Just in time for Halloween, federal scientists this week announced new research into so-called “ghost forests,” spooky tracts of dead trees common along the Eastern Seaboard.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, they are “the watery remains of a once verdant woodland.” The new research suggests the deathly landscapes are home to tiny organisms that play a fascinating role in climate change.
Here’s how they form: As the globe warms and sea level rises, more and more saltwater encroaches on the land, according to an online fact sheet from NOAA’s Ocean Service. “Along the world’s coasts and estuaries, invading seawater advances and overtakes the fresh water that trees rely upon for sustenance. The salty water slowly poisons living trees, leaving a haunted ghost forest of dead and dying timber.”
Still standing in or near brackish water, the decaying trees of a ghost forest resemble giant graying pillars that protrude into the air, NOAA said.
“Ghost forests” appear from Maine to Miami, bending back along the Gulf of Mexico.
Stripped of their leaves and bark, trees become gaunt skeletons. Gradually forests and bogs give way to more salt-tolerant thickets.
“I’ve seen palm tree ghost forests in Florida and red spruce ghost forests in Canada,” said Matt Kirwan, associate professor with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “They all share a similar origin.”
Research drilled inside dead trees
Scientists recently drilled into trees to see what’s inside and to understand the role of ghost forests in the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
A recent study based on the drilling research finds that standing dead trees in ghost forests have tiny organisms that actually convert methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to carbon dioxide, which is less potent.
“This insight is another piece of the puzzle as officials consider the trade-offs for how to manage these landscapes,” the United States Geological Survey said in a statement.
Ghost forests appear all along the East Coast
The eastern U.S. is a particular concern, as these transitions to ghost forests are taking place up and down the Atlantic coast, according to the USGS:
◾ A group of University of South Florida researchers concluded that Florida’s Big Bend’s coastal forest is dying at “an unprecedented rate.”
◾ Post-tropical Cyclone Sandy left a ghost forest of white cedar in New Jersey in 2012.
◾ In the Chesapeake Bay region, more than 80,000 acres of forest have turned to marsh in the last 150 years. That number could increase fivefold by 2100, Kirwan predicts.
Contributing: Kelly Powers and Dinah Voyles Pulver.