Plants are natural means to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But with excess CO2 present in the air these plants are getting affected adversely due to climate shift. Which is why scientists are studying climate change with leaf glow or SIF to enhance their health and life.

New research from the University of Minnesota suggests that leaf glow can give us important information about the changing plant dynamics in cold places like the Arctic and boreal ecosystems such as Minnesota’s forests and wetlands. Compared to the other other places on the Earth, these are warming up quickly. By using remote sensing to monitor this natural glow, scientists might be able to observe how climate change is affecting our environment and natural materials.

Leaf glow or solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) happens when plants do photosynthesis. It’s a light that we can see. However, with the advancement in sensing technology over the last decade, scientists are now able to monitor this phenomenon from field towers, airplanes, and satellites.

Taking about this research, Rui Cheng, its author and an assistant professor in the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, said, “Developing accurate monitoring tools is urgently needed—we are already seeing more thawing permafrost, increased wildfire frequency and intensity, higher risks to droughts, and insect outbreaks. Because of the remote location of the Arctic-Boreal region, remote sensing tools are more advantageous than field measurements.”

To make things easier scientists create literal power plants to harvest wind and rain energy.

Highlights

Scientists are studying climate change with leaf glow or SIF and they have discovered the following key points.

  • SIF can help scientists measure how much carbon plants absorb.
  • It will also monitor their vegetation productivity, health due to climate changes and disruptions caused as a result of photosynthesis.
  • In the Arctic and boreal regions, lots of evergreen forests maintain their leaves and needles all year, but they don’t grow much in winter.
  • Difference between evergreen forests’ green color and productivity makes normal tools like leaf greenness measurements not work well.
  • SIF is an advanced tool that helps us learn more about how things are changing in the cold boreal and Arctic areas due to climate and other factors.
  • It recommends measuring other things in the environment at the same time.
  • This will help us understand these ecosystems better and make climate predictions stronger. 

In conclusion, this research suggests creating a network for SIF that can measure things over a long time and across varying sizes of space.

Source: Scientists use ‘leaf glow’ to understand changing climate

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Elliot is a passionate environmentalist and blogger who has dedicated his life to spreading awareness about conservation, green energy, and renewable energy. With a background in environmental science, he has a deep understanding of the issues facing our planet and is committed to educating others on how they can make a difference.

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