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 |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
ScholarWorks at University of Montana
2015
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://scholarworks.umt.edu/ntsg_pubs/314 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516017113 https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/ntsg_pubs/article/1313/viewcontent/Zona_PNAS_2015.pdf |
id |
ftunivmontana:oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:ntsg_pubs-1313 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivmontana:oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:ntsg_pubs-1313 2023-07-16T03:56:08+02:00 Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget Zona, Donatella Gioli, Beniamino Commane, Roisin Lindaas, Jakob Wofsy, Steve 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, Walt 2015-12-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholarworks.umt.edu/ntsg_pubs/314 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516017113 https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/ntsg_pubs/article/1313/viewcontent/Zona_PNAS_2015.pdf unknown ScholarWorks at University of Montana https://scholarworks.umt.edu/ntsg_pubs/314 doi:10.1073/pnas.1516017113 https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/ntsg_pubs/article/1313/viewcontent/Zona_PNAS_2015.pdf © 2015 National Academy of Sciences Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group Publications text 2015 ftunivmontana https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516017113 2023-06-27T22:20:53Z 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 °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, ∼25% of global emissions from extratropical wetlands, or ∼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. Text Arctic Tundra University of Montana: ScholarWorks Arctic Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113 1 40 45 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Montana: ScholarWorks |
op_collection_id |
ftunivmontana |
language |
unknown |
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 °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, ∼25% of global emissions from extratropical wetlands, or ∼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. |
format |
Text |
author |
Zona, Donatella Gioli, Beniamino Commane, Roisin Lindaas, Jakob Wofsy, Steve 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, Walt |
spellingShingle |
Zona, Donatella Gioli, Beniamino Commane, Roisin Lindaas, Jakob Wofsy, Steve 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, Walt Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget |
author_facet |
Zona, Donatella Gioli, Beniamino Commane, Roisin Lindaas, Jakob Wofsy, Steve 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, Walt |
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 |
ScholarWorks at University of Montana |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/ntsg_pubs/314 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516017113 https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/ntsg_pubs/article/1313/viewcontent/Zona_PNAS_2015.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra |
op_source |
Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group Publications |
op_relation |
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/ntsg_pubs/314 doi:10.1073/pnas.1516017113 https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/ntsg_pubs/article/1313/viewcontent/Zona_PNAS_2015.pdf |
op_rights |
© 2015 National Academy of Sciences |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516017113 |
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_ |
1771542279076446208 |