Resolving the Carbon‐Climate Feedback Potential of Wetland CO2 and CH4 Fluxes in Alaska

Abstract

AbstractBoreal‐Arctic regions are key stores of organic carbon (C) and play a major role in the greenhouse gas balance of high‐latitude ecosystems. The carbon‐climate (C‐climate) feedback potential of northern high‐latitude ecosystems remains poorly understood due to uncertainty in temperature and precipitation controls on carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake and the decomposition of soil C into CO2 and methane (CH4) fluxes. While CH4 fluxes account for a smaller component of the C balance, the climatic impact of CH4 outweighs CO2 (28–34 times larger global warming potential on a 100‐year scale), highlighting the need to jointly resolve the climatic sensitivities of both CO2 and CH4. Here, we jointly constrain a terrestrial biosphere model with in situ CO2 and CH4 flux observations at seven eddy covariance sites using a data‐model integration approach to resolve the integrated environmental controls on land‐atmosphere CO2 and CH4 exchanges in Alaska. Based on the combined CO2 and CH4 flux responses to climate variables, we find that 1970‐present climate trends will induce positive C‐climate feedback at all tundra sites, and negative C‐climate feedback at the boreal and shrub fen sites. The positive C‐climate feedback at the tundra sites is predominantly driven by increased CH4 emissions while the negative C‐climate feedback at the boreal site is predominantly driven by increased CO2 uptake (80% from decreased heterotrophic respiration, and 20% from increased photosynthesis). Our study demonstrates the need for joint observational constraints on CO2 and CH4 biogeochemical processes—and their associated climatic sensitivities—for resolving the sign and magnitude of high‐latitude ecosystem C‐climate feedback in the coming decades.