Soil organic carbon content in northern Canada: A database of field measurements and its analysis

Hossain, Md. Faruque; Wang, Jixin; Pavlic, G

doi:10.4141/s06-029

Cited by 24 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Turunen and Moore (2003) found mean concentrations of C in mineral subsoils beneath peat in central Finland. Slightly higher values were reported by Hossain et al (2007) for Northern Canada.…”

Section: Implications For Carbon Cyclingmentioning

confidence: 66%

Soil temperature response to 21st century global warming: the role of and some implications for peat carbon in thawing permafrost soils in North America

et al. 2011

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Abstract. Northern peatlands contain a large terrestrial carbon pool that plays an important role in the Earth's carbon cycle. A considerable fraction of this carbon pool is currently in permafrost and is biogeochemically relatively inert; this will change with increasing soil temperatures as a result of climate warming in the 21st century. We use a geospatially explicit representation of peat areas and peat depth from a recently-compiled database and a geothermal model to estimate northern North America soil temperature responses to predicted changes in air temperature. We find that, despite a widespread decline in the areas classified as permafrost, soil temperatures in peatlands respond more slowly to increases in air temperature owing to the insulating properties of peat. We estimate that an additional 670 km 3 of peat soils in North America, containing ∼33 Pg C, could be seasonally thawed by the end of the century, representing ∼20 % of the total peat volume in Alaska and Canada. Warming conditions result in a lengthening of the soil thaw period by ∼40 days, averaged over the model domain. These changes have potentially important implications for the carbon balance of peat soils.

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Section: Implications For Carbon Cyclingmentioning

confidence: 66%

Soil temperature response to 21st century global warming: the role of and some implications for peat carbon in thawing permafrost soils in North America

et al. 2011

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“…Above 205 m., mineral soils were assigned as sandy loam for the low vegetation or barren land (type L) and low-to medium-density coniferous forest (type C3), and as silty clay for other land cover types based on the general patterns of field observations (Stevens et al, 2012;Wolfe et al, 2011). The organic matter content in mineral soils was estimated based on the general patterns observed by Hossain et al (2007). Except for low vegetation and bedrock (Types L and R), the depth of all surficial deposits (including peat and mineral soils) was assumed to be 7 m for bogs and wetlands (types C5 and W) and 5 m for other land types based on most of the borehole observations (Wolfe et al, 2011).…”

Section: Other Input Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new approach to mapping permafrost and change incorporating uncertainties in ground conditions and climate projections

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Spatially detailed information on permafrost distribution and change with climate is important for land use planning, infrastructure development, and environmental assessments. However, the required soil and surficial geology maps in the North are coarse, and projected climate scenarios vary widely. Considering these uncertainties, we propose a new approach to mapping permafrost distribution and change by integrating remote sensing data, field measurements, and a process-based model. Land cover types from satellite imagery are used to capture the general land conditions and to improve the resolution of existing permafrost maps. For each land cover type, field observations are used to estimate the probabilities of different ground conditions. A process-based model is used to quantify the evolution of permafrost for each ground condition under three representative climate scenarios (low, medium, and high warming). From the model results, the probability of permafrost occurrence and the most likely permafrost conditions are determined. We apply this approach at 20 m resolution to a large area in Northwest Territories, Canada. Mapped permafrost conditions are in agreement with field observations and other studies. The data requirements, model robustness, and computation time are reasonable, and this approach may serve as a practical means to mapping permafrost and changes at high resolution in other regions.

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“…Recent findings estimate as much as 191.2 Pg of carbon is stored in the top 30 cm of Arctic soil, 495.8 Pg in the top 100 cm, and as much as 1024 Pg in the top 300 cm (Tarnocai et al 2009). There is growing concern that climate warming could release this vast amount of carbon as greenhouse gases to the atmosphere (Trumbore et al 1996;Hossain et al 2007), however the molecular-level composition of Arctic OM has yet to be analyzed which would aid in the understanding of OM turnover mechanisms. Assessment of the decomposition of OM is a challenging task because it is highly heterogeneous and consists of numerous chemical components, from simple molecules, such as small solvent-extractable compounds, to extremely complex aggregates and associated compounds such as humic substances (Simpson et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomarker assessment of organic matter sources and degradation in Canadian High Arctic littoral sediments

et al. 2010

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Carbon stocks in the High Arctic are particularly sensitive to global climate change and the investigation of the variation in organic matter (OM) composition is beneficial for improved understanding of OM vulnerability. OM biomarker characterization of solvent-extractable compounds and CuO oxidation products of littoral sedimentary OM in the Canadian Arctic was conducted to determine OM sources and decomposition patterns. The solvent-extracts contained a series of aliphatic lipids, steroids and one triterpenoid of higher plant origin as well as the low abundance of iso-and anteiso-alkanes originating from Cerastium arcticum (Arctic mouse-ear chickweed), a native angiosperm. The carbon preference index (CPI) of the n-alkane, n-alkanol and n-alkanoic acid biomarkers suggests relatively fresh lipid material in the early stages of degradation. The CuO oxidation products were comprised of benzenes, lignin-derived phenols and short-chain diacids and hydroxyacids. A high abundance of these terrestrial biomarkers at sites close to the river inlet suggests soil-derived fluvial inputs are an important source of OM delivered to the littoral sediments. The high lignin-derived phenol ratios of acids to aldehydes suggest that lignin degradation is in a relatively advanced oxidation stage. The absence of ergosterol, a common fungal biomarker also suggests that ligninderived OM may be preserved in soil OM and transported to littoral sediments. This representative OM characterization suggests that Arctic sedimentary OM is a mixture of recently deposited and/or preserved lipids in permafrost melt and oxidized lignin-derived OM that may become destabilized from external influences such as climate change.

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Soil organic carbon content in northern Canada: A database of field measurements and its analysis

Cited by 24 publications

References 19 publications

Soil temperature response to 21st century global warming: the role of and some implications for peat carbon in thawing permafrost soils in North America

Soil temperature response to 21st century global warming: the role of and some implications for peat carbon in thawing permafrost soils in North America

A new approach to mapping permafrost and change incorporating uncertainties in ground conditions and climate projections

Biomarker assessment of organic matter sources and degradation in Canadian High Arctic littoral sediments

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