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Title: Methane emissions from pan-Arctic lakes during the 21st century: An analysis with process-based models of lake evolution and biogeochemistry

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JG003184· OSTI ID:1469113
 [1];  [2]
  1. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Purdue Climate Change Research Center
  2. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Purdue Climate Change Research Center, and Dept. of Agronomy

Abstract The importance of methane emissions from pan‐Arctic lakes in the global carbon cycle has been suggested by recent studies. These studies indicated that climate change influences this methane source mainly in two ways: the warming of lake sediments and the evolution of thermokarst lakes. Few studies have been conducted to quantify the two impacts together in a unified modeling framework. Here we adapt a region‐specific lake evolution model to the pan‐Arctic scale and couple it with a lake methane biogeochemical model to quantify the change of this freshwater methane source in the 21st century. Our simulations show that the extent of thaw lakes will increase throughout the 21st century in the northern lowlands of the pan‐Arctic where the reworking of epigenetic ice in drained lake basins will continue. The projected methane emissions by 2100 are 28.3 ± 4.5 Tg CH 4  yr −1 under a low warming scenario (Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 2.6) and 32.7 ± 5.2 Tg CH 4  yr −1 under a high warming scenario (RCP 8.5), which are about 2.5 and 2.9 times the simulated present‐day emissions. Most of the emitted methane originates from nonpermafrost carbon stock. For permafrost carbon, the methanogenesis will mineralize a cumulative amount of 3.4 ± 0.8 Pg C under RCP 2.6 and 3.9 ± 0.9 Pg C under RCP 8.5 from 2006 to 2099. The projected emissions could increase atmospheric methane concentrations by 55.0–69.3 ppb. This study further indicates that the warming of lake sediments dominates the increase of methane emissions from pan‐Arctic lakes in the future.

Research Organization:
Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States); Univ. of California, Oakland, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-08ER64599; AC02-05CH11231; DE‐FG02‐08ER64599
OSTI ID:
1469113
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1402311
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences, Vol. 120, Issue 12; ISSN 2169-8953
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 36 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (11)

Role of gas ebullition in the methane budget of a deep subtropical lake: What can we learn from process-based modeling?: CH 4 budget of a deep subtropical lake journal June 2017
Mixing processes in small arctic lakes during spring journal August 2019
AirSWOT InSAR Mapping of Surface Water Elevations and Hydraulic Gradients Across the Yukon Flats Basin, Alaska journal February 2019
Space‐Based Observations for Understanding Changes in the Arctic‐Boreal Zone journal January 2020
21st-century modeled permafrost carbon emissions accelerated by abrupt thaw beneath lakes journal August 2018
Minor contribution of small thaw ponds to the pools of carbon and methane in the inland waters of the permafrost-affected part of the Western Siberian Lowland journal March 2018
Dissolved methane in the residual basins of the Aral Sea journal June 2019
Inverse modeling of pan-Arctic methane emissions at high spatial resolution: what can we learn from assimilating satellite retrievals and using different process-based wetland and lake biogeochemical models? journal January 2016
Detectability of Arctic methane sources at six sites performing continuous atmospheric measurements journal January 2017
Characterisation of short-term extreme methane fluxes related to non-turbulent mixing above an Arctic permafrost ecosystem journal January 2019
Exceptional summer warming leads to contrasting outcomes for methane cycling in small Arctic lakes of Greenland journal January 2017