TY - JOUR
T1 - East Siberian Arctic inland waters emit mostly contemporary carbon
AU - Dean, Joshua F.
AU - Meisel, Ove H.
AU - Martyn Rosco, Melanie
AU - Marchesini, Luca Belelli
AU - Garnett, Mark H.
AU - Lenderink, Henk
AU - van Logtestijn, Richard
AU - Borges, Alberto V.
AU - Bouillon, Steven
AU - Lambert, Thibault
AU - Röckmann, Thomas
AU - Maximov, Trofim
AU - Petrov, Roman
AU - Karsanaev, Sergei
AU - Aerts, Rien
AU - van Huissteden, Jacobus
AU - Vonk, Jorien E.
AU - Dolman, A. Johannes
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - Inland waters (rivers, lakes and ponds) are important conduits for the emission of terrestrial carbon in Arctic permafrost landscapes. These emissions are driven by turnover of contemporary terrestrial carbon and additional pre-aged (Holocene and late-Pleistocene) carbon released from thawing permafrost soils, but the magnitude of these source contributions to total inland water carbon fluxes remains unknown. Here we present unique simultaneous radiocarbon age measurements of inland water CO2, CH4 and dissolved and particulate organic carbon in northeast Siberia during summer. We show that >80% of total inland water carbon was contemporary in age, but pre-aged carbon contributed >50% at sites strongly affected by permafrost thaw. CO2 and CH4 were younger than dissolved and particulate organic carbon, suggesting emissions were primarily fuelled by contemporary carbon decomposition. Our findings reveal that inland water carbon emissions from permafrost landscapes may be more sensitive to changes in contemporary carbon turnover than the release of pre-aged carbon from thawing permafrost.
AB - Inland waters (rivers, lakes and ponds) are important conduits for the emission of terrestrial carbon in Arctic permafrost landscapes. These emissions are driven by turnover of contemporary terrestrial carbon and additional pre-aged (Holocene and late-Pleistocene) carbon released from thawing permafrost soils, but the magnitude of these source contributions to total inland water carbon fluxes remains unknown. Here we present unique simultaneous radiocarbon age measurements of inland water CO2, CH4 and dissolved and particulate organic carbon in northeast Siberia during summer. We show that >80% of total inland water carbon was contemporary in age, but pre-aged carbon contributed >50% at sites strongly affected by permafrost thaw. CO2 and CH4 were younger than dissolved and particulate organic carbon, suggesting emissions were primarily fuelled by contemporary carbon decomposition. Our findings reveal that inland water carbon emissions from permafrost landscapes may be more sensitive to changes in contemporary carbon turnover than the release of pre-aged carbon from thawing permafrost.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85082891947&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85082891947&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-020-15511-6
DO - 10.1038/s41467-020-15511-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 32242076
VL - 11
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
IS - 1
M1 - 1627
ER -