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Net carbon accumulation of a high-latitude permafrost palsa mire similar to permafrost-free peatlands

Olefeldt, David ; Roulet, Nigel T. ; Bergeron, Onil ; Crill, Patrick ; Backstrand, Kristina and Christensen, Torben LU (2012) In Geophysical Research Letters 39. p.03501-03501
Abstract
Palsa mires, nutrient poor permafrost peatlands common in subarctic regions, store a significant amount of carbon (C) and it has been hypothesized their net ecosystem C balance (NECB) is sensitive to climate change. Over two years we measured the NECB for Stordalen palsa mire and found it to accumulate 46 g C m(-2) yr(-1). While Stordalen NECB is comparable to nutrient poor peatlands without permafrost, the component fluxes differ considerably in magnitude. Specifically, Stordalen had both lower growing season CO2 uptake and wintertime CO2 losses, but importantly also low dissolved organic carbon exports and hydrocarbon (mainly methane) emissions. Restricted C losses from palsa mires are likely to have facilitated C accumulation of... (More)
Palsa mires, nutrient poor permafrost peatlands common in subarctic regions, store a significant amount of carbon (C) and it has been hypothesized their net ecosystem C balance (NECB) is sensitive to climate change. Over two years we measured the NECB for Stordalen palsa mire and found it to accumulate 46 g C m(-2) yr(-1). While Stordalen NECB is comparable to nutrient poor peatlands without permafrost, the component fluxes differ considerably in magnitude. Specifically, Stordalen had both lower growing season CO2 uptake and wintertime CO2 losses, but importantly also low dissolved organic carbon exports and hydrocarbon (mainly methane) emissions. Restricted C losses from palsa mires are likely to have facilitated C accumulation of unproductive subarctic permafrost peatlands. Continued climate change and permafrost thaw is likely to amplify several component fluxes, with an uncertain overall effect on NECB - highlighting the necessity for projections of high-latitude C storage to consider all C fluxes. Citation: Olefeldt, D., N. T. Roulet, O. Bergeron, P. Crill, K. Backstrand, and T. R. Christensen (2012), Net carbon accumulation of a high-latitude permafrost palsa mire similar to permafrost-free peatlands, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L03501, doi: 10.1029/2011GL050355. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Geophysical Research Letters
volume
39
pages
03501 - 03501
publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
external identifiers
  • wos:000299991700003
  • scopus:84856264654
ISSN
1944-8007
DOI
10.1029/2011GL050355
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
769a6eec-4ec5-4678-8bde-fc21f15277c5 (old id 2409876)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:39:43
date last changed
2022-04-22 04:35:13
@article{769a6eec-4ec5-4678-8bde-fc21f15277c5,
  abstract     = {{Palsa mires, nutrient poor permafrost peatlands common in subarctic regions, store a significant amount of carbon (C) and it has been hypothesized their net ecosystem C balance (NECB) is sensitive to climate change. Over two years we measured the NECB for Stordalen palsa mire and found it to accumulate 46 g C m(-2) yr(-1). While Stordalen NECB is comparable to nutrient poor peatlands without permafrost, the component fluxes differ considerably in magnitude. Specifically, Stordalen had both lower growing season CO2 uptake and wintertime CO2 losses, but importantly also low dissolved organic carbon exports and hydrocarbon (mainly methane) emissions. Restricted C losses from palsa mires are likely to have facilitated C accumulation of unproductive subarctic permafrost peatlands. Continued climate change and permafrost thaw is likely to amplify several component fluxes, with an uncertain overall effect on NECB - highlighting the necessity for projections of high-latitude C storage to consider all C fluxes. Citation: Olefeldt, D., N. T. Roulet, O. Bergeron, P. Crill, K. Backstrand, and T. R. Christensen (2012), Net carbon accumulation of a high-latitude permafrost palsa mire similar to permafrost-free peatlands, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L03501, doi: 10.1029/2011GL050355.}},
  author       = {{Olefeldt, David and Roulet, Nigel T. and Bergeron, Onil and Crill, Patrick and Backstrand, Kristina and Christensen, Torben}},
  issn         = {{1944-8007}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{03501--03501}},
  publisher    = {{American Geophysical Union (AGU)}},
  series       = {{Geophysical Research Letters}},
  title        = {{Net carbon accumulation of a high-latitude permafrost palsa mire similar to permafrost-free peatlands}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GL050355}},
  doi          = {{10.1029/2011GL050355}},
  volume       = {{39}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}