An ignored key link in greenhouse effect: Soil and soil CO₂ slow heat loss

Abstract

The ever-increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration is a key driver of modern global warming. However, the low heat capacity of atmosphere and strong convection processes in the troposphere both limit heat retention. Given the higher heat capacity and CO₂ concentration in soil compared to the atmosphere, the direct contributions of soil to the greenhouse effect may be significant. By experimentally manipulating CO₂ concentrations both in the soil and the atmosphere, we demonstrated that the soil-retained heat and the slower soil heat transmission decrease the amount of heat energy leaking from the earth. Furthermore, the soil air temperature was affected by soil CO₂ concentration, with the highest value recorded at 7500 ppm CO₂. This study indicates that soil and soil CO₂, together with atmospheric CO₂, play a crucial role in the greenhouse effect. The spatial and temporal heterogeneity of soils and soil CO₂ should be further investigated, given their potentially significant influence on global climate change.

Keywords

Soil CO₂ concentration / Soil temperature / Atmosphere temperature / Soil heat loop / Earth heat balance

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Acknowledgments

We thank G. Li, J.J. Yu, C C. Zhao and X.X. Chen for help in field experiment, and Drs. Xiaoming Zou, Ming Xu, Youming Chen for helpful discussion in manuscript preparation. This work was supported by the Natural Natural Science Foundation of China (41877054, 31570516), the Zhongyuan Scholar Program (182101510005) and the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams.

Author contributions

W. Zhang, C. Yu, and S. Fu initiated the collaborative study and designed the experiment; C. Yu, W. Zhang, Z. Shen, S. Liu and S. L. Li conducted the laboratory and field work; W. Zhang and C. Yu performed data analysis; W. Zhang, C. Yu, Y. Shao and S. Fu dischangussed the data and prepared the manuscript.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s42832-020-0047-1 and is accessible for authorized users.

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