A group of U.S. researchers have found that wildfires â?? fuelled by climate change â?? may be turning boreal forests into sources of carbon dioxide.
The boreal forests â?? found in northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, China, Scandinavia and elsewhere â?? make up the second largest type of forest in the world behind the tropical rainforest.
Scientists have historically believed that the boreal forests act as a carbon sink, as trees absorb carbon emissions and reduce them in the atmosphere.
But new research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, published in the Nov. 1 issue of the journal Nature, has found that the forests may be emitting more carbon than they are absorbing.