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Methane emission bursts from permafrost environments during autumn freeze-in: New insights from ground-penetrating radar

Pirk, Norbert LU ; Santos, Telmo LU ; Gustafson, Carl LU ; Johansson, Anders J LU orcid ; Tufvesson, Fredrik LU orcid ; Parmentier, Frans-Jan LU ; Mastepanov, Mikhail LU and Christensen, Torben LU (2015) In Geophysical Research Letters 42(16). p.6732-6738
Abstract
Large amounts of methane (CH4) are known to be emitted from permafrost environments during the autumn freeze-in, but the specific soil conditions leading up to these bursts are unclear. Therefore, we used an ultrawide band ground-penetrating radar in Northeast Greenland in autumn 2009 to estimate the volumetric composition inside the soil through dielectric characterization from 200 to 3200 MHz. Our results suggest a compression of the gas reservoir during the phase transition of soil water, which is accompanied by a peak in surface CH4 emissions. About 1 week thereafter, there seems to be a decompression event, consistent with ground cracking which allows the gas reservoir to expand again. This coincides with the largest CH4 emission,... (More)
Large amounts of methane (CH4) are known to be emitted from permafrost environments during the autumn freeze-in, but the specific soil conditions leading up to these bursts are unclear. Therefore, we used an ultrawide band ground-penetrating radar in Northeast Greenland in autumn 2009 to estimate the volumetric composition inside the soil through dielectric characterization from 200 to 3200 MHz. Our results suggest a compression of the gas reservoir during the phase transition of soil water, which is accompanied by a peak in surface CH4 emissions. About 1 week thereafter, there seems to be a decompression event, consistent with ground cracking which allows the gas reservoir to expand again. This coincides with the largest CH4 emission, exceeding the summer maximum by a factor of 4. We argue that these complementary measurement techniques are needed to come to an understanding of tundra CH4 bursts connected to soil freezing. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
ground-penetrating radar, Greenland, autumn freeze-in, methane, frequency domain
in
Geophysical Research Letters
volume
42
issue
16
pages
6732 - 6738
publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
external identifiers
  • wos:000363410800026
  • scopus:84941734654
ISSN
1944-8007
DOI
10.1002/2015GL065034
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4fd1574e-df01-434e-876b-9d94478459ad (old id 7766980)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:41:16
date last changed
2024-02-21 22:17:42
@article{4fd1574e-df01-434e-876b-9d94478459ad,
  abstract     = {{Large amounts of methane (CH4) are known to be emitted from permafrost environments during the autumn freeze-in, but the specific soil conditions leading up to these bursts are unclear. Therefore, we used an ultrawide band ground-penetrating radar in Northeast Greenland in autumn 2009 to estimate the volumetric composition inside the soil through dielectric characterization from 200 to 3200 MHz. Our results suggest a compression of the gas reservoir during the phase transition of soil water, which is accompanied by a peak in surface CH4 emissions. About 1 week thereafter, there seems to be a decompression event, consistent with ground cracking which allows the gas reservoir to expand again. This coincides with the largest CH4 emission, exceeding the summer maximum by a factor of 4. We argue that these complementary measurement techniques are needed to come to an understanding of tundra CH4 bursts connected to soil freezing.}},
  author       = {{Pirk, Norbert and Santos, Telmo and Gustafson, Carl and Johansson, Anders J and Tufvesson, Fredrik and Parmentier, Frans-Jan and Mastepanov, Mikhail and Christensen, Torben}},
  issn         = {{1944-8007}},
  keywords     = {{ground-penetrating radar; Greenland; autumn freeze-in; methane; frequency domain}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{16}},
  pages        = {{6732--6738}},
  publisher    = {{American Geophysical Union (AGU)}},
  series       = {{Geophysical Research Letters}},
  title        = {{Methane emission bursts from permafrost environments during autumn freeze-in: New insights from ground-penetrating radar}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL065034}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/2015GL065034}},
  volume       = {{42}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}