Warming response of peatland CO2 sink is sensitive to seasonality in warming trends

CBA researcher Frans-Jan W. Parmentier and colleagues published their research on how warming in summer affects carbon uptake in northern high-latitude peatlands in Nature Climate Change.

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The Saura peatland on Andøya, in northern Norway, where CO2 fluxes were measured for this study. The instrumentation shown in the middle is an eddy covariance tower that monitors the exchange of CO2 from this peatland. CBA researcher Frans-Jan Parmentier operated this tower in collaboration with NIBIO, NILU, NINA, NIVA, and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. (photo credit : Frans-Jan W. Parmentier)

Peatlands have removed CO2 from the atmosphere for millennia, but new research suggests they may absorb less CO2 if late summers get warmer

Peatlands are found throughout the world and play a critical role in removing CO2 from the atmosphere, preserving biodiversity, and lowering summer temperatures – particularly in northern countries including Norway.

Northern peatlands store about half as much carbon as the atmosphere currently holds and have acted as net CO2 sinks for millennia, making them a key player in the bid to combat climate change. Their ability to carry out that important function, however, appears to be affected by warming temperatures and when that warming occurs.

Dr. Frans-Jan Parmentier, researcher at the Centre for Biogeochemistry in the Anthropocene, has collaborated in an international team to study the CO2 uptake in 20 northern peatlands across three continents. They found that if warming is most pronounced early in the summer, peatlands tend to be able to continue to take CO2 out of the atmosphere at a constant rate due to enhanced plant growth. If warming is most pronounced later in the summer, peatlands take less CO2 out of the atmosphere because of lower water levels, jeopardising their important supporting role to slow down climate change.

The phenomenon, outlined in a paper published in Nature Climate Change, can help understand how well peatlands can work as nature-based climate solutions. In places experiencing pronounced early summer warming, like Siberia, peatlands are more likely to maintain their carbon sinks. This research emphasizes the need for long-term monitoring of the greenhouse gas exchange of Norwegian peatlands to understand how they will respond to a changing climate.

The paper can be read from the journal website. A highlight article about this study is also published in Nature Climate Change.

Helbig, M., Živković, T., Alekseychik, P. et al. Warming response of peatland CO2 sink is sensitive to seasonality in warming trends. Nat. Clim. Chang. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01428-z

Published Aug. 4, 2022 12:07 PM - Last modified Aug. 5, 2022 10:03 AM
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