Methane and carbon dioxide emissions from thermokarst lakes on mineral soils

• Published in: Arctic Science
• Main Authors: Matveev, Alex, Laurion, Isabelle, Vincent, Warwick F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2018
• Subjects: Arctic; Ice; permafrost; Subarctic; Thermokarst
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/as-2017-0047; https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/as-2017-0047; https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/as-2017-0047

Thermokarst lakes are known to emit methane (CH 4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), but little attention has been given to those formed from the thawing and collapse of lithalsas, ice-rich mineral soil mounds that occur in permafrost landscapes. The present study was undertaken to assess greenhouse gas stocks and fluxes in eight lithalsa lakes across a 200 km gradient of permafrost degradation in subarctic Québec. The northernmost lakes varied in their surface-water CO 2 content from below to above saturation, but the southern lakes in this gradient had much higher surface concentrations that were well above air-equilibrium. Surface-water CH 4 concentrations were at least an order of magnitude above air-equilibrium values at all sites, and the diffusive fluxes of both gases increased from north to south. Methane oxidation in the surface waters from a northern lake was only 10% of the emission rate, but at the southern end it was around 60% of the efflux to the atmosphere, indicating that methanotrophy can play a substantive role in reducing net emissions. Overall, our observations show that lithalsa lakes can begin emitting CH 4 and CO 2 soon after they form, with effluxes of both gases that persist and increase as the permafrost continues to warm and erode.