The impacts of recent permafrost thaw on land–atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange
Permafrost thaw and the subsequent mobilization of carbon (C) stored in previously frozen soil organic matter (SOM) have the potential to be a strong positive feedback to climate. As the northern permafrost region experiences as much as a doubling of the rate of warming as the rest of the Earth, the...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8fdbe1fcdc09427184bce291ef55f80e 2023-09-05T13:11:11+02:00 The impacts of recent permafrost thaw on land–atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange Daniel J Hayes David W Kicklighter A David McGuire Min Chen Qianlai Zhuang Fengming Yuan Jerry M Melillo Stan D Wullschleger 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045005 https://doaj.org/article/8fdbe1fcdc09427184bce291ef55f80e EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045005 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045005 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/8fdbe1fcdc09427184bce291ef55f80e Environmental Research Letters, Vol 9, Iss 4, p 045005 (2014) permafrost carbon arctic boreal modeling Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045005 2023-08-13T00:37:22Z Permafrost thaw and the subsequent mobilization of carbon (C) stored in previously frozen soil organic matter (SOM) have the potential to be a strong positive feedback to climate. As the northern permafrost region experiences as much as a doubling of the rate of warming as the rest of the Earth, the vast amount of C in permafrost soils is vulnerable to thaw, decomposition and release as atmospheric greenhouse gases. Diagnostic and predictive estimates of high-latitude terrestrial C fluxes vary widely among different models depending on how dynamics in permafrost, and the seasonally thawed ‘active layer’ above it, are represented. Here, we employ a process-based model simulation experiment to assess the net effect of active layer dynamics on this ‘permafrost carbon feedback’ in recent decades, from 1970 to 2006, over the circumpolar domain of continuous and discontinuous permafrost. Over this time period, the model estimates a mean increase of 6.8 cm in active layer thickness across the domain, which exposes a total of 11.6 Pg C of thawed SOM to decomposition. According to our simulation experiment, mobilization of this previously frozen C results in an estimated cumulative net source of 3.7 Pg C to the atmosphere since 1970 directly tied to active layer dynamics. Enhanced decomposition from the newly exposed SOM accounts for the release of both CO _2 (4.0 Pg C) and CH _4 (0.03 Pg C), but is partially compensated by CO _2 uptake (0.3 Pg C) associated with enhanced net primary production of vegetation. This estimated net C transfer to the atmosphere from permafrost thaw represents a significant factor in the overall ecosystem carbon budget of the Pan-Arctic, and a non-trivial additional contribution on top of the combined fossil fuel emissions from the eight Arctic nations over this time period. Article in Journal/Newspaper Active layer thickness Arctic permafrost Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Environmental Research Letters 9 4 045005 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
permafrost carbon arctic boreal modeling Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
permafrost carbon arctic boreal modeling Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Daniel J Hayes David W Kicklighter A David McGuire Min Chen Qianlai Zhuang Fengming Yuan Jerry M Melillo Stan D Wullschleger The impacts of recent permafrost thaw on land–atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange |
topic_facet |
permafrost carbon arctic boreal modeling Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Permafrost thaw and the subsequent mobilization of carbon (C) stored in previously frozen soil organic matter (SOM) have the potential to be a strong positive feedback to climate. As the northern permafrost region experiences as much as a doubling of the rate of warming as the rest of the Earth, the vast amount of C in permafrost soils is vulnerable to thaw, decomposition and release as atmospheric greenhouse gases. Diagnostic and predictive estimates of high-latitude terrestrial C fluxes vary widely among different models depending on how dynamics in permafrost, and the seasonally thawed ‘active layer’ above it, are represented. Here, we employ a process-based model simulation experiment to assess the net effect of active layer dynamics on this ‘permafrost carbon feedback’ in recent decades, from 1970 to 2006, over the circumpolar domain of continuous and discontinuous permafrost. Over this time period, the model estimates a mean increase of 6.8 cm in active layer thickness across the domain, which exposes a total of 11.6 Pg C of thawed SOM to decomposition. According to our simulation experiment, mobilization of this previously frozen C results in an estimated cumulative net source of 3.7 Pg C to the atmosphere since 1970 directly tied to active layer dynamics. Enhanced decomposition from the newly exposed SOM accounts for the release of both CO _2 (4.0 Pg C) and CH _4 (0.03 Pg C), but is partially compensated by CO _2 uptake (0.3 Pg C) associated with enhanced net primary production of vegetation. This estimated net C transfer to the atmosphere from permafrost thaw represents a significant factor in the overall ecosystem carbon budget of the Pan-Arctic, and a non-trivial additional contribution on top of the combined fossil fuel emissions from the eight Arctic nations over this time period. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Daniel J Hayes David W Kicklighter A David McGuire Min Chen Qianlai Zhuang Fengming Yuan Jerry M Melillo Stan D Wullschleger |
author_facet |
Daniel J Hayes David W Kicklighter A David McGuire Min Chen Qianlai Zhuang Fengming Yuan Jerry M Melillo Stan D Wullschleger |
author_sort |
Daniel J Hayes |
title |
The impacts of recent permafrost thaw on land–atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange |
title_short |
The impacts of recent permafrost thaw on land–atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange |
title_full |
The impacts of recent permafrost thaw on land–atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange |
title_fullStr |
The impacts of recent permafrost thaw on land–atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange |
title_full_unstemmed |
The impacts of recent permafrost thaw on land–atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange |
title_sort |
impacts of recent permafrost thaw on land–atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045005 https://doaj.org/article/8fdbe1fcdc09427184bce291ef55f80e |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Active layer thickness Arctic permafrost |
genre_facet |
Active layer thickness Arctic permafrost |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 9, Iss 4, p 045005 (2014) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045005 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045005 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/8fdbe1fcdc09427184bce291ef55f80e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045005 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
045005 |
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1776198626576433152 |