Toward a statistical description of methane emissions from arctic wetlands

• Published in: Ambio
• Main Authors: Pirk, Norbert, Mastepanov, Mikhail, López-Blanco, Efrén, Christensen, Louise H., Christiansen, Hanne H, Hansen, Birger Ulf, Lund, Magnus, Parmentier, Frans-Jan W., Skov, Kirstine, Christensen, Torben R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Netherlands 2018
• Subjects: Emission; Methane; Tundra; Arctic; Greenland; Svalbard
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2495630; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0893-3

Methane (CH4) emissions from arctic tundra typically follow relations with soil temperature and water table depth, but these process-based descriptions can be difficult to apply to areas where no measurements exist. We formulated a description of the broader temporal flux pattern in the growing season based on two distinct CH4 source components from slow and fast-turnover carbon. We used automatic closed chamber flux measurements from NE Greenland (74°N), W Greenland (64°N), and Svalbard (78°N) to identify and discuss these components. The temporal separation was well-suited in NE Greenland, where the hypothesized slow-turnover carbon peaked at a time significantly related to the timing of snowmelt. The temporally wider component from fast-turnover carbon dominated the emissions in W Greenland and Svalbard. Altogether, we found no dependence of the total seasonal CH4 budget to the timing of snowmelt, and warmer sites and years tended to yield higher CH4 emissions. publishedVersion