Mikhail Mastepanov

Large tundra methane burst during onset of freezing

Terrestrial wetland emissions are the largest single source of the greenhouse gas methane. Northern high-latitude wetlands contribute significantly to the overall methane emissions from wetlands, but the relative source distribution between tropical and high-latitude wetlands remains uncertain. As a result, not all the observed spatial and seasonal patterns of atmospheric methane concentrations can be satisfactorily explained, particularly for high northern latitudes. For example, a late-autumn shoulder is consistently observed in the seasonal cycles of atmospheric methane at high-latitude sites, but the sources responsible for these increased methane concentrations remain uncertain. Here we report a data set that extends hourly methane flux measurements from a high Arctic setting into the late autumn and early winter, during the onset of soil freezing. We find that emissions fall to a low steady level after the growing season but then increase significantly during the freeze-in period. The integral of emissions during the freeze-in period is approximately equal to the amount of methane emitted during the entire summer season. Three-dimensional atmospheric chemistry and transport model simulations of global atmospheric methane concentrations indicate that the observed early winter emission burst improves the agreement between the simulated seasonal cycle and atmospheric data from latitudes north of 60° N. Our findings suggest that permafrost-associated freeze-in bursts of methane emissions from tundra regions could be an important and so far unrecognized component of the seasonal distribution of methane emissions from high latitudes.

Ancient bacteria show evidence of DNA repair

Recent claims of cultivable ancient bacteria within sealed environments highlight our limited understanding of the mechanisms behind long-term cell survival. It remains unclear how dormancy, a favored explanation for extended cellular persistence, can cope with spontaneous genomic decay over geological timescales. There has been no direct evidence in ancient microbes for the most likely mechanism, active DNA repair, or for the metabolic activity necessary to sustain it. In this paper, we couple PCR and enzymatic treatment of DNA with direct respiration measurements to investigate long-term survival of bacteria sealed in frozen conditions for up to one million years. Our results show evidence of bacterial survival in samples up to half a million years in age, making this the oldest independently authenticated DNA to date obtained from viable cells. Additionally, we find strong evidence that this long-term survival is closely tied to cellular metabolic activity and DNA repair that over time proves to be superior to dormancy as a mechanism in sustaining bacteria viability.

Annual cycle of methane emission from a subarctic peatland

Although much attention in recent years has been devoted to methane (CH4) emissions from northern wetlands, measurement based data sets providing full annual budgets are still limited in number. Th ...

The uncertain climate footprint of wetlands under human pressure

Significance Wetlands are unique ecosystems because they are in general sinks for carbon dioxide and sources of methane. Their climate footprint therefore depends on the relative sign and magnitude of the land–atmosphere exchange of these two major greenhouse gases. This work presents a synthesis of simultaneous measurements of carbon dioxide and methane fluxes to assess the radiative forcing of natural wetlands converted to agricultural or forested land. The net climate impact of wetlands is strongly dependent on whether they are natural or managed. Here we show that the conversion of natural wetlands produces a significant increase of the atmospheric radiative forcing. The findings suggest that management plans for these complex ecosystems should carefully account for the potential biogeochemical effects on climate. Significant climate risks are associated with a positive carbon–temperature feedback in northern latitude carbon-rich ecosystems, making an accurate analysis of human impacts on the net greenhouse gas balance of wetlands a priority. Here, we provide a coherent assessment of the climate footprint of a network of wetland sites based on simultaneous and quasi-continuous ecosystem observations of CO2 and CH4 fluxes. Experimental areas are located both in natural and in managed wetlands and cover a wide range of climatic regions, ecosystem types, and management practices. Based on direct observations we predict that sustained CH4 emissions in natural ecosystems are in the long term (i.e., several centuries) typically offset by CO2 uptake, although with large spatiotemporal variability. Using a space-for-time analogy across ecological and climatic gradients, we represent the chronosequence from natural to managed conditions to quantify the “cost” of CH4 emissions for the benefit of net carbon sequestration. With a sustained pulse–response radiative forcing model, we found a significant increase in atmospheric forcing due to land management, in particular for wetland converted to cropland. Our results quantify the role of human activities on the climate footprint of northern wetlands and call for development of active mitigation strategies for managed wetlands and new guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) accounting for both sustained CH4 emissions and cumulative CO2 exchange.

Total hydrocarbon flux dynamics at a subarctic mire in northern Sweden

This is a study of the spatial and temporal variability of total hydrocarbon (THC) emissions from vegetation and soil at a subarctic mire, northern Sweden. THCs include methane (CH4) and nonmethane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), both of which are atmospherically important trace gases and constitute a significant proportion of the carbon exchange between biosphere and atmosphere. Reliable characterization of the magnitude and the dynamics of the THC fluxes from high latitude peatlands are important when considering to what extent trace gas emissions from such ecosystems may change and feed back on climate regulation as a result of warmer climate and melting permafrost. High frequency measurements of THC and carbon dioxide (CO2) were conducted during four sequential growing seasons in three localities representing the trophic range of plant communities at the mire. The magnitude of the THC flux followed the moisture gradient with increasing emissions from a dry Palsa site (2.2 +/- 0.1 mgC m(-2) d(-1)), to a wet intermediate melt feature with Sphagnum spp. (28 +/- 0.3 mgC m(-2) d(-1)) and highest emissions from a wet Eriophorum spp. site (122 +/- 1.4 mgC m(-2) d(-1)) (overall mean +/- 1 SE, n = 2254, 2231 and 2137). At the Palsa site, daytime THC flux was most strongly related to air temperature while daytime THC emissions at the Sphagnum site had a stronger relation to ground temperature. THC emissions at both the wet sites were correlated to net ecosystem exchange of CO2. An overall spatial correlation indicated that areas with highly productive vegetation communities also had high THC emission potential.

Quantification of C uptake in subarctic birch forest after setback by an extreme insect outbreak

The carbon dynamics of northern natural ecosystems contribute significantly to the global carbon balance. Periodic disturbances to these dynamics include insect herbivory. Larvae of autumn and winter moths (Epirrita autumnata and Operophtera brumata) defoliate mountain birch (Betula pubescens) forests in northern Scandinavia cyclically every 9-10 years and occasionally (50-150 years) extreme population densities can threaten ecosystem stability. Here we report impacts on C balance following a 2004 outbreak where a widespread area of Lake Tornetrask catchment was severely defoliated. We show that in the growing season of 2004 the forest was a much smaller net sink of C than in a reference year, most likely due to lower gross photosynthesis. Ecosystem respiration in 2004 was smaller and less sensitive to air temperature at nighttime relative to 2006. The difference in growing season uptake between an insect affected and non-affected year over the 316 km(2) area is in the order of 29 x 10(3) tonnes C equal to a reduction of the sink strength by 89%. Citation: Heliasz, M., T. Johansson, A. Lindroth, M. Molder, M. Mastepanov, T. Friborg, T. V. Callaghan, and T. R. Christensen (2011), Quantification of C uptake in subarctic birch forest after setback by an extreme insect outbreak, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L01704, doi:10.1029/2010GL044733. (Less)

Non-methane volatile organic compound flux from a subarctic mire in Northern Sweden

Biogenic NMVOCs are mainly formed by plants and microorganisms. They have strong impact on the local atmospheric chemistry when emitted to the atmosphere. The objective of this study was to determine if there are significant emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) from a subarctic mire in northern Sweden. Subarctic peatlands in discontinuous permafrost regions are undergoing substantial environmental changes due to their high sensitivity to climate warming and there is need for includingNMVOCs in the overall carbon budget. Automatic and manual chamber measurements were used to estimateNMVOCfluxes from three dominating subhabitats on the mire during three growing seasons. Emission rates varied and were related to plant species distribution and seasonal net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide. The highest fluxes were observed from wetter sites dominated by Eriophorum and Sphagnum spp. Total NMVOC emissions from the mire (∼17 ha) is estimated to consist of ∼150 kgC during a growing season with 150 d. NMVOC fluxes can account for ∼5% of total net carbon exchange (−3177 kgC) at the mire during the same period. NMVOC emissions are therefore a significant component in a local carbon budget for peatlands

High-resolution satellite data reveal an increase in peak growing season gross primary production in a high-Arctic wet tundra ecosystem 1992–2008

Arctic ecosystems play a key role in the terrestrial carbon cycle. Our aim was to combine satellite-based normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with field measurements of CO2 fluxes to investigate changes in gross primary production (GPP) for the peak growing seasons 1992-2008 in Rylekaerene, a wet tundra ecosystem in the Zackenberg valley, north-eastern Greenland. A method to incorporate controls on GPP through satellite data is the light use efficiency (LUE) model, here expressed as GPP = epsilon(peak) x PAR(in) x FAPAR(green_peak); where epsilon(peak) was peak growing season light use efficiency of the vegetation, PARin was incoming photosynthetically active radiation, and FAPAR(green_peak) was peak growing season fraction of PAR absorbed by the green vegetation. The Speak was measured for seven different high-Arctic plant communities in the field, and it was on average 1.63 g CO2 MJ(-1). We found a significant linear relationship between FAPARgreen_peak measured in the field and satellite-based NDVI. The linear regression was applied to peak growing season NDVI 1992-2008 and derived FAPAR(green_peak) was entered into the LUE-model. It was shown that when several empirical models are combined, propagation errors are introduced, which results in considerable model uncertainties. The LUE-model was evaluated against field-measured GPP and the model captured field-measured GPP well (RMSE was 192 mg CO2 m(-2) h(-1)). The model showed an increase in peak growing season GPP of 42 mg CO2 m(-2) h(-1) y(-1) in Rylekaerene 1992-2008. There was also a strong increase in air temperature (0.15 degrees C y(-1)), indicating that the GPP trend may have been climate driven

Modelling of growing season methane fluxes in a high-Arctic wet tundra ecosystem 1997-2010 using in situ and high-resolution satellite data

Methane (CH4) fluxes 1997–2010 were studied by combining remotely sensed normalised difference water index (NDWI) with in situ CH4 fluxes from Rylekærene, a high-Arctic wet tundra ecosystem in the Zackenberg valley, north-eastern Greenland. In situ CH4 fluxes were measured using the closed-chamber technique. Regression models between in situ CH4 fluxes and environmental variables [soil temperature (Tsoil), water table depth (WtD) and active layer (AL) thickness] were established for different temporal and spatial scales. The relationship between in situ WtD and remotely sensed NDWI was also studied. The regression models were combined and evaluated against in situ CH4 fluxes. The models including NDWI as the input data performed on average slightly better [root mean square error (RMSE) =1.56] than the models without NDWI (RMSE=1.67), and they were better in reproducing CH4 flux variability. The CH4 flux model that performed the best included exponential relationships against temporal variation in T soil and AL, an exponential relationship against spatial variation in WtD and a linear relationship between WtD and remotely sensed NDWI (RMSE=1.50). There were no trends in modelled CH4 flux budgets between 1997 and 2010. Hence, during this period there were no trends in the soil temperature at 10 cm depth and NDWI.

Methane emission bursts from permafrost environments during autumn freeze‐in: New insights from ground‐penetrating radar

Large amounts of methane (CH4) are known to be emitted from permafrost environments during the autumn freeze-in, but the specific soil conditions leading up to these bursts are unclear. Therefore, we used an ultrawide band ground-penetrating radar in Northeast Greenland in autumn 2009 to estimate the volumetric composition inside the soil through dielectric characterization from 200 to 3200 MHz. Our results suggest a compression of the gas reservoir during the phase transition of soil water, which is accompanied by a peak in surface CH4 emissions. About 1 week thereafter, there seems to be a decompression event, consistent with ground cracking which allows the gas reservoir to expand again. This coincides with the largest CH4 emission, exceeding the summer maximum by a factor of 4. We argue that these complementary measurement techniques are needed to come to an understanding of tundra CH4 bursts connected to soil freezing. (Less)