Large emissions of CO₂ and CH₄ due to active-layer warming in Arctic tundra.

ABSTRACT: Climate warming may accelerate decomposition of Arctic soil carbon, but few controlled experiments have manipulated the entire active layer. To determine surface-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide and methane under anticipated end-of-century warming, here we used heating rods to warm (by 3.8 °C) to the depth of permafrost in polygonal tundra in Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska and measured fluxes over two growing seasons. We show that ecosystem respiration is ~30% higher in warmed plots than in control plots (0.99 μmol m^-2 s^-1 versus 0.67 μmol m^-2 s^-1, p < 0.0001, n = 79). Additionally, the observed temperature sensitivity (Q₁₀ of 2.8) is higher than that imposed for soil in Earth system models or reported by arctic experiments war

SUBMITTER: Torn MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11696372 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature