Carbon Thaw Rate Doubles When Accounting for Subsidence in a Permafrost Warming Experiment
Abstract
Abstract Permafrost thaw is typically measured with active layer thickness, or the maximum seasonal thaw measured from the ground surface. However, previous work has shown that this measurement alone fails to account for ground subsidence and therefore underestimates permafrost thaw. To determine the impact of subsidence on observed permafrost thaw and thawed soil carbon stocks, we quantified subsidence using high‐accuracy GPS and identified its environmental drivers in a permafrost warming experiment near the southern limit of permafrost in Alaska. With permafrost temperatures near 0°C, 10.8 cm of subsidence was observed in control plots over 9 years. Experimental air and soil warming increased subsidence by five times and created inundated microsites. Across treatments, ice and soil loss drove 85–91% and 9–15% of subsidence, respectively. Accounting for subsidence, permafrost thawed between 19% (control) and 49% (warming) deeper than active layer thickness indicated, and the amount of newly thawed carbon within the active layer was between 37% (control) and 113% (warming) greater. As additional carbon thaws as the active layer deepens, carbon fluxes to the atmosphere and lateral transport of carbon in groundwater could increase. The magnitude of this impact is uncertain at the landscape scale, though, due to limited subsidence measurements. Therefore, to determinemore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[3];
[4];
[5];
[6];
[1];
- Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States). Center for Ecosystem Science and Society
- Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States). Center for Ecosystem Science and Society; Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States). Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research Site
- Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States). Center for Ecosystem Science and Society; Univ. of Texas at El Paso, TX (United States)
- Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, MA (United States)
- Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Madrid (Spain)
- Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States). Center for Ecosystem Science and Society and School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1801748
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1633843
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0006982; SC0014085; DE‐SC0014085; DE‐SC0006982
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 125; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-8953
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; Geology
Citation Formats
Rodenhizer, Heidi, Ledman, Justin, Mauritz, Marguerite, Natali, Susan M., Pegoraro, Elaine, Plaza, César, Romano, Emily, Schädel, Christina, Taylor, Meghan, and Schuur, Edward. Carbon Thaw Rate Doubles When Accounting for Subsidence in a Permafrost Warming Experiment. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1029/2019jg005528.
Rodenhizer, Heidi, Ledman, Justin, Mauritz, Marguerite, Natali, Susan M., Pegoraro, Elaine, Plaza, César, Romano, Emily, Schädel, Christina, Taylor, Meghan, & Schuur, Edward. Carbon Thaw Rate Doubles When Accounting for Subsidence in a Permafrost Warming Experiment. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019jg005528
Rodenhizer, Heidi, Ledman, Justin, Mauritz, Marguerite, Natali, Susan M., Pegoraro, Elaine, Plaza, César, Romano, Emily, Schädel, Christina, Taylor, Meghan, and Schuur, Edward. Thu .
"Carbon Thaw Rate Doubles When Accounting for Subsidence in a Permafrost Warming Experiment". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019jg005528. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1801748.
@article{osti_1801748,
title = {Carbon Thaw Rate Doubles When Accounting for Subsidence in a Permafrost Warming Experiment},
author = {Rodenhizer, Heidi and Ledman, Justin and Mauritz, Marguerite and Natali, Susan M. and Pegoraro, Elaine and Plaza, César and Romano, Emily and Schädel, Christina and Taylor, Meghan and Schuur, Edward},
abstractNote = {Abstract Permafrost thaw is typically measured with active layer thickness, or the maximum seasonal thaw measured from the ground surface. However, previous work has shown that this measurement alone fails to account for ground subsidence and therefore underestimates permafrost thaw. To determine the impact of subsidence on observed permafrost thaw and thawed soil carbon stocks, we quantified subsidence using high‐accuracy GPS and identified its environmental drivers in a permafrost warming experiment near the southern limit of permafrost in Alaska. With permafrost temperatures near 0°C, 10.8 cm of subsidence was observed in control plots over 9 years. Experimental air and soil warming increased subsidence by five times and created inundated microsites. Across treatments, ice and soil loss drove 85–91% and 9–15% of subsidence, respectively. Accounting for subsidence, permafrost thawed between 19% (control) and 49% (warming) deeper than active layer thickness indicated, and the amount of newly thawed carbon within the active layer was between 37% (control) and 113% (warming) greater. As additional carbon thaws as the active layer deepens, carbon fluxes to the atmosphere and lateral transport of carbon in groundwater could increase. The magnitude of this impact is uncertain at the landscape scale, though, due to limited subsidence measurements. Therefore, to determine the full extent of permafrost thaw across the circumpolar region and its feedback on the carbon cycle, it is necessary to quantify subsidence more broadly across the circumpolar region.},
doi = {10.1029/2019jg005528},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences},
number = 6,
volume = 125,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jun 18 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Thu Jun 18 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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