TY - JOUR

T1 - Arctic soil methane sink increases with drier conditions and higher ecosystem respiration

AU - Voigt, Carolina

AU - Virkkala, Anna Maria

AU - Hould Gosselin, Gabriel

AU - Bennett, Kathryn A.

AU - Black, T. Andrew

AU - Detto, Matteo

AU - Chevrier-Dion, Charles

AU - Guggenberger, Georg

AU - Hashmi, Wasi

AU - Kohl, Lukas

AU - Kou, Dan

AU - Marquis, Charlotte

AU - Marsh, Philip

AU - Marushchak, Maija E.

AU - Nesic, Zoran

AU - Nykänen, Hannu

AU - Saarela, Taija

AU - Sauheitl, Leopold

AU - Walker, Branden

AU - Weiss, Niels

AU - Wilcox, Evan J.

AU - Sonnentag, Oliver

N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by the Academy of Finland project MUFFIN (grant no. 332196, awarded to C.V.) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation project Changing Arctic Network (CANet, grant no. 33661, awarded to P.M.). We wish to acknowledge further financial support through the Canada Research Chair (CRC-2018-00259, awarded to O.S. and 950-232786 awarded to P.M.) and NSERC Discovery Grants programme (DGPIN-2018-05743 awarded to O.S. and RGPIN-2022-05347 awarded to P.M.), ArcticNet, a Network of Centres of Excellence Canada (grant no. P216), the Canada First Research Excellence Fund’s Global Water Futures programme (Northern Water Futures), the Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center (ACCC, grant no. 337550), the Polar Continental Shelf Program (608-20 and 602-21), the BMBF project MOMENT (03F0931A) and Western AG through supply of PRS probes. The research licences for the Canadian sites (nos. 16790, 16732, 16501, 16316, 16433, 16781 and 17017) were administered by the Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik and by Metsähallitus (no. MH3780/2021) for the Finnish sites. A.-M.V. was supported by Gordon and Betty Moore foundation (grant no. 8414), M.D. by the Carbon Mitigation Initiative at Princeton University, D.K. by the Academy of Finland project N-PERM (grant no. 341348), M.E.M. by the Academy of Finland project PANDA (grant no. 317054), T.S. by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Maa- ja vesitekniikan tuki ry and INTERACT Transnational Access (grant no. 730938) and E.J.W. by the Weston Family Foundation and Ontario Graduate Scholarships. We wish to thank M. Peichl and P. Taillardat for valuable discussions, J. Voglimacci, D. Kariyawasam, B. Dakin and J. Seto, for practical help in the field, M. Pihlatie for instrument support, W. Quinton and the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation for site access to Scotty Creek.

PY - 2023/10

Y1 - 2023/10

N2 - Arctic wetlands are known methane (CH4) emitters but recent studies suggest that the Arctic CH4 sink strength may be underestimated. Here we explore the capacity of well-drained Arctic soils to consume atmospheric CH4 using >40,000 hourly flux observations and spatially distributed flux measurements from 4 sites and 14 surface types. While consumption of atmospheric CH4 occurred at all sites at rates of 0.092 ± 0.011 mgCH4 m−2 h−1 (mean ± s.e.), CH4 uptake displayed distinct diel and seasonal patterns reflecting ecosystem respiration. Combining in situ flux data with laboratory investigations and a machine learning approach, we find biotic drivers to be highly important. Soil moisture outweighed temperature as an abiotic control and higher CH4 uptake was linked to increased availability of labile carbon. Our findings imply that soil drying and enhanced nutrient supply will promote CH4 uptake by Arctic soils, providing a negative feedback to global climate change.

AB - Arctic wetlands are known methane (CH4) emitters but recent studies suggest that the Arctic CH4 sink strength may be underestimated. Here we explore the capacity of well-drained Arctic soils to consume atmospheric CH4 using >40,000 hourly flux observations and spatially distributed flux measurements from 4 sites and 14 surface types. While consumption of atmospheric CH4 occurred at all sites at rates of 0.092 ± 0.011 mgCH4 m−2 h−1 (mean ± s.e.), CH4 uptake displayed distinct diel and seasonal patterns reflecting ecosystem respiration. Combining in situ flux data with laboratory investigations and a machine learning approach, we find biotic drivers to be highly important. Soil moisture outweighed temperature as an abiotic control and higher CH4 uptake was linked to increased availability of labile carbon. Our findings imply that soil drying and enhanced nutrient supply will promote CH4 uptake by Arctic soils, providing a negative feedback to global climate change.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85169159427&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41558-023-01785-3

DO - 10.1038/s41558-023-01785-3

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85169159427

VL - 13

SP - 1095

EP - 1104

JO - Nature climate change

JF - Nature climate change

SN - 1758-678X

ER -