Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget
Arctic terrestrial ecosystems are major global sources of methane (CH4); hence, it is important to understand the seasonal and climatic controls on CH4 emissions from these systems. Here, we report year-round CH4 emissions from Alaskan Arctic tundra eddy flux sites and regional fluxes derived from a...
Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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National Academy of Sciences
2017
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10138/190718 |
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ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/190718 |
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record_format |
openpolar |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivhelsihelda |
language |
English |
topic |
permafrost aircraft fall winter warming EDDY COVARIANCE MEASUREMENTS NET ECOSYSTEM EXCHANGE TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE PERMAFROST CARBON ACTIVE LAYER WEST SIBERIA CH4 FLUX MODELS CO2 114 Physical sciences 1172 Environmental sciences |
spellingShingle |
permafrost aircraft fall winter warming EDDY COVARIANCE MEASUREMENTS NET ECOSYSTEM EXCHANGE TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE PERMAFROST CARBON ACTIVE LAYER WEST SIBERIA CH4 FLUX MODELS CO2 114 Physical sciences 1172 Environmental sciences Zona, Donatella Gioli, Beniamino Commane, Roisin Lindaas, Jakob Wofsy, Steven C. Miller, Charles E. Dinardo, Steven J. Dengel, Sigrid Sweeney, Colm Karion, Anna Chang, Rachel Y. -W. Henderson, John M. Murphy, Patrick C. Goodrich, Jordan P. Moreaux, Virginie Liljedahl, Anna Watts, Jennifer D. Kimball, John S. Lipson, David A. Oechel, Walter C. Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget |
topic_facet |
permafrost aircraft fall winter warming EDDY COVARIANCE MEASUREMENTS NET ECOSYSTEM EXCHANGE TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE PERMAFROST CARBON ACTIVE LAYER WEST SIBERIA CH4 FLUX MODELS CO2 114 Physical sciences 1172 Environmental sciences |
description |
Arctic terrestrial ecosystems are major global sources of methane (CH4); hence, it is important to understand the seasonal and climatic controls on CH4 emissions from these systems. Here, we report year-round CH4 emissions from Alaskan Arctic tundra eddy flux sites and regional fluxes derived from aircraft data. We find that emissions during the cold season (September to May) account for >= 50% of the annual CH4 flux, with the highest emissions from noninundated upland tundra. A major fraction of cold season emissions occur during the "zero curtain" period, when subsurface soil temperatures are poised near 0 degrees C. The zero curtain may persist longer than the growing season, and CH4 emissions are enhanced when the duration is extended by a deep thawed layer as can occur with thick snow cover. Regional scale fluxes of CH4 derived from aircraft data demonstrate the large spatial extent of late season CH4 emissions. Scaled to the circumpolar Arctic, cold season fluxes from tundra total 12 +/- 5 (95% confidence interval) Tg CH4 y(-1), similar to 25% of global emissions from extratropical wetlands, or similar to 6% of total global wetland methane emissions. The dominance of late-season emissions, sensitivity to soil environmental conditions, and importance of dry tundra are not currently simulated in most global climate models. Because Arctic warming disproportionally impacts the cold season, our results suggest that higher cold-season CH4 emissions will result from observed and predicted increases in snow thickness, active layer depth, and soil temperature, representing important positive feedbacks on climate warming. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
Department of Physics Ecosystem processes (INAR Forest Sciences) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zona, Donatella Gioli, Beniamino Commane, Roisin Lindaas, Jakob Wofsy, Steven C. Miller, Charles E. Dinardo, Steven J. Dengel, Sigrid Sweeney, Colm Karion, Anna Chang, Rachel Y. -W. Henderson, John M. Murphy, Patrick C. Goodrich, Jordan P. Moreaux, Virginie Liljedahl, Anna Watts, Jennifer D. Kimball, John S. Lipson, David A. Oechel, Walter C. |
author_facet |
Zona, Donatella Gioli, Beniamino Commane, Roisin Lindaas, Jakob Wofsy, Steven C. Miller, Charles E. Dinardo, Steven J. Dengel, Sigrid Sweeney, Colm Karion, Anna Chang, Rachel Y. -W. Henderson, John M. Murphy, Patrick C. Goodrich, Jordan P. Moreaux, Virginie Liljedahl, Anna Watts, Jennifer D. Kimball, John S. Lipson, David A. Oechel, Walter C. |
author_sort |
Zona, Donatella |
title |
Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget |
title_short |
Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget |
title_full |
Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget |
title_fullStr |
Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget |
title_sort |
cold season emissions dominate the arctic tundra methane budget |
publisher |
National Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/190718 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic permafrost Tundra Siberia |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic permafrost Tundra Siberia |
op_relation |
10.1073/pnas.1516017113 We thank the Global Change Research Group at San Diego State University, UMIAQ, Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation (UIC), CH2M HILL Polar Services for logistical support; Salvatore Losacco, Owen Hayman, and Herbert Njuabe for help with field data collection; David Beerling for comments on the manuscript; Scot Miller for suggestions on the statistical analysis; and George Burba for suggestions on the data quality assessment. The statistical analysis was performed using R, and we thank the R Developing Core Team. This research was conducted on land owned by the UIC. This work was funded by the Division of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award 1204263); Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment (CARVE), an Earth Ventures (EV-1) investigation, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and Department of Energy (DOE) Grant DE-SC005160. Logistical support was funded by the NSF Division of Polar Programs. Zona , D , Gioli , B , Commane , R , Lindaas , J , Wofsy , S C , Miller , C E , Dinardo , S J , Dengel , S , Sweeney , C , Karion , A , Chang , R Y -W , Henderson , J M , Murphy , P C , Goodrich , J P , Moreaux , V , Liljedahl , A , Watts , J D , Kimball , J S , Lipson , D A & Oechel , W C 2016 , ' Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget ' , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , vol. 113 , no. 1 , pp. 40-45 . https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516017113 84953226850 a099a560-f32b-4004-b726-7ab5ff7330dd http://hdl.handle.net/10138/190718 000367520400029 |
op_rights |
unspecified openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
113 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
40 |
op_container_end_page |
45 |
_version_ |
1787421555974733824 |
spelling |
ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/190718 2024-01-07T09:40:45+01:00 Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget Zona, Donatella Gioli, Beniamino Commane, Roisin Lindaas, Jakob Wofsy, Steven C. Miller, Charles E. Dinardo, Steven J. Dengel, Sigrid Sweeney, Colm Karion, Anna Chang, Rachel Y. -W. Henderson, John M. Murphy, Patrick C. Goodrich, Jordan P. Moreaux, Virginie Liljedahl, Anna Watts, Jennifer D. Kimball, John S. Lipson, David A. Oechel, Walter C. Department of Physics Ecosystem processes (INAR Forest Sciences) 2017-06-13T10:32:01Z 6 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10138/190718 eng eng National Academy of Sciences 10.1073/pnas.1516017113 We thank the Global Change Research Group at San Diego State University, UMIAQ, Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation (UIC), CH2M HILL Polar Services for logistical support; Salvatore Losacco, Owen Hayman, and Herbert Njuabe for help with field data collection; David Beerling for comments on the manuscript; Scot Miller for suggestions on the statistical analysis; and George Burba for suggestions on the data quality assessment. The statistical analysis was performed using R, and we thank the R Developing Core Team. This research was conducted on land owned by the UIC. This work was funded by the Division of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award 1204263); Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment (CARVE), an Earth Ventures (EV-1) investigation, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and Department of Energy (DOE) Grant DE-SC005160. Logistical support was funded by the NSF Division of Polar Programs. Zona , D , Gioli , B , Commane , R , Lindaas , J , Wofsy , S C , Miller , C E , Dinardo , S J , Dengel , S , Sweeney , C , Karion , A , Chang , R Y -W , Henderson , J M , Murphy , P C , Goodrich , J P , Moreaux , V , Liljedahl , A , Watts , J D , Kimball , J S , Lipson , D A & Oechel , W C 2016 , ' Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget ' , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , vol. 113 , no. 1 , pp. 40-45 . https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516017113 84953226850 a099a560-f32b-4004-b726-7ab5ff7330dd http://hdl.handle.net/10138/190718 000367520400029 unspecified openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess permafrost aircraft fall winter warming EDDY COVARIANCE MEASUREMENTS NET ECOSYSTEM EXCHANGE TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE PERMAFROST CARBON ACTIVE LAYER WEST SIBERIA CH4 FLUX MODELS CO2 114 Physical sciences 1172 Environmental sciences Article publishedVersion 2017 ftunivhelsihelda 2023-12-14T00:12:58Z Arctic terrestrial ecosystems are major global sources of methane (CH4); hence, it is important to understand the seasonal and climatic controls on CH4 emissions from these systems. Here, we report year-round CH4 emissions from Alaskan Arctic tundra eddy flux sites and regional fluxes derived from aircraft data. We find that emissions during the cold season (September to May) account for >= 50% of the annual CH4 flux, with the highest emissions from noninundated upland tundra. A major fraction of cold season emissions occur during the "zero curtain" period, when subsurface soil temperatures are poised near 0 degrees C. The zero curtain may persist longer than the growing season, and CH4 emissions are enhanced when the duration is extended by a deep thawed layer as can occur with thick snow cover. Regional scale fluxes of CH4 derived from aircraft data demonstrate the large spatial extent of late season CH4 emissions. Scaled to the circumpolar Arctic, cold season fluxes from tundra total 12 +/- 5 (95% confidence interval) Tg CH4 y(-1), similar to 25% of global emissions from extratropical wetlands, or similar to 6% of total global wetland methane emissions. The dominance of late-season emissions, sensitivity to soil environmental conditions, and importance of dry tundra are not currently simulated in most global climate models. Because Arctic warming disproportionally impacts the cold season, our results suggest that higher cold-season CH4 emissions will result from observed and predicted increases in snow thickness, active layer depth, and soil temperature, representing important positive feedbacks on climate warming. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic permafrost Tundra Siberia HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository Arctic Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113 1 40 45 |