Upland Yedoma taliks are an unpredicted source of atmospheric methane.

ABSTRACT: Landscape drying associated with permafrost thaw is expected to enhance microbial methane oxidation in arctic soils. Here we show that ice-rich, Yedoma permafrost deposits, comprising a disproportionately large fraction of pan-arctic soil carbon, present an alternate trajectory. Field and laboratory observations indicate that talik (perennially thawed soils in permafrost) development in unsaturated Yedoma uplands leads to unexpectedly large methane emissions (35-78 mg m^-2 d^-1 summer, 150-180 mg m^-2 d^-1 winter). Upland Yedoma talik emissions were nearly three times higher annually than northern-wetland emissions on an areal basis. Approximately 70% emissions occurred in winter, when surface-soil freezing abated methanotrophy, enhancing methane esc

SUBMITTER: Walter Anthony KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11258132 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature