Rapid Arctic warming is causing permafrost to thaw and exposing large quantities of soil organic carbon (C) to potential decomposition. In dry upland tundra systems, subsidence from thawing permafrost can increase surface soil moisture resulting in higher methane (CH4) emissions from newly waterlogged soils. The proportion of C released as carbon dioxide (CO2) and CH4remains uncertain as previously dry landscapes transition to a thawed state, resulting in both wetter and drier microsites. To address how thaw and moisture interact to affect total C emissions, we measured CH4and CO2emissions from paired chambers across thaw and moisture gradients created by nine years of experimental soil warming in interior Alaska. Cumulative growing season (May–September) CH4emissions were elevated at both wetter (216.1–1,099.4 mg CH4‐C m−2) and drier (129.7–392.3 mg CH4‐C m−2) deeply thawed microsites relative to shallow thaw (55.6–215.7 mg CH4‐C m−2) and increased with higher deep soil temperatures and permafrost thaw depth. Interannual variability in CH4emissions was driven by wet conditions in graminoid‐dominated plots that generated >70% of emissions in a wet year. Shoulder season emissions were equivalent to growing season CH4emissions rates in the deeply thawed, warmed soils, highlighting the importance of non‐growing season CH4emissions. Net C sink potential was reduced in deeply thawed wet plots by 4%–42%, and by 3.5%–8% in deeply thawed drier plots due to anaerobic respiration, suggesting that some dry upland tundra landscapes may transition into stronger CH4sources in a warming Arctic.
Warming temperatures are likely to accelerate permafrost thaw in the Arctic, potentially leading to the release of old carbon previously stored in deep frozen soil layers. Deeper thaw depths in combination with geomorphological changes due to the loss of ice structures in permafrost, may modify soil water distribution, creating wetter or drier soil conditions. Previous studies revealed higher ecosystem respiration rates under drier conditions, and this study investigated the cause of the increased ecosystem respiration rates using radiocarbon signatures of respired CO2from two drying manipulation experiments: one in moist and the other in wet tundra. We demonstrate that higher contributions of CO2from shallow soil layers (0–15 cm; modern soil carbon) drive the increased ecosystem respiration rates, while contributions from deeper soil (below 15 cm from surface and down to the permafrost table; old soil carbon) decreased. These changes can be attributed to more aerobic conditions in shallow soil layers, but also the soil temperature increases in shallow layers but decreases in deep layers, due to the altered thermal properties of organic soils. Decreased abundance of aerenchymatous plant species following drainage in wet tundra reduced old carbon release but increased aboveground plant biomass elevated contributions of autotrophic respiration to ecosystem respiration. The results of this study suggest that drier soils following drainage may accelerate decomposition of modern soil carbon in shallow layers but slow down decomposition of old soil carbon in deep layers, which may offset some of the old soil carbon loss from thawing permafrost.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10456106
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Global Change Biology
- Volume:
- 25
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1354-1013
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 1315-1325
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
more » « less
Abstract -
more » « less
Abstract. Thaw and release of permafrost carbon (C) due to climate change is likely tooffset increased vegetation C uptake in northern high-latitude (NHL)terrestrial ecosystems. Models project that this permafrost C feedback mayact as a slow leak, in which case detection and attribution of the feedbackmay be difficult. The formation of talik, a subsurface layer of perenniallythawed soil, can accelerate permafrost degradation and soil respiration,ultimately shifting the C balance of permafrost-affected ecosystems fromlong-term C sinks to long-term C sources. It is imperative to understand andcharacterize mechanistic links between talik, permafrost thaw, andrespiration of deep soil C to detect and quantify the permafrost C feedback.Here, we use the Community Land Model (CLM) version 4.5, a permafrost andbiogeochemistry model, in comparison to long-term deep borehole data alongNorth American and Siberian transects, to investigate thaw-driven C sourcesin NHL (>55∘N) from 2000 to 2300. Widespread talik at depth isprojected across most of the NHL permafrost region(14million km2) by 2300, 6.2million km2 of which isprojected to become a long-term C source, emitting 10Pg C by 2100,50Pg C by 2200, and 120Pg C by 2300, with few signs ofslowing. Roughly half of the projected C source region is in predominantlywarm sub-Arctic permafrost following talik onset. This region emits only20Pg C by 2300, but the CLM4.5 estimate may be biased low by notaccounting for deep C in yedoma. Accelerated decomposition of deep soilC following talik onset shifts the ecosystem C balance away from surfacedominant processes (photosynthesis and litter respiration), butsink-to-source transition dates are delayed by 20–200 years by highecosystem productivity, such that talik peaks early (∼2050s, although boreholedata suggest sooner) and C source transition peaks late(∼2150–2200). The remaining C source region in cold northern Arcticpermafrost, which shifts to a net source early (late 21st century), emits5 times more C (95Pg C) by 2300, and prior to talik formation dueto the high decomposition rates of shallow, young C in organic-rich soilscoupled with low productivity. Our results provide important clues signalingimminent talik onset and C source transition, including (1) late cold-season(January–February) soil warming at depth (∼2m),(2) increasing cold-season emissions (November–April), and (3) enhancedrespiration of deep, old C in warm permafrost and young, shallow C in organic-rich cold permafrost soils. Our results suggest a mosaic of processes thatgovern carbon source-to-sink transitions at high latitudes and emphasize theurgency of monitoring soil thermal profiles, organic C age and content, cold-season CO2 emissions, andatmospheric 14CO2 as key indicatorsof the permafrost C feedback.
-
more » « less
Abstract Permafrost thaw causes the seasonally thawed active layer to deepen, causing the Arctic to shift toward carbon release as soil organic matter becomes susceptible to decomposition. Ground subsidence initiated by ice loss can cause these soils to collapse abruptly, rapidly shifting soil moisture as microtopography changes and also accelerating carbon and nutrient mobilization. The uncertainty of soil moisture trajectories during thaw makes it difficult to predict the role of abrupt thaw in suppressing or exacerbating carbon losses. In this study, we investigated the role of shifting soil moisture conditions on carbon dioxide fluxes during a 13‐year permafrost warming experiment that exhibited abrupt thaw. Warming deepened the active layer differentially across treatments, leading to variable rates of subsidence and formation of thermokarst depressions. In turn, differential subsidence caused a gradient of moisture conditions, with some plots becoming consistently inundated with water within thermokarst depressions and others exhibiting generally dry, but more variable soil moisture conditions outside of thermokarst depressions. Experimentally induced permafrost thaw initially drove increasing rates of growing season gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (
R eco), and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) (higher carbon uptake), but the formation of thermokarst depressions began to reverse this trend with a high level of spatial heterogeneity. Plots that subsided at the slowest rate stayed relatively dry and supported higher CO2fluxes throughout the 13‐year experiment, while plots that subsided very rapidly into the center of a thermokarst feature became consistently wet and experienced a rapid decline in growing season GPP,R eco, and NEE (lower carbon uptake or carbon release). These findings indicate that Earth system models, which do not simulate subsidence and often predict drier active layer conditions, likely overestimate net growing season carbon uptake in abruptly thawing landscapes. -
more » « less
Abstract Significant uncertainties persist concerning how Arctic soil tundra carbon emission responds to environmental changes. In this study, 24 cores were sampled from drier (high centre polygons and rims) and wetter (low centre polygons and troughs) permafrost tundra ecosystems. We examined how soil CO2and CH4fluxes responded to laboratory-based manipulations of soil temperature (and associated thaw depth) and water table depth, representing current and projected conditions in the Arctic. Similar soil CO2respiration rates occurred in both the drier and the wetter sites, suggesting that a significant proportion of soil CO2emission occurs via anaerobic respiration under water-saturated conditions in these Arctic tundra ecosystems. In the absence of vegetation, soil CO2respiration rates decreased sharply within the first 7 weeks of the experiment, while CH4emissions remained stable for the entire 26 weeks of the experiment. These patterns suggest that soil CO2emission is more related to plant input than CH4production and emission. The stable and substantial CH4emission observed over the entire course of the experiment suggests that temperature limitations, rather than labile carbon limitations, play a predominant role in CH4production in deeper soil layers. This is likely due to the presence of a substantial source of labile carbon in these carbon-rich soils. The small soil temperature difference (a median difference of 1 °C) and a more substantial thaw depth difference (a median difference of 6 cm) between the high and low temperature treatments resulted in a non-significant difference between soil CO2and CH4emissions. Although hydrology continued to be the primary factor influencing CH4emissions, these emissions remained low in the drier ecosystem, even with a water table at the surface. This result suggests the potential absence of a methanogenic microbial community in high-centre polygon and rim ecosystems. Overall, our results suggest that the temperature increases reported for these Arctic regions are not responsible for increases in carbon losses. Instead, it is the changes in hydrology that exert significant control over soil CO2and CH4emissions.
-
more » « less
The permafrost region has accumulated organic carbon in cold and waterlogged soils over thousands of years and now contains three times as much carbon as the atmosphere. Global warming is degrading permafrost with the potential to accelerate climate change as increased microbial decomposition releases soil carbon as greenhouse gases. A 19-year time series of soil and ecosystem respiration radiocarbon from Alaska provides long-term insight into changing permafrost soil carbon dynamics in a warmer world. Nine per cent of ecosystem respiration and 23% of soil respiration observations had radiocarbon values more than 50‰ lower than the atmospheric value. Furthermore, the overall trend of ecosystem and soil respiration radiocarbon values through time decreased more than atmospheric radiocarbon values did, indicating that old carbon degradation was enhanced. Boosted regression tree analyses showed that temperature and moisture environmental variables had the largest relative influence on lower radiocarbon values. This suggested that old carbon degradation was controlled by warming/permafrost thaw and soil drying together, as waterlogged soil conditions could protect soil carbon from microbial decomposition even when thawed. Overall, changing conditions increasingly favoured the release of old carbon, which is a definitive fingerprint of an accelerating feedback to climate change as a consequence of warming and permafrost destabilization.
This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Radiocarbon in the Anthropocene’.
