Climate-forced changes in available energy and methane bubbling from subarctic lakes

• Strong correlations between seasonal energy input and methane (CH4) bubbling (ebullition) in northern lakes suggest that energy proxies might provide a constraint on the magnitude of future CH4 emissions. Ebullition is a major pathway for transporting anaerobically produced CH4 from lake sediments to the atmosphere and represents a large unquantified CH4 source. In high-latitude, postglacial lakes during the ice-free season, solar shortwave energy input can constrain CH4 productivity via control of sediment temperature. Utilizing long-term climatic predictors, we calculate CH4 ebullition from three subarctic lakes in northern Sweden over the period of 1916-2079. Using observed energy trends, the seasonal average lake CH4 ebullition is predicted to increase by 80% between the 1916-1926 decade and the 2040-2079 period. Present-day seasonal average methane ebullition is estimated to have already increased 24% since the 1916-1926 decade.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

methane

subarctic

lakes

Stordalen

Abisko

shortwave

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)