Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Mechanistic Modeling of Microtopographic Impacts on CO2 and CH4 Fluxes in an Alaskan Tundra Ecosystem Using the CLM-Microbe Model

Journal Article · · Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
 [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [2];  [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. San Diego State Univ., CA (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. San Diego State Univ., CA (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenyang City (China)
  4. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Spatial heterogeneities in soil hydrology have been confirmed as a key control on CO2 and CH4 fluxes in the Arctic tundra ecosystem. In this study, we applied a mechanistic ecosystem model, CLM-Microbe, to examine the microtopographic impacts on CO2 and CH4 fluxes across seven landscape types in Utqiaġvik, Alaska: trough, low-centered polygon (LCP) center, LCP transition, LCP rim, high-centered polygon (HCP) center, HCP transition, and HCP rim. We first validated the CLM-Microbe model against static-chamber measured CO2 and CH4 fluxes in 2013 for three landscape types: trough, LCP center, and LCP rim. Model application showed that low-elevation and thus wetter landscape types (i.e., trough, transitions, and LCP center) had larger CH4 emissions rates with greater seasonal variations than high-elevation and drier landscape types (rims and HCP center). Sensitivity analysis indicated that substrate availability for methanogenesis (acetate, CO2 + H2) is the most important factor determining CH4 emission, and vegetation physiological properties largely affect the net ecosystem carbon exchange and ecosystem respiration in Arctic tundra ecosystems. Modeled CH4 emissions for different microtopographic features were upscaled to the eddy covariance (EC) domain with an area-weighted approach before validation against EC-measured CH4 fluxes. The model underestimated the EC-measured CH4 flux by 20% and 25% at daily and hourly time steps, suggesting the importance of the time step in reporting CH4 flux. The strong microtopographic impacts on CO2 and CH4 fluxes call for a model-data integration framework for better understanding and predicting carbon flux in the highly heterogeneous Arctic landscape.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; 1702797; AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1579403
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1579405; OSTI ID: 1582360; OSTI ID: 1615822
Journal Information:
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 11, Issue 12; ISSN 1942-2466
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 23 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (64)

Responses of CO 2 flux components of Alaskan Coastal Plain tundra to shifts in water table journal January 2010
Spatial variation in landscape-level CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes from arctic coastal tundra: influence from vegetation, wetness, and the thaw lake cycle journal July 2013
Microtopographic control on the ground thermal regime in ice wedge polygons journal January 2018
Mapping pan-Arctic methane emissions at high spatial resolution using an adjoint atmospheric transport and inversion method and process-based wetland and lake biogeochemical models journal January 2015
Mapping Arctic Plant Functional Type Distributions in the Barrow Environmental Observatory Using WorldView-2 and LiDAR Datasets journal September 2016
Influence of carbon-nitrogen cycle coupling on land model response to CO 2 fertilization and climate variability : INFLUENCE OF CARBON-NITROGEN COUPLING journal December 2007
Net regional methane sink in High Arctic soils of northeast Greenland journal December 2014
Impacts of microtopographic snow redistribution and lateral subsurface processes on hydrologic and thermal states in an Arctic polygonal ground ecosystem: a case study using ELM-3D v1.0 journal January 2018
Morphometric and spatial analysis of thaw lakes and drained thaw lake basins in the western Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska journal January 2005
Mechanistic modeling of microbial interactions at pore to profile scale resolve methane emission dynamics from permafrost soil: MICROBIAL INTERACTIONS IN PERMAFROST journal May 2017
Long-Term Drainage Reduces CO 2 Uptake and CH 4 Emissions in a Siberian Permafrost Ecosystem : Drainage impact on Arctic carbon cycle journal December 2017
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
A scalable model for methane consumption in arctic mineral soils journal May 2016
Influences and interactions of inundation, peat, and snow on active layer thickness journal May 2016
Comparison of chamber and eddy covariance-based CO2 and CH4 emission estimates in a heterogeneous grass ecosystem on peat journal June 2010
A satellite data driven biophysical modeling approach for estimating northern peatland and tundra CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes journal January 2014
Methane production as a function of anaerobic carbon mineralization: A process model journal August 1998
Process-based modelling of the methane balance in periglacial landscapes (JSBACH-methane) journal January 2017
Vegetation Type Dominates the Spatial Variability in CH4 Emissions Across Multiple Arctic Tundra Landscapes journal May 2016
Pathways of anaerobic organic matter decomposition in tundra soils from Barrow, Alaska: BIOGEOCHEMISTRY OF ANOXIC ARCTIC TUNDRA journal November 2015
Modeling methane emissions from the Alaskan Yukon River basin, 1986-2005, by coupling a large-scale hydrological model and a process-based methane model: CH journal April 2012
Microtopographic and depth controls on active layer chemistry in Arctic polygonal ground: Polygonal Ground Chemistry journal March 2015
Variation in the plant-mediated methane transport and its importance for methane emission from intact wetland peat mesocosms journal January 2013
Simulation of methanogenesis in the mathematical model ecosys journal July 1998
Mathematical Modelling of Arctic Polygonal Tundra with Ecosys: 2. Microtopography Determines How CO 2 and CH 4 Exchange Responds to Changes in Temperature and Precipitation : GHG Exchange in Arctic Polygonal Tundra journal December 2017
A microbial functional group-based module for simulating methane production and consumption: Application to an incubated permafrost soil: A MICROBIAL FUNCTIONAL GROUP-BASED METHANE MODULE journal July 2015
Mathematical Modelling of Arctic Polygonal Tundra with Ecosys : 1. Microtopography Determines How Active Layer Depths Respond to Changes in Temperature and Precipitation : Active Layer Depth in Polygonal Tundra journal December 2017
Microbial community structure and soil p H correspond to methane production in A rctic A laska soils journal July 2017
Mapping snow depth within a tundra ecosystem using multiscale observations and Bayesian methods journal January 2017
Recent change of Arctic tundra ecosystems from a net carbon dioxide sink to a source journal February 1993
Permafrost collapse after shrub removal shifts tundra ecosystem to a methane source journal November 2014
Deeper snow alters soil nutrient availability and leaf nutrient status in high Arctic tundra journal February 2015
Controls on soil methane fluxes: Tests of biophysical mechanisms using stable isotope tracers: BIOPHYSICAL CONTROL OF SOIL METHANE FLUX journal May 2007
A process-based, climate-sensitive model to derive methane emissions from natural wetlands: Application to five wetland sites, sensitivity to model parameters, and climate journal September 2000
Methane fluxes between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere at northern high latitudes during the past century: A retrospective analysis with a process-based biogeochemistry model: METHANE EMISSIONS FROM NORTHERN HIGH LATITUDES journal August 2004
Cold season emissions dominate the Arctic tundra methane budget journal December 2015
Landscape topography structures the soil microbiome in arctic polygonal tundra journal February 2018
Modeling the spatiotemporal variability in subsurface thermal regimes across a low-relief polygonal tundra landscape journal January 2016
Spatial and temporal patterns of CH 4 and N 2 O fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems of North America during 1979–2008: application of a global biogeochemistry model journal January 2010
Geochemical drivers of organic matter decomposition in arctic tundra soils journal December 2015
Water-table height and microtopography control biogeochemical cycling in an Arctic coastal tundra ecosystem journal January 2012
Attribution of spatial and temporal variations in terrestrial methane flux over North America journal January 2010
Pathways and transformations of dissolved methane and dissolved inorganic carbon in Arctic tundra watersheds: Evidence from analysis of stable isotopes: DISSOLVED CH journal November 2015
The contribution of Fe(III) and humic acid reduction to ecosystem respiration in drained thaw lake basins of the Arctic Coastal Plain: Fe(III) AND HA REDUCTION IN THE ARCTIC journal May 2013
Barriers to predicting changes in global terrestrial methane fluxes: analyses using CLM4Me, a methane biogeochemistry model integrated in CESM journal January 2011
Ecosystem model spin-up: Estimating steady state conditions in a coupled terrestrial carbon and nitrogen cycle model journal November 2005
Connecting methane fluxes to vegetation cover and water table fluctuations at microsite level: A modeling study: CONNECTING CH journal May 2003
Methanogenic archaea: ecologically relevant differences in energy conservation journal June 2008
Thaw processes in ice-rich permafrost landscapes represented with laterally coupled tiles in a land surface model journal January 2019
Methane emissions from wetlands: biogeochemical, microbial, and modeling perspectives from local to global scales journal February 2013
Implementation and evaluation of a new methane model within a dynamic global vegetation model: LPJ-WHyMe v1.3.1 journal January 2010
A CH 4 emission estimate for the Kuparuk River basin, Alaska journal November 1998
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
The effect of vertically resolved soil biogeochemistry and alternate soil C and N models on C dynamics of CLM4 journal January 2013
Nonlinear controls on evapotranspiration in arctic coastal wetlands journal January 2011
Upscaling methane fluxes from closed chambers to eddy covariance based on a permafrost biogeochemistry integrated model journal December 2011
Biochemistry of Acetate Catabolism in Anaerobic Chemotrophic Bacteria journal October 1989
Microtopographic controls on ecosystem functioning in the Arctic Coastal Plain journal January 2011
Reviews and syntheses: Four decades of modeling methane cycling in terrestrial ecosystems journal January 2016
Methane, microbes and models: fundamental understanding of the soil methane cycle for future predictions: Methane, microbes and models journal May 2013
Attribution of spatial and temporal variations in terrestrial methane flux over North America journal January 2010
Barriers to predicting changes in global terrestrial methane fluxes: analyses using CLM4Me, a methane biogeochemistry model integrated in CESM journal January 2011

Similar Records

Temporal, Spatial, and Temperature Controls on Organic Carbon Mineralization and Methanogenesis in Arctic High-Centered Polygon Soils
Journal Article · 2021 · Frontiers in Microbiology · OSTI ID:1759127
+4 more
Mathematical Modelling of Arctic Polygonal Tundra with Ecosys: 2. Microtopography Determines How CO2 and CH4 Exchange Responds to Changes in Temperature and Precipitation
Journal Article · 2017 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences · OSTI ID:1433102
+2 more
Upscaling Methane Flux From Plot Level to Eddy Covariance Tower Domains in Five Alaskan Tundra Ecosystems
Journal Article · 2022 · Frontiers in Environmental Science · OSTI ID:1874750
+10 more

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Arctic tundra
CH4 flux
microtopographic
sensitivity analysis
net carbon exchange