Home We mapped the world’s frozen peatlands. What we found was very worrying
Environment Science

We mapped the world’s frozen peatlands. What we found was very worrying

About half of northern peatlands are in permafrost. But it's on track to thaw — with catastrophic consequences.

By Gustaf Hugelius, Stockholm University August 18, 2020
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Peatlands cover just a few percent of the global land area but they store almost one-quarter of all soil carbon and so play a crucial role in regulating the climate. My colleagues and I have just produced the most accurate map yet of the world’s peatlands — their depth, and how much greenhouse gas they have stored. We found that global warming will soon mean that these peatlands start emitting more carbon than they store.

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