skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Large CO2 and CH4 emissions from polygonal tundra during spring thaw in northern Alaska

Abstract

©2016. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. The few prethaw observations of tundra carbon fluxes suggest that there may be large spring releases, but little is known about the scale and underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon. To address these questions, we combined ecosystem eddy flux measurements from two towers near Barrow, Alaska, with mechanistic soil-core thawing experiment. During a 2 week period prior to snowmelt in 2014, large fluxes were measured, reducing net summer uptake of CO 2 by 46% and adding 6% to cumulative CH 4 emissions. Emission pulses were linked to unique rain-on-snow events enhancing soil cracking. Controlled laboratory experiment revealed that as surface ice thaws, an immediate, large pulse of trapped gases is emitted. These results suggest that the Arctic CO 2 and CH 4 spring pulse is a delayed release of biogenic gas production from the previous fall and that the pulse can be large enough to offset a significant fraction of the moderate Arctic tundra carbon sink.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Energy and Resources Group
  3. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States). Biological Systems Engineering Dept.
  4. Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States). Water and Environmental Research Center
  5. Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States). Geophysical Inst.
  6. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Environmental Science Division
  7. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Environmental Sciences Division
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Contributing Org.:
Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States); Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
1352811
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1379682
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Geophysical Research Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 44; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Arctic; tundra; carbon fluxes; thaw; pulse; eddy covariance

Citation Formats

Raz-Yaseef, Naama, Torn, Margaret S., Wu, Yuxin, Billesbach, Dave P., Liljedahl, Anna K., Kneafsey, Timothy J., Romanovsky, Vladimir E., Cook, David R., and Wullschleger, Stan D. Large CO2 and CH4 emissions from polygonal tundra during spring thaw in northern Alaska. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1002/2016GL071220.
Raz-Yaseef, Naama, Torn, Margaret S., Wu, Yuxin, Billesbach, Dave P., Liljedahl, Anna K., Kneafsey, Timothy J., Romanovsky, Vladimir E., Cook, David R., & Wullschleger, Stan D. Large CO2 and CH4 emissions from polygonal tundra during spring thaw in northern Alaska. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071220
Raz-Yaseef, Naama, Torn, Margaret S., Wu, Yuxin, Billesbach, Dave P., Liljedahl, Anna K., Kneafsey, Timothy J., Romanovsky, Vladimir E., Cook, David R., and Wullschleger, Stan D. 2016. "Large CO2 and CH4 emissions from polygonal tundra during spring thaw in northern Alaska". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071220. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1352811.
@article{osti_1352811,
title = {Large CO2 and CH4 emissions from polygonal tundra during spring thaw in northern Alaska},
author = {Raz-Yaseef, Naama and Torn, Margaret S. and Wu, Yuxin and Billesbach, Dave P. and Liljedahl, Anna K. and Kneafsey, Timothy J. and Romanovsky, Vladimir E. and Cook, David R. and Wullschleger, Stan D.},
abstractNote = {©2016. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. The few prethaw observations of tundra carbon fluxes suggest that there may be large spring releases, but little is known about the scale and underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon. To address these questions, we combined ecosystem eddy flux measurements from two towers near Barrow, Alaska, with mechanistic soil-core thawing experiment. During a 2 week period prior to snowmelt in 2014, large fluxes were measured, reducing net summer uptake of CO 2 by 46% and adding 6% to cumulative CH 4 emissions. Emission pulses were linked to unique rain-on-snow events enhancing soil cracking. Controlled laboratory experiment revealed that as surface ice thaws, an immediate, large pulse of trapped gases is emitted. These results suggest that the Arctic CO 2 and CH 4 spring pulse is a delayed release of biogenic gas production from the previous fall and that the pulse can be large enough to offset a significant fraction of the moderate Arctic tundra carbon sink.},
doi = {10.1002/2016GL071220},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1352811}, journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
issn = {0094-8276},
number = 1,
volume = 44,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Dec 05 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Mon Dec 05 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 52 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Episodic fluxes of methane from subarctic fens
journal, November 1992


Estimated stocks of circumpolar permafrost carbon with quantified uncertainty ranges and identified data gaps
journal, January 2014


Land-atmosphere exchange of methane from soil thawing to soil freezing in a high-Arctic wet tundra ecosystem
journal, February 2012


Annual methane emission from Finnish mires estimated from eddy covariance campaign measurements
journal, September 2001


Climate change and the permafrost carbon feedback
journal, April 2015


Methane emission bursts from permafrost environments during autumn freeze‐in: New insights from ground‐penetrating radar
journal, August 2015


Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget
journal, December 2015


The microbial ecology of permafrost
journal, May 2014


Application of X-ray computed tomography to soil science: A literature review
journal, February 2008


X-ray tomographic analysis of sediment macrostructure in Eckernf�rde Bay, western Baltic Sea
journal, September 1996


Annual patterns and budget of CO 2 flux in an Arctic tussock tundra ecosystem
journal, March 2014


Growing season and spatial variations of carbon fluxes of Arctic and boreal ecosystems in Alaska (USA)
journal, December 2013


Annual CO 2 exchange and CH 4 fluxes on a subarctic palsa mire during climatically different years : GAS BALANCE OF A SUBARCTIC PALSA MIRE
journal, February 2003


Revisiting factors controlling methane emissions from high-Arctic tundra
journal, January 2013


On the separation of net ecosystem exchange into assimilation and ecosystem respiration: review and improved algorithm
journal, September 2005


Tundra ecosystems observed to be CO 2 sources due to differential amplification of the carbon cycle
journal, August 2013


Methane emission from Siberian arctic polygonal tundra: eddy covariance measurements and modeling
journal, June 2008


Large methane emission upon spring thaw from natural wetlands in the northern permafrost region
journal, July 2012


Episodic release of methane bubbles from peatland during spring thaw
journal, December 2007


Methane emissions from fen, bog and swamp peatlands in Quebec
journal, September 1990


Cold season CO 2 emission from Arctic soils
journal, June 1997


Trends and variability in rain‐on‐snow events
journal, September 2015


Rapid response of greenhouse gas emission to early spring thaw in a subarctic mire as shown by micrometeorological techniques
journal, December 1997


Permafrost thaw and soil moisture driving CO 2 and CH 4 release from upland tundra
journal, March 2015


Enhanced Modern Heat Transfer to the Arctic by Warm Atlantic Water
journal, January 2011


Wintertime CO 2 efflux from Arctic soils: Implications for annual carbon budgets
journal, September 1999


Winter rain on snow and its association with air temperature in northern Eurasia
journal, July 2008


Environmental and biotic controls over methane flux from Arctic tundra
journal, January 1993


Methane bubbling from northern lakes: present and future contributions to the global methane budget
journal, May 2007

  • Walter, Katey M.; Smith, Laurence C.; Stuart Chapin, F.
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 365, Issue 1856
  • https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2007.2036

Extrapolating active layer thickness measurements across Arctic polygonal terrain using LiDAR and NDVI data sets : Research Article
journal, August 2014


Large tundra methane burst during onset of freezing
journal, December 2008


Net ecosystem CO2 exchange measured by autochambers during the snow-covered season at a temperate peatland
journal, January 2002


Vegetation height and other controls of spatial variability in methane emissions from the Arctic coastal tundra at Barrow, Alaska
journal, January 2010


Works referencing / citing this record:

Nutrient Release From Permafrost Thaw Enhances CH 4 Emissions From Arctic Tundra Wetlands
journal, June 2019


Impacts of temperature and soil characteristics on methane production and oxidation in Arctic tundra
journal, January 2018


Large carbon cycle sensitivities to climate across a permafrost thaw gradient in subarctic Sweden
journal, January 2019


Scaling and balancing carbon dioxide fluxes in a heterogeneous tundra ecosystem of the Lena River Delta
journal, January 2019