Dissertation Research: Controls on Methane Flux from Arctic Tundra

San Diego State University Foundation, San Diego CA

Investigators

Abstract

High-latitude ecosystems are among the most sensitive to accelerating climate change, with some of the highest rates of temperature increase and altered hydrological patterns. The rich carbon reserves locked in northern soils are increasingly prone to being released into the atmosphere as methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that, as atmospheric concentrations increase, is liable to further increase the speed of warming. The two major environmental factors that affect the amount of methane being made and released from natural wetland ecosystems are (1) how wet the soil is, and (2) how warm the soil is, but little is known about how these factors interact during seasonal transition periods like late spring, when soils thaw and lose snow cover. This project uses a portable greenhouse gas analyzer to measure methane gas emissions from a northern Finnish mire during the 2013 spring transition period and summer growing season, using snow-melting and soil manipulation experiments to determine the influence of these variables on methane emission rates. Precisely because they are experiencing climate changes at faster rates than the rest of the planet, methane studies in high-latitude systems are critical to our understanding of future climate dynamics. This research will contribute not only to scientific knowledge of methane cycling in northern wetlands, but also to improving global climate models that inform international climate change policymaking. Moreover, this research recognizes that climate change is not merely a national issue, and facilitates trans-national comparisons with the authors? ongoing study of Alaskan wetlands. The field work will include the participation of a PolarTREC volunteer, an American middle school science teacher, which will provide multiple outreach avenues for informing young Americans about this research. Additional outreach and field-based teaching opportunities will be conducted, both in Finland and America.