Search

Methane emission from northern mires shows typically strong spatial and seasonal variations. These variations have been assigned to e.g. differences in methane production due to variation in substrate input, transport pathways, methane oxidation in aerobic peat layers, and temperature variations. Stable isotope signatures of the emitted methane and methane in pore water can help us to constrain our hypotheses of these variations.We have measured δ13C of methane emission in Mycklemossen mire in Sweden by automated chamber system for two years. We also have measured δ13C of methane in pore water in three depths in Siikaneva mire in Finland by an automated diffusion tube system for one seasonal cycle. At both sites ecosystem scale δ13C of emitted methane was measured using nocturnal boundary layer accumulation (NBLA) approach.We observed systematic spatial variation in δ13C of emitted methane at Mycklemossen site, which mostly indicated the importance of substrate availability in explaining the spatial variability. At Siikaneva we observe systematic differences in the depth distribution of δ13C of pore water methane. Interestingly, this distribution is different in summer and winter. The ecosystem scale δ13C of emitted methane derived by chambers and NBLA approach very close to each other. We will discuss the observations, their implications, and future integration of the data and new measurement.

An increased frequency of droughts due to anthropogenic climate change can lead to considerable stress for soil microorganisms and their functioning within northern peatlands. A better understanding of the diversity and abundance of methane producing and reducing taxa, and their functional genes, can help predict the functional potential of peatlands and how the microorganisms respond to disturbances such as drought. In order to address knowledge gaps in the understanding of how functional genetic diversity shifts under drought conditions, we investigated a hemi boreal mire in Southern Sweden. Environmental parameters, including soil and air temperature, precipitation and water table depth, as well as methane flux data were collected during the summer of 2017 under typical growing conditions, and in 2018 during a drought. In addition, the diversity and composition of genes encoding for methane metabolism were determined using the captured metagenomics technique. During drought we observed a substantial increase in air and soil temperature, reduced precipitation, and a lower water table depth. Taxonomic and functional gene composition significantly changed during the drought, while diversity indices, such as alpha and beta diversity, remained similar. These results indicate that methane producing and reducing microbial communities, and their functional genes, displayed a resilience to drought with specific genera having the ability to outcompete others under stress. Furthermore, our results show that although methane emissions are substantially reduced during drought, we can expect to see a shift towards more resilient methanogens and methanotrophs under future climate conditions.

In Arctic regions, thawing permafrost soils are projected to release 50 to 250 Gt of carbon by 2100. This data is mostly derived from carbon-rich wetlands, although 71% of this carbon pool is stored in faster-thawing mineral soils, where ecosystems close to the outer boundaries of permafrost regions are especially vulnerable. Although extensive data exists from currently thawing sites and short-term thawing experiments, investigations of the long-term changes following final thaw and co-occurring drainage are scarce. Here we show ecosystem changes at two comparable tussock tundra sites with distinct permafrost thaw histories, representing 15 and 25 years of natural drainage, that resulted in a 10-fold decrease in CH4 emissions (3.2 ± 2.2 vs. 0.3 ± 0.4 mg C-CH4 m−2 day−1), while CO2 emissions were comparable. These data extend the time perspective from earlier studies based on short-term experimental drainage. The overall microbial community structures did not differ significantly between sites, although the drier top soils at the most advanced site led to a loss of methanogens and their syntrophic partners in surface layers while the abundance of methanotrophs remained unchanged. The resulting deeper aeration zones likely increased CH4 oxidation due to the longer residence time of CH4 in the oxidation zone, while the observed loss of aerenchyma plants reduced CH4 diffusion from deeper soil layers directly to the atmosphere. Our findings highlight the importance of including hydrological, vegetation and microbial specific responses when studying long-term effects of climate change on CH4 emissions and underscores the need for data from different soil types and thaw histories.

The effect of anthropogenic climate change on peatland ecosystems is of major concern since they act as a significant global carbon sinks. One of the largest climatic threats to peatlands are droughts. Combined warming and reduced precipitation result in lower water table depths, which alters methane production, increases soil respiration, and consequently shifts peatlands to carbon sources. Droughts in peatlands facilitate aeration of previously anoxic layers allowing aerobic microbes to populate and consume previously unavailable carbon substrates. Despite clear environmental pressures, the responses from functional groups, such as methanogenic archaea, to short term droughts on community abundance, diversity and composition of functional genes is still poorly understood. To investigate this, we applied the molecular technique “captured metagenomics”, to identify the variability in functional diversity of microorganisms involved in the metabolism of methane during the 2018 summer drought. In addition, we measured methane fluxes, water table depths, and soil and air temperatures. We observed that the drought significantly reduced methane fluxes in plots dominated by R. alba and C. vulgaris, but the same was not observed in sites dominated by E. vaginatum. The proportion of methanogens to methanotrophs reduced by 12% in favour of methanotrophs during the drought. Interestingly, both methanogens and methanotrophs declined in relative abundance during the drought – expect for one genera, the type II methanotroph Methylocella, which increased in relative abundance. During the non-drought year, the highest β-diversity was observed in E. vaginatum plots, but during the drought the highest β-diversity changed to R. alba plots. Significant differences were observed between the abundance of captured genes when tested via PERMANOVA between the drought and non-drought year (p ≥ 0.01). However, the PERMANOVA revealed that only 15% of the variance in abundances can be explained by year. Interestingly, genes including cutL, hdr, coxS, mvhA, metF, fdhA, frmB, cutM and cooS were significantly more abundant during the drought when compared to the non-drought year. We conclude that only small shifts occurred in the structure and function of the microbial community, indicating that methanogens and methanotrophs hold a strong resilience to relatively short-term drought events.

The reasons for spatial and temporal variation of methane emission from mire ecosystems are not fully understood. Stable isotope signatures of the emitted methane can offer cues to the causes of these variations. We measured the methane emission and 13C-signature of emitted methane by automated chambers at a temperate mire for two growing seasons. In addition, we used ambient methane mixing ratios and δ13C-CH4 to calculate a mire-scale 13C signature using a nocturnal boundary-layer accumulation approach. Microbial methanogenic and methanotrophic communities were determined by a captured metagenomics analysis. The chamber measurements showed large and systematic spatial variations in δ13C-CH4 of up to 15 ‰ but smaller and less systematic temporal variation. The trophic status of methanogenesis was the dominant factor explaining the spatial variation. Genetic analysis indicated that methanogenic communities at all sample locations were able to utilize both hydrogenotrophic and acetoclastic pathways and could thus adapt to trophic status. The temporal variation of methane emission and δ13C-CH4 over the growing seasons showed hysteresis-like behavior, indicative of time-lagged responses to temperature and trophic status. The up-scaled chamber measurements and nocturnal boundary-layer accumulation measurements showed similar average δ13C-CH4 values of -81.3 ‰ and -79.3 ‰, respectively, lending confidence to the use of mire scale isotopic signatures to be used in e.g. atmospheric inversion modelling of methane sources. The results obtained can constrain our theories on the variability of methane emission from mire ecosystems and be useful in development of numerical models of mire biogeochemistry.

We measured CO2 and CH4 fluxes using chambers and eddy covariance (only CO2) from a moist moss tundra in Svalbard. The average net ecosystem exchange (NEE) during the summer (June–August) was −0.40 g C m−2 day−1 or −37 g C m−2 for the whole summer. Including spring and autumn periods the NEE was reduced to −6.8 g C m−2 and the annual NEE became positive, 24.7 gC m−2 due to the losses during the winter. The CH4 flux during the summer period showed a large spatial and temporal variability. The mean value of all 214 samples was 0.000511 ± 0.000315 µmol m−2s−1 which corresponds to a growing season estimate of 0.04 to 0.16 g CH4 m−2. We find that this moss tundra emits about 94–100 g CO2-equivalents m−2 yr−1 of which CH4 is responsible for 3.5–9.3 % using GWP100 of 27.9 respectively GWP20. Air temperature, soil moisture and greenness index contributed significantly to explain the variation in ecosystem respiration (Reco) while active layer depth, soil moisture and greenness index were the variables that best explained CH4 emissions. Estimate of temperature sensitivity of Reco and gross primary productivity showed that a modest increase in air temperature of 1 degree did not significantly change the NEE during the growing season but that the annual NEE would be even more positive adding another 8.5 g C m−2 to the atmosphere. We tentatively suggest that the warming of the Arctic that has already taken place is partly responsible for the fact that the moist moss tundra now is a source of CO2 to the atmosphere.

Nitrogen (N) fertilization can increase stem wood production by several hundred percent in boreal forests. At the same time, there are concerns about the environmental consequences of N fertilization, especially considering losses of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere. Soils are a large contributor to N2O emissions on a global scale. The aim of this study was to investigate the consequences of long-term nutrient optimization fertilization on N2O emissions in a boreal forest in Northern Sweden. Field N2O flux measurements were conducted during 2 years with manual and automatic chambers, as well as gas probes in the snow. The N2O emissions were generally low during the whole period of measurements, both from the control and fertilized plots. The emissions were generally highest during the winters, as well as the variability in the observed values. Overall, N2O emissions from fertilized plots were about twice the control, which could be explained by changes in the soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio.

In summer 2018, Northern Europe experienced an extreme summer drought in combination with unusually high temperatures, which had a substantial impact on agricultural yields as well as on forest growth conditions in various ways. An earlier study, using ICOS RI (Integrated Carbon Observation Research Infrastructure) stations and other forest ecosystem stations in the Nordic region, shows that the drought dramatically decreased NEP in the southern Scandinavian and Baltic region, almost nullifying the carbon sinks in some of the forests [1]. Such severe conditions during a single year could be expected to influence a forest over following several years. Reduced tree storage of carbohydrates leads to a changed carbon allocation pattern in spring that may affect both the woody growth and pests' resistance. It is thus important to reveal the impact of such climatic events over a more extended period. This study aims at assessing the carry-over effects of the extreme weather conditions on the carbon and water fluxes and the forest growth to the years after the event. The analysis is based on measurement from the stations shown to be significantly affected by the drought through reduced carbon fluxes in 2018: the spruce forests Hyltemossa and Skogaryd and the mixed forests Norunda, Svartberget, Soontaga and Rumperöd. The ecosystem carbon and water fluxes will, together with tree-ring width data, be used to assess the carbon and water exchange and growth recovery in the years after the extreme 2018 drought (2019 and 2020) by comparisons to earlier normal years and extreme events.[1] Lindroth, A., et al. (2020): Effects of drought and meteorological forcing on carbon and water fluxes in Nordic forests during the dry summer of 2018 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B37520190516 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0516

The net methane emission of any mire ecosystem results from a combination of biological and physical processes, including methane production by archaea, methane consumption by bacteria, and transport of methane from peat to the atmosphere. The complexity of spatial and temporal behavior of methane emission is connected to these.13C-signature of emitted methane offers us a further constraint to evaluate our hypothesis on the processes leading to the variation of methane emission rates. For example, assuming the spatial variation in methane emission rate at microtopographic scale is due to variation in trophic status or variation in methane consumption, will lead to differences in the relation of methane emission rate and its 13C-signature, expressed as δ13C.We have measured the methane emission rates and δ13C of emitted methane by six automated chambers at a poor fen ecosystem over two growing seasons. The measurements were conducted at Mycklemossen mire (58°21'N 12°10'E, 80m a.s.l.), Sweden, during 2019-2020. In addition, we measured atmospheric surface layer methane mixing ratios and δ13C to obtain larger scale 13C-signatures by the nocturnal boundary-layer accumulation (NBL) approach. All δ13C-signatures were derived using the Keeling-plot approach.The collected data shows spatial differences of up to 10-15 ‰ in 10-day averages of δ13C-signatures between different chamber locations. Temporal variations of 10-day average δ13C-signatures from most chamber locations reached over 5 ‰, while the temporal variation of NBL derived δ13C-signature was slightly lower.The observed spatial variation in the δ13C-signature was somewhat systematic, indicating, especially in the middle of the summers, the main control of spatial variation of methane emission to be the trophic status. The temporal changes, measured at different locations, indicate spatial differences in the temporal dynamics at the microtopographic scale. The temporal behavior of larger scale NBL δ13C-signature does not fully correspond to the behavior of the chamber derived average δ13C-signature.

Peatlands play an important role in the global carbon cycle as they contain a large soil carbon stock. However, current climate change could potentially shift peatlands from being carbon sinks to carbon sources. Remote sensing methods provide an opportunity to monitor carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange in peatland ecosystems at large scales under these changing conditions. In this study, we developed empirical models of the CO2 balance (net ecosystem exchange, NEE), gross primary production (GPP), and ecosystem respiration (ER) that could be used for upscaling CO2 fluxes with remotely sensed data. Two to three years of eddy covariance (EC) data from five peatlands in Sweden and Finland were compared to modelled NEE, GPP and ER based on vegetation indices from 10 m resolution Sentinel-2 MSI and land surface temperature from 1 km resolution MODIS data. To ensure a precise match between the EC data and the Sentinel-2 observations, a footprint model was applied to derive footprint-weighted daily means of the vegetation indices. Average model parameters for all sites were acquired with a leave-one-out-cross-validation procedure. Both the GPP and the ER models gave high agreement with the EC-derived fluxes (R2 = 0.70 and 0.56, NRMSE = 14% and 15%, respectively). The performance of the NEE model was weaker (average R2 = 0.36 and NRMSE = 13%). Our findings demonstrate that using optical and thermal satellite sensor data is a feasible method for upscaling the GPP and ER of northern boreal peatlands, although further studies are needed to investigate the sources of the unexplained spatial and temporal variation of the CO2 fluxes.

For aquatic scientists mesocosm experiments are important tools for hypothesis testing as they offer a compromise between experimental control and realism. Here we present a new mesocosm infrastructure-SITES AquaNET-located in five lakes connected to field stations in Sweden that cover a similar to 760 km latitudinal gradient. SITES AquaNet overcomes major hindrances in aquatic experimental research through: (i) openness to the scientific community, (ii) the potential to implement coordinated experiments across sites and time, and (iii) high-frequency measurements (temperature, photosynthetic photon flux density, turbidity and dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll a and phycocyanin concentrations) with an autonomous sensor system. Moreover, the infrastructure provides operational guidance and sensor expertise from technical staff, and connections to a multi-layered monitoring programme ("SITES Water") for each lake. This enables ecological observations from whole lake ecosystems to be compared with experimental studies aiming at disentangling major drivers and mechanisms underlying observed changes. Here we describe the technical properties of the infrastructure along with possibilities for experimental manipulations to tackle pressing issues in aquatic ecology and global change science. As a proof of concept, we also present a first mesocosm experiment across all five field sites with a cross-factorial design to evaluate responses of the sensor measurements to press/bottom-up (constant light reduction) and pulse/top-down (temporary fish predation) disturbances. This demonstrates the suitability of the infrastructure and autonomous sensor system to host modularized experiments and exemplifies the power and advantages of the approach to integrate a network of mecsocosm facilities with manageable costs across large geographic areas.

The 2015 Paris Agreement encourages stakeholders to implement sustainable forest management policies to mitigate anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). The net effects of forest management on the climate and the environment are, however, still not completely understood, partially as a result of a lack of long-term measurements of GHG fluxes in managed forests. During the period 2010&ndash, 2013, we simultaneously measured carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes using the flux-gradient technique at two clear-cut plots of different degrees of wetness, located in central Sweden. The measurements started approx. one year after clear-cutting, directly following soil scarification and planting. The study focused on robust inter-plot comparisons, spatial and temporal dynamics of GHG fluxes, and the determination of the global warming potential of a clear-cut boreal forest. The clear-cutting resulted in significant emissions of GHGs at both the wet and the dry plot. The degree of wetness determined, directly or indirectly, the relative contribution of each GHG to the total budgets. Faster establishment of vegetation on the wet plot reduced total emissions of CO2 as compared to the dry plot but this was partially offset by higher CH4 emissions. Waterlogging following clear-cutting likely caused both plots to switch from sinks to sources of CH4. In addition, there were periods with N2O uptake at the wet plot, although both plots were net sources of N2O on an annual basis. We observed clear diel patters in CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes during the growing season at both plots, with the exception of CH4 at the dry plot. The total three-year carbon budgets were 4107 gCO2-equivalent m&minus, 2 and 5274 gCO2-equivalent m&minus, 2 at the wet and the dry plots, respectively. CO2 contributed 91.8% to the total carbon budget at the wet plot and 98.2% at the dry plot. For the only full year with N2O measurements, the total GHG budgets were 1069.9 gCO2-eqvivalents m&minus, 2 and 1695.7 gCO2-eqvivalents m&minus, 2 at the wet and dry plot, respectively. At the wet plot, CH4 contributed 3.7%, while N2O contributed 7.3%. At the dry plot, CH4 and N2O contributed 1.5% and 7.6%, respectively. Our results emphasize the importance of considering the effects of the three GHGs on the climate for any forest management policy aiming at enhancing the mitigation potential of forests.

In a world of climate change we need to minimize and stop greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and instead accumulate carbon in ecosystems - we call this ‘negative emissions’. Drained peatlands are in many cases large sources of GHGs to the atmosphere but rewetting of a peatland can mitigate these emissions and possibly reach a net uptake. However, carbon accumulation in peatlands is a dynamic and complex balance between uptake and release, which is mainly driven by the groundwater table (WT) depth. Our new project funded by the Swedish Research Council FORMAS (2020-2022) aims to produce a handbook with guidance on how to change management of drained organic soil in order to convert them into low or negative emission peatlands. Researchers from Gothenburg, Stockholm, Lund and York Universities will collaborate with landowners, public authorities and NGO’s to assemble the most relevant knowledge.We will compare GHG fluxes from organic soils under different traditional and newly suggested land uses in the Swedish landscape, by collected field data, which will be the input for upscaling in time and space by using state-of-the-art process models (CoupModel and ForSAFE). For modelling purposes, extensive abiotic and GHG datasets will be available from the research station ‘Skogaryd’ in Västra Götaland, Sweden (https://gvc.gu.se/english/research/skogaryd), from a drained peat with spruce forest, before and after the clear-cut in 2019. This clear-cut area will now be partly rewetted by building a dam, and GHG flux measurements will be collected in response to different soil WT and vegetation types. Other available data are from a variety of drained and rewetted peat soils in neighboring countries. In addition, GHG measurements in Sweden on restored bogs are starting during summer 2020. Models will allow us to assess and examine the influence of 1) WT fluctuations, 2) soil fertility, and 3) management on both carbon storage and GHG fluxes for rewetted cases with moss vegetation, meadow or swamp forest.

Peatlands are a globally important store of approximately 500 Gt carbon (C), with northern blanket bogs accumulating ca. 23 g C m-2 y-1 from undecomposed organic material due to prevailing cool wet conditions. As a sink of carbon dioxide (CO2) they act as an important brake on anthropogenic climate change, but in the warming climate the likelihood of drought will increase. However, it is unknown how drought will affect the GHG balance of peatlands: dryer, warmer conditions will likely reduce net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 and increase soil respiration, potentially tipping these landscapes from sinks to sources of C. High water tables mean blanket bogs are major source of methane (CH4), an important greenhouse gas (GHG) with a global warming potential (GWP) 34 times that of CO2 over 100 years, but this may change in the future climate. It is further expected that the changing climate will alter blanket bog species composition, which may also influence the GHG balance, due to differences in plant traits such as those which form aerenchyma, e.g. Eriophorum vaginatum (eriophorum) and non-aerenchymatous species, e.g. Calluna vulgaris (heather). In order to understand how these important C stores will respond to climate change, it is vital to measure GHG responses to drought at the species level. We used an automated chamber system, SkyLine2D, to measure NEE and CH4 fluxes near-continuously from an ombrotrophic blanket peat bog. Five general ecotypes were identified: sphagnum (Sphagnum spp), eriophorum, heather, water and mixtures of species, with five replicates of each sampled. We followed the fluxes of CO2 throughout 2017- 2019 and CH4 throughout 2017- 2018, hypothesising that GHG fluxes would significantly differ between ecotypes. In 2018, the bog experienced drought conditions, allowing the comparison of NEE between drought and non-drought years, and the potential to recover the following year. Contemporaneous measurements of environmental variables were collected to infer details regarding the drivers of GHG fluxes.We found significant differences in CH4 emissions between ecotypes, F= 2.71, p< 0.02, ordered high to low: eriophorum > sphagnum > water > heather> mix, ranging from ca. 1.5 mg CH4-C m-2 d-1 to 0.5 mg CH4-C m-2 d-1. There were no significant differences in NEE between ecotypes, F= 0.54, p> 0.7, however, under 2018 drought conditions all ecotypes were net sources of CO2. We will also present NEE from 2019, when precipitation levels returned to typical conditions. Our results indicate that drought and shifts in vegetation composition under future climate may alter the C balance of hemi-boreal and potentially act as a positive feedback to climate change in a long-term scenario.

The majority of the world’s peatlands are located in northern regions where climate change is occurring most rapidly. Therefore, there is an urgent need to understand whether, and under what conditions, peatlands will remain carbon sinks or become carbon sources. The uncertainties in our predictions stem from a variety of sources, including uncertainty about the competing effects of rising air temperature on ecosystem respiration (Re) and gross primary production. Furthermore, peatlands contain a mixture of plant communities that respond differently to changes in temperature and precipitation. Such heterogeneity complicates attempts to upscale peatland carbon fluxes and predict the future peatland carbon balance. We focus on understanding the sensitivity of peatland Re to temperature and how it relates to vegetation community and the choice of temperature metric. We assess how these relationships changed during and after the severe heatwave and drought (‘hot drought’) in 2018. We conducted manual dark chamber CO2 efflux measurements in Mycklemossen, an oligotrophic mire in southern Sweden in 2018 and in 2019, when weather conditions were closer to the long-term mean. The measurements covered the two main vegetation communities at the site: hummocks (vascular-plant dominated) and hollows (Sphagnum-dominated). We statistically compared the fluxes for both years and vegetation communities, then modelled them using three temperature metrics (air, surface, soil). We found that Re decreased during the hot drought for both vegetation communities, with maximum fluxes of 0.18 and 0.34 mgCO2 m-2 s-1 in 2018 and 2019, respectively. However, the change in Re during the hot drought was dependent on vegetation community: hummock Re decreased substantially more than hollow Re (mean decrease: 48% and 15%, respectively). As a result, hollow Re was highest during drought whereas hummock Re was highest during non-drought conditions. Despite significant differences in Re between the vegetation communities, we found no significant differences in temperature between hummock and hollow vegetation, apart from in July and August 2018, at the peak of the hot drought. Nevertheless, hollow Re was more temperature-sensitive than hummock Re both during and after the hot drought. Furthermore, the temperature sensitivity of modelled Re depended on the choice of driving temperature, such that the surface temperature driven model produced the lowest whilst the soil temperature driven model produced the highest temperature sensitivity. Differences in temperature sensitivity of Re between the drought and non-drought conditions were similarly dependent on the temperature metric used to drive the Re model. We found that peatland Re almost halved during a hot drought. Our results show that predictions of peatland response to warming must account for the proportion of different vegetation communities present, and how this may change, due to their differing responses to warming. The choice of driving temperature in peatland Re models does not impact model accuracy but it does influence the temperature-sensitivity, and thus the impact of temperature variations on the modelled flux. Modellers should therefore base parameter choices on vegetation community and driving temperature. Furthermore, comparisons of Re sensitivity to warming between studies using different driving temperatures may be misleading.

In summer 2018, Northern Europe experienced an extreme summer drought in combination with unusually high temperatures, which had a substantial impact on agricultural yields as well as on forest growth conditions in various ways. An ongoing study, using ICOS and other forest ecosystem stations in the Nordic region, shows that the drought dramatically decreased NEP in the southern Scandinavian and Baltic region, almost nullifying the carbon sinks in some of the forests. However, some of the forests that not were exposed to the most extreme drought actually increased their NEP because of the high evaporative demand. Such severe conditions during a single year could be expected to influence a forest over several following years. Reduced tree storage of carbohydrates leads to a changed carbon allocation pattern in spring that may affect both the woody growth and the resistance to pests. It is thus important to reveal the impact of such climatic events over a longer period. This study aims at assessing the carry-over effects of the extreme weather conditions on the carbon fluxes and the forest growth to the year after the event, 2019. The base of the analysis will be eddy covariance data combined with tree ring time series from measurement stations that has been shown to be significantly affected by the drought through reduced carbon fluxes: the spruce forests Hyltemossa and Skogaryd and the mixed forests Norunda, Svartberget, Soontaga and Rumperöd. The eddy covariance and tree ring data will be used to assess the forest ecosystem carbon fluxes and growth recovery in 2019 by comparisons to earlier normal years and extreme events.

We present the Net Ecosystem Carbon Balance (NECB) of a Northern mire ecosystem for the period 2016-2019. The Mycklemossen peatland is located in the hemi-boreal region in the Southwestern part of Sweden and is classified as a fen with bog-like vegetation. The NECB was determined from eddy covariance (EC) measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) and continuous water discharge measurements with biweekly measurements of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and dissolved CH4. We focus on the carbon dynamics of the Mycklemossen ecosystem during summer droughts and on its recovery during normal years. During 2016-2018, the annual precipitation was lower than the 30-year average while 2019 was a normal year in terms of weather conditions. 2018 sticks out as an extreme year with a severe drought and unusually high air temperature at Mycklemossen, as was the case in much of Northern and Central Europe.The EC results indicate that Mycklemossen lost carbon during 2016-2018. While CH4 emissions decreased, the mire became a strong source of CO2 these years, especially 2018. There were also large losses of DOC during this period, which were further enhanced during 2019.

Large CO2 evasion to the atmosphere occurs as dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) is transported from soils to streams. While this physical process has been the focus of multiple studies, less is know ...

Accurate estimates of cumulative N 2 O fluxes from agricultural soil are essential for quantifying global N 2 O emissions and for identifying effective mitigation strategies. This study focuses on the short term temporal variability of N 2 O fluxes, and on how the accuracy of annual cumulative estimates is affected by different (simulated) measuring frequencies of an automatic system based on the closed chamber method. Fluxes were measured with high temporal resolution (24 per day) for approximately one year on agricultural soil in the southwest of Sweden. The short-term temporal variability of N 2 O fluxes was considerable: the predictive power of measured fluxes decreased to negligible levels in a time frame of 4-5 h, and large intraday flux ranges were observed frequently, particularly in days with soil temperatures below 0 ∘ C. A time of day well suited for consistently providing good estimates of the mean daily flux could not be identified. Consequently, the accuracy of annual emission estimates strongly depended on the measuring frequency. Multiple measurements per day were necessary for consistently quantifying annual emission estimates with accuracy. Accuracy improved with measuring frequency increasing up to four times per day, and higher frequencies generated negligible further improvements. Based on this study the following recommendations are made with regard to measuring frequency: i) measure four times per day for maximum accuracy and ii) measure twice per day for a good compromise between accuracy and the number of plots that can be monitored.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from drained organic (Histosol) and mineral (Umbrisol) soils having a 60 year old Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) forest in a catchment in southwest Sweden were measured using static closed chambers every other week over 3 years (August 2010 – July 2013). High emissions were observed during the summer months for both sites, which were significantly higher for the drained organic soils compared to the mineral soils: average emissions of 49.0 ± 3.3 and 8.0 ± 3.3 μg N2O·m−2·h−1, respectively. As the experiment was designed to have similar forest and weather conditions for both sites, these were omitted as explanatory factors for the emission difference. Initially, the soil organic matter concentration (percent by mass) difference was thought to be the cause. However, the results found that the soil organic matter amount per square metre of top soil was similar at both sites, suggesting other possible explanations. We propose that the most plausible explanation is that higher tree growth and mycorrhizal nitrogen demand reduce nitrogen availability contributing to the lower N2O emissions from the mineral soil site.

Globally, lakes are frequently supersaturated with carbon dioxide (CO2) and are major emitters of carbon to the atmosphere. Recent studies have generated awareness of the high variability in pCO2aq (the partial pressure corresponding to the concentration in water) and CO2 fluxes to the atmosphere and the need for better accounting for this variability. However, studies simultaneously accounting for both spatial and temporal variability of pCO2aq and CO2 fluxes in lakes are rare. We measured pCO2aq (by both manual sampling and mini loggers) and CO2 fluxes, covering spatial variability in open water areas of three lakes of different character in a Swedish catchment for two years. Spatial pCO2aq variability within lakes was linked to distance from shore, proximity to stream inlets, and deep water upwelling events. Temporally, pCO2aq variability was linked with variability in DOC, total nitrogen and dissolved oxygen. While previous studies over short time periods (1 to 6 hours) observed gas transfer velocity (k) to be more variable than pCO2aq, our work shows that over longer time (days to weeks) pCO2aq variability was greater and affected CO2 fluxes much more than k. We demonstrate that ≥ 8 measurement days distributed over multiple seasons in combination with sufficient spatial coverage (≥8 locations during stratification periods and 5 or less in spring and autumn) are a key for representative yearly whole lake flux estimates. This study illustrates the importance of considering spatio-temporal variability in pCO2aq and CO2 fluxes to generate representative whole lake estimates.

Miniaturized thermal infrared (TIR) cameras that measure surface temperature are increasingly available for use with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). However, deriving accurate temperature data from these cameras is non-trivialsince they are highly sensitive to changes in their internal temperature and low-cost models are often not radiometrically calibrated. We present the results of laboratory and field experiments that tested the extent of the temperature-dependency of a non-radiometric FLIR Vue Pro 640. We found that a simple empirical line calibration using at least three ground calibration points was sufficient to convert camera digital numbers to temperature values for images captured during UAV flight. Although the camera performed well under stable laboratory conditions (accuracy ±0.5 °C), the accuracy declined to ±5 °C under the changing ambient conditions experienced during UAV flight. The poor performance resulted from the non-linear relationship between camera output and sensor temperature, which was affected by wind and temperature-drift during flight. The camera’s automated non-uniformity correction (NUC) could not sufficiently correct for these effects. Prominent vignetting was also visible in images captured under both stable and changing ambient conditions. The inconsistencies in camera output over time and across the sensor will affect camera applications based on relative temperature differences as well as user-generated radiometric calibration. Based on our findings, we present a set of best practices for UAV TIR camera sampling to minimize the impacts of the temperature dependency of these systems.

The depolymerization of soil organic matter, such as proteins and (oligo-)peptides, into monomers (e.g. amino acids) is currently considered to be the rate-limiting step for nitrogen (N) availability in terrestrial ecosystems. The mineralization of free amino acids (FAAs), liberated by the depolymerization of peptides, is an important fraction of the total mineralization of organic N. Hence, the accurate assessment of peptide depolymerization and FAA mineralization rates is important in order to gain a better process-based understanding of the soil N cycle. In this paper, we present an extended numerical 15N tracing model Ntrace, which incorporates the FAA pool and related N processes in order to provide a more robust and simultaneous quantification of depolymerization and gross mineralization rates of FAAs and soil organic N. We discuss analytical and numerical approaches for two forest soils, suggest improvements of the experimental work for future studies, and conclude that (i) when about half of all depolymerized peptide N is directly mineralized, FAA mineralization can be as important a rate-limiting step for total gross N mineralization as peptide depolymerization rate; (ii) gross FAA mineralization and FAA immobilization rates can be used to develop FAA use efficiency (NUEFAA), which can reveal microbial N or carbon (C) limitation.

The CoupModel was used to simulate a Norway spruce forest on fertile drained peat over 60 years, from planting in 1951 until 2011, describing abiotic, biotic and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (CO2 and N2O). By calibrating the model against tree ring data a “vegetation fitted” model was obtained by which we were able to describe the fluxes and controlling factors over the 60 years. We discuss some conceptual issues relevant to improving the model in order to better understand peat soil simulations. However, the present model was able to describe the most important ecosystem dynamics such as the plant biomass development and GHG emissions. The GHG fluxes are composed of two important quantities, the spruce forest carbon (C) uptake, 413 g C m−2 yr−1 and the decomposition of peat soil, 399 g C m−2 yr−1. N2O emissions contribute to the GHG emissions by up to 0.7 g N m−2 yr−1, corresponding to 76 g C m−2 yr−1. The 60-year old spruce forest has an accumulated biomass of 16.0 kg C m−2 (corresponding to 60 kg CO2 m−2). However, over this period, 26.4 kg C m−2 (97 kg CO2eq m−2) has been added to the atmosphere, as both CO2 and N2O originating from the peat soil and, indirectly, from forest thinning products, which we assume have a short lifetime. We conclude that after harvest at an age of 80 years, most of the stored biomass carbon is liable to be released, the system having captured C only temporarily and with a cost of disappeared peat, adding CO2 to the atmosphere.

High Nitrous Oxide (N2O) emissions have been identified in hemiboreal forests in association with draining organic soils. However, the specific controlling factors that regulate the emissions remain unclear. To examine the importance of different factors affecting N2O emissions in a spruce forest on drained organic soil, a process-based model, CoupModel, was calibrated using the generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) method. The calibration also aims to estimate parameter density distributions, the covariance matrix of estimated parameters and the correlation between parameters and variables information, useful when applying the model on other peat soil sites and for further model improvements. The calibrated model reproduced most of the high resolution data (total net radiation, soil temperature, groundwater level, net ecosystem exchange, etc.) very well, as well as cumulative measured N2O emissions (simulated 8.7±1.1kgN2Oha−1year−1 (n=97); measured 8.7±2.7kgN2Oha−1year−1 (n=6)), but did not capture every measured peak. Parameter uncertainties were reduced after calibration, in which 16 out of 20 parameters changed from uniform distributions into normal distributions or log normal distributions. Four parameters describing bypass water flow, oxygen diffusion and soil freezing changed significantly after calibration. Inter-connections and correlations between many calibrated parameters and variables reflect the complex and interrelated nature of pedosphere, biosphere and atmosphere interactions. This also highlights the need to calibrate a number of parameters simultaneously. Model sensitivity analysis indicated that N2O emissions during growing seasons are controlled by competition between plants and microbes for nitrogen, while during the winter season snow melt periods are important. Our results also indicate that N2O is mainly produced in the capillary fringe close to the groundwater table by denitrification in the anaerobic zone. We conclude that, in afforested drained peatlands, the plants and groundwater level have important influences on soil N availability, ultimately controlling N2O emissions.

Research infrastructures play a key role in launching a new generation of integrated long-term, geographically distributed observation programmes designed to monitor climate change, better understand its impacts on global ecosystems, and evaluate possible mitigation and adaptation strategies. The pan-European Integrated Carbon Observation System combines carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG; CO2, CH4, N2O, H2O) observations within the atmosphere, terrestrial ecosystems and oceans. High-precision measurements are obtained using standardised methodologies, are centrally processed and openly available in a traceable and verifiable fashion in combination with detailed metadata. The Integrated Carbon Observation System ecosystem station network aims to sample climate and land-cover variability across Europe. In addition to GHG flux measurements, a large set of complementary data (including management practices, vegetation and soil characteristics) is collected to support the interpretation, spatial upscaling and modelling of observed ecosystem carbon and GHG dynamics. The applied sampling design was developed and formulated in protocols by the scientific community, representing a trade-off between an ideal dataset and practical feasibility. The use of open-access, high-quality and multi-level data products by different user communities is crucial for the Integrated Carbon Observation System in order to achieve its scientific potential and societal value.

Chamber measurements of trace gas fluxes between the land surface and the atmosphere have been conducted for almost a century. Different chamber techniques, including static and dynamic, have been used with varying degrees of success in estimating greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O) fluxes. However, all of these have certain disadvantages which have either prevented them from providing an adequate estimate of greenhouse gas exchange or restricted them to be used under limited conditions. Generally, chamber methods are relatively low in cost and simple to operate. In combination with the appropriate sample allocations, chamber methods are adaptable for a wide variety of studies from local to global spatial scales, and they are particularly well suited for in situ and laboratory-based studies. Consequently, chamber measurements will play an important role in the portfolio of the Pan-European long-term research infrastructure Integrated Carbon Observation System. The respective working group of the Integrated Carbon Observation System Ecosystem Monitoring Station Assembly has decided to ascertain standards and quality checks for automated and manual chamber systems instead of defining one or several standard systems provided by commercial manufacturers in order to define minimum requirements for chamber measurements. The defined requirements and recommendations related to chamber measurements are described here.

Monthly averages of ecosystem respiration (ER), gross primary production (GPP) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) over Scandinavian forest sites were estimated using regression models driven by air temperature (AT), absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR) and vegetation indices. The models were constructed and evaluated using satellite data from Terra/MODIS and measured data collected at seven flux tower sites in northern Europe. Data used for model construction was excluded from the evaluation. Relationships between ground measured variables and the independent variables were investigated. It was found that the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) at 250 m resolution was highly noisy for the coniferous sites, and hence, 1 km EVI was used for the analysis. Linear relationships between EVI and the biophysical variables were found: correlation coefficients between EVI and GPP, NEE, and AT ranged from 0.90 to 0.79 for the deciduous data, and from 0.85 to 0.67 for the coniferous data. Due to saturation, there were no linear relationships between normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the ground measured parameters found at any site. APAR correlated better with the parameters in question than the vegetation indices. Modeled GPP and ER were in good agreement with measured values, with more than 90% of the variation in measured GPP and ER being explained by the coniferous models. The site-specific respiration rate at 10°C (R10) was needed for describing the ER variation between sites. Even though monthly NEE was modeled with less accuracy than GPP, 61% and 75% (dec. and con., respectively) of the variation in the measured time series was explained by the model. These results are important for moving towards operational remote sensing of forest carbon balance across Northern Europe.

The Integrated Carbon Observation System is a pan-European research infrastructure providing standardized, long-term observations of greenhouse gas concentrations and earth-atmosphere greenhouse gas interactions. The terrestrial component of Integrated Carbon Observation System comprises a network of monitoring stations in terrestrial ecosystems where the principal activity is the measurement of ecosystem-atmosphere fluxes of greenhouse gases and energy by means of the eddy covariance technique. At each station a large set of ancillary variables needed for the interpretation of observed fluxes and for process studies is additionally monitored. This set includes a subset of variables that describe the thermal and moisture conditions of the soil and which are here conveniently referred to as soil-meteorological variables: soil temperature, volumetric soil water content, water table depth, and soil heat flux density. This paper describes the standard methodology that has been developped for the monitoring of these variables at the ecosystem stations.

Commercially available fast-response analysers for methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) have recently become more sensitive, more robust and easier to operate. This has made their application for long-term flux measurements with the eddy-covariance method more feasible. Unlike for carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapour (H2O), there have so far been no guidelines on how to optimise and standardise the measurements. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of the various steps of the measurements and discusses aspects such as instrument selection, setup and maintenance, data processing as well as the additional measurements needed to aid interpretation and gap-filling. It presents the methodological protocol for eddy covariance measurements of CH4 and N2O fluxes as agreed for the ecosystem station network of the pan-European Research Infrastructure Integrated Carbon Observation System and provides a first international standard that is suggested to be adopted more widely. Fluxes can be episodic and the processes controlling the fluxes are complex, preventing simple mechanistic gap-filling strategies. Fluxes are often near or below the detection limit, requiring additional care during data processing. The protocol sets out the best practice for these conditions to avoid biasing the results and long-term budgets. It summarises the current approach to gap-filling.

Fluxes of methane, CH4, were measured with the eddy covariance (EC) method at a small boreal lake in Sweden. The mean CH4 flux during the growing season of 2013 was 20.1 nmol m−2 s−1 and the median flux was 16 nmol m−2 s−1 (corresponding to 1.7 mmol m−2 d−1 and 1.4 mmol m−2 d−1). Monthly mean values of CH4 flux measured with the EC method were compared with fluxes measured with floating chambers (FC) and were in average 62% higher over the whole study period. The difference was greatest in April partly because EC, but not FC, accounted for fluxes due to ice melt and a subsequent lake mixing event. A footprint analysis revealed that the EC footprint included primarily the shallow side of the lake with a major inlet. This inlet harbors emergent macrophytes that can mediate high CH4 fluxes. The difference between measured EC and FC fluxes can hence be explained by different footprint areas, where the EC system “sees” the part of the lake presumably releasing higher amounts of CH4. EC also provides more frequent measurements than FC and hence more likely captures ebullition events. This study shows that small lakes have CH4 fluxes that are highly variable in time and space. Based on our findings we suggest to measure CH4 fluxes from lakes as continuously as possible and to aim for covering as much of the lakes surface as possible, independently of the selected measuring technique. (Less)

The rhizosphere is a hot-spot for biogeochemical cycles, including production of greenhouse gases, as microbial activity is stimulated by rhizodeposits released by roots and mycorrhizae. The biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen (N) in soil is complex, consisting of many simultaneously occurring processes. In situ studies investigating the effects of roots and mycorrhizae on gross N turnover rates are scarce. We conducted a 15N tracer study under field conditions in a spruce forest on organic soil, which was subjected to exclusion of roots and roots plus ectomycorrhizae (ECM) for 6 years by trenching. The forest soil had, over the 6-year period, an average emission of nitrous oxide (N2O) of 5.9 ± 2.1 kg N2O ha−1 year−1. Exclusion of roots + ECM nearly tripled N2O emissions over all years, whereas root exclusion stimulated N2O emission only in the latest years and to a smaller extent. Gross mineralization–ammonium (NH4 +) immobilization turnover was enhanced by the presence of roots, probably due to high inputs of labile carbon, stimulating microbial activity. We found contrasting effects of roots and ECM on N2O emission and mineralization, as the former was decreased but the latter was stimulated by roots and ECM. The N2O emission was positively related to the ratio of gross NH4 + oxidation (that is, autotrophic nitrification) to NH4 + immobilization. Ammonium oxidation was only stimulated by the presence of ECM, but not by the presence of roots. Overall, we conclude that plants and their mycorrhizal symbionts actively control soil N cycling, thereby also affecting N2O emissions from forest soils. Consequently, adapted forest management with permanent tree cover avoiding clearcutting could be a means to reduce N2O emissions and potential N leaching; despite higher mineralization in the presence of roots and ECM, N2O emissions are decreased as the relative importance of NH4 + oxidation is decreased, mainly due to a stimulated microbial NH4 + immobilization in the mycorrhizosphere.

Lakes are major sources of methane (CH4) to the atmosphere that contribute significantly to the global budget. Recent studies have shown that diffusive fluxes, ebullition and surface water CH4 conc ...