| 1. |
- Alewell, C, et al.
(författare)
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Stable carbon isotopes as indicators for environmental change inpalsa peats
- 2011
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Ingår i: Biogeosciences. - Kaltenburg-Lindau : European Geosciences Union. - 1726-4170 .- 1726-4189. ; 8, s. 1769-1778
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Palsa peats are unique northern ecosystems formed under an arctic climate and characterized by a high biodiversity and sensitive ecology. The stability of the palsas are seriously threatened by climate warming which will change the permafrost dynamic and induce a degradation of the mires.We used stable carbon isotope depth profiles in two palsa mires of Northern Sweden to track environmental change during the formation of the mires. Soils dominated by aerobic degradation can be expected to have a clear increase of carbon isotopes (δ13C) with depth, due to preferential release of 12C during aerobic mineralization. In soils with suppressed degradation due to anoxic conditions, stable carbon isotope depth profiles are either more or less uniform indicating no or very low degradation or depth profiles turn to lighter values due to an enrichment of recalcitrant organic substances during anaerobic mineralisation which are depleted in 13C.The isotope depth profile of the peat in the water saturated depressions (hollows) at the yet undisturbed mire Storflaket indicated very low to no degradation but increased rates of anaerobic degradation at the Stordalen site. The latter might be induced by degradation of the permafrost cores in the uplifted areas (hummocks) and subsequent breaking and submerging of the hummock peat into the hollows due to climate warming. Carbon isotope depth profiles of hummocks indicated a turn from aerobic mineralisation to anaerobic degradation at a peat depth between 4 and 25 cm. The age of these turning points was 14C dated between 150 and 670 yr and could thus not be caused by anthropogenically induced climate change. We found the uplifting of the hummocks due to permafrost heave the most likely explanation for our findings. We thus concluded that differences in carbon isotope profiles of the hollows might point to the disturbance of the mires due to climate warming or due to differences in hydrology. The characteristic profiles of the hummocks are indicators for micro-geomorphic change during permafrost up heaving.
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| 2. |
- Alewell, C, et al.
(författare)
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Stable carbon isotopes as indicators for micro-geomorphic changes in palsa peats
- 2011
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Ingår i: Biogeosciences Discussions. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1810-6277 .- 1810-6285. ; 8:1, s. 527-548
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Palsa peats are unique northern ecosystems formed under an arctic climate and characterizedby an unique biodiversity and ecology. The stability of the palsas are seriouslythreatened by climate warming which will change the permafrost dynamic and5 results in degradation of the mires. We used stable carbon isotope depth profiles intwo palsa mires of Northern Sweden to track environmental change during the formationof the mires. Carbon isotope (13C) depth profile of the yet undisturbed mireStorflaket indicated very low to no degradation of the peat in the water saturated depressions(hollows) but increased rates of anaerobic degradation at the Stordalen site.10 The latter might be induced by degradation of the permafrost cores in the uplifted areas(hummocks) and subsequent braking and submerging of the hummock peat intothe hollows due to climate warming. Carbon isotope depth profiles of hummocks indicateda turn from aerobic mineralisation to anaerobic degradation at a peat depthbetween 4 to 25 cm. The age of these turning point was 14C dated between 150 and15 670 years and could thus not be caused by anthropogenically induced climate change.We found the uplifting of the hummocks due to permafrost heave the most likely explanationfor our findings. We thus concluded that differences in carbon isotope profiles ofthe hollows might point to the disturbance of the mires due to climate warming or dueto differences in hydrology. The characteristic profiles of the hummocks are indicators20 for micro-geomorphic change during permafrost up heaving.
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| 3. |
- Osterwalder, S., et al.
(författare)
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A dual-inlet, single detector relaxed eddy accumulation system for long-term measurement of mercury flux
- 2016
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 9:2, s. 509-524
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The fate of anthropogenic emissions of mercury (Hg) to the atmosphere is influenced by the exchange of elemental Hg with the earth surface. This exchange holds the key to a better understanding of Hg cycling from local to global scales, which has been difficult to quantify. To advance research about land-atmosphere Hg interactions, we developed a dual-inlet, single detector relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) system. REA is an established technique for measuring turbulent fluxes of trace gases and aerosol particles in the atmospheric surface layer. Accurate determination of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) fluxes has proven difficult due to technical challenges presented by extremely small concentration differences (typically < 0.5 ngm(-3)) between updrafts and downdrafts. We present an advanced REA design that uses two inlets and two pairs of gold cartridges for continuous monitoring of GEM fluxes. This setup reduces the major uncertainty created by the sequential sampling in many previous designs. Additionally, the instrument is equipped with a GEM reference gas generator that monitors drift and recovery rates. These innovations facilitate continuous, autonomous measurement of GEM flux. To demonstrate the system performance, we present results from field campaigns in two contrasting environments: an urban setting with a heterogeneous fetch and a boreal peatland during snowmelt. The observed average emission rates were 15 and 3 n gm(-2) h(-1), respectively. We believe that this dual-inlet, single detector approach is a significant improvement of the REA system for ultra-trace gases and can help to advance our understanding of long-term land-atmosphere GEM exchange.
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| 4. |
- Osterwalder, S., et al.
(författare)
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Comparative study of elemental mercury flux measurement techniques over a Fennoscandian boreal peatland
- 2018
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Environment. - : PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 1352-2310 .- 1873-2844. ; 172, s. 16-25
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Quantitative estimates of the land-atmosphere exchange of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) are biased by the measurement technique employed, because no standard method or scale in space and time are agreed upon. Here we present concurrent GEM exchange measurements over a boreal peatland using a novel relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) system, a rectangular Teflon (R) dynamic flux chamber (DFC) and a DFC designed according to aerodynamic considerations (Aero-DFC). During four consecutive days the DFCs were placed alternately on two measurement plots in every cardinal direction around the REA sampling mast. Spatial heterogeneity in peat surface characteristics (0-34 cm) was identified by measuring total mercury in eight peat cores (57 +/- 8 ng g(-1), average SE), vascular plant coverage (32-52%), water table level (4.5-14.1 cm) and dissolved gaseous elemental mercury concentrations (28-51 pg L-1) in the peat water. The GEM fluxes measured by the DFCs showed a distinct diel pattern, but no spatial difference in the average fluxes was detected (ANOVA, alpha = 0.05). Even though the correlation between the Teflon DFC and Aero-DFC was significant (r = 0.76, p < 0.05) the cumulative flux of the Aero-DFC was a factor of three larger. The average flux of the Aero-DFC (1.9 ng m(-2) h(-1)) and REA (2 ng m(-2) h(-1)) were in good agreement. The results indicate that the novel REA design is in agreement for cumulative flux estimates with the Aero-DFC, which incorporates the effect of atmospheric turbulence. The comparison was performed over a fetch with spatially rather homogenous GEM flux dynamics under fairly consistent weather conditions, minimizing the effect of weather influence on the data from the three measurement systems. However, in complex biomes with heterogeneous surface characteristics where there can be large spatial variability in GEM gas exchange, the small footprint of chambers ( < 0.2 m(2)) makes for large coefficients of variation. Thus many chamber measurement replications are needed to establish a credible biome GEM flux estimate, even for a single point in time. Dynamic flux chambers will, however, be able to resolve systematic differences between small scale features, such as experimentally manipulated plots or small scale spatial heterogeneity.
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