Methane Emission from Palsa Mires in Northeastern
			European Russia

Miglovets, Mikhail; Загирова, С. В.; Goncharova, Nadezhda; Mikhailov, O. A.

doi:10.3103/s1068373921010076

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Methane emissions varied strongly across the palsa peatlands with consistent differences among vegetation types over space and time. The low emissions from the intact dry palsa areas and trends of increased emission following degradation and flooding were comparable with those reported from other part of Scandinavia and Russia (Nykänen et al, 2003;Olefeldt et al, 2013;Liebner et al, 2015;Miglovets et al, 2021;Varner et al, 2022;Glagolev et al, 2011). However, there was strong variation in the magnitude of that response depending on the degradation stage, level of flooding and vegetation community present.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…An important finding here is the high CH4 emissions reported from fen and in particular the willow vegetation type. These emissions were consistent across the three study sites and were at the upper range of emissions reported in the literature (Olefeldt et al, 2013;Miglovets et al, 2021) and in the range of emissions from ponds and thermokarst lakes in degrading permafrost in the literature (Walter et al, 2006;Glagolev et al, 2011;Dzyuban, 2002). Possible explanations for this variation among vegetation types and very high CH4 emissions are the impact of the vegetation on CH4 emission both via plant mediated transport, root exudate quality and quantity and the level of rhizosphere oxidation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…The implication of this is that current estimates of changes in GHG emissions following permafrost degradation that often only use the distinction between palsa and fen (e.g. (Nykänen et al, 2003;Olefeldt et al, 2013;Miglovets et al, 2021;Varner et al, 2022) may result in considerable uncertainty and substantial underestimation of CH4 emissions linked to degradation. This is because although this simple classification will reflect the major shift from dry to wet conditions and the large increase in CH4 emissions that are associated with this, hot spots of high emissions will be missed as well as variation in CH4 emissions among different fen vegetation types.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such degradation is already being observed in many areas of the Arctic in response to the greater than average warming occurring in this region (Åkerman and Johansson, 2008;Sannel et al, 2016;Olvmo et al, 2020;De La Barreda-Bautista et al, 2022;Borge et al, 2017;Luoto and Seppälä, 2003;Sannel and Kuhry, 2011). The loss of permafrost and switch to waterlogged conditions represents a profound change in how this ecosystem functions, driving increased CH4 emissions which has been observed across many Arctic landscapes (Miglovets et al, 2021;Varner et al, 2022;Glagolev et al, 2011;Walter Anthony et al, 2016;Walter et al, 2006). To understand fully the magnitude of these feedbacks and their impacts on the global climate, it is imperative to both quantify current emissions and predict new areas that may become CH4 emitters across Arctic landscapes undergoing permafrost degradation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Capabilities of optical and radar Earth observation data for up-scaling methane emissions linked to subsidence and permafrost degradation in sub-Arctic peatlands

Sjögersten

Ledger

Siewert

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. Permafrost thaw in Arctic regions is increasing methane (CH4) emissions to the atmosphere but quantification of such emissions is difficult given the large and remote areas impacted. Hence, Earth Observation (EO) data are critical for assessing both permafrost thaw, associated ecosystem change, and increased CH4 emissions. Often extrapolation from field measurements using EO is the approach employed. However, there are key challenges to consider – that landscape CH4 emissions result from a complex local-scale mixture of micro-topographies and vegetation types that support widely differing CH4 emissions and the difficulty in detecting the initial stages of permafrost degradation before vegetation transitions have occurred. This study considers the use of a combination of ultra-high resolution unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) data, together with Sentinel-1 and -2 data to extrapolate field measurements of CH4 emissions from a set of vegetation types which capture the local variation in vegetation on degrading palsa wetlands. We show that the ultra-high resolution UAV data can map spatial variation in vegetation relevant to variation in CH4 emissions and extrapolate these across the wider landscape. We further show how Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 can be used. By way of a soft classification, and simple correction of misclassification bias of a hard classification, the output vegetation mapping and subsequent extrapolation of CH4 emissions matched closely that generated using the UAV data. InSAR assessment of subsidence together with the vegetation classification suggested that high subsidence rates of palsa wetland can be used to quantify areas at risk of increased CH4 emissions. We estimate that a transition of an area currently experiencing subsidence to fen type vegetation are estimated to increase emissions from 116 kg CH4 season−1 from the 50 ha study area, to emissions as high as 6500 to 13000 kg CH4 season−1. The key outcome from this study is that a fusion of EO data types provides the ability to estimate CH4 emissions from large geographies covered by a fine mixture of vegetation types and vulnerable to transitioning to CH4 emitters in the near future. This points to an opportunity to measure and monitor CH4 from the Arctic over space and time with confidence.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Capabilities of optical and radar Earth observation data for up-scaling methane emissions linked to subsidence and permafrost degradation in sub-Arctic peatlands

Sjögersten

Ledger

Siewert

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Such degradation is already being observed in many areas of the Arctic in response to the greater-than-average warming occurring in this region (Åkerman and Johansson, 2008;Borge et al, 2017;de la Barreda-Bautista et al, 2022;Luoto and Seppälä, 2003;Olvmo et al, 2020;Sannel et al, 2016;Sannel and Kuhry, 2011). The loss of permafrost and switch to waterlogged conditions represents a profound change in how this ecosystem functions, driving increased CH 4 emissions which have been observed across many Arctic landscapes (Glagolev et al, 2011;Miglovets et al, 2021;Varner et al, 2022;Walter Anthony et al, 2016;Walter et al, 2006). To understand fully the magnitude of this feedback and their impacts on the global climate, it is imperative to both quantify current emissions and predict new areas that may become CH 4 emitters across Arctic landscapes undergoing permafrost degradation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Optical and radar Earth observation data for upscaling methane emissions linked to permafrost degradation in sub-Arctic peatlands in northern Sweden

Sjögersten,

Ledger,

Siewert

et al. 2023

Biogeosciences

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Abstract. Permafrost thaw in Arctic regions is increasing methane (CH4) emissions into the atmosphere, but quantification of such emissions is difficult given the large and remote areas impacted. Hence, Earth observation (EO) data are critical for assessing permafrost thaw, associated ecosystem change and increased CH4 emissions. Often extrapolation from field measurements using EO is the approach employed. However, there are key challenges to consider. Landscape CH4 emissions result from a complex local-scale mixture of micro-topographies and vegetation types that support widely differing CH4 emissions, and it is difficult to detect the initial stages of permafrost degradation before vegetation transitions have occurred. This study considers the use of a combination of ultra-high-resolution unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) data and Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data to extrapolate field measurements of CH4 emissions from a set of vegetation types which capture the local variation in vegetation on degrading palsa wetlands. We show that the ultra-high-resolution UAV data can map spatial variation in vegetation relevant to variation in CH4 emissions and extrapolate these across the wider landscape. We further show how this can be integrated with Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data. By way of a soft classification and simple correction of misclassification bias of a hard classification, the output vegetation mapping and subsequent extrapolation of CH4 emissions closely matched the results generated using the UAV data. Interferometric synthetic-aperture radar (InSAR) assessment of subsidence together with the vegetation classification suggested that high subsidence rates of palsa wetland can be used to quantify areas at risk of increased CH4 emissions. The transition of a 50 ha area currently experiencing subsidence to fen vegetation is estimated to increase emissions from 116 kg CH4 per season to emissions as high as 6500 to 13 000 kg CH4 per season. The key outcome from this study is that a combination of high- and low-resolution EO data of different types provides the ability to estimate CH4 emissions from large geographies covered by a fine mixture of vegetation types which are vulnerable to transitioning to CH4 emitters in the near future. This points to an opportunity to measure and monitor CH4 emissions from the Arctic over space and time with confidence.

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Estimation of Methane Fluxes in the Ecosystem of the Palsa Mire in the Far North Taiga Subzone in the European Northeast of Russia (According to the Results of Two Measurement Methods)

Загирова

Miglovets

Yakubenko

2023

Contemp. Probl. Ecol.

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Methane Emission from Palsa Mires in Northeastern European Russia

Cited by 5 publications

References 7 publications

Capabilities of optical and radar Earth observation data for up-scaling methane emissions linked to subsidence and permafrost degradation in sub-Arctic peatlands

Capabilities of optical and radar Earth observation data for up-scaling methane emissions linked to subsidence and permafrost degradation in sub-Arctic peatlands

Optical and radar Earth observation data for upscaling methane emissions linked to permafrost degradation in sub-Arctic peatlands in northern Sweden

Estimation of Methane Fluxes in the Ecosystem of the Palsa Mire in the Far North Taiga Subzone in the European Northeast of Russia (According to the Results of Two Measurement Methods)

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