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Arctic warming is affecting snow cover and soil hydrology, with consequences for carbon sequestration in tundra ecosystems. The scarcity of observations in the Arctic has limited our understanding of the impact of covarying environmental drivers on the carbon balance of tundra ecosystems. In this study, we address some of these uncertainties through a novel record of 119 site-years of summer data from eddy covariance towers representing dominant tundra vegetation types located on continuous permafrost in the Arctic. Here we found that earlier snowmelt was associated with more tundra net CO2 sequestration and higher gross primary productivity (GPP) only in June and July, but with lower net carbon sequestration and lower GPP in August. Although higher evapotranspiration (ET) can result in soil drying with the progression of the summer, we did not find significantly lower soil moisture with earlier snowmelt, nor evidence that water stress affected GPP in the late growing season. Our results suggest that the expected increased CO2 sequestration arising from Arctic warming and the associated increase in growing season length may not materialize if tundra ecosystems are not able to continue sequestering CO2 later in the season.

Ecosystems at high latitudes are changing rapidly in response to climate change. To understand changes in carbon fluxes across seasonal to multi‐decadal timescales, long‐term in situ measurements from eddy covariance networks are needed. However, there are large spatiotemporal gaps in the high‐latitude eddy covariance network. Here we used the relative extrapolation error index in machine learning‐based upscaled gross primary production as a measure of network representativeness and as the basis for a network optimization. We show that the relative extrapolation error index has steadily decreased from 2001 to 2020, suggesting diminishing upscaling errors. In experiments where we limit site activity by either setting a maximum duration or by ending measurements at a fixed time those errors increase significantly, in some cases setting the network status back more than a decade. Our experiments also show that with equal site activity across different theoretical network setups, a more spread out design with shorter‐term measurements functions better in terms of larger‐scale representativeness than a network with fewer long‐term towers. We developed a method to select optimized site additions for a network extension, which blends an objective modeling approach with expert knowledge. This method greatly outperforms an unguided network extension and can compensate for suboptimal human choices. For the Canadian Arctic we show several optimization scenarios and find that especially the Canadian high Arctic and north east tundra benefit greatly from addition sites. Overall, it is important to keep sites active and where possible make the extra investment to survey new strategic locations. Plain Language Summary: The Arctic is one of earth's regions most severely affected by climate change as ice sheets melt and permafrost thaws. This permafrost is rich in carbon which will be released in time. How fast and in which form this carbon is released is highly uncertain. Release as methane would, for example, cause greater global warming in the near future than if it were released as carbon dioxide. It is therefore important to properly measure this carbon release so society can properly prepare for its effects. But as the Arctic is remote and has extreme conditions, there are not so many measuring stations and they might not cover all essential regions. We investigate how well this network represents the Arctic, and where there might be gaps both in space and time. We find that it is essential to keep currently active sites running since if we were to stop measurements our ability to predict this carbon release would not only stagnate but rapidly decline. We developed a method to identify regions that are underrepresented and by incorporating expert knowledge and a new optimization algorithm we can find ideal locations to expand the monitoring network, to better prepare for the future. Key Points: The network of high‐latitude eddy covariance sites has expanded over time, still, sites should remain active and new remote locations addedWhen sites are discontinued, upscaling model skill declines over time, and more quickly in large networksNetwork optimization methods as shown here are a valuable tool to ensure a representative network design [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long‐term atmospheric CO2 concentration records have suggested a reduction in the positive effect of warming on high‐latitude carbon uptake since the 1990s. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the reduced net carbon sink of northern ecosystems with increased air temperature, including water stress on vegetation and increased respiration over recent decades. However, the lack of consistent long‐term carbon flux and in situ soil moisture data has severely limited our ability to identify the mechanisms responsible for the recent reduced carbon sink strength. In this study, we used a record of nearly 100 site‐years of eddy covariance data from 11 continuous permafrost tundra sites distributed across the circumpolar Arctic to test the temperature (expressed as growing degree days, GDD) responses of gross primary production (GPP), net ecosystem exchange (NEE), and ecosystem respiration (ER) at different periods of the summer (early, peak, and late summer) including dominant tundra vegetation classes (graminoids and mosses, and shrubs). We further tested GPP, NEE, and ER relationships with soil moisture and vapor pressure deficit to identify potential moisture limitations on plant productivity and net carbon exchange. Our results show a decrease in GPP with rising GDD during the peak summer (July) for both vegetation classes, and a significant relationship between the peak summer GPP and soil moisture after statistically controlling for GDD in a partial correlation analysis. These results suggest that tundra ecosystems might not benefit from increased temperature as much as suggested by several terrestrial biosphere models, if decreased soil moisture limits the peak summer plant productivity, reducing the ability of these ecosystems to sequester carbon during the summer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large changes in the Arctic carbon balance are expected as warming linked to climate change threatens to destabilize ancient permafrost carbon stocks. The eddy covariance (EC) method is an established technique to quantify net losses and gains of carbon between the biosphere and atmosphere at high spatio-temporal resolution. Over the past decades, a growing network of terrestrial EC tower sites has been established across the Arctic, but a comprehensive assessment of the network's representativeness within the heterogeneous Arctic region is still lacking. This creates additional uncertainties when integrating flux data across sites, for example when upscaling fluxes to constrain pan-Arctic carbon budgets, and changes therein. This study provides an inventory of Arctic (here < = 60° N) EC sites, which has also been made available online (https://cosima.nceas.ucsb.edu/carbon-flux-sites/). Our database currently comprises 120 EC sites, but only 83 are listed as active, and just 25 of these active sites remain operational throughout the winter. To map the representativeness of this EC network, based on 18 bioclimatic and edaphic variables, we evaluated the similarity between environmental conditions observed at the tower locations and those within the larger Arctic study domain. With the majority of sites located in Fennoscandia and Alaska, these regions were assigned the highest level of network representativeness, while large parts of Siberia and patches of Canada were classified as under-represented. This division between regions is further emphasized for wintertime and methane flux data coverage. Across the Arctic, particularly mountainous regions were poorly represented by the current EC observation network. We tested three different strategies to identify new site locations, or upgrades of existing sites, that optimally enhance the representativeness of the current EC network. While 15 new sites can improve the representativeness of the pan-Arctic network by 20 percent, upgrading as few as 10 existing sites to capture methane fluxes, or remain active during wintertime, can improve their respective network coverage by 28 to 33 percent. This targeted network improvement could be shown to be clearly superior to an unguided selection of new sites, therefore leading to substantial improvements in network coverage based on relatively small investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sparse data coverage in the Arctic hampers our understanding of its carbon cycle dynamics and our predictions of the fate of its vast carbon reservoirs in a changing climate. In this paper, we present accurate measurements of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 dry air mole fractions at the new atmospheric carbon observation station Ambarchik, which closes a large gap in the atmospheric trace gas monitoring network in northeastern Siberia. The site, operational since August 2014, is located near the delta of the Kolyma River at the coast of the Arctic Ocean. Data quality control of CO2 and CH4 measurements includes frequent calibrations traced to WMO scales, employment of a novel water vapor correction, an algorithm to detect influence of local polluters, and meteorological measurements that enable data selection. The available CO2 and CH4 record was characterized in comparison with in situ data from Barrow, Alaska. A footprint analysis reveals that the station is sensitive to signals from the East Siberian Sea, as well as northeast Siberian tundra and taiga regions. This makes data from Ambarchik highly valuable for inverse modeling studies aimed at constraining carbon budgets within the pan-Arctic domain, as well as for regional studies focusing on Siberia and the adjacent shelf areas of the Arctic Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open science (OS) is of paramount importance for the improvement of science worldwide and across research fields. Recent years have witnessed a transition toward open and transparent scientific practices, but there is still a long way to go. Early career researchers (ECRs) are of crucial relevance in the process of steering toward the standardization of OS practices, as they will become the future decision makers of the institutional change that necessarily accompanies this transition. Thus, it is imperative to gain insight into where ECRs stand on OS practices. Under this premise, the Open Science group of the Max Planck PhDnet designed and conducted an online survey to assess the stance toward OS practices of doctoral candidates from the Max Planck Society. As one of the leading scientific institutions for basic research worldwide, the Max Planck Society provides a considerable population of researchers from multiple scientific fields, englobed into three sections: biomedical sciences, chemistry, physics and technology, and human and social sciences. From an approximate total population of 5,100 doctoral candidates affiliated with the Max Planck Society, the survey collected responses from 568 doctoral candidates. The survey assessed self-reported knowledge, attitudes, and implementation of different OS practices, namely, open access publications, open data, preregistrations, registered reports, and replication studies. ECRs seemed to hold a generally positive view toward these different practices and to be interested in learning more about them. Furthermore, we found that ECRs' knowledge and positive attitudes predicted the extent to which they implemented these OS practices, although levels of implementation were rather low in the past. We observed differences and similarities between scientific sections. We discuss these differences in terms of need and feasibility to apply these OS practices in specific scientific fields, but additionally in relation to the incentive systems that shape scientific communities. Lastly, we discuss the implications that these results can have for the training and career advancement of ECRs, and ultimately, for the consolidation of OS practices., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Toribio-Flórez, Anneser, deOliveira-Lopes, Pallandt, Tunn and Windel.)