A simple water shift could turn Arctic farmland into a carbon sink

Deep in the Arctic north, drained peatlands—once massive carbon vaults built over thousands of years—are quietly leaking greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But new field research from northern Norway suggests there’s a powerful way to slow that loss: raise the water level. In a two-year study, scientists found that restoring higher groundwater levels in cultivated Arctic peatlands dramatically cut carbon dioxide emissions, and in some cases even tipped the balance so the land absorbed more CO₂ than it released.