British Researchers Pump CO2 Gas in a Forest to See How Trees Cope with Rising Levels of the Green House Gas

The Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) has finally started. In this experiment that will run for about a decade, researchers have pumped a fenced-off section of a mature woodland full of carbon dioxide (CO2) to see how trees in this forest absorb CO2 and cope with its rising levels.

According to experts, CO2—the main man-made greenhouse gas—gas will be prevalent in 2050. In the 19th century, scientists had first realized that some gases in the atmosphere cause a “greenhouse effect” which affects temperature of the Earth. Svante Arrhenius calculated that emissions caused by from various industries might someday bring a global warming. In 1930s, G.S. Callendar warned that increased CO2 level was causing increase in global temperature. Then in 1950s, a group of researchers discovered that global warming was actually possible. In 1960s, C.D. Keeling measured the level of CO2 in the atmosphere and found that it was rising fast. Further research revealed that CO2 plays a vital role in climate change, and that its increased levels could affect the future of human race on Earth. According to the U.N World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the global average of carbon dioxide reached 400 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere for the first time on record in 2016. Increased deforestation in the world is reducing carbon storage capacity of the world’s forests.

Researchers involved in the FACE experiment aim to measure the forest’s capacity to absorb carbon released by fossil fuel burning. The aim is to know how much carbon pollution forests absorb in the long-term. Researchers also hope that better understanding of the role of forests in climate change mitigation could help policy makers make informed decisions.

“(Forests) happily take a bit more CO2 because that’s their main nutrient. But we don’t know how much more and whether they can do that indefinitely”, BIFoR co-director Michael Tausz told Reuters.

The forest where the experiment is going on is located in the Norbury Park in Staffordshire, West Midlands. Several masts have been built into six 30-metre wide sections of woodland. These masts reach up about 25 meters into the forest canopy. Researchers are using pipes to feed concentrated CO2 to the top of the masts where it is then pumped into the foliage. The area of Norbury Park woodland, where experiment is not being conducted, is open to the public.

“The forest here sees nearly 40 percent more CO2 than it sees normally, because that’s what it will be globally in about 2050; a value of 550 parts per million, compared to 400 parts per million now,” Tausz said.

“We could get a clear idea of whether they can keep helping us into the future by sucking up more CO2,” said Tausz.