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[MUSIC]

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Let's take a quick peek at NASA's ABOVE mission.

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ABOVE is the Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment,
which is getting down and dirty into the study

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of climate change in the arctic and boreal,
or far northern, regions of our planet.

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NASA scientists are gaining a better understanding
of the vulnerability and resilience of the

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delicate and large ecosystems there.

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Well, we're trying to quantify how climate
change is impacting fires.

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So, the idea is that as the planet gets warmer,
we're seeing hotter and drier summers, and

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that in turn is resulting in more severe fires.

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And what I mean by severe fires is a greater
consumption of the soil.

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So, historically, or in the past, the soil
would burn just a minimal amount, and now

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maybe we're seeing a deeper burning.

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In these ecosystems, a lot of carbon is stored
in that soil layer.

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So, if we're burning really old carbon that
had accumulated over numerous fire cycles,

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so hundreds, maybe even thousands of years
old, that's going to be released into the