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Massive losses and gains of northern land carbon stocks since the Last Glacial Maximum

Lindgren, Amelie LU ; Kuhry, Peter ; Holloway, Max ; Lu, Zhengyao LU orcid ; Tanski, George and Hugelius, Gustaf (2025) In Science Advances 11(35).
Abstract

The dynamics of atmospheric CO2 concentrations during and following the last deglaciation have mainly been ascribed to carbon release from and uptake in oceans, primarily in the Southern Ocean. But recent studies also point toward a terrestrial influence. We quantify dynamic changes to northern terrestrial carbon stocks from the Last Glacial Maximum (21,000 years) until present at millennial time steps using a combination of paleo-data and climate-biome modeling. During the deglaciation, northern land carbon storage declined by >300 petagrams of carbon with a minimum around 11,000 years, followed by progressively higher land carbon stocks during the Holocene. We find evidence that dynamic changes in terrestrial land carbon... (More)

The dynamics of atmospheric CO2 concentrations during and following the last deglaciation have mainly been ascribed to carbon release from and uptake in oceans, primarily in the Southern Ocean. But recent studies also point toward a terrestrial influence. We quantify dynamic changes to northern terrestrial carbon stocks from the Last Glacial Maximum (21,000 years) until present at millennial time steps using a combination of paleo-data and climate-biome modeling. During the deglaciation, northern land carbon storage declined by >300 petagrams of carbon with a minimum around 11,000 years, followed by progressively higher land carbon stocks during the Holocene. We find evidence that dynamic changes in terrestrial land carbon stocks were of a scale to exert large influence on atmospheric CO2 concentrations and that postglacial terrestrial carbon stock dynamics were dominated by losses from permafrost-affected loess and gains into peatlands.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Science Advances
volume
11
issue
35
article number
eadt6231
publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:105014925275
  • pmid:40880482
ISSN
2375-2548
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.adt6231
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0b441b04-a711-4517-9847-25e3e044e374
date added to LUP
2025-10-20 13:42:13
date last changed
2025-10-21 03:00:01
@article{0b441b04-a711-4517-9847-25e3e044e374,
  abstract     = {{<p>The dynamics of atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations during and following the last deglaciation have mainly been ascribed to carbon release from and uptake in oceans, primarily in the Southern Ocean. But recent studies also point toward a terrestrial influence. We quantify dynamic changes to northern terrestrial carbon stocks from the Last Glacial Maximum (21,000 years) until present at millennial time steps using a combination of paleo-data and climate-biome modeling. During the deglaciation, northern land carbon storage declined by &gt;300 petagrams of carbon with a minimum around 11,000 years, followed by progressively higher land carbon stocks during the Holocene. We find evidence that dynamic changes in terrestrial land carbon stocks were of a scale to exert large influence on atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations and that postglacial terrestrial carbon stock dynamics were dominated by losses from permafrost-affected loess and gains into peatlands.</p>}},
  author       = {{Lindgren, Amelie and Kuhry, Peter and Holloway, Max and Lu, Zhengyao and Tanski, George and Hugelius, Gustaf}},
  issn         = {{2375-2548}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{35}},
  publisher    = {{American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}},
  series       = {{Science Advances}},
  title        = {{Massive losses and gains of northern land carbon stocks since the Last Glacial Maximum}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adt6231}},
  doi          = {{10.1126/sciadv.adt6231}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}