The current response of soil thermal regime and carbon exchange of a paraglacial coastal land system in maritime Antarctica

• Published in: Land Degradation & Development
• Main Authors: Thomazini, André, Francelino, Márcio Rocha, Pereira, Antonio Batista, Schünemann, Adriano Luis, Mendonça, Eduardo de Sá, Michel, Roberto Ferreira Machado, Schaefer, Carlos Ernesto Gonçalves Reynaud
• Other Authors: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2019
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ldr.3479; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fldr.3479; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ldr.3479; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ldr.3479

Abstract Ice‐free areas of maritime Antarctica (MA) are undergoing rapid environmental adjustment due to climate change because glaciers retreated. In recently deglaciated areas, sensitive indicators related to soil can be used as proxies of the transition phase from glacial to nonglacial conditions at paraglacial coastal systems. This work aims at comprehending how paraglacial coastal land systems respond to adjustment processes in highly dynamic deglaciated areas, based on net ecosystem exchange, soil temperature (ST), and soil moisture (SM) temporal series in two different vegetation communities on a paraglacial coastal land system in MA. We selected a moss community (MC) and a mixed community with mosses and lichens (MLC). MC is located on a hydromorphic area with buffered ST regime, compared with MLC, where greater SM variation range and freezing conditions were observed. MC and MLC are currently acting as an atmospheric CO 2 sink. In this work, MC showed a greater capacity of CO 2 uptake during measurements (711.20 g CO 2 m −2 ). In this part of Antarctica, where a recent trend of decreasing ST occurs, less permafrost and surface land degradation, combined with enhanced carbon storage, are expected. However, in the long term, following the readjustment of the paraglacial period, thawing is expected, coupled with permafrost degradation and carbon release to the atmosphere, under the predicted warming scenario in MA.