Articles | Volume 13, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5453-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-5453-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
30 Sep 2016
Research article |
| 30 Sep 2016
Can C-band synthetic aperture radar be used to estimate soil organic carbon storage in tundra?
Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, 1190 Vienna, Austria
Vienna University of Technology, 1040 Vienna, Austria
Barbara Widhalm
Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, 1190 Vienna, Austria
Vienna University of Technology, 1040 Vienna, Austria
Peter Kuhry
Stockholm University, Department of Physical Geography, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Gustaf Hugelius
Stockholm University, Department of Physical Geography, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Juri Palmtag
Stockholm University, Department of Physical Geography, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Matthias Benjamin Siewert
Stockholm University, Department of Physical Geography, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
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Lakes are common features in Arctic permafrost areas. Land cover change following their drainage needs to be monitored since it has implications for ecology and the carbon cycle. Satellite data are key in this context. We compared a common vegetation index approach with a novel land-cover-monitoring scheme. Land cover information provides specific information on wetland features. We also showed that the bioclimatic gradients play a significant role after drainage within the first 10 years.
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We present daily methane fluxes of northern wetlands at 10-km resolution during 2016–2022 (WetCH4) derived from a novel machine-learning framework with improved accuracy. We estimated an average annual CH4 emissions of 20.8 ±2.1 Tg CH4 yr-1. Emissions were intensified in 2016, 2020, and 2022, with the largest interannual variations coming from West Siberia. Continued, all-season tower observations and improved soil moisture products are needed for future improvement of CH4 upscaling.
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for SOIL (SOIL).
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Permafrost soils store vast amounts of organic carbon, key to understanding climate change. This study uses machine learning and combines existing data with new field data to create detailed regional maps of soil carbon and nitrogen stocks for the Yukon coastal plain. The results show how soil properties vary across the landscape highlighting the importance of data selection for accurate predictions. These findings improve carbon storage estimates and may aid regional carbon budget assessments.
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Mapping soil moisture in Arctic permafrost regions is crucial for various activities, but it is challenging with typical satellite methods due to the landscape's diversity. Seasonal freezing and thawing cause the ground to periodically rise and subside. Our research demonstrates that this seasonal ground settlement, measured with Sentinel-1 satellite data, is larger in areas with wetter soils. This method helps to monitor permafrost degradation.
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The Cryosphere, 19, 459–483, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-459-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-459-2025, 2025
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We developed a robust freeze–thaw detection approach, applying a constant threshold to Copernicus Sentinel-1 data that is suitable for tundra regions. All global, coarser-resolution products, tested with the resulting benchmarking dataset, are of value for freeze–thaw retrieval, although differences were found depending on the seasons, particularly during the spring and autumn transition.
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Xiankun Li, Marleen Pallandt, Dilip Naidu, Johannes Rousk, Gustaf Hugelius, and Stefano Manzoni
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Clemens von Baeckmann, Annett Bartsch, Helena Bergstedt, Aleksandra Efimova, Barbara Widhalm, Dorothee Ehrich, Timo Kumpula, Alexander Sokolov, and Svetlana Abdulmanova
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Cecile B. Menard, Sirpa Rasmus, Ioanna Merkouriadi, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Annett Bartsch, Chris Derksen, Florent Domine, Marie Dumont, Dorothee Ehrich, Richard Essery, Bruce C. Forbes, Gerhard Krinner, David Lawrence, Glen Liston, Heidrun Matthes, Nick Rutter, Melody Sandells, Martin Schneebeli, and Sari Stark
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Bernhard Lehner, Mira Anand, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Florence Tan, Filipe Aires, George H. Allen, Pilippe Bousquet, Josep G. Canadell, Nick Davidson, C. Max Finlayson, Thomas Gumbricht, Lammert Hilarides, Gustaf Hugelius, Robert B. Jackson, Maartje C. Korver, Peter B. McIntyre, Szabolcs Nagy, David Olefeldt, Tamlin M. Pavelsky, Jean-Francois Pekel, Benjamin Poulter, Catherine Prigent, Jida Wang, Thomas A. Worthington, Dai Yamazaki, and Michele Thieme
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The ORCHIDEE-MICT model can simulate the carbon cycle and hydrology at a sub-grid scale but energy budgets only at a grid scale. This paper assessed the implementation of a multi-tiling energy budget approach in ORCHIDEE-MICT and found warmer surface and soil temperatures, higher soil moisture, and more soil organic carbon across the Northern Hemisphere compared with the original version.
Annett Bartsch, Aleksandra Efimova, Barbara Widhalm, Xaver Muri, Clemens von Baeckmann, Helena Bergstedt, Ksenia Ermokhina, Gustaf Hugelius, Birgit Heim, and Marina Leibman
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Short summary
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Wetness gradients and landcover diversity for the entire Arctic tundra have been assessed using a novel satellite-data-based map. Patterns of lakes, wetlands, general soil moisture conditions and vegetation physiognomy are represented at 10 m. About 40 % of the area north of the treeline falls into three units of dry types, with limited shrub growth. Wetter regions have higher landcover diversity than drier regions.
Marielle Saunois, Adrien Martinez, Benjamin Poulter, Zhen Zhang, Peter Raymond, Pierre Regnier, Joseph G. Canadell, Robert B. Jackson, Prabir K. Patra, Philippe Bousquet, Philippe Ciais, Edward J. Dlugokencky, Xin Lan, George H. Allen, David Bastviken, David J. Beerling, Dmitry A. Belikov, Donald R. Blake, Simona Castaldi, Monica Crippa, Bridget R. Deemer, Fraser Dennison, Giuseppe Etiope, Nicola Gedney, Lena Höglund-Isaksson, Meredith A. Holgerson, Peter O. Hopcroft, Gustaf Hugelius, Akihito Ito, Atul K. Jain, Rajesh Janardanan, Matthew S. Johnson, Thomas Kleinen, Paul Krummel, Ronny Lauerwald, Tingting Li, Xiangyu Liu, Kyle C. McDonald, Joe R. Melton, Jens Mühle, Jurek Müller, Fabiola Murguia-Flores, Yosuke Niwa, Sergio Noce, Shufen Pan, Robert J. Parker, Changhui Peng, Michel Ramonet, William J. Riley, Gerard Rocher-Ros, Judith A. Rosentreter, Motoki Sasakawa, Arjo Segers, Steven J. Smith, Emily H. Stanley, Joel Thanwerdas, Hanquin Tian, Aki Tsuruta, Francesco N. Tubiello, Thomas S. Weber, Guido van der Werf, Doug E. Worthy, Yi Xi, Yukio Yoshida, Wenxin Zhang, Bo Zheng, Qing Zhu, Qiuan Zhu, and Qianlai Zhuang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-115, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-115, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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Methane (CH4) is the second most important human-influenced greenhouse gas in terms of climate forcing after carbon dioxide (CO2). A consortium of multi-disciplinary scientists synthesize and update the budget of the sources and sinks of CH4. This edition benefits from important progresses in estimating emissions from lakes and ponds, reservoirs, and streams and rivers. For the 2010s decade, global CH4 emissions are estimated at 575 Tg CH4 yr-1, including ~65 % from anthropogenic sources.
Samuel Valman, Matthias B. Siewert, Doreen Boyd, Martha Ledger, David Gee, Betsabé de la Barreda-Bautista, Andrew Sowter, and Sofie Sjögersten
The Cryosphere, 18, 1773–1790, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1773-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1773-2024, 2024
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Climate warming is thawing permafrost that makes up palsa (frost mound) peatlands, risking ecosystem collapse and carbon release as methane. We measure this regional degradation using radar satellite technology to examine ground elevation changes and show how terrain roughness measurements can be used to estimate local permafrost damage. We find that over half of Sweden's largest palsa peatlands are degrading, with the worse impacts to the north linked to increased winter precipitation.
Qing Ying, Benjamin Poulter, Jennifer D. Watts, Kyle A. Arndt, Anna-Maria Virkkala, Lori Bruhwiler, Youmi Oh, Brendan M. Rogers, Susan M. Natali, Hilary Sullivan, Luke D. Schiferl, Clayton Elder, Olli Peltola, Annett Bartsch, Amanda Armstrong, Ankur R. Desai, Eugénie Euskirchen, Mathias Göckede, Bernhard Lehner, Mats B. Nilsson, Matthias Peichl, Oliver Sonnentag, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Torsten Sachs, Aram Kalhori, Masahito Ueyama, and Zhen Zhang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-84, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-84, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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We present daily methane fluxes of northern wetlands at 10-km resolution during 2016–2022 (WetCH4) derived from a novel machine-learning framework with improved accuracy. We estimated an average annual CH4 emissions of 20.8 ±2.1 Tg CH4 yr-1. Emissions were intensified in 2016, 2020, and 2022, with the largest interannual variations coming from West Siberia. Continued, all-season tower observations and improved soil moisture products are needed for future improvement of CH4 upscaling.
Sofie Sjögersten, Martha Ledger, Matthias Siewert, Betsabé de la Barreda-Bautista, Andrew Sowter, David Gee, Giles Foody, and Doreen S. Boyd
Biogeosciences, 20, 4221–4239, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4221-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4221-2023, 2023
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Permafrost thaw in Arctic regions is increasing methane emissions, but quantification is difficult given the large and remote areas impacted. We show that UAV data together with satellite data can be used to extrapolate emissions across the wider landscape as well as detect areas at risk of higher emissions. A transition of currently degrading areas to fen type vegetation can increase emission by several orders of magnitude, highlighting the importance of quantifying areas at risk.
Lukas Rimondini, Thomas Gumbricht, Anders Ahlström, and Gustaf Hugelius
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3473–3482, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3473-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3473-2023, 2023
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Peatlands have historically sequestrated large amounts of carbon and contributed to atmospheric cooling. However, human activities and climate change may instead turn them into considerable carbon emitters. In this study, we produced high-quality maps showing the extent of peatlands in the forests of Sweden, one of the most peatland-dense countries in the world. The maps are publicly available and may be used to support work promoting sustainable peatland management and combat their degradation.
Olga Ogneva, Gesine Mollenhauer, Bennet Juhls, Tina Sanders, Juri Palmtag, Matthias Fuchs, Hendrik Grotheer, Paul J. Mann, and Jens Strauss
Biogeosciences, 20, 1423–1441, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1423-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1423-2023, 2023
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Arctic warming accelerates permafrost thaw and release of terrestrial organic matter (OM) via rivers to the Arctic Ocean. We compared particulate organic carbon (POC), total suspended matter, and C isotopes (δ13C and Δ14C of POC) in the Lena delta and Lena River along a ~1600 km transect. We show that the Lena delta, as an interface between the Lena River and the Arctic Ocean, plays a crucial role in determining the qualitative and quantitative composition of OM discharged into the Arctic Ocean.
Peter Stimmler, Mathias Goeckede, Bo Elberling, Susan Natali, Peter Kuhry, Nia Perron, Fabrice Lacroix, Gustaf Hugelius, Oliver Sonnentag, Jens Strauss, Christina Minions, Michael Sommer, and Jörg Schaller
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1059–1075, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1059-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1059-2023, 2023
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Arctic soils store large amounts of carbon and nutrients. The availability of nutrients, such as silicon, calcium, iron, aluminum, phosphorus, and amorphous silica, is crucial to understand future carbon fluxes in the Arctic. Here, we provide, for the first time, a unique dataset of the availability of the abovementioned nutrients for the different soil layers, including the currently frozen permafrost layer. We relate these data to several geographical and geological parameters.
Annett Bartsch, Helena Bergstedt, Georg Pointner, Xaver Muri, Kimmo Rautiainen, Leena Leppänen, Kyle Joly, Aleksandr Sokolov, Pavel Orekhov, Dorothee Ehrich, and Eeva Mariatta Soininen
The Cryosphere, 17, 889–915, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-889-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-889-2023, 2023
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Rain-on-snow (ROS) events occur across many regions of the terrestrial Arctic in mid-winter. In extreme cases ice layers form which affect wildlife, vegetation and soils beyond the duration of the event. The fusion of multiple types of microwave satellite observations is suggested for the creation of a climate data record. Retrieval is most robust in the tundra biome, where records can be used to identify extremes and the results can be applied to impact studies at regional scale.
Niek Jesse Speetjens, Gustaf Hugelius, Thomas Gumbricht, Hugues Lantuit, Wouter R. Berghuijs, Philip A. Pika, Amanda Poste, and Jorien E. Vonk
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 541–554, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-541-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-541-2023, 2023
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The Arctic is rapidly changing. Outside the Arctic, large databases changed how researchers look at river systems and land-to-ocean processes. We present the first integrated pan-ARctic CAtchments summary DatabasE (ARCADE) (> 40 000 river catchments draining into the Arctic Ocean). It incorporates information about the drainage area with 103 geospatial, environmental, climatic, and physiographic properties and covers small watersheds , which are especially subject to change, at a high resolution
Juri Palmtag, Jaroslav Obu, Peter Kuhry, Andreas Richter, Matthias B. Siewert, Niels Weiss, Sebastian Westermann, and Gustaf Hugelius
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4095–4110, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4095-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4095-2022, 2022
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The northern permafrost region covers 22 % of the Northern Hemisphere and holds almost twice as much carbon as the atmosphere. This paper presents data from 651 soil pedons encompassing more than 6500 samples from 16 different study areas across the northern permafrost region. We use this dataset together with ESA's global land cover dataset to estimate soil organic carbon and total nitrogen storage up to 300 cm soil depth, with estimated values of 813 Pg for carbon and 55 Pg for nitrogen.
Niek Jesse Speetjens, George Tanski, Victoria Martin, Julia Wagner, Andreas Richter, Gustaf Hugelius, Chris Boucher, Rachele Lodi, Christian Knoblauch, Boris P. Koch, Urban Wünsch, Hugues Lantuit, and Jorien E. Vonk
Biogeosciences, 19, 3073–3097, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3073-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3073-2022, 2022
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Climate change and warming in the Arctic exceed global averages. As a result, permanently frozen soils (permafrost) which store vast quantities of carbon in the form of dead plant material (organic matter) are thawing. Our study shows that as permafrost landscapes degrade, high concentrations of organic matter are released. Partly, this organic matter is degraded rapidly upon release, while another significant fraction enters stream networks and enters the Arctic Ocean.
Matthias Fuchs, Juri Palmtag, Bennet Juhls, Pier Paul Overduin, Guido Grosse, Ahmed Abdelwahab, Michael Bedington, Tina Sanders, Olga Ogneva, Irina V. Fedorova, Nikita S. Zimov, Paul J. Mann, and Jens Strauss
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2279–2301, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2279-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2279-2022, 2022
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We created digital, high-resolution bathymetry data sets for the Lena Delta and Kolyma Gulf regions in northeastern Siberia. Based on nautical charts, we digitized depth points and isobath lines, which serve as an input for a 50 m bathymetry model. The benefit of this data set is the accurate mapping of near-shore areas as well as the offshore continuation of the main deep river channels. This will improve the estimation of river outflow and the nutrient flux output into the coastal zone.
Charlotte Haugk, Loeka L. Jongejans, Kai Mangelsdorf, Matthias Fuchs, Olga Ogneva, Juri Palmtag, Gesine Mollenhauer, Paul J. Mann, P. Paul Overduin, Guido Grosse, Tina Sanders, Robyn E. Tuerena, Lutz Schirrmeister, Sebastian Wetterich, Alexander Kizyakov, Cornelia Karger, and Jens Strauss
Biogeosciences, 19, 2079–2094, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2079-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2079-2022, 2022
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Buried animal and plant remains (carbon) from the last ice age were freeze-locked in permafrost. At an extremely fast eroding permafrost cliff in the Lena Delta (Siberia), we found this formerly frozen carbon well preserved. Our results show that ongoing degradation releases substantial amounts of this carbon, making it available for future carbon emissions. This mobilisation at the studied cliff and also similarly eroding sites bear the potential to affect rivers and oceans negatively.
H. E. Markus Meier, Madline Kniebusch, Christian Dieterich, Matthias Gröger, Eduardo Zorita, Ragnar Elmgren, Kai Myrberg, Markus P. Ahola, Alena Bartosova, Erik Bonsdorff, Florian Börgel, Rene Capell, Ida Carlén, Thomas Carlund, Jacob Carstensen, Ole B. Christensen, Volker Dierschke, Claudia Frauen, Morten Frederiksen, Elie Gaget, Anders Galatius, Jari J. Haapala, Antti Halkka, Gustaf Hugelius, Birgit Hünicke, Jaak Jaagus, Mart Jüssi, Jukka Käyhkö, Nina Kirchner, Erik Kjellström, Karol Kulinski, Andreas Lehmann, Göran Lindström, Wilhelm May, Paul A. Miller, Volker Mohrholz, Bärbel Müller-Karulis, Diego Pavón-Jordán, Markus Quante, Marcus Reckermann, Anna Rutgersson, Oleg P. Savchuk, Martin Stendel, Laura Tuomi, Markku Viitasalo, Ralf Weisse, and Wenyan Zhang
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 457–593, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-457-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-457-2022, 2022
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Based on the Baltic Earth Assessment Reports of this thematic issue in Earth System Dynamics and recent peer-reviewed literature, current knowledge about the effects of global warming on past and future changes in the climate of the Baltic Sea region is summarised and assessed. The study is an update of the Second Assessment of Climate Change (BACC II) published in 2015 and focuses on the atmosphere, land, cryosphere, ocean, sediments, and the terrestrial and marine biosphere.
Philippe Ciais, Ana Bastos, Frédéric Chevallier, Ronny Lauerwald, Ben Poulter, Josep G. Canadell, Gustaf Hugelius, Robert B. Jackson, Atul Jain, Matthew Jones, Masayuki Kondo, Ingrid T. Luijkx, Prabir K. Patra, Wouter Peters, Julia Pongratz, Ana Maria Roxana Petrescu, Shilong Piao, Chunjing Qiu, Celso Von Randow, Pierre Regnier, Marielle Saunois, Robert Scholes, Anatoly Shvidenko, Hanqin Tian, Hui Yang, Xuhui Wang, and Bo Zheng
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1289–1316, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1289-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1289-2022, 2022
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The second phase of the Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP) will provide updated quantification and process understanding of CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions and sinks for ten regions of the globe. In this paper, we give definitions, review different methods, and make recommendations for estimating different components of the total land–atmosphere carbon exchange for each region in a consistent and complete approach.
David Olefeldt, Mikael Hovemyr, McKenzie A. Kuhn, David Bastviken, Theodore J. Bohn, John Connolly, Patrick Crill, Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Sarah A. Finkelstein, Hélène Genet, Guido Grosse, Lorna I. Harris, Liam Heffernan, Manuel Helbig, Gustaf Hugelius, Ryan Hutchins, Sari Juutinen, Mark J. Lara, Avni Malhotra, Kristen Manies, A. David McGuire, Susan M. Natali, Jonathan A. O'Donnell, Frans-Jan W. Parmentier, Aleksi Räsänen, Christina Schädel, Oliver Sonnentag, Maria Strack, Suzanne E. Tank, Claire Treat, Ruth K. Varner, Tarmo Virtanen, Rebecca K. Warren, and Jennifer D. Watts
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5127–5149, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5127-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5127-2021, 2021
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Wetlands, lakes, and rivers are important sources of the greenhouse gas methane to the atmosphere. To understand current and future methane emissions from northern regions, we need maps that show the extent and distribution of specific types of wetlands, lakes, and rivers. The Boreal–Arctic Wetland and Lake Dataset (BAWLD) provides maps of five wetland types, seven lake types, and three river types for northern regions and will improve our ability to predict future methane emissions.
Zhen Zhang, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Katherine Jensen, Kyle McDonald, Gustaf Hugelius, Thomas Gumbricht, Mark Carroll, Catherine Prigent, Annett Bartsch, and Benjamin Poulter
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 2001–2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2001-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2001-2021, 2021
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The spatiotemporal distribution of wetlands is one of the important and yet uncertain factors determining the time and locations of methane fluxes. The Wetland Area and Dynamics for Methane Modeling (WAD2M) dataset describes the global data product used to quantify the areal dynamics of natural wetlands and how global wetlands are changing in response to climate.
Georg Pointner, Annett Bartsch, Yury A. Dvornikov, and Alexei V. Kouraev
The Cryosphere, 15, 1907–1929, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1907-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1907-2021, 2021
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This study presents strong new indications that regions of anomalously low backscatter in C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery of ice of Lake Neyto in northwestern Siberia are related to strong emissions of natural gas. Spatio-temporal dynamics and potential scattering and formation mechanisms are assessed. It is suggested that exploiting the spatial and temporal properties of Sentinel-1 SAR data may be beneficial for the identification of similar phenomena in other Arctic lakes.
Arthur Monhonval, Sophie Opfergelt, Elisabeth Mauclet, Benoît Pereira, Aubry Vandeuren, Guido Grosse, Lutz Schirrmeister, Matthias Fuchs, Peter Kuhry, and Jens Strauss
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2020-359, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2020-359, 2020
Preprint withdrawn
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With global warming, ice-rich permafrost soils expose organic carbon to microbial degradation and unlock mineral elements as well. Interactions between mineral elements and organic carbon may enhance or mitigate microbial degradation. Here, we provide a large scale ice-rich permafrost mineral concentrations assessment and estimates of mineral element stocks in those deposits. Si is the most abundant mineral element and Fe and Al are present in the same order of magnitude as organic carbon.
Michael Kern, Robert Cullen, Bruno Berruti, Jerome Bouffard, Tania Casal, Mark R. Drinkwater, Antonio Gabriele, Arnaud Lecuyot, Michael Ludwig, Rolv Midthassel, Ignacio Navas Traver, Tommaso Parrinello, Gerhard Ressler, Erik Andersson, Cristina Martin-Puig, Ole Andersen, Annett Bartsch, Sinead Farrell, Sara Fleury, Simon Gascoin, Amandine Guillot, Angelika Humbert, Eero Rinne, Andrew Shepherd, Michiel R. van den Broeke, and John Yackel
The Cryosphere, 14, 2235–2251, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2235-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2235-2020, 2020
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The Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter will provide high-resolution sea ice thickness and land ice elevation measurements and the capability to determine the properties of snow cover on ice to serve operational products and services of direct relevance to the polar regions. This paper describes the mission objectives, identifies the key contributions the CRISTAL mission will make, and presents a concept – as far as it is already defined – for the mission payload.
Marielle Saunois, Ann R. Stavert, Ben Poulter, Philippe Bousquet, Josep G. Canadell, Robert B. Jackson, Peter A. Raymond, Edward J. Dlugokencky, Sander Houweling, Prabir K. Patra, Philippe Ciais, Vivek K. Arora, David Bastviken, Peter Bergamaschi, Donald R. Blake, Gordon Brailsford, Lori Bruhwiler, Kimberly M. Carlson, Mark Carrol, Simona Castaldi, Naveen Chandra, Cyril Crevoisier, Patrick M. Crill, Kristofer Covey, Charles L. Curry, Giuseppe Etiope, Christian Frankenberg, Nicola Gedney, Michaela I. Hegglin, Lena Höglund-Isaksson, Gustaf Hugelius, Misa Ishizawa, Akihiko Ito, Greet Janssens-Maenhout, Katherine M. Jensen, Fortunat Joos, Thomas Kleinen, Paul B. Krummel, Ray L. Langenfelds, Goulven G. Laruelle, Licheng Liu, Toshinobu Machida, Shamil Maksyutov, Kyle C. McDonald, Joe McNorton, Paul A. Miller, Joe R. Melton, Isamu Morino, Jurek Müller, Fabiola Murguia-Flores, Vaishali Naik, Yosuke Niwa, Sergio Noce, Simon O'Doherty, Robert J. Parker, Changhui Peng, Shushi Peng, Glen P. Peters, Catherine Prigent, Ronald Prinn, Michel Ramonet, Pierre Regnier, William J. Riley, Judith A. Rosentreter, Arjo Segers, Isobel J. Simpson, Hao Shi, Steven J. Smith, L. Paul Steele, Brett F. Thornton, Hanqin Tian, Yasunori Tohjima, Francesco N. Tubiello, Aki Tsuruta, Nicolas Viovy, Apostolos Voulgarakis, Thomas S. Weber, Michiel van Weele, Guido R. van der Werf, Ray F. Weiss, Doug Worthy, Debra Wunch, Yi Yin, Yukio Yoshida, Wenxin Zhang, Zhen Zhang, Yuanhong Zhao, Bo Zheng, Qing Zhu, Qiuan Zhu, and Qianlai Zhuang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 1561–1623, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1561-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1561-2020, 2020
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Understanding and quantifying the global methane (CH4) budget is important for assessing realistic pathways to mitigate climate change. We have established a consortium of multidisciplinary scientists under the umbrella of the Global Carbon Project to synthesize and stimulate new research aimed at improving and regularly updating the global methane budget. This is the second version of the review dedicated to the decadal methane budget, integrating results of top-down and bottom-up estimates.
Jaroslav Obu, Sebastian Westermann, Gonçalo Vieira, Andrey Abramov, Megan Ruby Balks, Annett Bartsch, Filip Hrbáček, Andreas Kääb, and Miguel Ramos
The Cryosphere, 14, 497–519, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-497-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-497-2020, 2020
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Little is known about permafrost in the Antarctic outside of the few research stations. We used a simple equilibrium permafrost model to estimate permafrost temperatures in the whole Antarctic. The lowest permafrost temperature on Earth is −36 °C in the Queen Elizabeth Range in the Transantarctic Mountains. Temperatures are commonly between −23 and −18 °C in mountainous areas rising above the Antarctic Ice Sheet, between −14 and −8 °C in coastal areas, and up to 0 °C on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Peter Kuhry, Jiří Bárta, Daan Blok, Bo Elberling, Samuel Faucherre, Gustaf Hugelius, Christian J. Jørgensen, Andreas Richter, Hana Šantrůčková, and Niels Weiss
Biogeosciences, 17, 361–379, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-361-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-361-2020, 2020
Efrén López-Blanco, Jean-François Exbrayat, Magnus Lund, Torben R. Christensen, Mikkel P. Tamstorf, Darren Slevin, Gustaf Hugelius, Anthony A. Bloom, and Mathew Williams
Earth Syst. Dynam., 10, 233–255, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-10-233-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-10-233-2019, 2019
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The terrestrial CO2 exchange in Arctic ecosystems plays an important role in the global carbon cycle and is particularly sensitive to the ongoing warming experienced in recent years. To improve our understanding of the atmosphere–biosphere interplay, we evaluated the state of the terrestrial pan-Arctic carbon cycling using a promising data assimilation system in the first 15 years of the 21st century. This is crucial when it comes to making predictions about the future state of the carbon cycle.
Thomas Schneider von Deimling, Thomas Kleinen, Gustaf Hugelius, Christian Knoblauch, Christian Beer, and Victor Brovkin
Clim. Past, 14, 2011–2036, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-2011-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-2011-2018, 2018
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Past cold ice age temperatures and the subsequent warming towards the Holocene had large consequences for soil organic carbon (SOC) stored in perennially frozen grounds. Using an Earth system model we show how the spread in areas affected by permafrost have changed under deglacial warming, along with changes in SOC accumulation. Our model simulations suggest phases of circum-Arctic permafrost SOC gain and losses, with a net increase in SOC between the last glacial maximum and the pre-industrial.
Christine Kroisleitner, Annett Bartsch, and Helena Bergstedt
The Cryosphere, 12, 2349–2370, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2349-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2349-2018, 2018
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Knowledge about permafrost extent is required with respect to climate change. We used borehole temperature records from across the Arctic for the assessment of surface status information (frozen or unfrozen) derived from space-borne microwave sensors for permafrost extent mapping. The comparison to mean annual ground temperature (MAGT) at the coldest sensor depth revealed that not only extent but also temperature can be obtained from C-band-derived surface state with a residual error of 2.22 °C.
Juri Palmtag, Stefanie Cable, Hanne H. Christiansen, Gustaf Hugelius, and Peter Kuhry
The Cryosphere, 12, 1735–1744, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1735-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1735-2018, 2018
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This study aims to improve the previous soil organic carbon and total nitrogen storage estimates for the Zackenberg area (NE Greenland) that were based on a land cover classification approach, by using geomorphological upscaling. The landform-based approach more correctly constrains the depositional areas in alluvial fans and deltas with high SOC and TN storage. This research emphasises the need to consider geomorphology when assessing SOC pools in mountain permafrost landscapes.
Matthias B. Siewert
Biogeosciences, 15, 1663–1682, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1663-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1663-2018, 2018
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Large amounts of soil organic carbon are stored in the circumpolar permafrost region. This article aims to improve how we map this carbon. Typically the amount of soil organic carbon is estimated using soil or land cover maps. Here the amount of carbon is modeled using machine learning. This is done at a very fine spatial resolution of 1 × 1 m. This reveals a lot of small-scale landscape variability and underlines the importance of permafrost-related landforms vulnerable to a warming climate.
Matthias Fuchs, Guido Grosse, Jens Strauss, Frank Günther, Mikhail Grigoriev, Georgy M. Maximov, and Gustaf Hugelius
Biogeosciences, 15, 953–971, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-953-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-953-2018, 2018
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Our paper investigates soil organic carbon and nitrogen in permafrost soils on Sobo-Sise Island and Bykovsky Peninsula in the north of eastern Siberia. We collected and analysed permafrost soil cores and upscaled carbon and nitrogen stocks to landscape level. We found large amounts of carbon and nitrogen stored in these frozen soils, reconstructed sedimentation rates and estimated the potential increase in organic carbon availability if permafrost continues to thaw and active layer deepens.
Sarah E. Chadburn, Gerhard Krinner, Philipp Porada, Annett Bartsch, Christian Beer, Luca Belelli Marchesini, Julia Boike, Altug Ekici, Bo Elberling, Thomas Friborg, Gustaf Hugelius, Margareta Johansson, Peter Kuhry, Lars Kutzbach, Moritz Langer, Magnus Lund, Frans-Jan W. Parmentier, Shushi Peng, Ko Van Huissteden, Tao Wang, Sebastian Westermann, Dan Zhu, and Eleanor J. Burke
Biogeosciences, 14, 5143–5169, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-5143-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-5143-2017, 2017
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Earth system models (ESMs) are our main tools for understanding future climate. The Arctic is important for the future carbon cycle, particularly due to the large carbon stocks in permafrost. We evaluated the performance of the land component of three major ESMs at Arctic tundra sites, focusing on the fluxes and stocks of carbon.
We show that the next steps for model improvement are to better represent vegetation dynamics, to include mosses and to improve below-ground carbon cycle processes.
Jorien E. Vonk, Tommaso Tesi, Lisa Bröder, Henry Holmstrand, Gustaf Hugelius, August Andersson, Oleg Dudarev, Igor Semiletov, and Örjan Gustafsson
The Cryosphere, 11, 1879–1895, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1879-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1879-2017, 2017
Sina Muster, Kurt Roth, Moritz Langer, Stephan Lange, Fabio Cresto Aleina, Annett Bartsch, Anne Morgenstern, Guido Grosse, Benjamin Jones, A. Britta K. Sannel, Ylva Sjöberg, Frank Günther, Christian Andresen, Alexandra Veremeeva, Prajna R. Lindgren, Frédéric Bouchard, Mark J. Lara, Daniel Fortier, Simon Charbonneau, Tarmo A. Virtanen, Gustaf Hugelius, Juri Palmtag, Matthias B. Siewert, William J. Riley, Charles D. Koven, and Julia Boike
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 317–348, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-317-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-317-2017, 2017
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Waterbodies are abundant in Arctic permafrost lowlands. Most waterbodies are ponds with a surface area smaller than 100 x 100 m. The Permafrost Region Pond and Lake Database (PeRL) for the first time maps ponds as small as 10 x 10 m. PeRL maps can be used to document changes both by comparing them to historical and future imagery. The distribution of waterbodies in the Arctic is important to know in order to manage resources in the Arctic and to improve climate predictions in the Arctic.
Barbara Widhalm, Annett Bartsch, Marina Leibman, and Artem Khomutov
The Cryosphere, 11, 483–496, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-483-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-483-2017, 2017
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The active layer above the permafrost, which seasonally thaws during summer, is an important parameter for monitoring the state of permafrost. Its thickness is typically measured locally. The relationship between active-layer thickness (ALT) and X-band SAR backscatter of TerraSAR-X has been investigated in order to explore the possibility of delineating ALT with continuous and larger spatial coverage.
Gustaf Hugelius, Peter Kuhry, and Charles Tarnocai
Biogeosciences, 13, 2003–2010, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2003-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2003-2016, 2016
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We investigate the properties of soils and sediments in a particular and ancient Siberian permafrost landscape. We critically examine statements from a recent study that specific permafrost landforms affected by thawed permafrost (alases) in this region contain very large quantities of peat that previous studies had failed to include because of data set biases. We conclude that there is no evidence to suggest biases in existing data sets or that alas deposits increase the northern peatland pool.
Klaus Haslinger and Annett Bartsch
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 1211–1223, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1211-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1211-2016, 2016
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Gridded fields of daily max. and min. temperatures for the Austrian domain are used to calculate ET0 based on a re-calibrated Hargreaves method. Newly derived, station-based calibration parameters, with Penman–Monteith ET0 as a reference, show a distinct altitude and seasonal dependence. Theses features are used to interpolate the new calibration values in space and time onto the temperature grids. The ET0 is then calculated based on the entire gridded temperature data starting back in 1961.
M. Fritz, B. N. Deshpande, F. Bouchard, E. Högström, J. Malenfant-Lepage, A. Morgenstern, A. Nieuwendam, M. Oliva, M. Paquette, A. C. A. Rudy, M. B. Siewert, Y. Sjöberg, and S. Weege
The Cryosphere, 9, 1715–1720, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1715-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1715-2015, 2015
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This is a contribution about the future of permafrost research to the 3rd International Conference on Arctic Research Planning 2015 (ICARP III).
We summarize the top five research questions for the next decade of permafrost science from the perspective of early career researchers (ECRs).
We highlight the pathways and structural preconditions to address these research priorities.
This manuscript is an outcome of a community consultation conducted for and by ECRs on a global level.
N. Gentsch, R. Mikutta, R. J. E. Alves, J. Barta, P. Čapek, A. Gittel, G. Hugelius, P. Kuhry, N. Lashchinskiy, J. Palmtag, A. Richter, H. Šantrůčková, J. Schnecker, O. Shibistova, T. Urich, B. Wild, and G. Guggenberger
Biogeosciences, 12, 4525–4542, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4525-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4525-2015, 2015
M. Fuchs, P. Kuhry, and G. Hugelius
The Cryosphere, 9, 427–438, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-427-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-427-2015, 2015
G. Hugelius, J. Strauss, S. Zubrzycki, J. W. Harden, E. A. G. Schuur, C.-L. Ping, L. Schirrmeister, G. Grosse, G. J. Michaelson, C. D. Koven, J. A. O'Donnell, B. Elberling, U. Mishra, P. Camill, Z. Yu, J. Palmtag, and P. Kuhry
Biogeosciences, 11, 6573–6593, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6573-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6573-2014, 2014
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This study provides an updated estimate of organic carbon stored in the northern permafrost region. The study includes estimates for carbon in soils (0 to 3 m depth) and deeper sediments in river deltas and the Yedoma region. We find that field data is still scarce from many regions. Total estimated carbon storage is ~1300 Pg with an uncertainty range of between 1100 and 1500 Pg. Around 800 Pg carbon is perennially frozen, equivalent to all carbon dioxide currently in the Earth's atmosphere.
G. Hugelius, J. G. Bockheim, P. Camill, B. Elberling, G. Grosse, J. W. Harden, K. Johnson, T. Jorgenson, C. D. Koven, P. Kuhry, G. Michaelson, U. Mishra, J. Palmtag, C.-L. Ping, J. O'Donnell, L. Schirrmeister, E. A. G. Schuur, Y. Sheng, L. C. Smith, J. Strauss, and Z. Yu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 5, 393–402, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-5-393-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-5-393-2013, 2013
I. Gouttevin, A. Bartsch, G. Krinner, and V. Naeimi
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-10-11241-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-10-11241-2013, 2013
Manuscript not accepted for further review
G. Hugelius, C. Tarnocai, G. Broll, J. G. Canadell, P. Kuhry, and D. K. Swanson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 5, 3–13, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-5-3-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-5-3-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Biogeochemistry: Soils
Dissolved organic matter fosters core mercury-methylating microbiomes for methylmercury production in paddy soils
A microbially driven and depth-explicit soil organic carbon model constrained by carbon isotopes to reduce parameter equifinality
Earth observation reveals reduced winter wheat growth and the importance of plant available water during drought
Plutonium concentrations link soil organic matter decline to wind erosion in ploughed soils of South Africa
A synthesis of Sphagnum litterbag experiments: initial leaching losses bias decomposition rate estimates
Effect of straw retention and mineral fertilization on P speciation and P-transformation microorganisms in water- extractable colloids of a Vertisol
A new approach to continuous monitoring of carbon use efficiency and biosynthesis in soil microbes from measurement of CO2 and O2
Validating laboratory insights into the drivers of soil rewetting respiration pulses with field measurements
Diverse organic carbon dynamics captured by radiocarbon analysis of distinct compound classes in a grassland soil
Effects of basalt, concrete fines, and steel slag on maize growth and heavy metal accumulation in an enhanced weathering experiment
The effects of land use on soil carbon stocks in the UK
Technical note: A validated correction method to quantify organic and inorganic carbon in soils using Rock-Eval® thermal analysis
Depth Effects of Long-term Organic Residue Application on Soil Organic Carbon Stocks in Central Kenya
Distinct changes in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling in the litter layer across two contrasting forest-tundra ecotones
Vegetation patterns associated with nutrient availability and supply in high-elevation tropical Andean ecosystems
Technical note: An open-source, low-cost system for continuous monitoring of low nitrate concentrations in soil and open water
Solubility characteristics of soil humic substances as a function of pH
Long-term fertilization increases soil but not plant or microbial N in a Chihuahuan Desert grassland
Factors controlling spatiotemporal variability of soil carbon accumulation and stock estimates in a tidal salt marsh
Exploring micro-scale heterogeneity as a driver of biogeochemical transformations and gas transport in peat
Moisture and temperature effects on the radiocarbon signature of respired carbon dioxide to assess stability of soil carbon in the Tibetan Plateau
Non-mycorrhizal root-associated fungi increase soil C stocks and stability via diverse mechanisms
Drought counteracts soil warming more strongly in the subsoil than in the topsoil according to a vertical microbial SOC model
Nine years of warming and nitrogen addition in the Tibetan grassland promoted loss of soil organic carbon but did not alter the bulk change in chemical structure
Soil priming effects and involved microbial community along salt gradients
Adjustments to the Rock-Eval® thermal analysis for soil organic and inorganic carbon quantification
Ecosystem-specific patterns and drivers of global reactive iron mineral-associated organic carbon
Dark septate endophytic fungi associated with pioneer grass inhabiting volcanic deposits and their functions in promoting plant growth
Global patterns and drivers of phosphorus fractions in natural soils
Reviews and syntheses: Iron – a driver of nitrogen bioavailability in soils?
How well does ramped thermal oxidation quantify the age distribution of soil carbon? Assessing thermal stability of physically and chemically fractionated soil organic matter
Differential temperature sensitivity of intracellular metabolic processes and extracellular soil enzyme activities
Mapping soil organic carbon fractions for Australia, their stocks, and uncertainty
Technical note: The recovery rate of free particulate organic matter from soil samples is strongly affected by the method of density fractionation
Deforestation for agriculture leads to soil warming and enhanced litter decomposition in subarctic soils
Temperature sensitivity of soil organic carbon respiration along a forested elevation gradient in the Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda
The influence of elevated CO2 and soil depth on rhizosphere activity and nutrient availability in a mature Eucalyptus woodland
The paradox of assessing greenhouse gases from soils for nature-based solutions
Management-induced changes in soil organic carbon on global croplands
Pore network modeling as a new tool for determining gas diffusivity in peat
Temperature sensitivity of dark CO2 fixation in temperate forest soils
Effects of precipitation seasonality, irrigation, vegetation cycle and soil type on enhanced weathering – modeling of cropland case studies across four sites
Stable isotope profiles of soil organic carbon in forested and grassland landscapes in the Lake Alaotra basin (Madagascar): insights in past vegetation changes
Reviews and syntheses: The promise of big diverse soil data, moving current practices towards future potential
Dynamics of rare earth elements and associated major and trace elements during Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) litter degradation
To what extent can soil moisture and soil Cu contamination stresses affect nitrous species emissions? Estimation through calibration of a nitrification–denitrification model
Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus stoichiometry of organic matter in Swedish forest soils and its relationship with climate, tree species, and soil texture
Soil geochemistry as a driver of soil organic matter composition: insights from a soil chronosequence
Leaching of inorganic and organic phosphorus and nitrogen in contrasting beech forest soils – seasonal patterns and effects of fertilization
Age and chemistry of dissolved organic carbon reveal enhanced leaching of ancient labile carbon at the permafrost thaw zone
Qiang Pu, Bo Meng, Jen-How Huang, Kun Zhang, Jiang Liu, Yurong Liu, Mahmoud A. Abdelhafiz, and Xinbin Feng
Biogeosciences, 22, 1543–1556, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1543-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1543-2025, 2025
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This study examines the effect of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on microbial mercury (Hg) methylation in paddy soils. It uncovers that DOM regulates Hg methylation mainly through altering core Hg-methylating microbiome composition and boosting the growth of core Hg-methylating microorganisms. The study highlights that in the regulation of methylmercury formation in paddy soils, more attention should be paid to changes in DOM concentration and composition.
Marijn Van de Broek, Gerard Govers, Marion Schrumpf, and Johan Six
Biogeosciences, 22, 1427–1446, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1427-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1427-2025, 2025
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Soil organic carbon models are used to predict how soils affect the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. We show that equifinality – the phenomenon that different parameter values lead to correct overall model outputs, albeit with a different model behaviour – is an important source of model uncertainty. Our results imply that adding more complexity to soil organic carbon models is unlikely to lead to better predictions as long as more data to constrain model parameters are not available.
Hanna Sjulgård, Lukas Valentin Graf, Tino Colombi, Juliane Hirte, Thomas Keller, and Helge Aasen
Biogeosciences, 22, 1341–1354, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1341-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1341-2025, 2025
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Our study showed that stress-related crop response to changing environmental conditions can be detected by monitoring crops using satellite images at the landscape level. This could be useful for farmers to identify when stresses occur. Our results also suggest that satellite imagery can be used to discover soil impacts on crop development at farm fields. The inclusion of soil properties in satellite image analyses could further improve the accuracy of the prediction of drought stress on crops.
Joel Mohren, Hendrik Wiesel, Wulf Amelung, L. Keith Fifield, Alexandra Sandhage-Hofmann, Erik Strub, Steven A. Binnie, Stefan Heinze, Elmarie Kotze, Chris Du Preez, Stephen G. Tims, and Tibor J. Dunai
Biogeosciences, 22, 1077–1094, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1077-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1077-2025, 2025
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We measured concentrations of nuclear fallout in soil samples taken from arable land in South Africa. We find that during the second half of the 20th century, the data strongly correlate with the organic matter content of the soils. The finding implies that wind erosion strongly influenced the loss of organic matter in the soils we investigated. Furthermore, the exponential decline of fallout concentrations and organic matter content over time peaks shortly after native grassland is ploughed.
Henning Teickner, Edzer Pebesma, and Klaus-Holger Knorr
Biogeosciences, 22, 417–433, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-417-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-417-2025, 2025
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Decomposition rates for Sphagnum mosses, the main peat-forming plants in northern peatlands, are often derived from litterbag experiments. Here, we estimate initial leaching losses from available Sphagnum litterbag experiments and analyze how decomposition rates are biased when initial leaching losses are ignored. Our analyses indicate that initial leaching losses range between 3 to 18 mass-% and that this may result in overestimated mass losses when extrapolated to several decades.
Shanshan Bai, Yifei Ge, Dongtan Yao, Yifan Wang, Jinfang Tan, Shuai Zhang, Yutao Peng, and Xiaoqian Jiang
Biogeosciences, 22, 135–151, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-135-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-135-2025, 2025
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Mineral fertilization led to increases in total P, available P, high-activity inorganic P fractions, and organic P but reduced the abundance of P-cycling genes by decreasing soil pH and increasing P in bulk soil. Straw retention enhanced organic carbon, total P, and available P concentrations in water-extractable colloids (WECs). Abundances of the phoD gene and phoD-harboring Proteobacteria in WECs were elevated under straw retention, suggesting an increase in P-mineralization capacity.
Kyle E. Smart, Daniel O. Breecker, Christopher B. Blackwood, and Timothy M. Gallagher
Biogeosciences, 22, 87–101, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-87-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-87-2025, 2025
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When microbes consume carbon within soils, it is important to know how much carbon is respired and lost as carbon dioxide versus how much is used to make new biomass. We used a new approach of monitoring carbon dioxide and oxygen to track the fate of consumed carbon during a series of laboratory experiments where sugar was added to moistened soil. Our approach allowed us to estimate how much sugar was converted to dead microbial biomass, which is more likely to be preserved in soils.
Xiankun Li, Marleen Pallandt, Dilip Naidu, Johannes Rousk, Gustaf Hugelius, and Stefano Manzoni
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3324, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3324, 2024
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While laboratory studies have identified many drivers and their effects on the carbon emission pulse after rewetting of dry soils, a validation with field data is still missing. Here, we show that the carbon emission pulse in the laboratory and in the field increases with soil organic carbon and temperature, but their trends with pre-rewetting dryness and moisture increment at rewetting differ. We conclude that the laboratory findings can be partially validated.
Katherine E. Grant, Marisa N. Repasch, Kari M. Finstad, Julia D. Kerr, Maxwell Marple, Christopher J. Larson, Taylor A. B. Broek, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, and Karis J. McFarlane
Biogeosciences, 21, 4395–4411, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4395-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4395-2024, 2024
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Soils store organic carbon composed of multiple compounds from plants and microbes for different lengths of time. To understand how soils store these different carbon types, we measure the time each carbon fraction is in a grassland soil profile. Our results show that the length of time each individual soil fraction is in our soil changes. Our approach allows a detailed look at the different components in soils. This study can help improve our understanding of soil dynamics.
Jet Rijnders, Arthur Vienne, and Sara Vicca
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3022, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3022, 2024
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A mesocosm experiment was set-up to investigate how maize responds to basalt, concrete fines and steel slags application, using a dose-response approach. Biomass increased with basalt application, but did not change with concrete fines or steel slags, except for increased tassel biomass. Mg, Ca and Si generally increased in the crops, while heavy metal concentrations remained unaffected or even decreased in the plants. Overall, crops were positively affected by application of silicate materials.
Peter Levy, Laura Bentley, Peter Danks, Bridget Emmett, Angus Garbutt, Stephen Heming, Peter Henrys, Aidan Keith, Inma Lebron, Niall McNamara, Richard Pywell, John Redhead, David Robinson, and Alexander Wickenden
Biogeosciences, 21, 4301–4315, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4301-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4301-2024, 2024
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We collated a large data set (15 790 soil cores) on soil carbon stock in different land uses. Soil carbon stocks were highest in woodlands and lowest in croplands. The variability in the effects was large. This has important implications for agri-environment schemes seeking to sequester carbon in the soil by altering land use because the effect of a given intervention is very hard to verify.
Marija Stojanova, Pierre Arbelet, François Baudin, Nicolas Bouton, Giovanni Caria, Lorenza Pacini, Nicolas Proix, Edouard Quibel, Achille Thin, and Pierre Barré
Biogeosciences, 21, 4229–4237, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4229-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4229-2024, 2024
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Because of its importance for climate regulation and soil health, many studies focus on carbon dynamics in soils. However, quantifying organic and inorganic carbon remains an issue in carbonated soils. In this technical note, we propose a validated correction method to quantify organic and inorganic carbon in soils using Rock-Eval® thermal analysis. With this correction, the Rock-Eval® method has the potential to become the standard method for quantifying carbon in carbonate soils.
Claude Raoul Müller, Johan Six, Daniel Mugendi Njiru, Bernard Vanlauwe, and Marijn Van de Broek
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2796, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2796, 2024
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We studied how different organic and inorganic nutrient inputs affect soil organic carbon (SOC) down to 70 cm in Kenya. After 19 years, all organic treatments increased SOC stocks as compared to the control, but mineral nitrogen had no significant effect. Manure was the organic treatment that significantly increased SOC the deepest as its effect could be observed down to 60 cm. Manure was the best strategy to limit SOC loss in croplands and maintain soil quality after deforestation.
Frank Hagedorn, Joesphine Imboden, Pavel Moiseev, Decai Gao, Emmanuel Frossard, Daniel Christen, Konstantin Gavazov, and Jasmin Fetzer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2622, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2622, 2024
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At treeline, plant species change abruptly from low stature plants in tundra to trees in forests. Our study documents that from tundra towards forest, the litter layer gets strongly enriched in nutrients. We show that these litter quality changes alter nutrient processing by soil microbes and increase the nutrient release during decomposition in forest than in tundra. The associated improvement of nutrient availability in the forest potentially stimulates tree growth and treeline shifts.
Armando Molina, Veerle Vanacker, Oliver Chadwick, Santiago Zhiminaicela, Marife Corre, and Edzo Veldkamp
Biogeosciences, 21, 3075–3091, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3075-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3075-2024, 2024
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The tropical Andes contains unique landscapes where forest patches are surrounded by tussock grasses and cushion-forming plants. The aboveground vegetation composition informs us about belowground nutrient availability: patterns in plant-available nutrients resulted from strong biocycling of cations and removal of soil nutrients by plant uptake or leaching. Future changes in vegetation distribution will affect soil water and solute fluxes and the aquatic ecology of Andean rivers and lakes.
Sahiti Bulusu, Cristina Prieto García, Helen E. Dahlke, and Elad Levintal
Biogeosciences, 21, 3007–3013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3007-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3007-2024, 2024
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Do-it-yourself hardware is a new way to improve measurement resolution. We present a low-cost, automated system for field measurements of low nitrate concentrations in soil porewater and open water bodies. All data hardware components cost USD 1100, which is much cheaper than other available commercial solutions. We provide the complete building guide to reduce technical barriers, which we hope will allow easier reproducibility and set up new soil and environmental monitoring applications.
Xuemei Yang, Jie Zhang, Khan M. G. Mostofa, Mohammad Mohinuzzaman, H. Henry Teng, Nicola Senesi, Giorgio S. Senesi, Jie Yuan, Yu Liu, Si-Liang Li, Xiaodong Li, Baoli Wang, and Cong-Qiang Liu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2994, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2994, 2024
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The solubility characteristics of soil humic acids (HA), fulvic acids (FA), and protein-like substances (PLS) at different pH values remain uncertain. The key findings includes: HA solubility increases with increasing pH and decreases with decreasing pH; HApH6 and HApH1 contribute to 39.1–49.2 % and 3.1–24.1 % of total DOM, respectively; and HApH2, FA, and PLS are highly soluble at acidic pH values and are transported by ambient water. These issues are vital for sustainable soil management.
Violeta Mendoza-Martinez, Scott L. Collins, and Jennie R. McLaren
Biogeosciences, 21, 2655–2667, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2655-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2655-2024, 2024
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We examine the impacts of multi-decadal nitrogen additions on a dryland ecosystem N budget, including the soil, microbial, and plant N pools. After 26 years, there appears to be little impact on the soil microbial or plant community and only minimal increases in N pools within the soil. While perhaps encouraging from a conservation standpoint, we calculate that greater than 95 % of the nitrogen added to the system is not retained and is instead either lost deeper in the soil or emitted as gas.
Sean Fettrow, Andrew Wozniak, Holly A. Michael, and Angelia L. Seyfferth
Biogeosciences, 21, 2367–2384, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2367-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2367-2024, 2024
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Salt marshes play a big role in global carbon (C) storage, and C stock estimates are used to predict future changes. However, spatial and temporal gradients in C burial rates over the landscape exist due to variations in water inundation, dominant plant species and stage of growth, and tidal action. We quantified soil C concentrations in soil cores across time and space beside several porewater biogeochemical variables and discussed the controls on variability in soil C in salt marsh ecosystems.
Lukas Kohl, Petri Kiuru, Marjo Palviainen, Maarit Raivonen, Markku Koskinen, Mari Pihlatie, and Annamari Lauren
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1280, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1280, 2024
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We present an assay to illuminate heterogeneity of biogeochemical transformations within peat samples. For this, we injected isotope labelled acetate into peat cores and monitoring the release of label-derived gases, which we compared to microtomography images. The fraction of label converted to CO2 and the rapidness of this conversion was linked to injection depth as well as air-filled porosity. Pore network metric did not provide predictive power over compared to porosity alone.
Andrés Tangarife-Escobar, Georg Guggenberger, Xiaojuan Feng, Guohua Dai, Carolina Urbina-Malo, Mina Azizi-Rad, and Carlos A. Sierra
Biogeosciences, 21, 1277–1299, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1277-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1277-2024, 2024
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Soil organic matter stability depends on future temperature and precipitation scenarios. We used radiocarbon (14C) data and model predictions to understand how the transit time of carbon varies under environmental change in grasslands and peatlands. Soil moisture affected the Δ14C of peatlands, while temperature did not have any influence. Our models show the correspondence between Δ14C and transit time and could allow understanding future interactions between terrestrial and atmospheric carbon
Emiko K. Stuart, Laura Castañeda-Gómez, Wolfram Buss, Jeff R. Powell, and Yolima Carrillo
Biogeosciences, 21, 1037–1059, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1037-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1037-2024, 2024
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We inoculated wheat plants with various types of fungi whose impacts on soil carbon are poorly understood. After several months of growth, we examined both their impacts on soil carbon and the underlying mechanisms using multiple methods. Overall the fungi benefitted the storage of carbon in soil, mainly by improving the stability of pre-existing carbon, but several pathways were involved. This study demonstrates their importance for soil carbon storage and, therefore, climate change mitigation.
Marleen Pallandt, Marion Schrumpf, Holger Lange, Markus Reichstein, Lin Yu, and Bernhard Ahrens
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-186, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-186, 2024
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As soils get warmer due to climate change, SOC decomposes faster because of higher microbial activity, but only with sufficient soil moisture. We modelled how microbes decompose plant litter and microbial residues at different soil depths. We found that deep soil layers are more sensitive than topsoils. SOC is lost from the soil with warming, but this can be mitigated or worsened depending on the type of litter and its sensitivity to temperature. Droughts can reduce warming-induced SOC losses.
Huimin Sun, Michael W. I. Schmidt, Jintao Li, Jinquan Li, Xiang Liu, Nicholas O. E. Ofiti, Shurong Zhou, and Ming Nie
Biogeosciences, 21, 575–589, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-575-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-575-2024, 2024
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A soil organic carbon (SOC) molecular structure suggested that the easily decomposable and stabilized SOC is similarly affected after 9-year warming and N treatments despite large changes in SOC stocks. Given the long residence time of some SOC, the similar loss of all measurable chemical forms of SOC under global change treatments could have important climate consequences.
Haoli Zhang, Doudou Chang, Zhifeng Zhu, Chunmei Meng, and Kaiyong Wang
Biogeosciences, 21, 1–11, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1-2024, 2024
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Soil salinity mediates microorganisms and soil processes like soil organic carbon (SOC) cycling. We observed that negative priming effects at the early stages might be due to the preferential utilization of cottonseed meal. The positive priming that followed decreased with the increase in salinity.
Joséphine Hazera, David Sebag, Isabelle Kowalewski, Eric Verrecchia, Herman Ravelojaona, and Tiphaine Chevallier
Biogeosciences, 20, 5229–5242, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-5229-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-5229-2023, 2023
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This study adapts the Rock-Eval® protocol to quantify soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil inorganic carbon (SIC) on a non-pretreated soil aliquot. The standard protocol properly estimates SOC contents once the TOC parameter is corrected. However, it cannot complete the thermal breakdown of SIC amounts > 4 mg, leading to an underestimation of high SIC contents by the MinC parameter, even after correcting for this. Thus, the final oxidation isotherm is extended to 7 min to quantify any SIC amount.
Bo Zhao, Amin Dou, Zhiwei Zhang, Zhenyu Chen, Wenbo Sun, Yanli Feng, Xiaojuan Wang, and Qiang Wang
Biogeosciences, 20, 4761–4774, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4761-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4761-2023, 2023
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This study provided a comprehensive analysis of the spatial variability and determinants of Fe-bound organic carbon (Fe-OC) among terrestrial, wetland, and marine ecosystems and its governing factors globally. We illustrated that reactive Fe was not only an important sequestration mechanism for OC in terrestrial ecosystems but also an effective “rusty sink” of OC preservation in wetland and marine ecosystems, i.e., a key factor for long-term OC storage in global ecosystems.
Han Sun, Tomoyasu Nishizawa, Hiroyuki Ohta, and Kazuhiko Narisawa
Biogeosciences, 20, 4737–4749, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4737-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4737-2023, 2023
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In this research, we assessed the diversity and function of the dark septate endophytic (DSE) fungi community associated with Miscanthus condensatus root in volcanic ecosystems. Both metabarcoding and isolation were adopted in this study. We further validated effects on plant growth by inoculation of some core DSE isolates. This study helps improve our understanding of the role of Miscanthus condensatus-associated DSE fungi during the restoration of post-volcanic ecosystems.
Xianjin He, Laurent Augusto, Daniel S. Goll, Bruno Ringeval, Ying-Ping Wang, Julian Helfenstein, Yuanyuan Huang, and Enqing Hou
Biogeosciences, 20, 4147–4163, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4147-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4147-2023, 2023
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We identified total soil P concentration as the most important predictor of all soil P pool concentrations, except for primary mineral P concentration, which is primarily controlled by soil pH and only secondarily by total soil P concentration. We predicted soil P pools’ distributions in natural systems, which can inform assessments of the role of natural P availability for ecosystem productivity, climate change mitigation, and the functioning of the Earth system.
Imane Slimani, Xia Zhu-Barker, Patricia Lazicki, and William Horwath
Biogeosciences, 20, 3873–3894, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3873-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3873-2023, 2023
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There is a strong link between nitrogen availability and iron minerals in soils. These minerals have multiple outcomes for nitrogen availability depending on soil conditions and properties. For example, iron can limit microbial degradation of nitrogen in aerated soils but has opposing outcomes in non-aerated soils. This paper focuses on the multiple ways iron can affect nitrogen bioavailability in soils.
Shane W. Stoner, Marion Schrumpf, Alison Hoyt, Carlos A. Sierra, Sebastian Doetterl, Valier Galy, and Susan Trumbore
Biogeosciences, 20, 3151–3163, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3151-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3151-2023, 2023
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Soils store more carbon (C) than any other terrestrial C reservoir, but the processes that control how much C stays in soil, and for how long, are very complex. Here, we used a recent method that involves heating soil in the lab to measure the range of C ages in soil. We found that most C in soil is decades to centuries old, while some stays for much shorter times (days to months), and some is thousands of years old. Such detail helps us to estimate how soil C may react to changing climate.
Adetunji Alex Adekanmbi, Laurence Dale, Liz Shaw, and Tom Sizmur
Biogeosciences, 20, 2207–2219, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2207-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2207-2023, 2023
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The decomposition of soil organic matter and flux of carbon dioxide are expected to increase as temperatures rise. However, soil organic matter decomposition is a two-step process whereby large molecules are first broken down outside microbial cells and then respired within microbial cells. We show here that these two steps are not equally sensitive to increases in soil temperature and that global warming may cause a shift in the rate-limiting step from outside to inside the microbial cell.
Mercedes Román Dobarco, Alexandre M. J-C. Wadoux, Brendan Malone, Budiman Minasny, Alex B. McBratney, and Ross Searle
Biogeosciences, 20, 1559–1586, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1559-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1559-2023, 2023
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Soil organic carbon (SOC) is of a heterogeneous nature and varies in chemistry, stabilisation mechanisms, and persistence in soil. In this study we mapped the stocks of SOC fractions with different characteristics and turnover rates (presumably PyOC >= MAOC > POC) across Australia, combining spectroscopy and digital soil mapping. The SOC stocks (0–30 cm) were estimated as 13 Pg MAOC, 2 Pg POC, and 5 Pg PyOC.
Frederick Büks
Biogeosciences, 20, 1529–1535, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1529-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1529-2023, 2023
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Ultrasonication with density fractionation of soils is a commonly used method to separate soil organic matter pools, which is, e.g., important to calculate carbon turnover in landscapes. It is shown that the approach that merges soil and dense solution without mixing has a low recovery rate and causes co-extraction of parts of the retained labile pool along with the intermediate pool. An alternative method with high recovery rates and no cross-contamination was recommended.
Tino Peplau, Christopher Poeplau, Edward Gregorich, and Julia Schroeder
Biogeosciences, 20, 1063–1074, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1063-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1063-2023, 2023
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We buried tea bags and temperature loggers in a paired-plot design in soils under forest and agricultural land and retrieved them after 2 years to quantify the effect of land-use change on soil temperature and litter decomposition in subarctic agricultural systems. We could show that agricultural soils were on average 2 °C warmer than forests and that litter decomposition was enhanced. The results imply that deforestation amplifies effects of climate change on soil organic matter dynamics.
Joseph Okello, Marijn Bauters, Hans Verbeeck, Samuel Bodé, John Kasenene, Astrid Françoys, Till Engelhardt, Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Ralf Kiese, and Pascal Boeckx
Biogeosciences, 20, 719–735, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-719-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-719-2023, 2023
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The increase in global and regional temperatures has the potential to drive accelerated soil organic carbon losses in tropical forests. We simulated climate warming by translocating intact soil cores from higher to lower elevations. The results revealed increasing temperature sensitivity and decreasing losses of soil organic carbon with increasing elevation. Our results suggest that climate warming may trigger enhanced losses of soil organic carbon from tropical montane forests.
Johanna Pihlblad, Louise C. Andresen, Catriona A. Macdonald, David S. Ellsworth, and Yolima Carrillo
Biogeosciences, 20, 505–521, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-505-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-505-2023, 2023
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Elevated CO2 in the atmosphere increases forest biomass productivity when growth is not limited by soil nutrients. This study explores how mature trees stimulate soil availability of nitrogen and phosphorus with free-air carbon dioxide enrichment after 5 years of fumigation. We found that both nutrient availability and processes feeding available pools increased in the rhizosphere, and phosphorus increased at depth. This appears to not be by decomposition but by faster recycling of nutrients.
Rodrigo Vargas and Van Huong Le
Biogeosciences, 20, 15–26, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-15-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-15-2023, 2023
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Quantifying the role of soils in nature-based solutions requires accurate estimates of soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. We suggest that multiple GHG fluxes should not be simultaneously measured at a few fixed time intervals, but an optimized sampling approach can reduce bias and uncertainty. Our results have implications for assessing GHG fluxes from soils and a better understanding of the role of soils in nature-based solutions.
Kristine Karstens, Benjamin Leon Bodirsky, Jan Philipp Dietrich, Marta Dondini, Jens Heinke, Matthias Kuhnert, Christoph Müller, Susanne Rolinski, Pete Smith, Isabelle Weindl, Hermann Lotze-Campen, and Alexander Popp
Biogeosciences, 19, 5125–5149, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5125-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5125-2022, 2022
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Soil organic carbon (SOC) has been depleted by anthropogenic land cover change and agricultural management. While SOC models often simulate detailed biochemical processes, the management decisions are still little investigated at the global scale. We estimate that soils have lost around 26 GtC relative to a counterfactual natural state in 1975. Yet, since 1975, SOC has been increasing again by 4 GtC due to a higher productivity, recycling of crop residues and manure, and no-tillage practices.
Petri Kiuru, Marjo Palviainen, Arianna Marchionne, Tiia Grönholm, Maarit Raivonen, Lukas Kohl, and Annamari Laurén
Biogeosciences, 19, 5041–5058, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5041-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5041-2022, 2022
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Peatlands are large carbon stocks. Emissions of carbon dioxide and methane from peatlands may increase due to changes in management and climate. We studied the variation in the gas diffusivity of peat with depth using pore network simulations and laboratory experiments. Gas diffusivity was found to be lower in deeper peat with smaller pores and lower pore connectivity. However, gas diffusivity was not extremely low in wet conditions, which may reflect the distinctive structure of peat.
Rachael Akinyede, Martin Taubert, Marion Schrumpf, Susan Trumbore, and Kirsten Küsel
Biogeosciences, 19, 4011–4028, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4011-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4011-2022, 2022
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Soils will likely become warmer in the future, and this can increase the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. As microbes can take up soil CO2 and prevent further escape into the atmosphere, this study compares the rate of uptake and release of CO2 at two different temperatures. With warming, the rate of CO2 uptake increases less than the rate of release, indicating that the capacity to modulate soil CO2 release into the atmosphere will decrease under future warming.
Giuseppe Cipolla, Salvatore Calabrese, Amilcare Porporato, and Leonardo V. Noto
Biogeosciences, 19, 3877–3896, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3877-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3877-2022, 2022
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Enhanced weathering (EW) is a promising strategy for carbon sequestration. Since models may help to characterize field EW, the present work applies a hydro-biogeochemical model to four case studies characterized by different rainfall seasonality, vegetation and soil type. Rainfall seasonality strongly affects EW dynamics, but low carbon sequestration suggests that an in-depth analysis at the global scale is required to see if EW may be effective to mitigate climate change.
Vao Fenotiana Razanamahandry, Marjolein Dewaele, Gerard Govers, Liesa Brosens, Benjamin Campforts, Liesbet Jacobs, Tantely Razafimbelo, Tovonarivo Rafolisy, and Steven Bouillon
Biogeosciences, 19, 3825–3841, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3825-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3825-2022, 2022
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In order to shed light on possible past vegetation shifts in the Central Highlands of Madagascar, we measured stable isotope ratios of organic carbon in soil profiles along both forested and grassland hillslope transects in the Lake Alaotra region. Our results show that the landscape of this region was more forested in the past: soils in the C4-dominated grasslands contained a substantial fraction of C3-derived carbon, increasing with depth.
Katherine E. O. Todd-Brown, Rose Z. Abramoff, Jeffrey Beem-Miller, Hava K. Blair, Stevan Earl, Kristen J. Frederick, Daniel R. Fuka, Mario Guevara Santamaria, Jennifer W. Harden, Katherine Heckman, Lillian J. Heran, James R. Holmquist, Alison M. Hoyt, David H. Klinges, David S. LeBauer, Avni Malhotra, Shelby C. McClelland, Lucas E. Nave, Katherine S. Rocci, Sean M. Schaeffer, Shane Stoner, Natasja van Gestel, Sophie F. von Fromm, and Marisa L. Younger
Biogeosciences, 19, 3505–3522, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3505-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3505-2022, 2022
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Research data are becoming increasingly available online with tantalizing possibilities for reanalysis. However harmonizing data from different sources remains challenging. Using the soils community as an example, we walked through the various strategies that researchers currently use to integrate datasets for reanalysis. We find that manual data transcription is still extremely common and that there is a critical need for community-supported informatics tools like vocabularies and ontologies.
Alessandro Montemagno, Christophe Hissler, Victor Bense, Adriaan J. Teuling, Johanna Ziebel, and Laurent Pfister
Biogeosciences, 19, 3111–3129, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3111-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3111-2022, 2022
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We investigated the biogeochemical processes that dominate the release and retention of elements (nutrients and potentially toxic elements) during litter degradation. Our results show that toxic elements are retained in the litter, while nutrients are released in solution during the first stages of degradation. This seems linked to the capability of trees to distribute the elements between degradation-resistant and non-degradation-resistant compounds of leaves according to their chemical nature.
Laura Sereni, Bertrand Guenet, Charlotte Blasi, Olivier Crouzet, Jean-Christophe Lata, and Isabelle Lamy
Biogeosciences, 19, 2953–2968, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2953-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2953-2022, 2022
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This study focused on the modellisation of two important drivers of soil greenhouse gas emissions: soil contamination and soil moisture change. The aim was to include a Cu function in the soil biogeochemical model DNDC for different soil moisture conditions and then to estimate variation in N2O, NO2 or NOx emissions. Our results show a larger effect of Cu on N2 and N2O emissions than on the other nitrogen species and a higher effect for the soils incubated under constant constant moisture.
Marie Spohn and Johan Stendahl
Biogeosciences, 19, 2171–2186, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2171-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2171-2022, 2022
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We explored the ratios of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) of organic matter in Swedish forest soils. The N : P ratio of the organic layer was most strongly related to the mean annual temperature, while the C : N ratios of the organic layer and mineral soil were strongly related to tree species even in the subsoil. The organic P concentration in the mineral soil was strongly affected by soil texture, which diminished the effect of tree species on the C to organic P (C : OP) ratio.
Moritz Mainka, Laura Summerauer, Daniel Wasner, Gina Garland, Marco Griepentrog, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, and Sebastian Doetterl
Biogeosciences, 19, 1675–1689, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1675-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1675-2022, 2022
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The largest share of terrestrial carbon is stored in soils, making them highly relevant as regards global change. Yet, the mechanisms governing soil carbon stabilization are not well understood. The present study contributes to a better understanding of these processes. We show that qualitative changes in soil organic matter (SOM) co-vary with alterations of the soil matrix following soil weathering. Hence, the type of SOM that is stabilized in soils might change as soils develop.
Jasmin Fetzer, Emmanuel Frossard, Klaus Kaiser, and Frank Hagedorn
Biogeosciences, 19, 1527–1546, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1527-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1527-2022, 2022
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As leaching is a major pathway of nitrogen and phosphorus loss in forest soils, we investigated several potential drivers in two contrasting beech forests. The composition of leachates, obtained by zero-tension lysimeters, varied by season, and climatic extremes influenced the magnitude of leaching. Effects of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization varied with soil nutrient status and sorption properties, and leaching from the low-nutrient soil was more sensitive to environmental factors.
Karis J. McFarlane, Heather M. Throckmorton, Jeffrey M. Heikoop, Brent D. Newman, Alexandra L. Hedgpeth, Marisa N. Repasch, Thomas P. Guilderson, and Cathy J. Wilson
Biogeosciences, 19, 1211–1223, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1211-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1211-2022, 2022
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Planetary warming is increasing seasonal thaw of permafrost, making this extensive old carbon stock vulnerable. In northern Alaska, we found more and older dissolved organic carbon in small drainages later in summer as more permafrost was exposed by deepening thaw. Younger and older carbon did not differ in chemical indicators related to biological lability suggesting this carbon can cycle through aquatic systems and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions as warming increases permafrost thaw.
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Short summary
A new approach for the estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) pools north of the tree line has been developed based on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from the ENVISAT satellite. It can be shown that measurements of C-band SAR under frozen conditions represent vegetation and surface structure properties which relate to soil properties, specifically SOC. The approach provides the first spatially consistent account of soil organic carbon across the Arctic.
A new approach for the estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) pools north of the tree line has...
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