Large difference in carbon emission - burial balances between boreal and arctic lakes
Lakes play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle by burying C in sediments and emitting CO2 and CH4 to the atmosphere. The strengths and control of these fundamentally different pathways are therefore of interest when assessing the continental C balance and its response to environmental c...
| Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | article |
| Status: | Published version |
| Publication Date: | 2015 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya) |
| Repository: | Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:recercat.cat:2445/208381 |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/208381 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Cicle del carboni (Biogeoquímica) Diòxid de carboni Diòxid de carboni atmosfèric Llacs Carbon cycle (Biogeochemistry) Carbon dioxide Atmospheric carbon dioxide Lakes |
| Summary: | Lakes play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle by burying C in sediments and emitting CO2 and CH4 to the atmosphere. The strengths and control of these fundamentally different pathways are therefore of interest when assessing the continental C balance and its response to environmental change. In this study, based on new high-resolution estimates in combination with literature data, we show that annual emission:burial ratios are generally ten times higher in boreal compared to subarctic – arctic lakes. These results suggest major differences in lake C cycling between biomes, as lakes in warmer boreal regions emit more and store relatively less C than lakes in colder arctic regions. Such effects are of major importance for understanding climatic feedbacks on the continental C sink – source function at high latitudes. If predictions of global warming and northward expansion of the boreal biome are correct, it is likely that increasing C emissions from high latitude lakes will partly counteract the presumed increasing terrestrial C sink capacity at high latitudes. |
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