According to Yale researchers in Nature Geoscience, rivers and streams in the United States are releasing enough carbon into the atmosphere to fuel 3.4 million car trips to the moon. Their findings could change the way scientists model the movement of carbon between land, water and the atmosphere. David Butman (a doctoral student at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies) stated, "These rivers are a source of CO₂, just like we breathe CO₂ and like smokestacks emit CO₂, and this has never been systematically estimated from a region as large as the United States." They analyzed samples taken by the United States Geological Survey from over 4,000 rivers and streams throughout the United States, and incorporated highly detailed geospatial data to model the flux of carbon dioxide from water. This release of carbon, said Butman, is the same as a car burning 40 billion gallons of gasoline (noted from the article). The researchers note in the paper that currently it is impossible to determine exactly how to include this flux in regional carbon budgets, because the influence of human activity on the release of CO₂ into streams and rivers is still unknown.
I didnt know that rivers could 'breath' CO2. that is a very interesting topic that can and should be used to help control the amount of co2 in the air.
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