Large difference in carbon emission - burial balances between boreal and arctic lakes

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Lundin, E. J., Klaminder, J., Bastviken, David, Olid, C., Hansson, S. V., Karlsson, J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Linköpings universitet, Tema Miljöförändring 2015
• Subjects: Earth and Related Environmental Sciences; Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap; Arctic; Global warming; Subarctic
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-121740; https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14248

Lakes play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle by burying C in sediments and emitting CO2 and CH4 to the atmosphere. The strengths and control of these fundamentally different pathways are therefore of interest when assessing the continental C balance and its response to environmental change. In this study, based on new high-resolution estimates in combination with literature data, we show that annual emission: burial ratios are generally ten times higher in boreal compared to subarctic - arctic lakes. These results suggest major differences in lake C cycling between biomes, as lakes in warmer boreal regions emit more and store relatively less C than lakes in colder arctic regions. Such effects are of major importance for understanding climatic feedbacks on the continental C sink - source function at high latitudes. If predictions of global warming and northward expansion of the boreal biome are correct, it is likely that increasing C emissions from high latitude lakes will partly counteract the presumed increasing terrestrial C sink capacity at high latitudes. Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council [dnr. 621-385 2008-4390]