| 1. |
- Bröder, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Quantifying Degradative Loss of Terrigenous Organic Carbon in Surface Sediments Across the Laptev and East Siberian Sea
- 2019
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Ingår i: Global Biogeochemical Cycles. - 0886-6236 .- 1944-9224. ; 33:1, s. 85-99
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ongoing permafrost thaw in the Arctic may remobilize large amounts of old organic matter. Upon transport to the Siberian shelf seas, this material may be degraded and released to the atmosphere, exported off-shelf, or buried in the sediments. While our understanding of the fate of permafrost-derived organic matter in shelf waters is improving, poor constraints remain regarding degradation in sediments. Here we use an extensive data set of organic carbon concentrations and isotopes (n=109) to inventory terrigenous organic carbon (terrOC) in surficial sediments of the Laptev and East Siberian Seas (LS + ESS). Of these similar to 2.7 Tg terrOC about 55% appear resistant to degradation on a millennial timescale. A first-order degradation rate constant of 1.5 kyr(-1) is derived by combining a previously established relationship between water depth and cross-shelf sediment-terrOC transport time with mineral-associated terrOC loadings. This yields a terrOC degradation flux of similar to 1.7Gg/year from surficial sediments during cross-shelf transport, which is orders of magnitude lower than earlier estimates for degradation fluxes of dissolved and particulate terrOC in the water column of the LS + ESS. The difference is mainly due to the low degradation rate constant of sedimentary terrOC, likely caused by a combination of factors: (i) the lower availability of oxygen in the sediments compared to fully oxygenated waters, (ii) the stabilizing role of terrOC-mineral associations, and (iii) the higher proportion of material that is intrinsically recalcitrant due to its chemical/molecular structure in sediments. Sequestration of permafrost-released terrOC in shelf sediments may thereby attenuate the otherwise expected permafrost carbon-climate feedback. Plain language summary Frozen soils in the Arctic contain large amounts of old organic matter. With ongoing climate change this previously freeze-locked carbon storage becomes vulnerable to transport and decay. Upon delivery to the shallow nearshore seas, it may either be directly degraded to carbon dioxide or methane and thereby fuel further warming or get buried and stored in sediments on the sea floor. Our understanding of the fate of carbon released from permafrost soils is increasing, yet uncertainties remain regarding its degradation in the sediment. Here we constrain how much land-derived organic carbon is deposited in the top layer of the sediment (the part that is prone to transport and exposed to oxygen-stimulated degradation) in the Laptev and East Siberian Seas. We find that more than half of this stock likely resists degradation, while the rest decays relatively slowly. Therefore, the amount of carbon released annually from degradation in surface sediments is much smaller than what was found to be emitted from overlying waters in earlier studies. We suspect that this difference is caused by a combination of mechanisms hindering degradation in sediments and thus conclude that the burial of land-derived carbon may help to dampen the climate impact of thawing permafrost.
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| 2. |
- Martens, Jannik, et al.
(författare)
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Remobilization of Old Permafrost Carbon to Chukchi Sea Sediments During the End of the Last Deglaciation
- 2019
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Ingår i: Global Biogeochemical Cycles. - 0886-6236 .- 1944-9224. ; 33:1, s. 2-14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate warming is expected to destabilize permafrost carbon (PF-C) by thaw-erosion and deepening of the seasonally thawed active layer and thereby promote PF-C mineralization to CO2 and CH4. A similar PF-C remobilization might have contributed to the increase in atmospheric CO2 during deglacial warming after the last glacial maximum. Using carbon isotopes and terrestrial biomarkers (Delta C-14, delta C-13, and lignin phenols), this study quantifies deposition of terrestrial carbon originating from permafrost in sediments from the Chukchi Sea (core SWERUS-L2-4-PC1). The sediment core reconstructs remobilization of permafrost carbon during the late Allerod warm period starting at 13,000 cal years before present (BP), the Younger Dryas, and the early Holocene warming until 11,000 cal years BP and compares this period with the late Holocene, from 3,650 years BP until present. Dual-carbon-isotope-based source apportionment demonstrates that Ice Complex Deposit-ice- and carbon-rich permafrost from the late Pleistocene (also referred to as Yedoma)-was the dominant source of organic carbon (66 +/- 8%; mean +/- standard deviation) to sediments during the end of the deglaciation, with fluxes more than twice as high (8.0 +/- 4.6 g.m(-2).year(-1)) as in the late Holocene (3.1 +/- 1.0 g.m(-2).year(-1)). These results are consistent with late deglacial PF-C remobilization observed in a Laptev Sea record, yet in contrast with PF-C sources, which at that location were dominated by active layer material from the Lena River watershed. Release of dormant PF-C from erosion of coastal permafrost during the end of the last deglaciation indicates vulnerability of Ice Complex Deposit in response to future warming and sea level changes.
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| 3. |
- Wild, Birgit, et al.
(författare)
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Rivers across the Siberian Arctic unearth the patterns of carbon release from thawing permafrost
- 2019
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 116:21, s. 10280-10285
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate warming is expected to mobilize northern permafrost and peat organic carbon (PP-C), yet magnitudes and system specifics of even current releases are poorly constrained. While part of the PP-C will degrade at point of thaw to CO2 and CH4 to directly amplify global warming, another part will enter the fluvial network, potentially providing a window to observe large-scale PP-C remobilization patterns. Here, we employ a decade-long, high-temporal resolution record of C-14 in dissolved and particulate organic carbon (DOC and POC, respectively) to deconvolute PP-C release in the large drainage basins of rivers across Siberia: Ob, Yenisey, Lena, and Kolyma. The C-14-constrained estimate of export specifically from PP-C corresponds to only 17 +/- 8% of total fluvial organic carbon and serves as a benchmark for monitoring changes to fluvial PP-C remobilization in a warming Arctic. Whereas DOC was dominated by recent organic carbon and poorly traced PP-C (12 +/- 8%), POC carried a much stronger signature of PP-C (63 +/- 10%) and represents the best window to detect spatial and temporal dynamics of PP-C release. Distinct seasonal patterns suggest that while DOC primarily stems from gradual leaching of surface soils, POC reflects abrupt collapse of deeper deposits. Higher dissolved PP-C export by Ob and Yenisey aligns with discontinuous permafrost that facilitates leaching, whereas higher particulate PP-C export by Lena and Kolyma likely echoes the thermokarst-induced collapse of Pleistocene deposits. Quantitative C-14-based fingerprinting of fluvial organic carbon thus provides an opportunity to elucidate large-scale dynamics of PP-C remobilization in response to Arctic warming.
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