to mitigate the effects of fossil fuel consumption. The atmosphere is very close to dynamic runaway.
Author(s): Winder NP
Editor(s): Liljenström, H. and Svedin, U.
Publication type: Book Chapter
Publication status: Published
Book Title: Micro, meso, macro: addressing complex system couplings
Year: 2005
Pages: 199-208
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing
Place Published: Singapore
URL: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=We8FQtplBv0C&dq=addressing+complex+system+couplings&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Notes: Every Year Formas (a Swedish Research Council) invites a dozen or so experts from Europe and North America to brief them on an open area of research. This was one of my two presentations. It deals with catastrophic cycling and the risk posed by soil-based carbon deposits in Boreal forests.
Library holdings: Search Newcastle University Library for this item
ISBN: 9812389180
