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71 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Minnesota peat viromes reveal terrestrial and aquatic niche partitioning for local and global viral populations

Abstract Background Peatlands are expected to experience sustained yet fluctuating higher temperatures due to climate change, leading to increased microbial activity and greenhouse gas emissions. Despite mounting evidence for viral contributions to these processes in peatlands underlain with permafrost, little is known about viruses in other peatlands. More generally, soil viral biogeography and its potential drivers are poorly understood at both local and global scales. Here, 87 metagenomes and five viral size-fraction metagenomes (viromes) from a boreal peatland in northern Minnesota (the SPRUCE whole-ecosystem warming experiment and surrounding bog) were analyzed for dsDNA viral community ecological patterns, and the recovered viral populations (vOTUs) were compared with our curated PIGEON database of 266,125 vOTUs from diverse ecosystems. Results Within the SPRUCE experiment, viral community composition was significantly correlated with peat depth, water content, and carbon chemistry, including CH 4 and CO 2 concentrations, but not with temperature during the first 2 years of warming treatments. Peat vOTUs with aquatic-like signatures (shared predicted protein content with marine and/or freshwater vOTUs) were significantly enriched in more waterlogged surface peat depths. Predicted host ranges for SPRUCE vOTUs were relatively narrow, generally within a single bacterial genus. Of the 4326 SPRUCE vOTUs, 164 were previously detected in other soils, mostly peatlands. None of the previously identified 202,371 marine and freshwater vOTUs in our PIGEON database were detected in SPRUCE peat, but 0.4% of 80,714 viral clusters (VCs, grouped by predicted protein content) were shared between soil and aquatic environments. On a per-sample basis, vOTU recovery was 32 times higher from viromes compared with total metagenomes. Conclusions Results suggest strong viral “species” boundaries between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and to some extent between peat and other soils, with differences less pronounced at higher taxonomic levels. The significant enrichment of aquatic-like vOTUs in more waterlogged peat suggests that viruses may also exhibit niche partitioning on more local scales. These patterns are presumably driven in part by host ecology, consistent with the predicted narrow host ranges. Although more samples and increased sequencing depth improved vOTU recovery from total metagenomes, the substantially higher per-sample vOTU recovery after viral particle enrichment highlights the utility of soil viromics.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1980

Application Explorer Mission-A heat capacity mapping mission

The author has identified the following significant results. Fine orogenic sediments, not detectable on the images recorded within the visible wavelength region, can be clearly recognized on all night IR-images. The area of glaciation in the northern foreland of the Alps can be partially identified on the basis of night-IR data. The terminal moraine of various glacierization phases can be mapped and the relative dry and unsorted moraine material consisting of crystalline components can be located through the vegetation cover. The eastern part of the glaciation area can be traced because of reverse temperature effect. In addition to the upper Bavarian lakes, the night-IR images clearly indicate the distribution of high soil moisture areas such as swamps and bogs. The geological border of the upper fresh water molasse in the northern part of the basin north of Munich is identifiable on night IR-imagery. Drift peat areas can be located on day-IR images of the dry season of the year.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2026

SPRUCE Soil Volumetric Water Content in Experimental Plots, Marcell Experimental Forest, Minnesota, 2017-2025

This dataset contains soil volumetric water content (VWC) measurements from the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) Experiment. Measurements were made inside SPRUCE experimental plots in the S1 Bog at the US Forest Service Marcell Experimental Forest in northern Minnesota, USA from 2018-2025 (2018-06-14 to 2025-12-31). Observations were made with METER 10HS soil moisture sensors. To reduce bulk density related variability, 10HS sensors were placed inside mesh tubes filled with peat at a standard bulk density. The observations under standard bulk density represent relative differences in water content between hummock and hollow positions, and in response to experimental treatments. Productivity of peatlands, and their keystone species sphagnum, are highly dependent on water availability, which is affected by lateral inputs, precipitation, ground water depth and evapotranspiration. Knowledge of near surface and sphagnum water content is useful to understand peatland function. This dataset contains 8 data files in comma-separate values (.csv) format. Additional metadata are provided: one data dictionary and a file-level metadata file in comma-separate values (*.csv) format and a user guide in PDF (*.pdf) format.

Warren, Jeffrey [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000206804697)↗
DOE OSTI2022

Illuminating the pathways to carbon liberation: a systems approach to characterizing the consequential unknowns of carbon transformation and loss from thawing permafrost peatlands (Final Report)

The IsoGenie3 Project delivered new systems-level insights into carbon cycling in thawing permafrost landscapes, with an emphasis on methane and carbon dioxide emissions. From >200 samples from the site collected over a decade, co-analyzed for geochemistry and microbiology, the team recovered ~1,500 assembled microbial genomes and ~1,900 viral population genomes, revealing appreciable genetic novelty - from a new highly abundant bacterial phylum, to novel methane consumers and their activities, to rampant viral novelty. IsoGenie3 linked these organisms to carbon compound transformations (which define the cycling of organic matter in soils, and the loss of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane), and saw that the microbes at each stage of permafrost thaw had different genetic potential to degrade categories of compounds, expressed that genetic potential differently, and actually transformed carbon compounds into greenhouse gases in different ways. IsoGenie 3 identified that some of the thaw-stage differences were due to plant-microbiome relationships; the plant species across the thaw gradient contributed different carbon compounds into the soil, and hosted distinct microbiota (differing among parts of plants as well as species). Lastly, microbes in the saturated post-thaw conditions appeared likely to contribute to the mobilization and toxification of mercury released during thaw. In parallel with ongoing field sampling and analysis, hypotheses arising from field observations were tested via lab incubation experiments. When communities are taken out of their native habitats, they behave differently, and the team first rigorously quantified the magnitude of this effect on microbiome composition and functional capacity, organic matter composition, and gas production; overall the main system processes were maintained in the lab incubations under the conditions tested. Further, the microbial data could inform geochemical reaction network models of those processes. Then, the team ran experiments with additions of compounds, varying temperature, and “live” vs. “dead” peat (the latter having been gamma irradiated, with a few additional variants to control for methodological artifacts). From these, we (a) determined the importance of plant-derived soluble phenolic compounds in bogs’ extraordinary recalcitrance of organic matter, and carbon gas emissions skewed to carbon dioxide; (b) proposed an abiotic ‘tanning’ mechanism, which could contribute to Sphagnum’s inhibitory effect on anaerobic decomposition through alteration of N availability. IsoGenie3 illuminated longer-term and landscape-scale interactions of permafrost thaw and carbon cycling, advancing knowledge of the drivers of methane dynamics not only across in the permafrost-associated peatland (where hydrology and plant communities dictate microbiomes) but also their interconnected lakes (where sediment carbon quality and resident microbiota are determined by position within lake, and lake features). By leveraging observations of site methane dynamics extending well before this project, the team was able to construct a 44-year portrait of the interplay of permafrost thaw, hydrology, vegetation dynamics, and carbon gas emissions, and the doubling of the fully-thawed fens over this time. From the detailed study of this focal site, IsoGenie3 also aimed to improve model representation of these kinds of sites and processes. To improve predictions of methane transformations, we incorporated acetate and isotope dynamics into the ‘DNDC’ biogeochemistry model. In addition, recovered genomes were grouped into ‘functional groups’, i.e. the genomes that perform a specific function of interest, then used to parameterize maximum growth rate and optimum growth temperature (via signatures in their sequence composition) for the BioCrunch model. The BioCrunch model was then in turn used to test the impact of increasing functional resolution of the microbes, on the carbon gas emissions. Lastly for modeling, the ecosys model was parameterized from the microbial and other data, and used to evaluate drivers of e.g. change in methane emissions. Finally, this project also led to the development of a range of new methods and tools, a new metric of organic matter decomposability, as well as a graph-database solution to multidisciplinary data storage and querying. This project’s ongoing analyses at our focal site also contributed to broader advancements in understanding elements of genetic plasticity and methane metabolism, climate change microbiology and community assembly, global peatland geochemistry and Arctic lakes’ roles in climate feedbacks.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1982

A Method for Peat Inventory Based on LANDSAT Data and Computerized Mapping

Wetlands were preliminarily delineated on a geometrically-corrected color composite map printed from digital LANDSAT data using a computerized color plotting system. A digital classification was performed to identify the location and extent of wetland types (e.g., open bog, types of treed fen and black spruce-alder swamp). A map is printed from the results of this classification using the computerized color plotter. This color-coded map, produced at several different scales, provides a basis for pre-selecting field sampling sites. Helicopter-aided spot sampling based on the LANDSAT-derived map was conducted over the entire 1700 sq km area of North Ontario. Traditional transect sampling was carried out over a portion of the area, so that the two methods could be compared. Spot sampling based on the LANDSAT-derived map was found to produce results virtually identical to those produced by the transect sampling technique, in approximately one-fifteenth of the time and with a proportionate reduction in cost.

Pala, S.↗
DOE OSTI2021

SPRUCE Radiocarbon analyses quantify peat carbon losses with increasing temperature in a whole ecosystem warming experiment, 2014-2020

This data set contains three *.csv data files with measurements of organic and inorganic carbon fractions and radiocarbon fractions in peat porewater profiles. Measurements of carbon fractions from enclosure drainage outflows are also included. Porewater profiles were collected up to four times annually from 2014 to 2020 with a piezometer and outflow samples were collected up to eight times annually in 2016 and 2017. Porewater organic and inorganic fractions were measured using a Finnigan Mat Delta V Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer and a Shimadzu Total Organic Carbon. Radiocarbon analyses were conducted at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The peat soils were subjected to deep peat heating (DPH) beginning in June of 2014 followed by whole ecosystem warming (WEW) in August of 2015 (Hanson et al. 2017). The experimental work was conducted in a Picea mariana [black spruce] – Sphagnum spp. bog forest in northern Minnesota, 40 km north of Grand Rapids, in the USDA Forest Service Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF).These changes in these inorganic and organic carbon fractions in response to whole ecosystem warming may alter decomposition and microbial communities, as well as overall soil carbon storage.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

SPRUCE Anaerobic oxidation of methane mitigates net methane production and responds to long-term experimental warming in a northern bog: Supporting data

This data set contains measurements of anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM), net methane (CH4) production, carbon dioxide (CO2) production, and gross CH4 production measurements from the SPRUCE experiment (Hanson et al. 2017). CH4 is greenhouse gas with 45 times the sustained global warming potential of CO2 over 100 years, which may have significant implications on global climate change. The process of AOM plays a large role in the extent of CH4 emissions from wetland environments like those at the SPRUCE experiment site. This study conducted two on different dates. In experiment 1, net CH4 and CO2 production were measured with a gas chromatograph through the peat profile at in situ temperatures of the SPRUCE plots four times from May to October, 2016 (2016-05 to 2016-10). Two treatments were examined, a Porewater Treatment that was a 1:1 volumetric peat:porewater slurry and a No Porewater Treatment that was field-moist peat with no porewater added. Additionally, net CH4 production were measured at frequent intervals (from 4 hr to 9 d) in peat from selected SPRUCE plots from soil collected on October 16, 2016 (2016-10-16). Samples were collected from the SPRUCE plots, immediately made anaerobic, and transported to the University of Oregon for rate measurements within several days of collection. In experiment 2, AOM, net CH4 production, CO2 production, and gross CH4 production were measured through the peat profile at in situ field temperatures once from samples collected in July, 2021 (2021-07). The same two porewater treatments were examined. AOM was measured with a 13CH4 tracer method using a Picarro G2201-i analyzer for isotopic CO2/CH4 quantification with a small stable isotope module attached. This data set contains three data files in comma separate (*.csv) format. This data set is associated with the following publication: Barney, M, AM Hopple, LL Gregory, JK Keller, and SD Bridgham. 2024. Anaerobic oxidation of methane mitigates net methane production and responds to long-term experimental warming in a northern bog. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 190, 109316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2024.109316.

SPRUCE Experiment, Marcell Experimental Forest, Me↗
NASA NTRS1993

Environmental factors controlling methane emissions from peatlands in northern Minnesota

The environmental factors affecting the emission of methane from peatlands were investigated by correlating CH4 emission data for two years, obtained from five different peatland ecosystems in northern Minnesota, with peat temperature, water table position, and degree of peat humification. The relationship obtained between the CH4 flux and these factors was compared to results from a field manipulation experiment in which the water table was artificially raised in three experimental plots within the driest peatland. It was found that peat temperature, water table position, and degree of peat humification explained 91 percent of the variance in log CH4 flux, successfully predicted annual CH4 emission from individual wetlands, and predicted the change in flux due to the water table manipulation. Raising the water table in the bog corrals by an average of 6 cm in autumn 1989 and 10 cm in summer 1990 increased CH4 emission by 2.5 and 2.2 times, respectively.

Dise, Nancy B.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Deciphering the shifting role of intrinsic and extrinsic drivers on moss decomposition in peatlands over a 5-year period

Bryophytes are largely responsible for globally significant carbon accumulation in peatland ecosystems. This accumulation is primarily caused by the slow decomposition of these mosses, which can be attributed to a combination of intrinsic (chemical) characteristics of decaying mosses and extrinsic (environmental) influences. Here we investigated the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of moss decomposition in peatlands and hypothesized that the early stages of decay will be driven primarily by intrinsic characteristics, while extrinsic drivers will become more important in the later phases of decomposition. We tested this hypothesis by placing litterbags of three moss types (Sphagnum divinum, Sphagnum angustifolium/fallax and Polytrichum sp.) into hummock and hollow microtopographies in a bog and a lawn microtopography in a nearby poor fen in northern Minnesota, USA. Decomposition was measured over a 5-year period and confirmed our hypothesis; while intrinsic and extrinsic variables were both important in driving decay rates over time, decay in the first year was primarily predicted by litter type, while extrinsic influences (e.g. peat temperature, moisture, nutrient limitation) that varied at peatland and microtopographic scales became more important by year 5. Though the nutrient (i.e. nitrogen [N] and phosphorus [P]) content of decaying mosses did not explain the variation in decay rates among litter types, analysis of N:P in moss litter suggested that litter-decaying microorganisms became increasingly P-limited over time. The majority of litter decomposition studies in peatlands are generally of short duration (< 3 years). Our study suggests that longer-term studies are needed to reveal the roles of multiple drivers of moss decay. Improving the mechanistic understanding of decomposition processes in peatlands will be critical to developing more robust representations of peatlands and their ecosystem processes in carbon and climate models.

29 poor fen↗
DOE OSTI2025

On the Relationship Between Methane Production in Anaerobic Incubations of Peat Material and In Situ Methane Emissions

Anaerobic incubations of peat have been widely used to explore soil processes, but this in vitro technique raises many questions as to how well it reproduces in situ conditions. To investigate this, we conducted 60–100 days (+25 days pre‐incubation) anaerobic, temperature‐controlled incubation experiments across a temperature range of 1–26°C on samples from bog and fen habitats, at two different depths (9–19 and 25–35 cm). Here, we observed exponential increases in CO 2 and methane production with temperature in all conditions. We then compared field‐based measurements of methane emission with modeled expectations by extrapolating incubation‐determined methane production rates based on (a) soil temperature profiles, (b) the observed incubation temperature‐methane production relationship, and (c) seasonal thaw depth from each site. The resulting incubation‐extrapolated methane production agreed with measured emission rates within a factor of two at both sites and corresponded to 182 ± 54% and 59 ± 14% of the measured average yearly fluxes from the field for the bog and fen, respectively. The underestimation of fen methane fluxes may be due to the lack of living plant root‐derived dissolved organic carbon inputs in incubations, a key process in fens. Conversely, the overestimation in bogs could be attributed to methane oxidation in the field, which is absent in anaerobic incubation conditions. Nonetheless incubations predicted greenhouse gas emissions from a northern peatland within a factor of two.

Biological and medical sciences,Geosciences,Enviro↗
NASA NTRS2018

Improved Hydrology over Peatlands in a Global Land Modeling System

Peatlands of the Northern Hemisphere represent an important carbon pool that mainly accumulated since the last ice age under permanently wet conditions in specific geological and climatic settings. The carbon balance of peatlands is closely coupled to water table dynamics. Consequently, the future carbon balance over peatlands is strongly dependent on how hydrology in peatlands will react to changing boundary conditions, e.g. due to climate change or regional water level drawdown of connected aquifers or streams. Global land surface modeling over organic-rich regions can provide valuable global-scale insights on where and how peatlands are in transition due to changing boundary conditions. However, the current global land surface models are not able to reproduce typical hydrological dynamics in peatlands well. We implemented specific structural and parametric changes to account for key hydrological characteristics of peatlands into NASA's GEOS-5 Catchment Land Surface Model (CLSM, Koster et al. 2000). The main modifications pertain to the modeling of partial inundation, and the definition of peatland-specific runoff and evapotranspiration schemes. We ran a set of simulations on a high performance cluster using different CLSM configurations and validated the results with a newly compiled global in-situ dataset of water table depths in peatlands. The results demonstrate that an update of soil hydraulic properties for peat soils alone does not improve the performance of CLSM over peatlands. However, structural model changes for peatlands are able to improve the skill metrics for water table depth. The validation results for the water table depth indicate a reduction of the bias from 2.5 to 0.2 m, and an improvement of the temporal correlation coefficient from 0.5 to 0.65, and from 0.4 to 0.55 for the anomalies. Our validation data set includes both bogs (rain-fed) and fens (ground and/or surface water influence) and reveals that the metrics improved less for fens. In addition, a comparison of evapotranspiration and soil moisture estimates over peatlands will be presented, albeit only with limited ground-based validation data. We will discuss strengths and weaknesses of the new model by focusing on time series of specific validation sites.

Bechtold, M.↗
DOE OSTI2021

The importance of nutrients for microbial priming in a bog rhizosphere

Wetlands host anaerobic microbes which convert organic carbon into methane (CH 4 ), a powerful greenhouse gas. Wetland plants can influence which carbon compounds are available for microbial processing by exuding freshly fixed carbon from their roots. Notably, exudation of carbon from plant roots can trigger microbial priming: the process of new carbon stimulating the microbial community into processing more soil carbon than they otherwise would have. This study utilized high resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) analysis to probe the chemical composition of soil organic compounds from the rhizosphere of Carex aquatillis, a common wetland sedge, which is known to have stimulated microbial priming within a peat soil. The goal was to identify what types of molecules are created or lost during microbial priming in the wetland rhizosphere and thus advance mechanistic understanding of the process. FT-ICR-MS analysis demonstrated that more microbial transformations of carbon occurred among water-soluble compounds than among hydrophobic compounds, but that some hydrophobic compounds were processed as well. Crucially for understanding microbial priming, the root exudates triggered increased processing of high molecular weight molecules regardless of nutrient content but processed low molecular weight compounds only if they contained essential nutrients. Furthermore, the pattern of which molecules are processed and which are not is evidence for a selective priming effect in which some types of carbon compounds are used at an increased rate, while others are not.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Depth and microtopography influence microbial biogeochemical processes in a forested peatland

Background and aims: Peat-accumulating wetlands have undulating surfaces of raised areas (hummocks) and depressions (hollows). Hummock-hollow microtopography in relation to the water table influences the distribution of plant species, root density, and microbial community composition, which could in turn alter carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling within peatlands. We used paired hummock and hollow cores from a boreal, forested peatland to assess how microtopography influences peatland microbial function and, in turn, ecosystem C and N cycling. Methods: The peat was analyzed for microbial biomass and potential enzyme activity in 10 cm depth increments relative to the water table, resulting in two increments for hollows and three for hummocks, which has a raised increment above the water table. Results: Across hummocks and hollows, microbial C and N and fungal biomass generally decreased with depth from the peat surface. In contrast, potential enzyme activity often increased with depth, but this varied within enzyme functional groups according to topography, depth, or both. The potential enzyme activity of C-N degrading peptidases, for example, differed across the five topography × depth increments with the lowest rate in the aerated hummocks. Hummocks compose approximately 66% of the land area at our study site and would therefore underestimate C turnover by an average of 25% if solely used to extrapolate patterns across a forested bog. Conclusion: In conclusion, our results suggest that asynchrony in C and N cycling across the undulating surface of forested peatlands impacts our ability to accurately predict biogeochemical cycling across this important ecosystem.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

SPRUCE Plot-Level Water Table Data Assessments for Absolute Elevations and Height with Respect to Mean Hollows Beginning in 2015

This data set provides a record of the half-hourly automated water table depth data collected for 12 SPRUCE plots (4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, and 21) beginning during deep peat heating (DPH) in 2015 and continuing throughout the whole ecosystem warming (WEW) manipulations for the SPRUCE Project (Hanson et al. 2017). The data currently cover 2015-05-12 through 2024-12-31 and will be updated periodically throughout the duration of the SPRUCE project. Also provided are daily plot normalized data for water table depths with respect to mean hollow locations within each plot. The hollow referenced data provide the basis for the intercomparison of peat saturation or aeration across treatment plots. A limited data set for manual water table observations made periodically from 2015-2022 are also provided as a reference to the plot center automated observations. In August 2015, WEW was initiated at 5 warming levels (+0, +2. +4.5, +6.75 and +9 °C) with 2 plots per warming level. DPH measurements were underway before the initiation of WEW heating treatments and both are expected to operate through 2025. Elevated CO2 treatments were added in June 2016 (Enclosures 4, 10, 11, 16 and 19). All measurements were made at the 8.1-ha S1 bog forest site in northern Minnesota, 40 km north of Grand Rapids, in the USDA Forest Service Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF). This dataset contains three data files in comma separated (*.csv) format.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Whole-Ecosystem Warming Increases Plant-Available Nitrogen and Phosphorus in an Ombrotrophic Bog

Warming is expected to increase the net release of carbon from peatland soils, contributing to future warming. This positive feedback may be moderated by the response of peatland vegetation to rising atmospheric [CO 2 ] or to increased soil nutrient availability. We asked whether a gradient of whole-ecosystem warming (from + 0 °C to + 9 °C) would increase plant-available nitrogen and phosphorus in an ombrotrophic bog in northern Minnesota, USA, and whether elevated [CO 2 ] would modify the nutrient response. We tracked changes in plant-available nutrients across space and through time and in comparison with other nutrient pools, and assessed whether nutrient warming responses were captured by a point version of the land-surface model, ELM-SPRUCE. We found that warming exponentially increased plant-available ammonium and phosphate, but that nutrient dynamics were unaffected by elevated [CO 2 ]. The warming response increased by an order of magnitude between the first and fourth year of the experimental manipulation, perhaps because of dramatic mortality of Sphagnum mosses in the surface peat of the warmest treatments. However, neither the magnitude nor the temporal dynamics of the responses were captured by ELM-SPRUCE. Here, relative increases in plant-available ammonium and phosphate with warming were similar, but the response varied across raised hummocks and depressed hollows and with peat depth. Plant-available nutrient dynamics were only loosely correlated with inorganic and organic porewater nutrients, likely representing different processes. Future predictions of peatland nutrient availability under climate change scenarios must account for dynamic changes in nutrient acquisition by plants and microbes, as well as microtopography and peat depth.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1986

Atmospheric methane sources - Alaskan tundra bogs, an alpine fen, and a subarctic boreal marsh

Methane (CH4) flux measurements from Alaska tundra bogs, an alpine fen, and a subarctic boreal marsh were obtained at field sites ranging from Prudhoe Bay on the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Alaskan Range south of Fairbanks during August 1984. In the tundra, average CH4 emission rates varied from 4.9 mg CH4 per sq m per day (moist tundra) to 119 mg CH4 per sq m per day (waterlogged tundra). Fluxes averaged 40 mg CH4 per sq m per day from wet tussock meadows in the Brooks Range and 289 mg Ch4 per sq m per day from an alpine fen in the Alaskan Range. The boreal marsh had an average CH4 emission rate of 106 mg CH4 per sq m per day. Significant emissions were detected in tundra areas where peat temperatures were as low as 4 C, and permafrost was only 25 cm below the ground surface. Emission rates from the 17 sites sampled were found to be logarithmically related to water levels at the sites. Extrapolation of the data to an estimate of the total annual CH4 emission from all arctic and boreal wetlands suggests that these ecosystems are a major source of atmospheric CH4 and could account for up to 23 percent of global CH4 emissions from wetlands.

Sebacher, D. I.↗