Spatial heterogeneity and environmental predictors of permafrost region soil organic carbon stocks
Abstract
Large stocks of soil organic carbon (SOC) have accumulated in the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region, but their current amounts and future fate remain uncertain. By analyzing dataset combining >2700 soil profiles with environmental variables in a geospatial framework, we generated spatially explicit estimates of permafrost-region SOC stocks, quantified spatial heterogeneity, and identified key environmental predictors. We estimated that 1014+194-175 Pg C are stored in the top 3 m of permafrost region soils. The greatest uncertainties occurred in circumpolar toe-slope positions and in flat areas of the Tibetan region. We found that soil wetness index and elevation are the dominant topographic controllers and surface air temperature (circumpolar region) and precipitation (Tibetan region) are significant climatic controllers of SOC stocks. Our results provide first high-resolution geospatial assessment of permafrost region SOC stocks and their relationships with environmental factors, which are crucial for modeling the response of permafrost affected soils to changing climate.
- Authors:
-
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- Environmental Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL, USA.
- Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Department of Geology and Environmental Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100093 Beijing, China.
- Permafrost Research Section, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany.
- Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Puschchino, Russia.
- School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA., Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 757000, Fairbanks, AK, USA.
- Palmer Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Palmer, AK, USA.
- Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Umea University, Sweden.
- Biological Station, University of Michigan, Pellston, MI, USA.
- Department of Geography and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
- Institute of Soil Science, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
- Climate Change Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA., Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, 325 John D. Tickle Building, 851 Neyland Drive, Knoxville, TN, USA.
- CENPERM (Center for Permafrost), Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Earth and Oceanographic Science Department and Environmental Studies Program, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, USA.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 2280457
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1774595; OSTI ID: 1820858; OSTI ID: 1827987
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357; AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Science Advances
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Volume: 7 Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
- Publisher:
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Environmental controls; Permafrost; Soil organic carbon; Spatial heterogeneity
Citation Formats
Mishra, Umakant, Hugelius, Gustaf, Shelef, Eitan, Yang, Yuanhe, Strauss, Jens, Lupachev, Alexey, Harden, Jennifer W., Jastrow, Julie D., Ping, Chien-Lu, Riley, William J., Schuur, Edward A. G., Matamala, Roser, Siewert, Matthias, Nave, Lucas E., Koven, Charles D., Fuchs, Matthias, Palmtag, Juri, Kuhry, Peter, Treat, Claire C., Zubrzycki, Sebastian, Hoffman, Forrest M., Elberling, Bo, Camill, Philip, Veremeeva, Alexandra, and Orr, Andrew. Spatial heterogeneity and environmental predictors of permafrost region soil organic carbon stocks. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz5236.
Mishra, Umakant, Hugelius, Gustaf, Shelef, Eitan, Yang, Yuanhe, Strauss, Jens, Lupachev, Alexey, Harden, Jennifer W., Jastrow, Julie D., Ping, Chien-Lu, Riley, William J., Schuur, Edward A. G., Matamala, Roser, Siewert, Matthias, Nave, Lucas E., Koven, Charles D., Fuchs, Matthias, Palmtag, Juri, Kuhry, Peter, Treat, Claire C., Zubrzycki, Sebastian, Hoffman, Forrest M., Elberling, Bo, Camill, Philip, Veremeeva, Alexandra, & Orr, Andrew. Spatial heterogeneity and environmental predictors of permafrost region soil organic carbon stocks. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz5236
Mishra, Umakant, Hugelius, Gustaf, Shelef, Eitan, Yang, Yuanhe, Strauss, Jens, Lupachev, Alexey, Harden, Jennifer W., Jastrow, Julie D., Ping, Chien-Lu, Riley, William J., Schuur, Edward A. G., Matamala, Roser, Siewert, Matthias, Nave, Lucas E., Koven, Charles D., Fuchs, Matthias, Palmtag, Juri, Kuhry, Peter, Treat, Claire C., Zubrzycki, Sebastian, Hoffman, Forrest M., Elberling, Bo, Camill, Philip, Veremeeva, Alexandra, and Orr, Andrew. Fri .
"Spatial heterogeneity and environmental predictors of permafrost region soil organic carbon stocks". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz5236.
@article{osti_2280457,
title = {Spatial heterogeneity and environmental predictors of permafrost region soil organic carbon stocks},
author = {Mishra, Umakant and Hugelius, Gustaf and Shelef, Eitan and Yang, Yuanhe and Strauss, Jens and Lupachev, Alexey and Harden, Jennifer W. and Jastrow, Julie D. and Ping, Chien-Lu and Riley, William J. and Schuur, Edward A. G. and Matamala, Roser and Siewert, Matthias and Nave, Lucas E. and Koven, Charles D. and Fuchs, Matthias and Palmtag, Juri and Kuhry, Peter and Treat, Claire C. and Zubrzycki, Sebastian and Hoffman, Forrest M. and Elberling, Bo and Camill, Philip and Veremeeva, Alexandra and Orr, Andrew},
abstractNote = {Large stocks of soil organic carbon (SOC) have accumulated in the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region, but their current amounts and future fate remain uncertain. By analyzing dataset combining >2700 soil profiles with environmental variables in a geospatial framework, we generated spatially explicit estimates of permafrost-region SOC stocks, quantified spatial heterogeneity, and identified key environmental predictors. We estimated that 1014+194-175 Pg C are stored in the top 3 m of permafrost region soils. The greatest uncertainties occurred in circumpolar toe-slope positions and in flat areas of the Tibetan region. We found that soil wetness index and elevation are the dominant topographic controllers and surface air temperature (circumpolar region) and precipitation (Tibetan region) are significant climatic controllers of SOC stocks. Our results provide first high-resolution geospatial assessment of permafrost region SOC stocks and their relationships with environmental factors, which are crucial for modeling the response of permafrost affected soils to changing climate.},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aaz5236},
journal = {Science Advances},
number = 9,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Feb 26 00:00:00 EST 2021},
month = {Fri Feb 26 00:00:00 EST 2021}
}
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz5236
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