Arctic amplification of global warming strengthened by sunlight oxidation of permafrost carbon to CO2

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Bowen, Jennifer C., Ward, Collin P., Kling, George W., Cory, Rose M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Wiley 2020
• Subjects: Photochemistry; Permafrost; Arctic; Carbon cycling; Dissolved organic carbon; Dreyfus; Climate change; Global warming; permafrost
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/26083

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Bowen, J. C., Ward, C. P., Kling, G. W., & Cory, R. M. Arctic amplification of global warming strengthened by sunlight oxidation of permafrost carbon to CO2. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(12), (2020): e2020GL087085, doi:10.1029/2020GL087085. Once thawed, up to 15% of the ∼1,000 Pg of organic carbon (C) in arctic permafrost soils may be oxidized to carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2,100, amplifying climate change. However, predictions of this amplification strength ignore the oxidation of permafrost C to CO2 in surface waters (photomineralization). We characterized the wavelength dependence of permafrost dissolved organic carbon (DOC) photomineralization and demonstrate that iron catalyzes photomineralization of old DOC (4,000–6,300 a BP) derived from soil lignin and tannin. Rates of CO2 production from photomineralization of permafrost DOC are twofold higher than for modern DOC. Given that model predictions of future net loss of ecosystem C from thawing permafrost do not include the loss of CO2 to the atmosphere from DOC photomineralization, current predictions of an average of 208 Pg C loss by 2,299 may be too low by ~14%. This research was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER 1351745 (R.M.C.), DEB 1637459 and 1754835 (G.W.K.), the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Postdoctoral Program in Environmental Chemistry (R.M.C. and C.P.W.), the Frank and Lisina Hock Endowed Fund (C.P.W.), and the NOSAMS Graduate Student Internship Program (J.C.B.).