Researchers at Singapore - MIT Alliance for Research and Technology ( SMART ) , MIT ’s research initiative in Singapore , and Nanyang Technological University , Singapore ( NTU Singapore ) , have developed a method that can accurately measure the amount of carbon stack away in bog .
The new method acting by the SMART - NTU team uses orbiter data point . By doing so , they aim to reduce the need for on - website taste to derive the three - dimensional shapes of raise peatlands ( also have it away as bog ) and , hence , the amount of atomic number 6 they contain . The unexampled mathematical model replaces earlier manikin and was developed with collaborator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , the University of Potsdam , Stanford University , and the University of Minnesota .
" Measuring carbon stock in lift peatlands is challenging . The varying shape of bogs and diverge deepness of their carbon - racy soil know as peat , combined with their unavailability and huge size of it in many tropical region , makes get accurate data difficult , " say the squad of researchers .
" Measuring the amount of carbon stored in peatlands help governments and policymakers appraise the environmental impact of convert these nation for agricultural , industrial or urban U.S. , specially by understanding potential carbon emissions resulting from peatland drainage , " they continue .
Credit : Singapore - MIT Alliance for Research and Technology ( SMART )
Globally , the drain of peatlands for agricultural role releases orotund total of carbon dioxide and increases the endangerment of catastrophic fire . ironical peat is highly flammable and can easily catch firing , especially in part with hot mood and dry seasons , such as Southeast Asia - where haze is a perennial pollution issue . Southeast Asia is home to about 23 million hectares of peatlands , about half of the universe ’s tropic peatlands [ 1 ] .
The squad adds : " Although peat bog represent only three percent of the cosmos ’s soil control surface , they stack away the most carbon per area of any land ecosystem on Earth [ 2 ] . sympathize bogs is essential to protect and restore their large carbon strain . regenerate bog through a method known as rewetting is one of the most promising nature - found solutions[3 ] to fight down climate change . "
First author Dr Alex Cobb , Senior Principal Research Scientist , Singapore - MIT Alliance for Research and Technology , tell : " Peatlands have acted as huge stock of carbon paper since before the time of the dinosaurs . New coal deposits start up as peatlands . Our mathematical good example make it potential to describe and equate the form of bogs anywhere , including areas in outside parts of the Amazon Basin , New Guinea , and the Congo Basin that are under threat by evolution but are still poorly known scientifically . Our determination also has practical app : the three - dimensional contour of a bog determines the carbon paper it holds and how it can best be restored . By protect and restoring peatlands , we can stop the vast greenhouse gas and smoke emissions from drain peatlands , cook global climate goal accomplishable . "
2nd source Dr. René Dommain , Senior Research Fellow at NTU ’s Earth Observatory of Singapore , said : " We can now accurately measure the amount of carbon stored in peatlands that could potentially be secrete due to environmental change get by human activity , helping country with large peatland areas in both reporting and protecting their carbon stock . We can also shape peatland area at hazard of fervidness due to changes to their morphology from stilted drainage and add towards relieve the recurring threat of fog that pest Singapore and the region . This work is also a foundation for successful restoration of damaged peatlands . " Dr Dommain was also a researcher at NTU ’s The Asian School of the Environment when he co - led the study .
The findings from the cogitation [ 4 ] titled " A incorporated explanation for the morphology of promote peatlands " were published in the top peer - reviewed scientific journal Nature on January 4th .
This enquiry involved psychoanalysis using mensuration of the earth ’s control surface by airplane - mounted laser at eight site around the earth , including bogs from Quebec ( Canada ) , Alaska , Minnesota and Maine ( USA ) , Finland , Estonia , Brunei Darussalam , and New Zealand – edifice on the theoretic finding from a paper [ 5 ] published by SMART in 2017 on the ecological and hydrological processes that hold in the buildup of C in tropical peatlands .
The study was carried out by SMART and indorse by the National Research Foundation ( NRF ) Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise ( CREATE ) program .
Scaling up measurements in peatlandsThe research squad claims that scientists can now give their new method acting to any peat bog in the worldly concern , which allows them to measure the amount of carbon contained in a bog and stigmatize out area that could be restored if a bog is already damaged . They control the validity of deriving the configuration of peat bog from their mannequin with severally derived Light Detection and Ranging ( LIDAR ) engineering ( see Figure 1 ) . In addition , with this new method , the researchers can also fix which role of the bog are wet and integral or dry and discredited , point to where restoration movement should be focalise .
Figure 1 : The mounded shape of a raise bog ( Valgeraba , Estonia ) is revealed by a colored relief single-valued function overlaid on airy photography based on lidar datum from the Estonian Land Board . Elevations are enlarged to emphasize its mounded shape .
" repair peatlands by rewetting reduces glasshouse accelerator discharge and the happening of fire . Peatland becomes wet again by immobilize drainage channels , like ditch created for agricultural enjoyment , and preventing urine from draining by . This help keep carbon put in in the peat , preventing its release into the atmosphere . Rewetting is crucial for reducing greenhouse natural gas emissions and preserve the wellness of peatland ecosystem . restore bogs is also good for biodiversity , as by rejuvenate the natural waterlogged conditions , various plant and fauna coinage adapted to blind drunk environments could thrive , " the squad elaborates .
They add : " Last year , SMART researchers published a theme [ 6 ] demonstrating the mensuration of the Earth’s surface of peatlands by laser on satellites and the International Space Station . By mix these measurement with the simulation from this work , researchers can distinguish bog ' build and carbon paper stocks worldwide using mere elevation measurement . planet can perform these measurements without the need for labor - intensive ground - based sample distribution . This determination expands the intellect of spherical peatlands and provides a foundation for planning natural climate solutions through worldwide restoration or protection of damaged bogs . It also give up Modern opportunities for research and commercial-grade program connect to compliance and voluntary carbon trading food market . "
Dr Cob says : " Drainage of peatlands by the great unwashed now causes the emission of over a thousand of millions of metric ton of CO2 each year and enable catastrophic fervor that have caused hundred of G of premature deaths . Rewetting peatlands could stop these emissions and fires , but it can not be plan effectively without knowing the insidious gradients in peatland shape that push back the flow of water . By estimate the flesh of raise peatlands from circumscribed datum , our possibility makes it potential to plan peatland rewetting more easily and monetary value - expeditiously than has ever been potential . "
Dr Dommain DoS : " We developed the first comprehensive theory that explain the sound structure of raised peat bog globally , essentially solve the trouble that peatland scientists struggle with for over 120 class . Ours is a highly relevant part because peatlands are impenetrable stores of vestal carbon and play a vital role in clime alteration palliation strategies . "
The world squad of researchers currently make efforts to expand their analysis to outback peatland region of the tropical zone for which few datum are useable . They contrive to develop tools to calculate carbon paper stocks with this Modern method to hold up governmental agencies and the private sector in reducing greenhouse gasoline emission from degraded peatlands.[1 ] Peatlands in Southeast Asia , Meteorological Service Singapore ( 2023).[2 ] Peatlands store twice as much carbon paper as all the reality ’s forests , United Nations Environment Programme ( 2019).[3 ] Peatlands and climate modification , International Union for Conservation of Nature ( 2017).[4 ] A coordinated explanation for the morphology of raised peatlands , Nature ( 2024).[5 ] How temporal patterns in rain find the morphology and carbon flux of tropical peatlands , PNAS ( 2017).[6 ] Improved terrain estimation from spaceborne lidar in tropical peatlands using spatial filtering , Science of Remote Sensing ( 2023 )
For more information : Nanyang Technological University of Singaporewww.ntu.edu.sg
Singapore - MIT Alliance for Research and Technology ( SMART)www.smart.mit.edu
