Carbon dioxide is a kind of plant food.
Plants break down carbon dioxide as they make energy through photosynthesis, releasing
oxygen in the process. That’s why as humans have increased
the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, some places have seen increased plant growth.
But that won’t continue forever.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas,
responsible for warming our planet. Right now, the land and the ocean
about 55 percent of the carbon dioxide released by humans.
The rest stays in the atmosphere, acting like a blanket around Earth.
As the climate gets warmer, plants are absorbing less carbon dioxide.
In some places, like the Arctic region,
water is becoming scarcer, acting as a limiting factor
that inhibits plant growth. In other places, like the tropical latitudes,
low soil nutrients limit the growth of plants, even when there’s plenty of carbon dioxide.
But it’s not just external factors
that could affect how plants absorb carbon dioxide –
as the concentration in the atmosphere increases, plants seem to use less of it.
From 1982 to 2015, we’ve already seen
a decrease in how efficient plants are at absorbing carbon dioxide.
NASA researchers are using data from a variety of different satellites
to calculate how efficient plants are at absorbing carbon dioxide.
They’re working to understand how more carbon emissions will warm the planet
as plants use less of it – important for understanding
how hot Earth will get.
NASA