Permafrost and Carbon Dioxide Emission

A special issue of C (ISSN 2311-5629). This special issue belongs to the section "Carbon Cycle, Capture and Storage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 May 2023) | Viewed by 2842

Special Issue Editor

Geology Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1 Leninskie Gory, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Interests: soil; quaternary geology environment; biogeochemistry; glaciology; carbon dioxide emission

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is a clear sign of the extreme and accelerating effects of climate change in northern regions. Warming and thawing of permafrost promotes decomposition of this once frozen organic matter, threatening to turn the Arctic carbon sink into a net source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Rising global temperatures in Arctic are causing permafrost to thaw and release CO2 that has been stored within it for thousands of years. Abrupt thaw and thermokarst could emit a substantial amount of carbon to the atmosphere rapidly, mobilizing the deep legacy carbon sequestered in icy and enriched by organic material permafrost. The amount of carbon stored in permafrost is estimated to be approximately a few times greater than the combined amount of CO2 emitted by modern humans. An estimate is needed to calculate carbon dioxide output to the atmosphere. Carbon emissions from thawing permafrost and intensifying wildfire regimes present a major challenge to meet the aspirational goal of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 °C.

The research topics of this Special Issue include permafrost, carbon dioxide emission, emission, thermokarst, ice and etc.

Dr. Anatoli Brouchkov
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • permafrost
  • carbon dioxide
  • emission
  • thermokarst
  • ice

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 2289 KiB  
Article
Permafrost Effect on the Spatial Distribution of CO2 Emission in the North of Western Siberia (Russia)
by Olga Goncharova, Georgy Matyshak, Maria Timofeeva, Stanislav Chuvanov, Matvey Tarkhov and Anna Isaeva
C 2023, 9(2), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/c9020058 - 01 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1302
Abstract
The landscapes in the discontinuous permafrost area of Western Siberia are unique objects for assessing the direct and indirect impact of permafrost on greenhouse gas fluxes. The aim of this study was to identify the influence of permafrost on the CO2 emission [...] Read more.
The landscapes in the discontinuous permafrost area of Western Siberia are unique objects for assessing the direct and indirect impact of permafrost on greenhouse gas fluxes. The aim of this study was to identify the influence of permafrost on the CO2 emission at the landscape and local levels. The CO2 emission from the soil surface with the removed vegetation cover was measured by the closed chamber method, with simultaneous measurements of topsoil temperature and moisture and thawing depth in forest, palsa, and bog ecosystems in August 2022. The CO2 emissions from the soils of the forest ecosystems averaged 485 mg CO2 m−2 h−1 and was 3–3.5 times higher than those from the peat soils of the palsa mound and adjacent bog (on average, 150 mg CO2 m−2 h−1). The high CO2 emission in the forest was due to the mild soil temperature regime, high root biomass, and good water–air permeability of soils in the absence of permafrost. A considerable warming of bog soils, and the redistribution of CO2 between the elevated palsa and the bog depression with water flows above the permafrost table, equalized the values of CO2 emissions from the palsa and bog soils. Soil moisture was a significant factor of the spatial variability in the CO2 emission at all levels. The temperature affected the CO2 emission only at the sites with a shallow thawing depth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Permafrost and Carbon Dioxide Emission)
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21 pages, 2335 KiB  
Article
A New View on the Global Redox-Cycle of Biosphere Carbon
by A. A. Ivlev
C 2023, 9(2), 53; https://doi.org/10.3390/c9020053 - 23 May 2023
Viewed by 1189
Abstract
The global carbon cycle model is presented as a natural self-regulating machine that provides renewable biomass synthesis during evolution. The machine consists of two parts, geological and biosphere. Between the parts, there is an interaction. The geological part is controlled by the movement [...] Read more.
The global carbon cycle model is presented as a natural self-regulating machine that provides renewable biomass synthesis during evolution. The machine consists of two parts, geological and biosphere. Between the parts, there is an interaction. The geological part is controlled by the movement of lithosphere plates, which is under the guidance of gravitational forces from celestial bodies acting on the Earth. The movement of the lithosphere plates is divided into a phase of a relatively quick movement, occurring in the tectonically active state of the Earth’s crust, named the orogenic period, and a phase of a relatively slow movement, occurring in the phase of the tectonically quiet state of the crust, named geosynclinal period. In the orogenic period, the energy of moving plates’ collisions is sufficient to initiate sulfate reduction, proceeding in the subduction zone. This is the reaction where sedimentary organic matter is oxidized. Resultant CO2 is injected into “atmosphere—hydrosphere” system of the Earth. Its concentration achieves maximal values, whereas oxygen concentration drops to a minimum since it reacts with the reduced sulfur forms that evolve in the thermochemical sulfate reduction and due to binding with reduced forms of metals, coming to the Earth’s surface with volcanic exhalations. Carbon dioxide initiates photosynthesis and the associated biosphere events. In the geosynclinal period, the sulfate reduction ceases, and CO2 does not enter the system anymore, though photosynthesis in the biosphere proceeds in the regime of CO2 pool depletion. Under such conditions, the surface temperature on the Earth decreases, ending with glaciations. The successive depletion of the CO2 pool results in a regular sequence of climatic changes on the Earth. The ratio of CO2/O2 is the key environmental parameter in the orogenic cycle providing climatic changes. They consistently vary from hot and anaerobic in the orogenic period to glacial and aerobic by the end of the geosynclinal period. The climatic changes provide biotic turnover. Especially abrupt changes accompany the transition to a new orogenic cycle, resulting in mass extinction of organisms and the entry of huge masses of biogenic material into the sediment. This provided the conditions for the formation of rocks rich in organic matter (“black shales”). It is shown that the suggested model is supported by numerous geological and paleontological data evidencing the orogenic cycles’ existence and their relationship with the evolution of photosynthesis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Permafrost and Carbon Dioxide Emission)
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