Methane emissions from northern lakes under climate change: a review

• Published in: SN Applied Sciences
• Main Authors: Li, Lingling, Xue, Bin
• Other Authors: National Natural Science Foundation of China
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2021
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; General Physics and Astronomy; General Engineering; General Environmental Science; General Materials Science; General Chemical Engineering; Ice; permafrost; Thermokarst
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s42452-021-04869-x; https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s42452-021-04869-x.pdf; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42452-021-04869-x/fulltext.html

Abstract Northern lakes are important sources of CH 4 in the atmosphere under the background of permafrost thaw and winter warming. We synthesize studies on thermokarst lakes, including various carbon sources for CH 4 emission and the influence of thermokarst drainage on carbon emission, to show the evasion potential of ancient carbon that stored in the permafrost and CH 4 emission dynamics along with thermokarst lake evolution. Besides, we discuss the lake CH 4 dynamics in seasonally ice-covered lakes, especially for under-ice CH 4 accumulation and emission during spring ice melt and the possible influential factors for CH 4 emission in ice-melt period. We summarize the latest findings and point out that further research should be conducted to investigate the possibility of abundant ancient carbon emission from thermokarst lakes under climate warming and quantify the contribution of ice-melt CH 4 emission from northern lakes on a large scale.