Elevation-based upscaling of organic carbon stocks in High-Arctic permafrost terrain: a storage and distribution assessment for Spitsbergen, Svalbard

Accurate quantity and distribution estimates of permafrost soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks are needed to project potential feedbacks to climate, following warming. Still, upscaling from local field observations to regional estimates to circumarctic assessments remains a challenge. Here we explore e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Research
Main Authors: Niels Weiss, Samuel Faucherre, Nikos Lampiris, Robin Wojcik
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2017
Subjects:
Soil organic carbon
SOC inventory
upscaling model
climate warming
greenhouse gas release
envir
geo
Arctic
Svalbard
permafrost
Polar Research
Spitsbergen
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1400363
https://doaj.org/article/ab36e86b4d2f488fb6802bf87ab69dc4
Description
Summary:Accurate quantity and distribution estimates of permafrost soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks are needed to project potential feedbacks to climate, following warming. Still, upscaling from local field observations to regional estimates to circumarctic assessments remains a challenge. Here we explore elevation-based upscaling techniques for High-Arctic permafrost SOC stocks. We combine two detailed, high-resolution SOC inventories on Spitsbergen (Svalbard) with regional validation data. We find a clear relationship between elevation and SOC content, and use this observed exponential correlation, as well as discrete elevation classes, as upscaling models for Spitsbergen. We estimate the total amount of permafrost SOC currently present in soils on Spitsbergen to be 105.36 Tg (0.11 Pg), with a mean SOC content of 2.84 ± 0.74 kg C m−2 (mean ± 95% confidence interval). Excluding glaciers and permanent snowfields, exposed land is currently estimated to contain 6.26 ± 1.47 kg C m−2.

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