Published in ERW, 13 Apr 2016
Northern Russian peatlands are responsible for one-third of Europe’s natural methane emissions, despite accounting for just 3% of the European land surface, scientists have estimated.
Julia Schneider at the University of Koblenz-Landau in Germany and colleagues believe that the Russian peatlands could emit some three million tonnes of methane a year. Although it needs to be confirmed in further studies, the uncommonly high emission could be due to the continental Russian climate of cold winters and hot summers, which could get more pronounced under future climate change.
“I think this is quite big news as the Russian peatlands have not been included in European methane budgets before,” said Schneider. […]
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