The historic wildfires in Australia likely unleashed about 900M tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equivalent to nearly double the country’s total yearly fossil fuel emissions, scientists say.
Although recent heavy rain has helped control some of the blazes, Australia is only halfway through its summer, and temperatures typically peak in January and February, which means the fire risk will likely remain high for months.
Plants and the oceans naturally absorb about half the world's carbon emissions. But human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, and extreme events, such as intense wildfire seasons, are upsetting the delicate balance of the carbon cycle, pumping huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Studies have found that even as global emissions have increased, about 50 percent of carbon dioxide is still sequestered by plants and the ocean. In other words, the more humans emit, the more carbon those reservoirs also seem to take up. Scientists have struggled to explain this generous absorption, and it's not known whether it will happen indefinitely or whether the planet will reach a tipping point.
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