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New technique for measuring greenhouse gas production from thawing permafrost
Published: 11 March 2020
A research team led by 91社区 geochemist Peter Douglas has used a new method for measuring the rate at which methane is produced by microbes breaking down thawing permafrost. The breakthrough could lead to an improvement in our ability to predict future releases of the potent greenhouse gas as long鈥慺rozen layers of soil begin to thaw.
鈥淭here is a lot of concern about methane being released from permafrost, but we don鈥檛 know how available carbon that has been frozen for thousands of years is to microbes,鈥� says Douglas, an assistant professor in 91社区鈥檚 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
In a study published online in Geophysical Research Letters on March 9, 2020, the researchers combined established radiocarbon dating techniques with 鈥榗lumped isotope鈥� measurements of methane collected from lakes in permafrost areas 鈥� the first time the latter method had been used in this way. The results revealed a link between the age of the organic matter in the permafrost and the rate of methane production, suggesting that methane is produced more slowly when older carbon is released from permafrost.
鈥淲e were not expecting to see such a strong relationship between methane carbon age and estimated rates of production,鈥� Douglas says. 鈥淥ther research has shown that old carbon released from permafrost can be respired quite quickly, and this result seems to be at odds with that.鈥�
The researchers, whose study examined lakes in Alaska and Sweden, note that further work is needed to determine whether the apparent link between carbon age and a slower rate of methane production holds true in other environments.
About the study
鈥溾�� by Peter M. J. Douglas et al. was published in Geophysical Research Letters.
DOI:
This research was partially supported by funds from the Trottier Institute for Science and Public Policy, Royal Dutch Shell, the Agouron Institute, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsr氓det).
Image: Thawing permafrost in a peatland on Cree Reserve Lands near Whapmagoostui-Kuujjuarapik, Quebec. Photo credit: Regina Gonzalez Moguel.