A team of researchers led by scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has proposed a new method to measure agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. The method, which uses supercomputing to process data from a variety of sources, can be scaled up to national and global levels.
The researchers developed the new method based on the concept of "agricultural carbon outcomes," which they define as the related changes in greenhouse gas emissions from farmers adopting climate mitigation practices like cover cropping, precision nitrogen fertilizer management and use of controlled drainage techniques.
The method uses a variety of sensing techniques, including ground-based imaging and satellite imagery, to collect data on crop emissions before and after farmers adopt various mitigation practices. This data is then processed using advanced ecosystem models and artificial intelligence to generate information about the effectiveness of these practices.
The researchers believe that the new method has the potential to revolutionize the way that agricultural greenhouse gas emissions are measured. The ability to measure emissions at the individual farm field level will allow farmers to identify areas where they can reduce their emissions and track their progress over time. This information can also be used by policymakers to develop more effective climate change mitigation strategies.
The study, which was published in the journal Earth Science Reviews, was conducted in collaboration with partners from the University of Minnesota, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Project Drawdown, a climate solutions nonprofit organization.
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Categories: Illinois, Sustainable Agriculture