{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,25]],"date-time":"2026-09-25T06:15:58Z","timestamp":1790316958792,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"National Academy of Sciences","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,20]],"date-time":"2026-01-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1768867200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100014573","name":"NASA | Earth Sciences Division","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["80NM0018D0004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["80NM0018D0004"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100014573","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.pnas.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    The Taklamakan Desert, one of the world\u2019s largest and driest deserts, has traditionally been considered a biological void. Here, we demonstrate that large-scale ecological restoration is transforming this hyperarid environment into a carbon sink. By analyzing satellite and ground-based data, we find strong seasonal dynamics: During the wet season (Jul to Sep), precipitation increases to 16.3 mm\/mo, enhancing vegetation coverage and photosynthetic activity and drawing down atmospheric CO\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    by approximately three parts per million (ppm) relative to the dry-season levels. Long-term trends reveal significant increases in vegetation cover (6.8 \u00d7 10\n                    <jats:sup>\u22124<\/jats:sup>\n                    \/y) and photosynthetic activity (6.1 \u00d7 10\n                    <jats:sup>\u22123<\/jats:sup>\n                    W\/m\n                    <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                    \/sr\/\u00b5m\/y), accompanied by a strengthening net CO\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    uptake (NEE trend: \u22125.2 \u00d7 10\n                    <jats:sup>\u221212<\/jats:sup>\n                    kg\/m\n                    <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                    \/s\/y). These changes are spatially concentrated along the desert margins and their timing aligns with implementation of China\u2019s Three-North Shelterbelt Program. Our results provide the direct evidence that human-led intervention can effectively enhance carbon sequestration in even the most extreme arid landscapes, demonstrating the potential to transform a desert into a carbon sink and halt desertification. This underscores the critical role of dryland restoration in global carbon management strategies and highlights the Taklamakan Desert as a model for climate change mitigation through nature-based solutions and ecological engineering.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2523388123","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,20]],"date-time":"2026-01-20T18:59:25Z","timestamp":1768935565000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.cm10313","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Human-induced biospheric carbon sink: Impact from the Taklamakan Afforestation Project"],"prefix":"10.1073","volume":"123","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7750-9735","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Salma","family":"Noor","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston","place":["Houston"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8932-3807","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xun","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston","place":["Houston"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinyue","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston","place":["Houston"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0037-2413","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jiani","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Caltech","place":["Pasadena"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sally","family":"Newman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bay Area Air Quality Management District","place":["San Francisco"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0150-2910","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"King-Fai","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California","place":["Riverside"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5257-9849","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Liming","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics, University of Houston","place":["Houston"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3115-2042","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Le","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"Department of Earth System Science, Ministry of Education Ecological Field Station for East Asian Migratory Birds, Tsinghua University","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"Xi\u2019an Institute of Surveying and Mapping Joint Research Center for Next-Generation Smart Mapping, Tsinghua University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiyu","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4263-2562","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuk L.","family":"Yung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Caltech","place":["Pasadena"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"341","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_1_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0169-5347(00)01906-6"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1201609"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-020-2035-0"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aaa1668"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_5_2","first-page":"254","article-title":"Precipitation pulses and carbon fluxes in semiarid and arid ecosystems","volume":"141","author":"Huxman T. 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