Melting permafrost makes ‘drunken forests’ store less carbon
A drunken forest in Alaska, where trees are tilting or collapsing to the ground due to permafrost melt
Global Warming Images/Shutterstock
Melting permafrost in Arctic forests may cause trees to tilt to the side in ways that slow their growth, reducing the amount of carbon these “drunken forests” store.
The northern hemisphere’s boreal forest is a vast ecosystem that contains up to 40 per cent of all carbon stored on land. Rapid warming of the Arctic due to climate change is already affecting how these forests grow and thus how much carbon they store. It is also melting…
