BRENT: Scientists have been searching for a place on land where the additional carbon is being stored – the so-called “missing carbon sink”. The basin has China’s largest desert, the Takla Makan Desert, in the middle and is believed to be the world’s second largest-shifting desert. These underground pools, taken together, cover an area the size of North America, the release notes.
Knowing the locations of carbon sinks could improve models used to predict future climate change and enhance calculations of the Earth’s carbon budget, or the amount of fossil fuels humans can burn without causing major changes in the Earth’s temperature, according to the study’s authors.
The researchers found that any remaining carbon dioxide that is dissolved in the water can make its way through the aquifers to the center of the desert.
A team of geologists headed by Chinese professor Li Yan from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography in Urumqi, the Xinjiang capital, discovered oceans of water beneath the Tarim basin in northwestern Xinjiang, reported the South China Morning Post. “It is basically a one-way trip”, said Dr Li, who is the lead author on the study.
Dr Yan Li and co-authors followed the journey of water through the Tarim Basin from the rivers at the edge of the valley to the desert aquifers under the basin. When they compared 200 underground water samples, they found traces of carbon dioxide in the melted water. In addition, the researchers observed the plants in the desert were absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide through their roots.
Tesla driverless system to use updated radar technology
WASHINGTON: Electric carmaker Tesla announced Sunday it was upgrading its Autopilot software to use more advanced radar technology. In a...
