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Winter methane fluxes over boreal and Arctic environments
  • +3
  • Alex Mavrovic,
  • Oliver Sonnentag,
  • Juha Lemmetyinen,
  • Carolina Voigt,
  • Mika Aurela,
  • Alexandre Roy
Alex Mavrovic
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Oliver Sonnentag
Université de Montréal
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Juha Lemmetyinen
Finnish Meteorological Institute
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Carolina Voigt
University of Eastern Finland
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Mika Aurela
Finnish Meteorological Institute
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Alexandre Roy
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
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Abstract

Unprecedented warming of Arctic–boreal regions (ABR) has poorly understood consequences on carbon cycle processes. Uncertainties in annual methane (CH4) budgets partly arise because of limited data availability during winter. In this study, winter CH4 flux measurements were conducted using the snowpack diffusion gradient method over five ABR ecosystem types in Canada and Finland: closed–crown and open–crown coniferous boreal forest, boreal wetland and erect–shrub and prostrate–shrub tundra. Boreal forest uplands acted as net CH4 sinks, while the boreal wetland acted as net CH4 source during winter. We identified several wetland tundra CH4 emission hotspots and large spatial variability in boreal wetland CH4 emissions. In the boreal forest uplands, soil liquid water content was identified as an important environmental control of winter CH4 fluxes. Our results indicate non–negligible winter CH4 flux, which must be accounted for in annual carbon balance and terrestrial biosphere models over ABR.
09 Jan 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
16 Jan 2024Published in ESS Open Archive