Wintertime warming of Alaskan soils may up the release of carbon dioxide from soil respiration, bolstering fears that tundra could have positive-feedback effects on global warming.
Susan Natali and her team at the University of Florida in Gainsville used fences to boost snow cover over a series of experimental plots in Alaska, resulting in a 1.5 °C increase in soil temperatures during the winter of 2008–09. They later removed excess snow to ensure that spring thaw occurred as normal and then set up open-air chambers to increase the summer temperature.
The authors found that greater soil respiration, particularly in winter, doubled CO2 emissions during the year-long experiment. This was despite a 20% increase in CO2 uptake from enhanced plant growth in the warmer summer.
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Geochemistry: Arctic thaw boosts carbon. Nature 467, 502 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/467502b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/467502b
