Permafrost Sub-grid Heterogeneity of Soil Properties Key for 3-D Soil Processes and Future Climate Projections

Beer, Christian

doi:10.3389/feart.2016.00081

Cited by 23 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…As a result, sampling at higher spatial resolution may provide more accurate estimates of soil C stocks (Johnson et al, 2011;Tarnocai et al, 2009). Therefore, understanding variation in soil properties at the meter scale is critical for reducing uncertainty in estimates of current and future permafrost C pools (Beer, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability in above- and belowground carbon stocks in a Siberian larch watershed

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Permafrost soils store between 1330 and 1580 Pg carbon (C), which is 3 times the amount of C in global vegetation, almost twice the amount of C in the atmosphere, and half of the global soil organic C pool. Despite the massive amount of C in permafrost, estimates of soil C storage in the high-latitude permafrost region are highly uncertain, primarily due to undersampling at all spatial scales; circumpolar soil C estimates lack sufficient continental spatial diversity, regional intensity, and replication at the field-site level. Siberian forests are particularly undersampled, yet the larch forests that dominate this region may store more than twice as much soil C as all other boreal forest types in the continuous permafrost zone combined. Here we present above-and belowground C stocks from 20 sites representing a gradient of stand age and structure in a larch watershed of the Kolyma River, near Chersky, Sakha Republic, Russia. We found that the majority of C stored in the top 1 m of the watershed was stored belowground (92 %), with 19 % in the top 10 cm of soil and 40 % in the top 30 cm. Carbon was more variable in surface soils (10 cm; coefficient of variation (CV) = 0.35 between stands) than in the top 30 cm (CV = 0.14) or soil profile to 1 m (CV = 0.20). Combined active-layer and deep frozen deposits (surface -15 m) contained 205 kg C m −2 (yedoma, non-ice wedge) and 331 kg C m −2 (alas), which, even when accounting for landscape-level ice content, is an order of magnitude more C than that stored in the top meter of soil and 2 orders of magnitude more C than in aboveground biomass. Aboveground biomass was composed of primarily larch (53 %) but also included understory vegetation (30 %), woody debris (11 %) and snag (6 %) biomass. While aboveground biomass contained relatively little (8 %) of the C stocks in the watershed, aboveground processes were linked to thaw depth and belowground C storage. Thaw depth was negatively related to stand age, and soil C density (top 10 cm) was positively related to soil moisture and negatively related to moss and lichen cover. These results suggest that, as the climate warms, changes in stand age and structure may be as important as direct climate effects on belowground environmental conditions and permafrost C vulnerability.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability in above- and belowground carbon stocks in a Siberian larch watershed

et al. 2017

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“…Therefore, for the Samoylov site, which we used for this site-level analysis, the modelled soil climate and hydrology systematically deviate from those found in the field (Beer, 2016). We still chose to work at this site, because a highly valuable interdisciplinary dataset could be provided to evaluate different facets of the model output.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, soil organic matter should be represented as vertically resolved (Braakhekke et al, 2011(Braakhekke et al, , 2014Koven et al, 2015;Beer, 2016), with different soil carbon pools and a moisturedependent decomposition. Furthermore, the site hydrology should include soil moisture contents above field capacity and standing water above the surface (Stacke and Hagemann, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Process-based modelling of the methane balance in periglacial landscapes (JSBACH-methane)

et al. 2017

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Abstract. A detailed process-based methane module for a global land surface scheme has been developed which is general enough to be applied in permafrost regions as well as wetlands outside permafrost areas. Methane production, oxidation and transport by ebullition, diffusion and plants are represented. In this model, oxygen has been explicitly incorporated into diffusion, transport by plants and two oxidation processes, of which one uses soil oxygen, while the other uses oxygen that is available via roots. Permafrost and wetland soils show special behaviour, such as variable soil pore space due to freezing and thawing or water table depths due to changing soil water content. This has been integrated directly into the methane-related processes. A detailed application at the Samoylov polygonal tundra site, Lena River Delta, Russia, is used for evaluation purposes. The application at Samoylov also shows differences in the importance of the several transport processes and in the methane dynamics under varying soil moisture, ice and temperature conditions during different seasons and on different microsites. These microsites are the elevated moist polygonal rim and the depressed wet polygonal centre. The evaluation shows sufficiently good agreement with field observations despite the fact that the module has not been specifically calibrated to these data. This methane module is designed such that the advanced land surface scheme is able to model recent and future methane fluxes from periglacial landscapes across scales. In addition, the methane contribution to carbon cycleclimate feedback mechanisms can be quantified when running coupled to an atmospheric model.

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“…Misrepresenting the massive influence that snow exerts on the atmosphere and the soils will strongly bias model results (Beer, 2016). Snow representation in larger-scale models generally does not correctly reproduce the effect of snow on the atmosphere or ground correctly (Van Angelen et al, 2012).…”

Section: Snow Representation In Earth System Climate and Weather Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grand Challenges in Cryospheric Sciences: Toward Better Predictability of Glaciers, Snow and Sea Ice

2017

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Permafrost Sub-grid Heterogeneity of Soil Properties Key for 3-D Soil Processes and Future Climate Projections

Cited by 23 publications

References 54 publications

Variability in above- and belowground carbon stocks in a Siberian larch watershed

Variability in above- and belowground carbon stocks in a Siberian larch watershed

Process-based modelling of the methane balance in periglacial landscapes (JSBACH-methane)

Grand Challenges in Cryospheric Sciences: Toward Better Predictability of Glaciers, Snow and Sea Ice

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