NOAA: “Will droughts turn the Amazon into a giant source of carbon pollution? As climate change increases temperatures and alters rainfall patterns across South America, scientists are concerned that the Amazon rainforest will shift from a carbon sponge to a carbon source. New research published today in the journal Global Change Biology highlights this disturbing question. NOAA scientist John Miller, working with an international team, investigated by analyzing air samples taken by aircraft over four sites in the Amazon Basin in 2010–2012. The study found strong evidence that the 2010 drought caused much of the Amazon to significantly reduce carbon uptake for up to two years. Roughly 10 billion metric tons of carbon are emitted each year by industrial activity, with about half taken up by the oceans and forest ecosystems like the Amazon, according to data collected by NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division.  What scientists don’t know is how a changing climate will affect the Amazon…”