Low below-ground organic carbon storage in a subarctic Alpine permafrost environment
This study investigates the soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in Tarfala Valley, northern Sweden. Field inventories, upscaled based on land cover, show that this alpine permafrost environment does not store large amounts of SOC, with an estimate mean of 0.9 ± 0.2 kg C m −2 for the upper meter of soi...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-427-2015 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/9/427/2015/ |
id |
ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc25057 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc25057 2023-05-15T17:44:47+02:00 Low below-ground organic carbon storage in a subarctic Alpine permafrost environment Fuchs, M. Kuhry, P. Hugelius, G. 2018-09-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-427-2015 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/9/427/2015/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-9-427-2015 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/9/427/2015/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-427-2015 2020-07-20T16:24:46Z This study investigates the soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in Tarfala Valley, northern Sweden. Field inventories, upscaled based on land cover, show that this alpine permafrost environment does not store large amounts of SOC, with an estimate mean of 0.9 ± 0.2 kg C m −2 for the upper meter of soil. This is 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower than what has been reported for lowland permafrost terrain. The SOC storage varies for different land cover classes and ranges from 0.05 kg C m −2 for stone-dominated to 8.4 kg C m −2 for grass-dominated areas. No signs of organic matter burial through cryoturbation or slope processes were found, and radiocarbon-dated SOC is generally of recent origin (<2000 cal yr BP). An inventory of permafrost distribution in Tarfala Valley, based on the bottom temperature of snow measurements and a logistic regression model, showed that at an altitude where permafrost is probable the SOC storage is very low. In the high-altitude permafrost zones (above 1500 m), soils store only ca. 0.1 kg C m −2 . Under future climate warming, an upward shift of vegetation zones may lead to a net ecosystem C uptake from increased biomass and soil development. As a consequence, alpine permafrost environments could act as a net carbon sink in the future, as there is no loss of older or deeper SOC from thawing permafrost. Text Northern Sweden permafrost Subarctic Tarfala Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Tarfala ENVELOPE(18.608,18.608,67.914,67.914) The Cryosphere 9 2 427 438 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
This study investigates the soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in Tarfala Valley, northern Sweden. Field inventories, upscaled based on land cover, show that this alpine permafrost environment does not store large amounts of SOC, with an estimate mean of 0.9 ± 0.2 kg C m −2 for the upper meter of soil. This is 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower than what has been reported for lowland permafrost terrain. The SOC storage varies for different land cover classes and ranges from 0.05 kg C m −2 for stone-dominated to 8.4 kg C m −2 for grass-dominated areas. No signs of organic matter burial through cryoturbation or slope processes were found, and radiocarbon-dated SOC is generally of recent origin (<2000 cal yr BP). An inventory of permafrost distribution in Tarfala Valley, based on the bottom temperature of snow measurements and a logistic regression model, showed that at an altitude where permafrost is probable the SOC storage is very low. In the high-altitude permafrost zones (above 1500 m), soils store only ca. 0.1 kg C m −2 . Under future climate warming, an upward shift of vegetation zones may lead to a net ecosystem C uptake from increased biomass and soil development. As a consequence, alpine permafrost environments could act as a net carbon sink in the future, as there is no loss of older or deeper SOC from thawing permafrost. |
format |
Text |
author |
Fuchs, M. Kuhry, P. Hugelius, G. |
spellingShingle |
Fuchs, M. Kuhry, P. Hugelius, G. Low below-ground organic carbon storage in a subarctic Alpine permafrost environment |
author_facet |
Fuchs, M. Kuhry, P. Hugelius, G. |
author_sort |
Fuchs, M. |
title |
Low below-ground organic carbon storage in a subarctic Alpine permafrost environment |
title_short |
Low below-ground organic carbon storage in a subarctic Alpine permafrost environment |
title_full |
Low below-ground organic carbon storage in a subarctic Alpine permafrost environment |
title_fullStr |
Low below-ground organic carbon storage in a subarctic Alpine permafrost environment |
title_full_unstemmed |
Low below-ground organic carbon storage in a subarctic Alpine permafrost environment |
title_sort |
low below-ground organic carbon storage in a subarctic alpine permafrost environment |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-427-2015 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/9/427/2015/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(18.608,18.608,67.914,67.914) |
geographic |
Tarfala |
geographic_facet |
Tarfala |
genre |
Northern Sweden permafrost Subarctic Tarfala |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden permafrost Subarctic Tarfala |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-9-427-2015 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/9/427/2015/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-427-2015 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
427 |
op_container_end_page |
438 |
_version_ |
1766147070716018688 |