The researchers do believe that plants and soils are a major factor in CO2 absorption and will continue to exert considerable influence on atmospheric carbon dioxide in the future. Tans emphasizes that even when researchers can account for most of the carbon dioxide that has been emitted globally, the future remains uncertain. The current uptake of carbon by terrestrial ecosystems is helping to slow down the rise of CO2 in the atmosphere, but we need to know why it is happening. Only then may we be able to project for how long into the future this process may continue. Jerry Mahlman, director of NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory and a co-author of the paper, said that while the North American sink may prove important in worldwide management of atmospheric carbon absorption, its value will come at a global level, not a regional one.
Carbon dioxide is the most important of the greenhouse gases produced due to human activities.
Because it is closely associated with global warming, how carbon is distributed throughout the world and how it is absorbed or released is of major significance.