Los Alamos National Lab Laser Measures Carbon in Soils; Instrument Could Aid Understanding of Global Warming.

Byline: Los Alamos National Laboratory

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Nov. 20 (AScribe Newswire) -- Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have developed a small, portable instrument that uses a laser to analyze the amount of carbon in soils, which can give scientists a better understanding of terrestrial processes that could accelerate or retard global warming.

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. But because the amount of carbon varies considerably from one spot to the …