Laser tool probes global warming.

• Author: Foster, Sharon
• Position: Tech Talk - Carbon content of soil - Brief Article

At Los Alamos National Laboratory, scientists have developed a small, portable laser-based instrument to provide a better understanding of terrestrial processes that could accelerate or retard global warming, said James Rickman, a laboratory spokesperson.

With increasing international concern about greenhouse gases and global warming, scientists have sought better and more cost-effective approaches for measuring changes in the amount of land-based carbon, much of which is located in soils.

The newly developed Los Alamos technology will aid scientists as they try to determine how soil-based carbon is released into the air through natural or manmade causes, or whether atmospheric carbon is being absorbed into soils, explained Rickman.

Added Los Alamos ecologist David Breshears: "For years, scientists have sought to improve accounting of Earth's carbon budget. This instrument will help us improve that accounting and our...