Massive remobilization of permafrost carbon during post-glacial warming

• Main Authors: Tesi, T., Muschitiello, Francesco, Smittenberg, R. H., Jakobsson, M., Vonk, J. E., Hill, P., Andersson, A., Kirchner, N., Noormets, R., Dudarev, O., Semiletov, I., Gustafsson, O.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2016
• Subjects: Cryosphere; Permafrost; Climatic changes; Carbon cycle (Biogeochemistry); Biogeochemistry; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Laptev Sea; laptev; permafrost
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.7916/D8GQ6Z65

Recent hypotheses, based on atmospheric records and models, suggest that permafrost carbon (PF-C) accumulated during the last glaciation may have been an important source for the atmospheric CO₂ rise during post-glacial warming. However, direct physical indications for such PF-C release have so far been absent. Here we use the Laptev Sea (Arctic Ocean) as an archive to investigate PF-C destabilization during the last glacial–interglacial period. Our results show evidence for massive supply of PF-C from Siberian soils as a result of severe active layer deepening in response to the warming. Thawing of PF-C must also have brought about an enhanced organic matter respiration and, thus, these findings suggest that PF-C may indeed have been an important source of CO₂ across the extensive permafrost domain. The results challenge current paradigms on the post-glacial CO₂ rise and, at the same time, serve as a harbinger for possible consequences of the present-day warming of PF-C soils.