Remobilization of dormant carbon from Siberian-Arctic permafrost during three past warming events

Martens, Jannik; Wild, Birgit; Muschitiello, Francesco; OʹRegan, Matt; Semiletov, I. P.; Dudarev, Oleg; Gustafsson, Örjan

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abb6546

Cited by 55 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Soil microbes could use these inventories to release greenhouse gases (GHG), which will accelerate climate warming and is known as the permafrost-carbon feedback (Schuur et al, 2015). It was shown that extensive remobilization of organic matter (OM) stored in permafrost occurred during the last major warming period at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (Martens et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemistry and Weathering Indices of Yedoma and Alas Deposits beneath Thermokarst Lakes in Central Yakutia

Ulrich¹,

Jongejans²,

Grosse³

et al. 2021

Front. Earth Sci.

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Ice- and organic-rich deposits of late Pleistocene age, known as Yedoma Ice Complex (IC), are widespread across large permafrost regions in Northeast Siberia. To reconstruct Yedoma IC formation in Central Yakutia, we analyzed the geochemistry, sedimentology, and stratigraphy of thawed and frozen deposits below two thermokarst lakes in different evolutionary stages (a mature alas lake and a initial Yedoma lake) from the Yukechi site in the Lena-Aldan interfluve. We focused on inorganic geochemical characteristics and mineral weathering in two ∼17 m long sediment cores to trace syngenetic permafrost aggradation and degradation over time. Geochemical properties, element ratios, and specific weathering indices reflect varying sedimentation processes and seasonal thaw depths under variable environmental conditions. Deeper thaw during the interstadial Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 enabled increasing mineral weathering and initial thermokarst processes. Sedimentological proxies reflect high transport energy and short transport paths and mainly terrestrial sediment supply. The Yedoma formation resulted from fluvial, alluvial and aeolian processes. Low mean TOC contents in both cores contrast with Yedoma deposits elsewhere. Likely, this is a result of the very low organic matter content of the source material of the Yukechi Yedoma. Pronounced cryostructures and strongly depleted pore water stable isotopes show a perennially frozen state and preserved organic matter for the lower part of the Yedoma lake core, while changing permafrost conditions, conditions promoting weathering, and strong organic matter decomposition are suggested by our proxies for its middle and upper parts. For the alas lake core, less depleted water stable isotopes reflect the influence of recent precipitation, i.e. the infiltration of rain and lake water into the unfrozen ground. The FENG, MIA(R), and ICV weathering indices have proven to be promising proxies for the identification of conditions that promote mineral weathering to different degrees in the stratigraphy of the thawed and frozen Yedoma deposits, for which we assume a rather homogeneous chemical composition of the parent material. Our study highlights that the understanding of environmental conditions during Yedoma formation and degradation processes by specific geochemical proxies is crucial for assessing the potential decomposition and preservation of the frozen and unfrozen Yedoma inventories.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemistry and Weathering Indices of Yedoma and Alas Deposits beneath Thermokarst Lakes in Central Yakutia

Ulrich¹,

Jongejans²,

Grosse³

et al. 2021

Front. Earth Sci.

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“…Permafrost degradation has been reshaping or modifying northern and highland ecosystems, and the soil-vegetation systems in particular. More interests are focused on the topic not only due to the direct ecosystematic responses to permafrost degradation, but also to indirect scopes to understand carbon cycles and fluxes upon permafrost thaw, particularly abrupt permafrost thaw (e.g., [16,29,35,[196][197][198][199]). Permafrost degradation results in a loss of some boreal forests, shifts in plant composition and productivity, plant diversity, and changes in vegetation communities from terrestrial to wetlands, or from alpine meadows to alpine steppes or further to alpine deserts, through the changing dynamics of permafrost ecohydrology, soil nutrients, and soil biogeochemistry in a deepening active layer [16,29].…”

Section: Ecological Impacts and Adaptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Permafrost thaw over the last few decades and its impacts may have modified the thermal regimes in the otherwise heat-conduction-dominated system (e.g., [25][26][27]), facilitating permafrost degradation and climate warming. Thus, a better understanding of the hydrogeological changes induced by climate warming and permafrost thaw is key to predicting and evaluating the changing ecosystem structures, dynamics, and serviceability at varied scales [28,29], especially for improving our ability to quantify and predict carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fluxes [30][31][32][33][34][35][36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permafrost Degradation and Its Hydrogeological Impacts

Jin

YunXiang

Bense

et al. 2022

Water

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Under a warming climate, permafrost degradation has resulted in profound hydrogeological consequences. Here, we mainly review 240 recent relevant papers. Permafrost degradation has boosted groundwater storage and discharge to surface runoffs through improving hydraulic connectivity and reactivation of groundwater flow systems, resulting in reduced summer peaks, delayed autumn flow peaks, flattened annual hydrographs, and deepening and elongating flow paths. As a result of permafrost degradation, lowlands underlain by more continuous, colder, and thicker permafrost are getting wetter and uplands and mountain slopes, drier. However, additional contribution of melting ground ice to groundwater and stream-flows seems limited in most permafrost basins. As a result of permafrost degradation, the permafrost table and supra-permafrost water table are lowering; subaerial supra-permafrost taliks are forming; taliks are connecting and expanding; thermokarst activities are intensifying. These processes may profoundly impact on ecosystem structures and functions, terrestrial processes, surface and subsurface coupled flow systems, engineered infrastructures, and socioeconomic development. During the last 20 years, substantial and rapid progress has been made in many aspects in cryo-hydrogeology. However, these studies are still inadequate in desired spatiotemporal resolutions, multi-source data assimilation and integration, as well as cryo-hydrogeological modeling, particularly over rugged terrains in ice-rich, warm (>−1 °C) permafrost zones. Future research should be prioritized to the following aspects. First, we should better understand the concordant changes in processes, mechanisms, and trends for terrestrial processes, hydrometeorology, geocryology, hydrogeology, and ecohydrology in warm and thin permafrost regions. Second, we should aim towards revealing the physical and chemical mechanisms for the coupled processes of heat transfer and moisture migration in the vadose zone and expanding supra-permafrost taliks, towards the coupling of the hydrothermal dynamics of supra-, intra- and sub-permafrost waters, as well as that of water-resource changes and of hydrochemical and biogeochemical mechanisms for the coupled movements of solutes and pollutants in surface and subsurface waters as induced by warming and thawing permafrost. Third, we urgently need to establish and improve coupled predictive distributed cryo-hydrogeology models with optimized parameterization. In addition, we should also emphasize automatically, intelligently, and systematically monitoring, predicting, evaluating, and adapting to hydrogeological impacts from degrading permafrost at desired spatiotemporal scales. Systematic, in-depth, and predictive studies on and abilities for the hydrogeological impacts from degrading permafrost can greatly advance geocryology, cryo-hydrogeology, and cryo-ecohydrology and help better manage water, ecosystems, and land resources in permafrost regions in an adaptive and sustainable manner.

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“…In the Arctic, the East Siberian and Laptev Sea harbor methane deposits. Arctic warming by a few degrees Celsius may lead to permafrost thawing, coastal erosion, and the release of methane and CO 2 into the atmosphere, likely further worsening global warming 50 .…”

Section: Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Change and Obesity

et al. 2021

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Global warming and the rising prevalence of obesity are well described challenges of current mankind. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic arose as a new challenge. We here attempt to delineate their relationship with each other from our perspective. Global greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels have exponentially increased since 1950. The main contributors to such greenhouse gas emissions are manufacturing and construction, transport, residential, commercial, agriculture, and land use change and forestry, combined with an increasing global population growth from 1 billion in 1800 to 7.8 billion in 2020 along with rising obesity rates since the 1980s. The current Covid-19 pandemic has caused some decline in greenhouse gas emissions by limiting mobility globally via repetitive lockdowns. Following multiple lockdowns, there was further increase in obesity in wealthier populations, malnutrition from hunger in poor populations and death from severe infection with Covid-19 and its virus variants. There is a bidirectional relationship between adiposity and global warming. With rising atmospheric air temperatures, people typically will have less adaptive thermogenesis and become less physically active, while they are producing a higher carbon footprint. To reduce obesity rates, one should be willing to learn more about the environmental impact, how to minimize consumption of energy generating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, and to reduce food waste. Diets lower in meat such as a Mediterranean diet, have been estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 72%, land use by 58%, and energy consumption by 52%.

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Remobilization of dormant carbon from Siberian-Arctic permafrost during three past warming events

Cited by 55 publications

References 43 publications

Geochemistry and Weathering Indices of Yedoma and Alas Deposits beneath Thermokarst Lakes in Central Yakutia

Geochemistry and Weathering Indices of Yedoma and Alas Deposits beneath Thermokarst Lakes in Central Yakutia

Permafrost Degradation and Its Hydrogeological Impacts

Climate Change and Obesity

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