It s too well drained. There are pockets of peat scattered across the south and central Yukon. For example, Gignac found a pocket near the Whitehorse airport, with peat about a metre and a half deep. However, they are dwarfed by peatlands in places like northern Alberta where a peat bog covering nine square kilometres would not be unusual, Gignac says. Peat is an important player in the global climate.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and a major contributor to global warming.
Living plants absorb carbon dioxide. When they die and decay, the carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere. However, in a peatland the decaying plants are surrounded by water, which isolates them from the atmosphere and traps the carbon dioxide. One of the possible effects predicted for Canada due to global warming is generally drier conditions, which could have dramatic effects on peatlands and on the carbon dioxide stored in them. When the water table drops and a peatland begins to dry, the decayed organic matter is exposed to the air and the carbon dioxide trapped in it is released into the atmosphere.