Simulating soil organic carbon in yedoma deposits during the Last Glacial Maximum in a land surface

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Zhu, D., Peng, S., Ciais, P., Zech, R., Krinner, G., Zimov, S., Grosse, G.
• Other Authors: Zhu, D (reprint author), LSCE CEA CNRS UVSQ, Lab Sci Climat & Environm, Gif Sur Yvette, France., LSCE CEA CNRS UVSQ, Lab Sci Climat & Environm, Gif Sur Yvette, France., Peking Univ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Sino French Inst Earth Syst Sci, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China., Univ Bern, Geog Inst, Bern, Switzerland., Univ Bern, Oeschger Ctr Climate Change Res, Bern, Switzerland., CNRS, LGGE, Grenoble, France., Russian Acad Sci, Pacific Inst Geog, Northeast Sci Stn, Cherskii, Russia., Helmholtz Ctr Polar & Marine Res, Alfred Wegener Inst, Periglacial Res Unit, Potsdam, Germany.
• Format: Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS 2016
• Subjects: PERMAFROST CARBON; CLIMATE-CHANGE; NORTHEAST SIBERIA; ATMOSPHERIC CO2; MAMMOTH STEPPE; ICE-AGE; DYNAMICS; PLEISTOCENE; RELEASE; TUNDRA; Ice; permafrost; Tundra; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/492295; https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068874

Substantial quantities of organic carbon (OC) are stored in the thick, ice-rich, and organic-rich sediments called yedoma deposits, distributed in eastern Siberia and Alaska today. Quantifying yedoma carbon stocks during the glacial period is important for understanding how much carbon could have been decomposed during the last deglaciation. Yet processes that yield the formation of thick frozen OC in yedoma deposits aremissing in global carbon cycle models. Here we incorporate sedimentation parameterizations into the Organizing Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic Ecosystems (ORCHIDEE-MICT) land surface model, which leads to reasonable results in OC vertical distribution and regional budgets, compared with site-specific observations and inventories for today's nondegraded yedoma region. Simulated total soil OC stock for the northern permafrost region during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is 1536-1592 Pg C, of which 390-446 Pg C is within today's yedoma region. This result is an underestimation since we did not account for the potentially much larger yedoma area during the LGM than the present day. Swedish French "GAP" project; European Research Council through Synergy grant [ERC-2013-SyG-610028]; Swiss National Science Foundation [PP00P2_150590]; ERC [338335] SCI(E) EI ARTICLE [e-mail] 10 5133-5142 43