Impact of western Siberia heat wave 2012 on greenhouse gases and trace metal concentration in thaw lakes of discontinuous permafrost zone

• Published in: Biogeosciences
• Main Authors: O. S. Pokrovsky, L. S. Shirokova, S. N. Kirpotin, S. P. Kulizhsky, S. N. Vorobiev
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2013
• Subjects: Ecology; QH540-549.5; Life; QH501-531; Geology; QE1-996.5; permafrost; Thermokarst; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-5349-2013; https://doaj.org/article/4570df9a7e264031a5270b3853954751

During the anomalously hot summer in 2012, surface air temperatures in Western Siberia were 5 to 15 °C higher than those observed during the previous period of > 30 yr. This unusual climate phenomenon provided an opportunity to examine the effects of short-term natural heating of water in thermokarst ponds and lakes in discontinuous permafrost zones and compare these observations to previous field results obtained when the temperature was normal during the summer of 2010 in the same region. In 2012, thermokarst bodies of water shrank significantly, water levels dropped approximately 50 cm in large lakes and small (< 10–100 m 2 ) ponds, and shallow soil depressions disappeared. Based on samples from ~ 40 bodies of water collected previously and in 2012, first-order features of changes in chemical composition in response to increased water temperatures (from 14.1 ± 2.2 to 23.8 ± 2.3 °C in 2010 and 2012, respectively) were established. In these thermokarst bodies of water that covered a full range of surface areas, the average conductivity and pH were almost unchanged, whereas dissolved organic carbon (DOC), Cl - and SO 4 2- concentrations were higher by a factor of ~ 2 during summer 2012 compared to periods with normal temperatures. Similarly, most divalent metals and insoluble trivalent and tetravalent elements were more concentrated by a factor of 1.7–2.4 in the summer of 2012 than normal periods. The average concentrations of dissolved CO 2 and CH 4 during the hot summer of 2012 increased by factors of 1.4 and 4.9, respectively. For most of the trace elements bound to colloids, the degree of colloidal binding decreased by a factor of 1.44 ± 0.33 (for an average of 40 elements) during the hot summer of 2012 compared to normal periods. Increases in CO 2 and CH 4 concentrations with the decreasing size of the body of water were well-pronounced during the hot summer of 2012. The concentrations of CO 2 and CH 4 rose by factors of 5 and 150, respectively, in small (≤ 10 2 m 2 ) compared to large (≥ 10 4 m 2 ) ...