Massive remobilization of permafrost carbon during post-glacial warming

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Tesi, T., Muschitiello, F., Smittenberg, R. H., Jakobsson, M., Vonk, J. E., Hill, P.J., Andersson, A., Kirchner, N., Noormets, R., Dudarev, O., Semiletov, I., Gustafsson, H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action; name=SDG 13 - Climate Action; /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water; name=SDG 14 - Life Below Water; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Laptev Sea; laptev; permafrost
• Online Access: https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/e0dfa8b0-9cc9-416c-95ba-06a84346bda5; https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13653; https://hdl.handle.net/1871.1/e0dfa8b0-9cc9-416c-95ba-06a84346bda5; http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84999836703&partnerID=8YFLogxK; http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84999836703&partnerID=8YFLogxK

Recent hypotheses, based on atmospheric records and models, suggest that permafrost carbon (PF-C) accumulated during the last glaciation may have been an important source for the atmospheric CO 2 rise during post-glacial warming. However, direct physical indications for such PF-C release have so far been absent. Here we use the Laptev Sea (Arctic Ocean) as an archive to investigate PF-C destabilization during the last glacial-interglacial period. Our results show evidence for massive supply of PF-C from Siberian soils as a result of severe active layer deepening in response to the warming. Thawing of PF-C must also have brought about an enhanced organic matter respiration and, thus, these findings suggest that PF-C may indeed have been an important source of CO 2 across the extensive permafrost domain. The results challenge current paradigms on the post-glacial CO 2 rise and, at the same time, serve as a harbinger for possible consequences of the present-day warming of PF-C soils.