Interannual variations in tundra methane emission: A 4‐year time series at fixed sites

• Published in: Global Biogeochemical Cycles
• Main Authors: Whalen, SC, Reeburgh, WS
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 1992
• Subjects: Arctic; Tundra
• Online Access: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/7637c1pd

Abstract. This paper summarizes 4 years (1987‐1990) of weekly net CH4flux measurements at permanent sites representing important plant components of Arctic tundra. The data coincide with variations in precipitation and temperature of interest in regional and global modeling efforts and are useful in placing bounds on the role of tundra in the global CH4budget. Precipitation in the study area during the summer emission period ranged from twice to half the long‐term mean, and air temperature anomalies were about +2 °C. This data set also permits consideration of temporal (seasonal to interannual) and spatial variability in CH4flux. We studied the relationship between the net CH4flux and subsurface properties (water table depth, thaw depth, soil temperature, /pCH4distributions) at these permanent sites during the 1988 and 1989 emission periods. Net CH4emission and subsurface properties are largely unrelated. Relationships between soil temperature (or any single variable) and emission are site specific and are of little value as flux predictors. Parameters that integrate conditions influencing flux appear to be the best flux predictors over the emission period. We estimate that Arctic wet meadow and tussock:shrub tundra presently emit about 42 ± 26 Tg CH4yr−1to the atmosphere. This estimate has a North American bias, but it is supported by measurements in a range of locations, transect studies, and model calculations. Copyright 1992 by the American Geophysical Union.