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Siberian wetlands: Where a sink is a source
Author(s) -
Friborg Thomas,
Soegaard Henrik,
Christensen Torben R.,
Lloyd Colin R.,
Panikov Nicolai S.
Publication year - 2003
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 - 10.1029/2003gl017797
Subject(s) - wetland , radiative forcing , environmental science , greenhouse gas , sink (geography) , ecosystem , atmospheric sciences , atmosphere (unit) , carbon sink , carbon dioxide , methane , greenhouse effect , global warming , carbon cycle , forcing (mathematics) , primary production , climate change , ecology , meteorology , oceanography , geology , geography , cartography , biology
A greenhouse gas inventory can for some ecosystems be based solely on the net CO 2 exchange with the atmosphere and the export of dissolved organic carbon. In contrast, the global warming effect may be more complex in ecosystems where other greenhouse gases such as CH 4 or N 2 O have significant exchanges with the atmosphere. Through micrometeorological landscape‐scale measurements from the largest wetlands on Earth in West Siberia we show that CH 4 has a stronger effect than CO 2 on the greenhouse gas budget in terms of radiative forcing on the atmosphere. Direct measurements of the CO 2 and CH 4 exchange during the summer of 1999 show that these wetland ecosystems, on average, acted as net sinks of carbon of 0.5 g C m −2 day −1 but large net sources of CH 4 . Given the high Global Warming Potential of CH 4 , the Siberian wetlands are an important source of radiative forcing, even in comparison to anthropogenic emissions.