High-resolution mapping of ecosystem carbon storage and potential effects of permafrost thaw in periglacial terrain, European Russian Arctic

Abstract

This study describes detailed partitioning of phytomass carbon (C) and soil organic carbon (SOC) for four study areas in discontinuous permafrost terrain, Northeast European Russia. The mean aboveground phytomass C storage is 0.7 kg C m−2. Estimated landscape SOC storage in the four areas varies between 34.5 and 47.0 kg C m−2 with LCC (land cover classification) upscaling and 32.5–49.0 kg C m−2 with soil map upscaling. A nested upscaling approach using a Landsat thematic mapper land cover classification for the surrounding region provides estimates within 5 ± 5% of the local high‐resolution estimates. Permafrost peat plateaus hold the majority of total and frozen SOC, especially in the more southern study areas. Burying of SOC through cryoturbation of O‐ or A‐horizons contributes between 1% and 16% (mean 5%) of total landscape SOC. The effect of active layer deepening and thermokarst expansion on SOC remobilization is modeled for one of the four areas. The active layer thickness dynamics from 1980 to 2099 is modeled using a transient spatially distributed permafrost model and lateral expansion of peat plateau thermokarst lakes is simulated using geographic information system analyses. Active layer deepening is expected to increase the proportion of SOC affected by seasonal thawing from 29% to 58%. A lateral expansion of 30 m would increase the amount of SOC stored in thermokarst lakes/fens from 2% to 22% of all SOC. By the end of this century, active layer deepening will likely affect more SOC than thermokarst expansion, but the SOC stores vulnerable to thermokarst are less decomposed.

PeRL: a circum-Arctic Permafrost Region Pond and Lake database

“…Mean annual temperature ranges from 0 to −20 • C, and average annual precipitation ranges from 97 to 650 mm (Table 1). (Andresen and Lougheed, 2015), on the Grande Rivière de la Baleine Plateau (Bouchard et al, 2014) and in the Hudson Bay Lowlands in Canada, in Lapland in Sweden, and in the Usa River basin in Russia (Hugelius et al, 2011;Sannel and Kuhry, 2011). Ponds contributed about 45-99 % of the total number of waterbodies, with a mean of 85 ± 14 %, and up to 34 % to the total water surface area, with a mean of 12 ± 8.3 % ( Fig.…”

Variation in N2Fixation in Subarctic Tundra in Relation to Landscape Position and Nitrogen Pools and Fluxes

“…and falls within the discontinuous permafrost zone of subarctic tundra. Prevailing habitats are UT on mineral soil with thin organic layer (<10 cm) and raised PP with deep organic deposits spreading over 50% and 16% of the study site area, respectively (Hugelius et al, 2011). Upland tundra has typical tundra heath vegetation (Betula nana, Salix sp., V. uliginosum, and Vaccinium vitis-idaea), while PP is covered by tundra bog vegetation (Ledum decumbens, Rubus chamaemorus, Vaccinium uliginosum, and Sphagnum mosses).…”

“…Data on N 2 fixation and net N mineralization from the present study and data on gross N mineralization rates determined in summer 2008 under laboratory conditions at 15 °C (Marushchak et al, 2011) were used. Based on aboveground biomass data from Seida site presented by Hugelius et al (2011), we approximated total plant biomass; moss biomass was subtracted from the total aboveground biomass to express the aboveground biomass of vascular plants. Belowground biomass of vascular plants was estimated using the root:shoot ratio specific to each land cover type (Hogan, Crittenden, and Virtanen; unpublished data).…”

A new data set for estimating organic carbon storage to 3 m depth in soils of the northern circumpolar permafrost region

“…To translate LOI % into OC % a 2nd order polynomial regression model (OC % = (−0.0013 × LOI % 2 ) + (0.637 × LOI %)) with an R 2 = 0.79 was created based on 101 peat samples from similar environments and peat deposits in the Pechora River basin where both LOI and OC % was measured on the same homogenized samples (Hugelius et al, 2011). For mineral soil samples from the same data set, the regression for LOI % to OC % conversion described by Hugelius et al (2011) was used (n = 171, R 2 = 0.98; OC % = (−0.00005 × LOI % 3 ) + (0.0059× LOI % 2 ) + (0.362 × LOI %)). In many places the pedon data set was incomplete and data-gap filling (pedo-transfer functions), extrapolation or estimation was needed to complete calculations.…”