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Carbon Dioxide and Methane Flux in a Dynamic Arctic Tundra Landscape: Decadal‐Scale Impacts of Ice Wedge Degradation and Stabilization
Author(s) -
Wickland K. P.,
Jorgenson M. T.,
Koch J. C.,
Kanevskiy M.,
Striegl R. G.
Publication year - 2020
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 - 10.1029/2020gl089894
Subject(s) - tundra , permafrost , carbon dioxide , environmental science , arctic , atmospheric sciences , ice wedge , thermokarst , carbon cycle , flux (metallurgy) , greenhouse gas , sea ice , wedge (geometry) , geology , climatology , physical geography , oceanography , ecosystem , chemistry , ecology , geography , organic chemistry , biology , physics , optics
Ice wedge degradation is a widespread occurrence across the circumpolar Arctic causing extreme spatial heterogeneity in water distribution, vegetation, and energy balance across landscapes. These heterogeneities influence carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ) fluxes, yet there is little understanding of how they effect change in landscape‐level carbon (C) gas flux over time. We measured CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes in an area undergoing ice wedge degradation near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and combined with repeat imagery analysis to estimate seasonal landscape‐level C flux response to geomorphic change. Net CO 2 and CH 4 emissions changed by −25% and +42%, respectively, resulting in a 14% increase in seasonal CO 2 ‐C equivalent emissions over 69 years as ice wedge degradation formed water‐filled troughs. The dynamic ice wedge degradation/stabilization process can cause significant changes in CO 2 and CH 4 fluxes over time, and the integration of this process is important to forecasting landscape‐level C fluxes in permafrost regions abundant in ice wedges.