Abstract Non‐growing season CO2emissions from Arctic tundra remain a major uncertainty in forecasting climate change consequences of permafrost thaw. We present the first time series of soil and microbial CO2emissions from a graminoid tundra based on year‐round in situ measurements of the radiocarbon content of soil CO2(Δ14CO2) and of bulk soil C (Δ14C), microbial activity, and temperature. Combining these data with land‐atmosphere CO2exchange allows estimates of the proportion and mean age of microbial CO2emissions year‐round. We observe a seasonal shift in emission sources from fresh carbon during the growing season (August Δ14CO2 = 74 ± 4.7‰, 37% ± 3.4% microbial, mean ± se) to increasingly older soil carbon in fall and winter (March Δ14CO2 = 22 ± 1.3‰, 47% ± 8% microbial). Thus, rising soil temperatures and emissions during fall and winter are depleting aged soil carbon pools in the active layer and thawing permafrost and further accelerating climate change.
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Tundra is a consistent source of CO 2 at a site with progressive permafrost thaw during 6 years of chamber and eddy covariance measurements: Tundra CO 2 Fluxes
- Award ID(s):
- 1636476
- PAR ID:
- 10053916
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
- Volume:
- 122
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 2169-8953
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1471 to 1485
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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