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Climate‐forced changes in available energy and methane bubbling from subarctic lakes
Author(s) -
Thornton Brett F.,
Wik Martin,
Crill Patrick M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2015gl063189
Subject(s) - subarctic climate , environmental science , methane , latitude , atmosphere (unit) , atmospheric sciences , sediment , period (music) , shortwave , physical geography , climatology , oceanography , ecology , geology , geography , geomorphology , meteorology , biology , physics , geodesy , quantum mechanics , radiative transfer , acoustics
Strong correlations between seasonal energy input and methane (CH 4 ) bubbling (ebullition) in northern lakes suggest that energy proxies might provide a constraint on the magnitude of future CH 4 emissions. Ebullition is a major pathway for transporting anaerobically produced CH 4 from lake sediments to the atmosphere and represents a large unquantified CH 4 source. In high‐latitude, postglacial lakes during the ice‐free season, solar shortwave energy input can constrain CH 4 productivity via control of sediment temperature. Utilizing long‐term climatic predictors, we calculate CH 4 ebullition from three subarctic lakes in northern Sweden over the period of 1916–2079. Using observed energy trends, the seasonal average lake CH 4 ebullition is predicted to increase by 80% between the 1916–1926 decade and the 2040–2079 period. Present‐day seasonal average methane ebullition is estimated to have already increased 24% since the 1916–1926 decade.