| 1. |
- Petrescu, Ana Maria Roxana, et al.
(författare)
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The uncertain climate footprint of wetlands under human pressure
- 2015
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 1091-6490 .- 0027-8424. ; 112:15, s. 4594-4599
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Significant climate risks are associated with a positive carbon-temperature feedback in northern latitude carbon-rich ecosystems, making an accurate analysis of human impacts on the net greenhouse gas balance of wetlands a priority. Here, we provide a coherent assessment of the climate footprint of a network of wetland sites based on simultaneous and quasi-continuous ecosystem observations of CO2 and CH4 fluxes. Experimental areas are located both in natural and in managed wetlands and cover a wide range of climatic regions, ecosystem types, and management practices. Based on direct observations we predict that sustained CH4 emissions in natural ecosystems are in the long term (i.e., several centuries) typically offset by CO2 uptake, although with large spatiotemporal variability. Using a space-for-time analogy across ecological and climatic gradients, we represent the chronosequence from natural to managed conditions to quantify the "cost" of CH4 emissions for the benefit of net carbon sequestration. With a sustained pulse-response radiative forcing model, we found a significant increase in atmospheric forcing due to land management, in particular for wetland converted to cropland. Our results quantify the role of human activities on the climate footprint of northern wetlands and call for development of active mitigation strategies for managed wetlands and new guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) accounting for both sustained CH4 emissions and cumulative CO2 exchange.
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| 2. |
- López-Blanco, Efrén, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation of terrestrial pan-Arctic carbon cycling using a data-assimilation system
- 2019
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Ingår i: Earth System Dynamics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 2190-4979 .- 2190-4987. ; 10:2, s. 233-255
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a significant knowledge gap in the current state of the terrestrial carbon (C) budget. Recent studies have highlighted a poor understanding particularly of C pool transit times and of whether productivity or biomass dominate these biases. The Arctic, accounting for approximately 50 % of the global soil organic C stocks, has an important role in the global C cycle. Here, we use the CARbon DAta MOdel (CARDAMOM) data-assimilation system to produce pan-Arctic terrestrial C cycle analyses for 2000-2015. This approach avoids using traditional plant functional type or steady-state assumptions. We integrate a range of data (soil organic C, leaf area index, biomass, and climate) to determine the most likely state of the high-latitude C cycle at a 1 degrees x 1 degrees resolution and also to provide general guidance about the controlling biases in transit times. On average, CARDAMOM estimates regional mean rates of photosynthesis of 565 g C m(-2) yr (-1) (90 % confidence interval between the 5th and 95th percentiles: 428, 741), autotrophic respiration of 270 g Cm-2 yr(-1) (182, 397) and heterotrophic respiration of 219 g Cm-2 yr(-1) (31, 1458), suggesting a pan-Arctic sink of -67 (-287, 1160) g Cm-2 yr(-1), weaker in tundra and stronger in taiga. However, our confidence intervals remain large (and so the region could be a source of C), reflecting uncertainty assigned to the regional data products. We show a clear spatial and temporal agreement between CARDAMOM analyses and different sources of assimilated and independent data at both pan-Arctic and local scales but also identify consistent biases between CARDAMOM and validation data. The assimilation process requires clearer error quantification for leaf area index (LAI) and biomass products to resolve these biases. Mapping of vegetation C stocks and change over time and soil C ages linked to soil C stocks is required for better analytical constraint. Comparing CARDAMOM analyses to global vegetation models (GVMs) for the same period, we conclude that transit times of vegetation C are inconsistently simulated in GVMs due to a combination of uncertainties from productivity and biomass calculations. Our findings highlight that GVMs need to focus on constraining both current vegetation C stocks and net primary production to improve a process-based understanding of C cycle dynamics in the Arctic.
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| 3. |
- López-Blanco, Efrén, et al.
(författare)
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Exchange of CO2 in Arctic tundra : Impacts of meteorological variations and biological disturbance
- 2017
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Ingår i: Biogeosciences. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1726-4170 .- 1726-4189. ; 14:19, s. 4467-4483
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An improvement in our process-based understanding of carbon (C) exchange in the Arctic and its climate sensitivity is critically needed for understanding the response of tundra ecosystems to a changing climate. In this context, we analysed the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 in West Greenland tundra (64°N) across eight snow-free periods in 8 consecutive years, and characterized the key processes of net ecosystem exchange and its two main modulating components: gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Reco). Overall, the ecosystem acted as a consistent sink of CO2, accumulating g'30g dagger;Cg'2 on average (range of g'17 to g'41gdagger;Cg'2) during the years 2008-2015, except 2011 (source of 41gdagger;Cg'2), which was associated with a major pest outbreak. The results do not reveal a marked meteorological effect on the net CO2 uptake despite the high interannual variability in the timing of snowmelt and the start and duration of the growing season. The ranges in annual GPP (g'182 to g'316gdagger;Cg'2) and Reco (144 to 279gdagger;Cg'2) were > 5 fold larger than the range in NEE. Gross fluxes were also more variable (coefficients of variation are 3.6 and 4.1% respectively) than for NEE (0.7%). GPP and Reco were sensitive to insolation and temperature, and there was a tendency towards larger GPP and Reco during warmer and wetter years. The relative lack of sensitivity of NEE to meteorology was a result of the correlated response of GPP and Reco. During the snow-free season of the anomalous year of 2011, a biological disturbance related to a larvae outbreak reduced GPP more strongly than Reco. With continued warming temperatures and longer growing seasons, tundra systems will increase rates of C cycling. However, shifts in sink strength will likely be triggered by factors such as biological disturbances, events that will challenge our forecasting of C states.
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| 4. |
- López-Blanco, Efrén, et al.
(författare)
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Plant Traits are Key Determinants in Buffering the Meteorological Sensitivity of Net Carbon Exchanges of Arctic Tundra
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences. - 2169-8953.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The climate sensitivity of carbon (C) cycling in Arctic terrestrial ecosystems is a major unknown in the Earth system. There is a lack of knowledge about the mechanisms that drive the interactions between photosynthesis, respiration, and changes in C stocks across full annual cycles in Arctic tundra. We use a calibrated and validated model (soil-plant-atmosphere; SPA) to estimate net ecosystem exchange (NEE), gross primary production (GPP), ecosystem respiration (Reco), and internal C processing across eight full years. SPA's carbon flux estimates are validated with observational data obtained from the Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring program in West Greenland tundra. Overall, the model explained 73%, 73%, and 50% of the variance in NEE, GPP, and Reco, respectively, and 85% of the plant greenness variation. Flux data highlighted the insensitivity of growing season NEE to interannual meteorological variability, due to compensatory responses of photosynthesis and ecosystem respiration. In this modelling study, we show that this NEE buffering is the case also for full annual cycles. We show through a sensitivity analysis that plant traits related to nitrogen are likely key determinants in the compensatory response, through simulated links to photosynthesis and plant respiration. Interestingly, we found a similar temperature sensitivity of the trait-flux couplings for GPP and Reco, suggesting that plant traits drive the stabilization of NEE. Further, model analysis indicated that wintertime periods decreased the C sink by 60%, mostly driven by litter heterotrophic respiration. This result emphasizes the importance of wintertime periods and allows a more comprehensive understanding of full annual C dynamics.
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| 5. |
- Lund, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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Characteristics of summer-time energy exchange in a high Arctic tundra heath 2000-2010
- 2014
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Ingår i: Tellus. Series B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology. - : Stockholm University Press. - 0280-6509 .- 1600-0889. ; 66
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Global warming will bring about changes in surface energy balance of Arctic ecosystems, which will have implications for ecosystem structure and functioning, as well as for climate system feedback mechanisms. In this study, we present a unique, long-term (2000-2010) record of summer-time energy balance components (net radiation, R-n; sensible heat flux, H; latent heat flux, LE; and soil heat flux, G) from a high Arctic tundra heath in Zackenberg, Northeast Greenland. This area has been subjected to strong summer-time warming with increasing active layer depths (ALD) during the last decades. We observe high energy partitioning into H, low partitioning into LE and high Bowen ratio (beta = H/LE) compared with other Arctic sites, associated with local climatic conditions dominated by onshore winds, slender vegetation with low transpiration activity and relatively dry soils. Surface saturation vapour pressure deficit (D-s) was found to be an important variable controlling within-year surface energy partitioning. Throughout the study period, we observe increasing H/R-n and LE/R-n and decreasing G/R-n and beta, related to increasing ALD and decreasing soil wetness. Thus, changes in summer-time surface energy balance partitioning in Arctic ecosystems may be of importance for the climate system.
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| 6. |
- Lund, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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Trends in CO2 exchange in a high Arctic tundra heath, 2000-2010
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 2156-2202. ; 117
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have measured the land-atmosphere CO2 exchange using the eddy covariance technique in a high Arctic tundra heath in northeast Greenland (Zackenberg). On the basis of 11 years of measurements (2000-2010), it was found that snow cover dynamics was important for the CO2 exchange. The start of CO2 uptake period correlated significantly with timing of snowmelt. Furthermore, for years with deep and long-lasting snowpacks, the following springs showed increased CO2 emission rates. In the first part of the study period, there was an increase of approximately 8 g C m(-2) yr(-1) in both accumulated gross primary production (GPP) and CO2 sink strength during summer. However, in the last few years, there were no significant changes in GPP, whereas ecosystem respiration (R-eco) increased (8.5 g C m(-2) yr(-1)) and ecosystem CO2 sink strength weakened (-4.1 g C m(-2) yr(-1)). It was found that temperature and temperature-related variables (maximum thaw depth and growing degree days) controlled the interannual variation in CO2 exchange. However, while R-eco showed a steady increase with temperature (5.8 g C m(-2) degrees C-1), the initial increase in GPP with temperature leveled off at the high end of observed temperature range. This suggests that future increases in temperature will weaken the ecosystem CO2 sink strength or even turn it into a CO2 source, depending on possible changes in vegetation structure and functioning as a response to a changing climate. If this trend is applicable also to other Arctic ecosystems, it will have implications for our current understanding of Arctic ecosystems dynamics.
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| 7. |
- Mastepanov, Mikhail, et al.
(författare)
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Large tundra methane burst during onset of freezing.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 456:7222, s. 58-628
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Terrestrial wetland emissions are the largest single source of the greenhouse gas methane. Northern high-latitude wetlands contribute significantly to the overall methane emissions from wetlands, but the relative source distribution between tropical and high-latitude wetlands remains uncertain. As a result, not all the observed spatial and seasonal patterns of atmospheric methane concentrations can be satisfactorily explained, particularly for high northern latitudes. For example, a late-autumn shoulder is consistently observed in the seasonal cycles of atmospheric methane at high-latitude sites, but the sources responsible for these increased methane concentrations remain uncertain. Here we report a data set that extends hourly methane flux measurements from a high Arctic setting into the late autumn and early winter, during the onset of soil freezing. We find that emissions fall to a low steady level after the growing season but then increase significantly during the freeze-in period. The integral of emissions during the freeze-in period is approximately equal to the amount of methane emitted during the entire summer season. Three-dimensional atmospheric chemistry and transport model simulations of global atmospheric methane concentrations indicate that the observed early winter emission burst improves the agreement between the simulated seasonal cycle and atmospheric data from latitudes north of 60 degrees N. Our findings suggest that permafrost-associated freeze-in bursts of methane emissions from tundra regions could be an important and so far unrecognized component of the seasonal distribution of methane emissions from high latitudes.
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| 8. |
- Palmtag, Juri, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Storage, Landscape Distribution, and Burial History of Soil Organic Matter in Contrasting Areas of Continuous Permafrost
- 2015
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Ingår i: Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine research. - 1523-0430 .- 1938-4246. ; 47:1, s. 71-88
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study describes and compares soil organic matter (SOM) quantity and characteristics in two areas of continuous permafrost, a mountainous region in NE Greenland (Zackenberg study site) and a lowland region in NE Siberia (Cherskiy and Shalaurovo study sites). Our assessments are based on stratified-random landscape-level inventories of soil profiles down to 1 m depth, with physico-chemical, elemental, and radiocarbon-dating analyses. The estimated mean soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in the upper meter of soils in the NE Greenland site is 8.3 ± 1.8 kg C m-2 compared to 20.3 ± 2.2 kg C m-2 and 30.0 ± 2.0 kg C m-2 in the NE Siberian sites (95% confidence intervals). The lower SOC storage in the High Arctic site in NE Greenland can be largely explained by the fact that 59% of the study area is located at higher elevation with mostly barren ground and thus very low SOC contents. In addition, SOC-rich fens and bogs occupy a much smaller proportion of the landscape in NE Greenland (∼3%) than in NE Siberia (∼20%). The contribution of deeper buried C-enriched material in the mineral soil horizons to the total SOC storage is lower in the NE Greenland site (∼13%) compared to the NE Siberian sites (∼24%–30%). Buried SOM seems generally more decomposed in NE Greenland than in NE Siberia, which we relate to different burial mechanisms prevailing in these regions.
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| 9. |
- Pirk, Norbert, et al.
(författare)
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Snowpack fluxes of methane and carbon dioxide from high Arctic tundra
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences. - 2169-8953. ; 121:11, s. 2886-2900
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Measurements of the land-atmosphere exchange of the greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in high Arctic tundra ecosystems are particularly difficult in the cold season, resulting in large uncertainty on flux magnitudes and their controlling factors during this long, frozen period. We conducted snowpack measurements of these gases at permafrost-underlain wetland sites in Zackenberg Valley (NE Greenland, 74°N) and Adventdalen Valley (Svalbard, 78°N), both of which also feature automatic closed chamber flux measurements during the snow-free period. At Zackenberg, cold season emissions were 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower than growing season fluxes. Perennially, CH4 fluxes resembled the same spatial pattern, which was largely attributed to differences in soil wetness controlling substrate accumulation and microbial activity. We found no significant gas sinks or sources inside the snowpack but detected a pulse in the δ13C-CH4 stable isotopic signature of the soil's CH4 source during snowmelt, which suggests the release of a CH4 reservoir that was strongly affected by methanotrophic microorganisms. In the polygonal tundra of Adventdalen, the snowpack featured several ice layers, which suppressed the expected gas emissions to the atmosphere, and conversely lead to snowpack gas accumulations of up to 86 ppm CH4 and 3800 ppm CO2 by late winter. CH4 to CO2 ratios indicated distinctly different source characteristics in the rampart of ice-wedge polygons compared to elsewhere on the measured transect, possibly due to geomorphological soil cracks. Collectively, these findings suggest important ties between growing season and cold season greenhouse gas emissions from high Arctic tundra.
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| 10. |
- Post, Eric, et al.
(författare)
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Ecological Dynamics Across the Arctic Associated with Recent Climate Change
- 2009
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 1095-9203 .- 0036-8075. ; 325:5946, s. 1355-1358
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- At the close of the Fourth International Polar Year, we take stock of the ecological consequences of recent climate change in the Arctic, focusing on effects at population, community, and ecosystem scales. Despite the buffering effect of landscape heterogeneity, Arctic ecosystems and the trophic relationships that structure them have been severely perturbed. These rapid changes may be a bellwether of changes to come at lower latitudes and have the potential to affect ecosystem services related to natural resources, food production, climate regulation, and cultural integrity. We highlight areas of ecological research that deserve priority as the Arctic continues to warm.
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