Lowering water table reduces carbon sink strength and carbon stocks in northern peatlands
Abstract Peatlands at high latitudes have accumulated >400 Pg carbon (C) because saturated soil and cold temperatures suppress C decomposition. This substantial amount of C in Arctic and Boreal peatlands is potentially subject to increased decomposition if the water table (WT) decreases due to cl...
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crwiley:10.1111/gcb.16394 2024-06-23T07:50:53+00:00 Lowering water table reduces carbon sink strength and carbon stocks in northern peatlands Kwon, Min Jung Ballantyne, Ashley Ciais, Philippe Qiu, Chunjing Salmon, Elodie Raoult, Nina Guenet, Bertrand Göckede, Mathias Euskirchen, Eugénie S. Nykänen, Hannu Schuur, Edward A. G. Turetsky, Merritt R. Dieleman, Catherine M. Kane, Evan S. Zona, Donatella Academy of Finland Agence Nationale de la Recherche H2020 Societal Challenges National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16394 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.16394 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/gcb.16394 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Global Change Biology volume 28, issue 22, page 6752-6770 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 journal-article 2022 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16394 2024-06-11T04:41:42Z Abstract Peatlands at high latitudes have accumulated >400 Pg carbon (C) because saturated soil and cold temperatures suppress C decomposition. This substantial amount of C in Arctic and Boreal peatlands is potentially subject to increased decomposition if the water table (WT) decreases due to climate change, including permafrost thaw‐related drying. Here, we optimize a version of the Organizing Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic Ecosystems model (ORCHIDEE‐PCH4) using site‐specific observations to investigate changes in CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes as well as C stock responses to an experimentally manipulated decrease of WT at six northern peatlands. The unmanipulated control peatlands, with the WT <20 cm on average (seasonal max up to 45 cm) below the surface, currently act as C sinks in most years (58 ± 34 g C m −2 year −1 including 6 ± 7 g C–CH 4 m −2 year −1 emission). We found, however, that lowering the WT by 10 cm reduced the CO 2 sink by 13 ± 15 g C m −2 year −1 and decreased CH 4 emission by 4 ± 4 g CH 4 m −2 year −1 , thus accumulating less C over 100 years (0.2 ± 0.2 kg C m −2 ). Yet, the reduced emission of CH 4 , which has a larger greenhouse warming potential, resulted in a net decrease in greenhouse gas balance by 310 ± 360 g CO 2‐eq m −2 year −1 . Peatlands with the initial WT close to the soil surface were more vulnerable to C loss: Non‐permafrost peatlands lost >2 kg C m −2 over 100 years when WT is lowered by 50 cm, while permafrost peatlands temporally switched from C sinks to sources. These results highlight that reductions in C storage capacity in response to drying of northern peatlands are offset in part by reduced CH 4 emissions, thus slightly reducing the positive carbon climate feedbacks of peatlands under a warmer and drier future climate scenario. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change permafrost Wiley Online Library Arctic Global Change Biology 28 22 6752 6770 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Peatlands at high latitudes have accumulated >400 Pg carbon (C) because saturated soil and cold temperatures suppress C decomposition. This substantial amount of C in Arctic and Boreal peatlands is potentially subject to increased decomposition if the water table (WT) decreases due to climate change, including permafrost thaw‐related drying. Here, we optimize a version of the Organizing Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic Ecosystems model (ORCHIDEE‐PCH4) using site‐specific observations to investigate changes in CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes as well as C stock responses to an experimentally manipulated decrease of WT at six northern peatlands. The unmanipulated control peatlands, with the WT <20 cm on average (seasonal max up to 45 cm) below the surface, currently act as C sinks in most years (58 ± 34 g C m −2 year −1 including 6 ± 7 g C–CH 4 m −2 year −1 emission). We found, however, that lowering the WT by 10 cm reduced the CO 2 sink by 13 ± 15 g C m −2 year −1 and decreased CH 4 emission by 4 ± 4 g CH 4 m −2 year −1 , thus accumulating less C over 100 years (0.2 ± 0.2 kg C m −2 ). Yet, the reduced emission of CH 4 , which has a larger greenhouse warming potential, resulted in a net decrease in greenhouse gas balance by 310 ± 360 g CO 2‐eq m −2 year −1 . Peatlands with the initial WT close to the soil surface were more vulnerable to C loss: Non‐permafrost peatlands lost >2 kg C m −2 over 100 years when WT is lowered by 50 cm, while permafrost peatlands temporally switched from C sinks to sources. These results highlight that reductions in C storage capacity in response to drying of northern peatlands are offset in part by reduced CH 4 emissions, thus slightly reducing the positive carbon climate feedbacks of peatlands under a warmer and drier future climate scenario. |
author2 |
Academy of Finland Agence Nationale de la Recherche H2020 Societal Challenges National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kwon, Min Jung Ballantyne, Ashley Ciais, Philippe Qiu, Chunjing Salmon, Elodie Raoult, Nina Guenet, Bertrand Göckede, Mathias Euskirchen, Eugénie S. Nykänen, Hannu Schuur, Edward A. G. Turetsky, Merritt R. Dieleman, Catherine M. Kane, Evan S. Zona, Donatella |
spellingShingle |
Kwon, Min Jung Ballantyne, Ashley Ciais, Philippe Qiu, Chunjing Salmon, Elodie Raoult, Nina Guenet, Bertrand Göckede, Mathias Euskirchen, Eugénie S. Nykänen, Hannu Schuur, Edward A. G. Turetsky, Merritt R. Dieleman, Catherine M. Kane, Evan S. Zona, Donatella Lowering water table reduces carbon sink strength and carbon stocks in northern peatlands |
author_facet |
Kwon, Min Jung Ballantyne, Ashley Ciais, Philippe Qiu, Chunjing Salmon, Elodie Raoult, Nina Guenet, Bertrand Göckede, Mathias Euskirchen, Eugénie S. Nykänen, Hannu Schuur, Edward A. G. Turetsky, Merritt R. Dieleman, Catherine M. Kane, Evan S. Zona, Donatella |
author_sort |
Kwon, Min Jung |
title |
Lowering water table reduces carbon sink strength and carbon stocks in northern peatlands |
title_short |
Lowering water table reduces carbon sink strength and carbon stocks in northern peatlands |
title_full |
Lowering water table reduces carbon sink strength and carbon stocks in northern peatlands |
title_fullStr |
Lowering water table reduces carbon sink strength and carbon stocks in northern peatlands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Lowering water table reduces carbon sink strength and carbon stocks in northern peatlands |
title_sort |
lowering water table reduces carbon sink strength and carbon stocks in northern peatlands |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16394 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.16394 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/gcb.16394 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change permafrost |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change permafrost |
op_source |
Global Change Biology volume 28, issue 22, page 6752-6770 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16394 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
28 |
container_issue |
22 |
container_start_page |
6752 |
op_container_end_page |
6770 |
_version_ |
1802641825746386944 |