Is the subarctic landscape still a carbon sink? Evidence from a detailed catchment balance
Climate warming raises the question whether high-latitude landscape still function as net carbon (C) sinks. By compiling an integrated C balance for an intensely studied subarctic catchment, we show that this catchment's C balance is not likely to be a strong current sink of C, a commonly held...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2016
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/is-the-subarctic-landscape-still-a-carbon-sink-evidence-from-a-detailed-catchment-balance(215720c0-b79e-4b10-9c4f-602fd48f96eb).html https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL066970 |
Summary: | Climate warming raises the question whether high-latitude landscape still function as net carbon (C) sinks. By compiling an integrated C balance for an intensely studied subarctic catchment, we show that this catchment's C balance is not likely to be a strong current sink of C, a commonly held assumption. In fact, it is more plausible (71% probability) that the studied catchment functions as a C source (-1120gCm(-2)yr(-1)). Analyses of individual fluxes indicate that soil and aquatic C losses offset C sequestering in other landscape components (e.g., peatlands and aboveground forest biomass). Our results stress the importance of fully integrated catchment C balance estimates and highlight the importance of upland soils and their interaction with the aquatic network for the catchment C balance. |
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