Title: The paleoclimatic footprint in the soil carbon stock of the Tibetan permafrost region

Abstract

Tibetan permafrost largely formed during the late Pleistocene glacial period and shrank in the Holocene Thermal Maximum period. Quantifying the impacts of paleoclimatic extremes on soil carbon stock can shed light on the vulnerability of permafrost carbon in the future. Here, we synthesize data from 1114 sites across the Tibetan permafrost region to report that paleoclimate is more important than modern climate in shaping current permafrost carbon distribution, and its importance increases with soil depth, mainly through forming the soil's physiochemical properties. We derive a new estimate of modern soil carbon stock to 3 m depth by including the paleoclimate effects, and find that the stock ( $36{.6}_{-2.4}^{+2.3}$PgC) is triple that predicted by ecosystem models (11.5 ± 4.2 s.e.m PgC), which use pre-industrial climate to initialize the soil carbon pool. The discrepancy highlights the urgent need to incorporate paleoclimate information into model initialization for simulating permafrost soil carbon stocks.

Authors:

Ding, Jinzhi  ^[1];

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Wang, Tao ^[2]; Piao, Shilong  ^[3];

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Smith, Pete  ^[4];

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Zhang, Ganlin ^[5]; Yan, Zhengjie ^[6]; Ren, Shuai ^[7]; Liu, Dan ^[1]; Wang, Shiping ^[1]; Chen, Shengyun ^[8]; Dai, Fuqiang ^[9]; He, Jinsheng  ^[10];

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Li, Yingnian ^[11]; Liu, Yongwen  ^[12];

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Mao, Jiafu  ^[13];

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Arain, Altaf ^[14]; Tian, Hanqin  ^[15];

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Shi, Xiaoying  ^[13];

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Yang, Yuanhe  ^[16];

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Zeng, Ning  ^[17]

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more »; Zhao, Lin ^[18] « less

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research
2. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research and CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences; Lanzhou Univ. (China)
3. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research and CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences; Peking Univ., Beijing (China). Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science; Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
4. Univ. of Aberdeen, Aberdeen (United Kingdom). Inst. of Biological and Environmental Sciences
5. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing (China)
6. Lanzhou Univ. (China)
7. Peking Univ. Shenzhen (China). Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Circular Economy
8. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu (China). State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources
9. Chongqing Technology and Business Univ., Chongqing (China)
10. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
11. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, Qinghai (China). Key Lab. of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Inst. of Plateau Biology
12. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research and CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences
13. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
14. McMaster Univ., Hamilton, ON (Canada). McMaster Centre for Climate Change
15. Auburn Univ., Auburn, AL (United States). International Center for Climate and Global Change Research
16. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). State Key Lab. of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Inst. of Botany
17. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
18. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou (China). Cryosphere Research Station on Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, State Key Lab. of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Inst. of Eco–Environment and Resources (NIEER)

Publication Date:

2019-09-13

Research Org.:

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)

OSTI Identifier:

1648862

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC05-00OR22725

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Nature Communications

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:

Nature Publishing Group

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES