Rivers across the Siberian Arctic unearth the patterns of carbon release from thawing permafrost.

ABSTRACT: Climate warming is expected to mobilize northern permafrost and peat organic carbon (PP-C), yet magnitudes and system specifics of even current releases are poorly constrained. While part of the PP-C will degrade at point of thaw to CO₂ and CH₄ to directly amplify global warming, another part will enter the fluvial network, potentially providing a window to observe large-scale PP-C remobilization patterns. Here, we employ a decade-long, high-temporal resolution record of ¹⁴C in dissolved and particulate organic carbon (DOC and POC, respectively) to deconvolute PP-C release in the large drainage basins of rivers across Siberia: Ob, Yenisey, Lena, and Kolyma. The ¹⁴C-constrained estimate of export specifically from PP-C corresponds to only 17 ± 8%

SUBMITTER: Wild B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6535028 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature