Recent peat and carbon accumulation on changing permafrost landforms along the Mackenzie River valley, Northwest Territories, Canada
Northwestern Canada is currently warming nearly four times faster than the global average, driving accelerated permafrost thaw and changes to ecosystem vegetation, hydrology and landscape structure across the landscape. While permafrost peatlands constitute a large carbon reservoir, there is no cons...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace9ed https://doaj.org/article/c33316890ac04edfa6c72b54361cd694 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c33316890ac04edfa6c72b54361cd694 2023-09-05T13:21:00+02:00 Recent peat and carbon accumulation on changing permafrost landforms along the Mackenzie River valley, Northwest Territories, Canada Pénélope Germain Chartrand Oliver Sonnentag Nicole K Sanderson Michelle Garneau 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace9ed https://doaj.org/article/c33316890ac04edfa6c72b54361cd694 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace9ed https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ace9ed 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/c33316890ac04edfa6c72b54361cd694 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 18, Iss 9, p 095002 (2023) peatland permafrost landform thermokarst climate warming carbon accumulation peat accumulation Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace9ed 2023-08-20T00:34:31Z Northwestern Canada is currently warming nearly four times faster than the global average, driving accelerated permafrost thaw and changes to ecosystem vegetation, hydrology and landscape structure across the landscape. While permafrost peatlands constitute a large carbon reservoir, there is no consensus yet on the direction and magnitude of changes to their vulnerable carbon balance. Here, we assessed changes in peatland ecosystems following permafrost thaw at three sites located along a 1000 km long climate and permafrost gradient along the Mackenzie River valley, Canada. Specifically, we examined vegetation succession over the last few decades to evaluate the possible impact of climate warming on peat and carbon accumulation. Results from the palaeoecological analysis of 20 surficial peat cores, supported by robust chronologies, show a return to Sphagnum accumulation since ca. 1980 CE in the sporadic and discontinuous permafrost zones and ca . 2000 CE in the continuous permafrost zone. The average rates of peat and carbon accumulation reached 4 mm yr ^−1 and 134 g C m ^−2 yr ^−1 at the northernmost site in the continuous permafrost zone. In contrast, peat and carbon accumulation reached 3 mm yr ^−1 and 81 g C m ^−2 yr ^−1 , respectively, in the sporadic and discontinuous permafrost zones. This study highlights the need for a net carbon budget that integrates the recent accelerated Sphagnum growth and carbon uptake from the atmosphere to better assess the potential carbon emissions offset following permafrost thaw. High-resolution palaeoecological studies can offer insights into decadal-scale patterns of vegetation and carbon balance changes to improve model predictions of peat climate-carbon cycle feedbacks. Article in Journal/Newspaper Mackenzie river Northwest Territories permafrost Thermokarst Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada Mackenzie River Northwest Territories Environmental Research Letters 18 9 095002 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
peatland permafrost landform thermokarst climate warming carbon accumulation peat accumulation Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
peatland permafrost landform thermokarst climate warming carbon accumulation peat accumulation Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Pénélope Germain Chartrand Oliver Sonnentag Nicole K Sanderson Michelle Garneau Recent peat and carbon accumulation on changing permafrost landforms along the Mackenzie River valley, Northwest Territories, Canada |
topic_facet |
peatland permafrost landform thermokarst climate warming carbon accumulation peat accumulation Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Northwestern Canada is currently warming nearly four times faster than the global average, driving accelerated permafrost thaw and changes to ecosystem vegetation, hydrology and landscape structure across the landscape. While permafrost peatlands constitute a large carbon reservoir, there is no consensus yet on the direction and magnitude of changes to their vulnerable carbon balance. Here, we assessed changes in peatland ecosystems following permafrost thaw at three sites located along a 1000 km long climate and permafrost gradient along the Mackenzie River valley, Canada. Specifically, we examined vegetation succession over the last few decades to evaluate the possible impact of climate warming on peat and carbon accumulation. Results from the palaeoecological analysis of 20 surficial peat cores, supported by robust chronologies, show a return to Sphagnum accumulation since ca. 1980 CE in the sporadic and discontinuous permafrost zones and ca . 2000 CE in the continuous permafrost zone. The average rates of peat and carbon accumulation reached 4 mm yr ^−1 and 134 g C m ^−2 yr ^−1 at the northernmost site in the continuous permafrost zone. In contrast, peat and carbon accumulation reached 3 mm yr ^−1 and 81 g C m ^−2 yr ^−1 , respectively, in the sporadic and discontinuous permafrost zones. This study highlights the need for a net carbon budget that integrates the recent accelerated Sphagnum growth and carbon uptake from the atmosphere to better assess the potential carbon emissions offset following permafrost thaw. High-resolution palaeoecological studies can offer insights into decadal-scale patterns of vegetation and carbon balance changes to improve model predictions of peat climate-carbon cycle feedbacks. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pénélope Germain Chartrand Oliver Sonnentag Nicole K Sanderson Michelle Garneau |
author_facet |
Pénélope Germain Chartrand Oliver Sonnentag Nicole K Sanderson Michelle Garneau |
author_sort |
Pénélope Germain Chartrand |
title |
Recent peat and carbon accumulation on changing permafrost landforms along the Mackenzie River valley, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_short |
Recent peat and carbon accumulation on changing permafrost landforms along the Mackenzie River valley, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_full |
Recent peat and carbon accumulation on changing permafrost landforms along the Mackenzie River valley, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Recent peat and carbon accumulation on changing permafrost landforms along the Mackenzie River valley, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recent peat and carbon accumulation on changing permafrost landforms along the Mackenzie River valley, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_sort |
recent peat and carbon accumulation on changing permafrost landforms along the mackenzie river valley, northwest territories, canada |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace9ed https://doaj.org/article/c33316890ac04edfa6c72b54361cd694 |
geographic |
Canada Mackenzie River Northwest Territories |
geographic_facet |
Canada Mackenzie River Northwest Territories |
genre |
Mackenzie river Northwest Territories permafrost Thermokarst |
genre_facet |
Mackenzie river Northwest Territories permafrost Thermokarst |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 18, Iss 9, p 095002 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace9ed https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ace9ed 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/c33316890ac04edfa6c72b54361cd694 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ace9ed |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
095002 |
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1776201628819390464 |