Toward a statistical description of methane emissions from arctic wetlands

• Published in: Ambio
• Main Authors: Pirk, Norbert, Mastepanov, Mikhail, López-Blanco, Efrén, Christensen, Louise, Christiansen, Hanne Hvidtfeldt, Hansen, Birger, Lund, Magnus, Parmentier, Frans Jan W., Skov, Kirstine, Christensen, Torben R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Emission; Greenland; Methane; Svalbard; Tundra; Arctic
• Online Access: https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/toward-a-statistical-description-of-methane-emissions-from-arctic-wetlands(b1431eb6-24b4-4448-b526-d8fb756c61d3).html; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0893-3; https://curis.ku.dk/ws/files/173284420/Toward_a_statistical_description_of_methane_emissions_from_arctic_wetlands.pdf

Methane (CH 4 ) emissions from arctic tundra typically follow relations with soil temperature and water table depth, but these process-based descriptions can be difficult to apply to areas where no measurements exist. We formulated a description of the broader temporal flux pattern in the growing season based on two distinct CH 4 source components from slow and fast-turnover carbon. We used automatic closed chamber flux measurements from NE Greenland (74°N), W Greenland (64°N), and Svalbard (78°N) to identify and discuss these components. The temporal separation was well-suited in NE Greenland, where the hypothesized slow-turnover carbon peaked at a time significantly related to the timing of snowmelt. The temporally wider component from fast-turnover carbon dominated the emissions in W Greenland and Svalbard. Altogether, we found no dependence of the total seasonal CH 4 budget to the timing of snowmelt, and warmer sites and years tended to yield higher CH 4 emissions.