Travis Drake
@draketw.bsky.social
Carbon biogeochemist @ ETH Zurich Surface Earth Evolution Associate Editor @ GBC
Our new article, in The Conversation Africa: theconversation.com/lakes-that-b... @theconversation.com @johansix.bsky.social
Lakes that ‘breathe’ ancient carbon: a surprising find in the Congo Basin
Ancient carbon is leaking from two lakes in the Congo Basin, revealing a previously unknown link between tropical peatlands and the atmosphere.
theconversation.com
New Job! Please RP! 2 year Postdoctoral Research Associate in #Biogeochemistry in Oxford @oxfordgeography.bsky.social using novel methods to explore organic matter stability and new proxies of rock #weathering &wider team in Southampton. Any Qs let me know 🧪🥼⚒️ my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
One-third of growth-season rainfall in the Amazon comes from evaporation from trees. When forests are cleared for soybeans, rainfall declines, potentially reducing soybean yields and creating a feedback loop that could drive further land clearance. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/2TlF50ZbTqf
I really enjoyed collaborating on this study lead by Laura Summerauer (now @ FiBL) that showed rapid degradation of soils following deforestation in Eastern Congo. Corroborates what we observed measuring DOC age in rivers draining the same impacted landscapes. bg.copernicus.org/articles/23/...
Rapid soil degradation following deforestation in Eastern Africa
Abstract. Deforestation for cropland expansion in tropical sloping landscapes causes severe soil erosion and thus the loss of fertile, organic rich topsoil. Whether there is variation in the effect of...
bg.copernicus.org
👀 Organic carbon weathering as an amplifier of climate warming 183 million years ago: “Weathering of sedimentary carbon-bearing rocks, such as shales, can emit significant quantities of CO2, causing temperatures to rise and further weathering to occur” ⚒️🧪 www.earth.ox.ac.uk/article/not-...
Not Just a Carbon Sink: Weathering Found to Drive Ancient Global Warming
earth.ox.ac.uk
This image of home just came down from the Artemis II crew. Taken after their translunar injection burn, there are aurorae at top right and lower left, and zodiacal light at lower right. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman
Kick off your morning with a very nice write up in Mongabay about our recent Lac Mai paper. @johansix.bsky.social @jordonhemingway.bsky.social @saegroupethz.bsky.social
John Cannon@john-cannon.bsky.social · 4mo agoA recent study reveals that lakes in the Congo Basin are releasing ancient carbon from peatlands. Read more in my latest for @mongabay.com
Reminder, three more days to apply for our *two* fully funded PhD positions on tropical African biogeochemistry! @eth-eaps.bsky.social @usyseth.bsky.social @draketw.bsky.social @johansix.bsky.social
Jordon Hemingway@jordonhemingway.bsky.social · 6mo agoVery excited to announce *TWO* fully-funded PhD positions starting this summer focusing on greenhouse gases in the peatlands of the Congo Basin! Both positions are joint between my group in @eth-eaps.bsky.social and that of @johansix.bsky.social @usyseth.bsky.social. Come join us!
Ryan (and me) are hiring a PhD student! Sweden is a great country to do a PhD, see the link or ask us for more details, or share with potential students!
Ryan Sponseller@ryansponseller.bsky.social · 5mo agoWe are hiring a PhD student at Umeå University to work on GHG dynamics in boreal streams and groundwater. See the following advertisement and reach out with any questions! www.umu.se/en/work-with... @grocherros.bsky.social
Two major humic lakes in the Congo Basin are emitting ancient carbon from nearby peatlands into the atmosphere, reports a study in Nature Geoscience. These findings challenge the prevailing understanding that CO2 emissions from pristine humic lakes are derived from modern, rapidly cycling carbon. 🌍🧪
Millennial-aged peat carbon outgassed by large humic lakes in the Congo Basin - Nature Geoscience
Two major humic lakes in the Congo Basin emit ancient carbon from nearby peatlands into the atmosphere, as shown by the isotopic signatures of their carbon pools.
go.nature.com
New job! Please RP! 🥼🧪 ⚒️ Laboratory Manager (gr8, permanent) @oxfordgeography.bsky.social Leading the Geolabs, with cutting edge facilities in water #geochemistry, #ecosystem science, #eDNA, luminescence Apply by 13 March or please get in touch with any Qs my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Job Details
my.corehr.com
Very happy to see our @agu.org @jgrbiogeo.bsky.social paper on greenhouse gas emissions from Congo lakes published! Following up from @draketw.bsky.social's companion paper last week. With @johansix.bsky.social et al. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Constraining Greenhouse Gas Cycling and Emissions in Africa's Largest Humic Lake
Lake Mai Ndombe is supersaturated in CO2 ${\text{CO}}_{2}$, CH4 ${\text{CH}}_{4}$, and N2O ${\mathrm{N}}_{2}\mathrm{O}$, with outgassing fluxes of 375 ± 32 Gg C yr−1, 623 ± 136 Mg C yr−1, and 223 ...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
In case our short communications paper was too long 😆, you can now read Research Briefing about our recent study showing aged carbon outgassing from Congo lakes! rdcu.be/e6W6l @jordonhemingway.bsky.social @johansix.bsky.social @usyseth.bsky.social @eth-eaps.bsky.social @natgeosci.nature.com
Congo’s largest humic lakes emit ancient peat carbon
Nature Geoscience - We revealed that carbon dioxide emissions from the Congo Basin’s largest humic lakes partially originate from millennia-old peat. This discovery identifies a pathway...
rdcu.be
We are hiring a PhD student at Umeå University to work on GHG dynamics in boreal streams and groundwater. See the following advertisement and reach out with any questions! www.umu.se/en/work-with... @grocherros.bsky.social
PhD position in Physical Geography, focusing on greenhouse gas dynamics in streams and groundwater
umu.se
Read the Review here: www.nature.com/articles/s43... ⚒️🌏
Uncertainties of enhanced rock weathering for climate-change mitigation - Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy that converts atmospheric CO2 to stable carbonates by applying minerals to agricultural land. This Perspective discusses the p...
nature.com
Jordon Hemingway@jordonhemingway.bsky.social · 5mo ago🚨 Paper alert! 🚨 Happy to see this review out in @natureportfolio.nature.com Reviews Earth & Environ! We go through looming uncertainties related to wide-scale application of ERW. It will be a rocky path! @mschiedung.bsky.social @profbobhilton.bsky.social @eth-eaps.bsky.social @usyseth.bsky.social
Congo Basin blackwater lakes release ancient peat carbon—challenging long‑held climate assumptions. Land‑use change may worsen this trend.🚨🌍Research by @draketw.bsky.social and colleagues. #ClimateResearch #ETHZurich #Peatlands #CongoBasin ethz.ch/en/news-and-...
Peatland lakes in the Congo Basin release carbon that is thousands of years old
Over thousands of years, the swamps and peatlands in the Congo Basin have accumulated and stored huge amounts of carbon. A research team led by ETH Zurich has now shown that large lakes in this ecosys...
ethz.ch
Nice presser on our new paper by ETH. ethz.ch/en/news-and-...
Peatland lakes in the Congo Basin release carbon that is thousands of years old
Over thousands of years, the swamps and peatlands in the Congo Basin have accumulated and stored huge amounts of carbon. A research team led by ETH Zurich has now shown that large lakes in this ecosys...
ethz.ch
New paper alert! 🚨 Our new study shows that massive lakes in the Congo Basin are outgassing millennial-aged carbon. This challenges the idea that lake CO₂ only comes from modern vegetation. www.nature.com/articles/s41... Thread below! 🧵👇
Millennial-aged peat carbon outgassed by large humic lakes in the Congo Basin - Nature Geoscience
Two major humic lakes in the Congo Basin emit ancient carbon from nearby peatlands into the atmosphere, as shown by the isotopic signatures of their carbon pools.
nature.com
Final EIA-860 is out, and 2025 really did it: 54 GW of new U.S. electric capacity, 96% clean. Solar again carries the offense, and we built more storage in 2025 than the cumulative total through 2023. More and more and more additions... but also record low retirements.
Excellent @washingtonpost.com piece on the signs that global warming is accelerating by @shannonosaka.bsky.social and @johnmuyskens.bsky.social, featuring @hausfath.bsky.social @rarohde.bsky.social @cjsmith.eu www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
How do glaciers drive and interact with Earth's regional and global biogeochemical cycles? ❄️🏔️🦠🪨🌊🌎🧪⚒️ @natrevearthenviron.nature.com Expertly led by Jon Hawkings & many collaborators @mioceanologie.bsky.social @cnrs.fr @cnrs-dr12.bsky.social @cnrs-insu.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Glacier biogeochemical cycling and downstream impacts - Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
Far from frozen and sterile environments, glaciers are biogeochemical reactors and regulators. This Review outlines key biogeochemical and associated physical processes occurring in glacierized enviro...
nature.com
Very excited to announce *TWO* fully-funded PhD positions starting this summer focusing on greenhouse gases in the peatlands of the Congo Basin! Both positions are joint between my group in @eth-eaps.bsky.social and that of @johansix.bsky.social @usyseth.bsky.social. Come join us!
We need greater reward for primary research, often labor intensive and often done by small groups, and less reward for large multi-author review papers. 3/2
Like anything by Hannah @hannahritchie.bsky.social, I'm sure this is worth reading: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
Clearing the Air by Hannah Ritchie review – practical climate optimism
A data scientist rebuts 50 arguments against green technology with lively pragmatism and authority
theguardian.com
If you think climate change has gotten worse during your lifetime, you're right and there's a good reason. If you're Gen X like me, more than 3/4 of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions have occurred in your lifetime. Even if you're a Millennial, it's at least half. 📊: @neilrkaye.bsky.social
In this new commentary for The Conversation Africa, @johansix.bsky.social, Matti Barthel, Glenn Bush, and I discuss what the new "green corridor" law means for the Congo Basin and what might impede its success @saegroupethz.bsky.social @usyseth.bsky.social theconversation.com/drcs-plan-fo...
DRC’s plan for the world’s largest tropical forest reserve would be good for the planet: can it succeed?
Setting up the world’s biggest giant tropical forest reserve in the Congo Basin is a step towards conserving the area and creating jobs for local communities.
theconversation.com
How does #biodiversity control 🍂decomposition in #RiverNetworks? In our new Ecological Monographs paper, we show that 🪲macroinvertebrate key taxa drive decomposition, while #FunctionalDiversity reduces decomposition #variability! Network-scale #BEF in action, check it out! doi.org/10.1002/ecm....
“We've arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science and technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces.” ~ Carl Sagan
