So-called "steepland" rivers are prevalent in the tropics throughout the western Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, making the region ripe for erosion by tropical cyclones. In the Pacific alone, some 50-90 million tons of carbon are sequestered in this way annually. Compared to human activity, this isn't going to make much of a dent in global warming, though. "Dotting an 'i' would be a good way of putting it, I think, in terms of the global carbon cycle," Basil Gomez of Indiana State University said. "But it's important because not a lot is known about these rivers. Many of them are in places that are increasingly impacted by human activity and will be even more impacted in the future." "This is a cool study that suggests erosion may not be as big a worry for carbon in some areas as we once thought it was," he said. Related Links: |
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