Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 6074 |
| Journal | Nature Communications |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 14 Oct 2022 |
Abstract
Nitrogen regulates multiple aspects of the permafrost climate feedback, including plant growth, organic matter decomposition, and the production of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Despite its importance, current estimates of permafrost nitrogen are highly uncertain. Here, we compiled a dataset of >2000 samples to quantify nitrogen stocks in the Yedoma domain, a region with organic-rich permafrost that contains ~25% of all permafrost carbon. We estimate that the Yedoma domain contains 41.2 gigatons of nitrogen down to ~20 metre for the deepest unit, which increases the previous estimate for the entire permafrost zone by ~46%. Approximately 90% of this nitrogen (37 gigatons) is stored in permafrost and therefore currently immobile and frozen. Here, we show that of this amount, ¾ is stored >3 metre depth, but if partially mobilised by thaw, this large nitrogen pool could have continental-scale consequences for soil and aquatic biogeochemistry and global-scale consequences for the permafrost feedback.
Keywords
- Carbon/analysis, Greenhouse Gases, Nitrogen/analysis, Nitrous Oxide, Permafrost/chemistry, Soil/chemistry
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Nature Communications, Vol. 13, No. 1, 6074, 14.10.2022.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - A globally relevant stock of soil nitrogen in the Yedoma permafrost domain
AU - Strauss, Jens
AU - Biasi, Christina
AU - Sanders, Tina
AU - Abbott, Benjamin W
AU - von Deimling, Thomas Schneider
AU - Voigt, Carolina
AU - Winkel, Matthias
AU - Marushchak, Maija E
AU - Kou, Dan
AU - Fuchs, Matthias
AU - Horn, Marcus A
AU - Jongejans, Loeka L
AU - Liebner, Susanne
AU - Nitzbon, Jan
AU - Schirrmeister, Lutz
AU - Walter Anthony, Katey
AU - Yang, Yuanhe
AU - Zubrzycki, Sebastian
AU - Laboor, Sebastian
AU - Treat, Claire
AU - Grosse, Guido
N1 - Funding information: This study was a result of “The Yedoma Region” Action Group funded by the International Permafrost Association and is embedded into the Permafrost Carbon Network (PCN). We acknowledge the support by the European Research Council PETA-CARB (#338335), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; CACOON (#03F0806A), EISPAC (#03F0809A), PermaRisk (#01LN1709A), Laptev Sea System 2000, Permafrost Dynamics in the Laptev Sea, CarboPerm (#03G0836A), and KoPf (#03F0764), the German Research Foundation (HE 3622/16-1, DI 2544/1-1, WE 4390/7-1, UL426/1-1, KI 849/4-1, HO4020/3-1, HO4020/5-2), and the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association (#ERC-0013). The work of C.B., C.V., M.E.M. and D.K. was supported by the Academy of Finland/Russian Foundation for Basic Research project NOCA (decision no. 314630), the Yedoma-N project (General Research Grant from the Academy of Finland, decision number 287469) and the N-PERM project (General Research Grant from the Academy of Finland, decision number 341348). C.V. was further supported by the Academy of Finland project MUFFIN (decision no. 332196), and MEM by the Academy of Finland project PANDA (decision no. 317054). B.W.A. was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (award no. 1916565).
PY - 2022/10/14
Y1 - 2022/10/14
N2 - Nitrogen regulates multiple aspects of the permafrost climate feedback, including plant growth, organic matter decomposition, and the production of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Despite its importance, current estimates of permafrost nitrogen are highly uncertain. Here, we compiled a dataset of >2000 samples to quantify nitrogen stocks in the Yedoma domain, a region with organic-rich permafrost that contains ~25% of all permafrost carbon. We estimate that the Yedoma domain contains 41.2 gigatons of nitrogen down to ~20 metre for the deepest unit, which increases the previous estimate for the entire permafrost zone by ~46%. Approximately 90% of this nitrogen (37 gigatons) is stored in permafrost and therefore currently immobile and frozen. Here, we show that of this amount, ¾ is stored >3 metre depth, but if partially mobilised by thaw, this large nitrogen pool could have continental-scale consequences for soil and aquatic biogeochemistry and global-scale consequences for the permafrost feedback.
AB - Nitrogen regulates multiple aspects of the permafrost climate feedback, including plant growth, organic matter decomposition, and the production of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Despite its importance, current estimates of permafrost nitrogen are highly uncertain. Here, we compiled a dataset of >2000 samples to quantify nitrogen stocks in the Yedoma domain, a region with organic-rich permafrost that contains ~25% of all permafrost carbon. We estimate that the Yedoma domain contains 41.2 gigatons of nitrogen down to ~20 metre for the deepest unit, which increases the previous estimate for the entire permafrost zone by ~46%. Approximately 90% of this nitrogen (37 gigatons) is stored in permafrost and therefore currently immobile and frozen. Here, we show that of this amount, ¾ is stored >3 metre depth, but if partially mobilised by thaw, this large nitrogen pool could have continental-scale consequences for soil and aquatic biogeochemistry and global-scale consequences for the permafrost feedback.
KW - Carbon/analysis
KW - Greenhouse Gases
KW - Nitrogen/analysis
KW - Nitrous Oxide
KW - Permafrost/chemistry
KW - Soil/chemistry
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139887686&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-022-33794-9
DO - 10.1038/s41467-022-33794-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 36241637
VL - 13
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
IS - 1
M1 - 6074
ER -