Newly announced research examining greenhouse gas emissions from the drying lake bed of Great Salt Lake, Utah, calculates that 4.1 million tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were released in 2020.
This research suggests that drying lake beds are an overlooked but potentially significant source of greenhouse gases, which may further increase due to climate change.
From year to year, Great Salt Lake's water level varies, largely depending on the volume of meltwater that flows into the lake from the surrounding mountains -- from record highs in the 1980s to a record low in 2022. However, it is human-related consumption by agriculture, industry, and municipal uses, that consume ever-increasing amounts of freshwater that, over the years, has depleted the lake.
Fieldwork was conducted while Soren Brothers was Assistant Professor of Limnology at Utah State University, and lead author, Melissa Cobo, was a master's student at USU. Co-author Tobias Goldhammer is a collaborating researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Research in Berlin, Germany. Measurements of carbon dioxide and methane gases were made every two weeks from the dried-up lake bed using a portable greenhouse gas analyzer attached to a closed chamber.
As climate change exacerbates drought in arid regions, desiccation of rivers and lakes may be contributing to climate change feedback loops and should be considered in assessments of global greenhouse gas output as well as reduction policies and efforts.In a new study, researchers broke down how human-induced greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions influence rainfall in the United States. Greenhouse gas emissions increase rainfall, while aerosols have ...
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