The effects of ongoing climate change are now widely known: rising temperatures, extreme weather events, melting glaciers, water crises. All consequences due to excessive emissions of polluting gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, produced by human activities.
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However, there are also emissions released by nature itself: these are the so-called “warming-induced emissions” (“Wie”), greenhouse gases produced by natural sources due to rising temperatures.
This type of emission is part of climate feedback cycles, that is, chain mechanisms where an initial climate change causes reactions in the planet’s natural processes. Two types of reactions are distinguished: positive, if they amplify global warming, and negative, if they act in the opposite way.
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Illustration taken from the research “Projected amplification of global warming by warming-induced greenhouse gas emissions” which explains the climate feedback effects: 1. Anthropogenic emissions cause global warming; 2. The temperature increase causes phenomena such as permafrost thawing, forest fires, warming of wetlands and lakes; 3. These events emit greenhouse gases that in turn feed global warming
A group of researchers from the non-profit organization Spark Climate Solutions studied the Wie phenomenon: their research “Projected amplification of global warming by warming-induced greenhouse gas emissions” analyzed the impact exerted by greenhouse gases emitted by nature on temperature increases.
How feedback works
The researchers analyzed three natural events caused by global warming: permafrost thawing, the permanently frozen ground, the intensification of forest fires, and the warming of lakes and wetlands which fuels the anaerobic digestion process, causing the degradation of organic matter. These events produce methane and carbon dioxide gases, which are released into the surrounding environment.
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