Using atmospheric observations to quantify annual biogenic carbon dioxide fluxes on the Alaska North Slope
The continued warming of the Arctic could release vast stores of carbon into the atmosphere from high-latitude ecosystems, especially from thawing permafrost. Increasing uptake of carbon dioxide ( CO 2 ) by vegetation during longer growing seasons may partially offset such release of carbon. However...
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2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5953-2022 https://doaj.org/article/c8cbf723703b4f6384d2892950732c9b |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c8cbf723703b4f6384d2892950732c9b 2023-05-15T13:09:05+02:00 Using atmospheric observations to quantify annual biogenic carbon dioxide fluxes on the Alaska North Slope L. D. Schiferl J. D. Watts E. J. L. Larson K. A. Arndt S. C. Biraud E. S. Euskirchen J. P. Goodrich J. M. Henderson A. Kalhori K. McKain M. E. Mountain J. W. Munger W. C. Oechel C. Sweeney Y. Yi D. Zona R. Commane 2022-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5953-2022 https://doaj.org/article/c8cbf723703b4f6384d2892950732c9b EN eng Copernicus Publications https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/19/5953/2022/bg-19-5953-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-19-5953-2022 1726-4170 1726-4189 https://doaj.org/article/c8cbf723703b4f6384d2892950732c9b Biogeosciences, Vol 19, Pp 5953-5972 (2022) Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5953-2022 2022-12-30T19:33:14Z The continued warming of the Arctic could release vast stores of carbon into the atmosphere from high-latitude ecosystems, especially from thawing permafrost. Increasing uptake of carbon dioxide ( CO 2 ) by vegetation during longer growing seasons may partially offset such release of carbon. However, evidence of significant net annual release of carbon from site-level observations and model simulations across tundra ecosystems has been inconclusive. To address this knowledge gap, we combined top-down observations of atmospheric CO 2 concentration enhancements from aircraft and a tall tower, which integrate ecosystem exchange over large regions, with bottom-up observed CO 2 fluxes from tundra environments and found that the Alaska North Slope is not a consistent net source nor net sink of CO 2 to the atmosphere (ranging from −6 to +6 Tg C yr −1 for 2012–2017). Our analysis suggests that significant biogenic CO 2 fluxes from unfrozen terrestrial soils, and likely inland waters, during the early cold season (September–December) are major factors in determining the net annual carbon balance of the North Slope, implying strong sensitivity to the rapidly warming freeze-up period. At the regional level, we find no evidence of the previously reported large late-cold-season (January–April) CO 2 emissions to the atmosphere during the study period. Despite the importance of the cold-season CO 2 emissions to the annual total, the interannual variability in the net CO 2 flux is driven by the variability in growing season fluxes. During the growing season, the regional net CO 2 flux is also highly sensitive to the distribution of tundra vegetation types throughout the North Slope. This study shows that quantification and characterization of year-round CO 2 fluxes from the heterogeneous terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the Arctic using both site-level and atmospheric observations are important to accurately project the Earth system response to future warming. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alaska North Slope Arctic north slope permafrost Tundra Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Biogeosciences 19 24 5953 5972 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 L. D. Schiferl J. D. Watts E. J. L. Larson K. A. Arndt S. C. Biraud E. S. Euskirchen J. P. Goodrich J. M. Henderson A. Kalhori K. McKain M. E. Mountain J. W. Munger W. C. Oechel C. Sweeney Y. Yi D. Zona R. Commane Using atmospheric observations to quantify annual biogenic carbon dioxide fluxes on the Alaska North Slope |
topic_facet |
Ecology QH540-549.5 Life QH501-531 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The continued warming of the Arctic could release vast stores of carbon into the atmosphere from high-latitude ecosystems, especially from thawing permafrost. Increasing uptake of carbon dioxide ( CO 2 ) by vegetation during longer growing seasons may partially offset such release of carbon. However, evidence of significant net annual release of carbon from site-level observations and model simulations across tundra ecosystems has been inconclusive. To address this knowledge gap, we combined top-down observations of atmospheric CO 2 concentration enhancements from aircraft and a tall tower, which integrate ecosystem exchange over large regions, with bottom-up observed CO 2 fluxes from tundra environments and found that the Alaska North Slope is not a consistent net source nor net sink of CO 2 to the atmosphere (ranging from −6 to +6 Tg C yr −1 for 2012–2017). Our analysis suggests that significant biogenic CO 2 fluxes from unfrozen terrestrial soils, and likely inland waters, during the early cold season (September–December) are major factors in determining the net annual carbon balance of the North Slope, implying strong sensitivity to the rapidly warming freeze-up period. At the regional level, we find no evidence of the previously reported large late-cold-season (January–April) CO 2 emissions to the atmosphere during the study period. Despite the importance of the cold-season CO 2 emissions to the annual total, the interannual variability in the net CO 2 flux is driven by the variability in growing season fluxes. During the growing season, the regional net CO 2 flux is also highly sensitive to the distribution of tundra vegetation types throughout the North Slope. This study shows that quantification and characterization of year-round CO 2 fluxes from the heterogeneous terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the Arctic using both site-level and atmospheric observations are important to accurately project the Earth system response to future warming. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
L. D. Schiferl J. D. Watts E. J. L. Larson K. A. Arndt S. C. Biraud E. S. Euskirchen J. P. Goodrich J. M. Henderson A. Kalhori K. McKain M. E. Mountain J. W. Munger W. C. Oechel C. Sweeney Y. Yi D. Zona R. Commane |
author_facet |
L. D. Schiferl J. D. Watts E. J. L. Larson K. A. Arndt S. C. Biraud E. S. Euskirchen J. P. Goodrich J. M. Henderson A. Kalhori K. McKain M. E. Mountain J. W. Munger W. C. Oechel C. Sweeney Y. Yi D. Zona R. Commane |
author_sort |
L. D. Schiferl |
title |
Using atmospheric observations to quantify annual biogenic carbon dioxide fluxes on the Alaska North Slope |
title_short |
Using atmospheric observations to quantify annual biogenic carbon dioxide fluxes on the Alaska North Slope |
title_full |
Using atmospheric observations to quantify annual biogenic carbon dioxide fluxes on the Alaska North Slope |
title_fullStr |
Using atmospheric observations to quantify annual biogenic carbon dioxide fluxes on the Alaska North Slope |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using atmospheric observations to quantify annual biogenic carbon dioxide fluxes on the Alaska North Slope |
title_sort |
using atmospheric observations to quantify annual biogenic carbon dioxide fluxes on the alaska north slope |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5953-2022 https://doaj.org/article/c8cbf723703b4f6384d2892950732c9b |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Alaska North Slope Arctic north slope permafrost Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Alaska North Slope Arctic north slope permafrost Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Biogeosciences, Vol 19, Pp 5953-5972 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/19/5953/2022/bg-19-5953-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4170 https://doaj.org/toc/1726-4189 doi:10.5194/bg-19-5953-2022 1726-4170 1726-4189 https://doaj.org/article/c8cbf723703b4f6384d2892950732c9b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5953-2022 |
container_title |
Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
24 |
container_start_page |
5953 |
op_container_end_page |
5972 |
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1766161905256235008 |