Direct observation of permafrost degradation and rapid soil carbon loss in tundra
Abstract
Evidence indicates that 5–15% of the vast pool of soil carbon stored in northern permafrost ecosystems could be emitted as greenhouse gases by 2100 under the current path of global warming. Yet, direct measurements of changes in soil carbon remain scarce, largely because ground subsidence that occurs as the permafrost soils begin to thaw confounds the traditional quantification of carbon pools based on fixed depths or soil horizons. This issue is overcome when carbon is quantified in relation to a fixed ash content, which uses the relatively stable mineral component of soil as a metric for pool comparisons through time. We applied this approach to directly measure soil carbon pool changes over five years in experimentally warmed and ambient tundra ecosystems at a site in Alaska where permafrost is degrading due to climate change. We show a loss of soil carbon of 5.4% per year (95% confidence interval: 1.0, 9.5) across the site. Our findings point to lateral hydrological export as a potential pathway for these surprisingly large losses. This research highlights the potential to make repeat soil carbon pool measurements at sentinel sites across the permafrost region, as this feedback to climate change may be occurring faster than previouslymore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[4];
[2];
[6];
[7];
[2]
- Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States); Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles (Spain); Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Madrid (Spain)
- Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States)
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, MA (United States)
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1564186
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; SC0006982; SC0014085
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Geoscience
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 12; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 1752-0894
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Citation Formats
Plaza, César, Pegoraro, Elaine, Bracho, Rosvel, Celis, Gerardo, Crummer, Kathryn G., Hutchings, Jack A., Hicks Pries, Caitlin E., Mauritz, Marguerite, Natali, Susan M., Salmon, Verity G., Schädel, Christina, Webb, Elizabeth E., and Schuur, Edward A. G. Direct observation of permafrost degradation and rapid soil carbon loss in tundra. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0387-6.
Plaza, César, Pegoraro, Elaine, Bracho, Rosvel, Celis, Gerardo, Crummer, Kathryn G., Hutchings, Jack A., Hicks Pries, Caitlin E., Mauritz, Marguerite, Natali, Susan M., Salmon, Verity G., Schädel, Christina, Webb, Elizabeth E., & Schuur, Edward A. G. Direct observation of permafrost degradation and rapid soil carbon loss in tundra. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0387-6
Plaza, César, Pegoraro, Elaine, Bracho, Rosvel, Celis, Gerardo, Crummer, Kathryn G., Hutchings, Jack A., Hicks Pries, Caitlin E., Mauritz, Marguerite, Natali, Susan M., Salmon, Verity G., Schädel, Christina, Webb, Elizabeth E., and Schuur, Edward A. G. Mon .
"Direct observation of permafrost degradation and rapid soil carbon loss in tundra". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0387-6. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1564186.
@article{osti_1564186,
title = {Direct observation of permafrost degradation and rapid soil carbon loss in tundra},
author = {Plaza, César and Pegoraro, Elaine and Bracho, Rosvel and Celis, Gerardo and Crummer, Kathryn G. and Hutchings, Jack A. and Hicks Pries, Caitlin E. and Mauritz, Marguerite and Natali, Susan M. and Salmon, Verity G. and Schädel, Christina and Webb, Elizabeth E. and Schuur, Edward A. G.},
abstractNote = {Evidence indicates that 5–15% of the vast pool of soil carbon stored in northern permafrost ecosystems could be emitted as greenhouse gases by 2100 under the current path of global warming. Yet, direct measurements of changes in soil carbon remain scarce, largely because ground subsidence that occurs as the permafrost soils begin to thaw confounds the traditional quantification of carbon pools based on fixed depths or soil horizons. This issue is overcome when carbon is quantified in relation to a fixed ash content, which uses the relatively stable mineral component of soil as a metric for pool comparisons through time. We applied this approach to directly measure soil carbon pool changes over five years in experimentally warmed and ambient tundra ecosystems at a site in Alaska where permafrost is degrading due to climate change. We show a loss of soil carbon of 5.4% per year (95% confidence interval: 1.0, 9.5) across the site. Our findings point to lateral hydrological export as a potential pathway for these surprisingly large losses. This research highlights the potential to make repeat soil carbon pool measurements at sentinel sites across the permafrost region, as this feedback to climate change may be occurring faster than previously thought.},
doi = {10.1038/s41561-019-0387-6},
journal = {Nature Geoscience},
number = 8,
volume = 12,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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Figures / Tables:
Figure 1: Annual maximum thaw depth (active layer) of permafrost soils in response to ambient (control) and experimental warming. Circles and dashed lines, ambient; triangles and solid lines, experimental warming (mean ± s.e., n = 6 for each group).
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Figures / Tables found in this record:
Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.