Study sees climate upside in greening arid regions
Study sees climate upside in greening arid regions
June 4, 2013![](https://fertilizerworks.com/sites/default/files/1370023636000-CO2plants-1305311558_4_3_rx404_c534x401.jpg)
"An upside to climate change? The issue has been blamed for many problems, including more acidic oceans and rising pollen counts, but a study released Friday suggests a benefit: Arid regions are getting greener.
Satellite data since the early 1980s have shown a flourishing of foliage worldwide, and scientists have suspected this change may be due partly to the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas emitted by the burning of fossil fuels..
Turns out, they were right because of CO2's "fertilization effect," according to a team of scientists led by Randall Donohue of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Canberra, Australia.
Their mathematical model predicted a foliage increase of 5% to 10%, based on the 14% hike in atmospheric CO2 from 1982 to 2010, for the regions they studied: the southwestern corner of North America, Australia's outback, the Middle East and some parts of Africa."
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