Articles | Volume 18, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1773-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1773-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
17 Apr 2024
Research article |
| 17 Apr 2024
InSAR-measured permafrost degradation of palsa peatlands in northern Sweden
Samuel Valman
Nottingham Geospatial Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2TU, UK
School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
Matthias B. Siewert
Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Doreen Boyd
School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
Martha Ledger
School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, LE12 5RD, UK
School of Biological Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
David Gee
Terra Motion, Nottingham, NG7 2TU, UK
Betsabé de la Barreda-Bautista
School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, LE12 5RD, UK
School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
Andrew Sowter
Terra Motion, Nottingham, NG7 2TU, UK
Sofie Sjögersten
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, LE12 5RD, UK
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1514, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1514, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Biogeosciences (BG).
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Shrubs use water and carbon differently and are expanding in warming tundra and grasslands, yet global models lack accuracy. We added two shrub types to a vegetation model including soil nutrients and carbon exchange. Half of the modeled shrubs showed good performance whereas their growth is 40 % higher as at grasses. Deciduous shrubs reduce nitrogen more than evergreens. Including shrubs improves Arctic carbon cycle predictions, revealing nitrogen limits cause underestimation in global models.
Sarah Schwieger, Jan Dietrich, Mats P. Björkman, Judith M. Sarneel, Bowen Li, Joel White, Inge H. J. Althuizen, Christina Biasi, Robert G. Björk, Hanna Böhner, Brage Bremset Hansen, Michele Carbognani, Giorgio Chiari, Casper T. Christiansen, Elisabeth J. Cooper, Hans Cornelissen, Ludovica D'Imperio, Ellen Dorrepaal, Bo Elberling, Patrick Faubert, Ned Fetcher, T'ai G. W. Forte, Joseph Gaudard, Konstantin Gavazov, Zhen-Huan Guan, Jón Guðmundsson, Siri V. Haugum, Jin-Sheng He, Caitlin Hicks Pries, Mark Hovenden, Simone I. Lang, Gus Jespersen, Ingibjörg S. Jónsdóttir, Ji Young Jung, Olga Khitun, Birgitte Kortegaard Danielsen, Richard Lamprecht, Mathilde Le Moullec, Hanna Lee, Maija E. Marushchak, Anders Michelsen, Tariq Munir, Eero Myrsky, Kevin K. Newsham, Marion Nyberg, Steven F. Oberbauer, Paulo Olivas, Johan Olofsson, Hlynur Óskarsson, Thomas C. Parker, Matteo Petit Bon, Alessandro Petraglia, Emily Pickering Pedersen, Katrine Raundrup, Nynne R. Ravn, Riikka Rinnan, Heidi Rodenhizer, Ingvild Ryde, Alejandro Salazar, Niels M. Schmidt, Ted Schuur, Sofie Sjögersten, Cecilie Skov Nielsen, Sari Stark, Maria Strack, Jianwu Tang, Sylvia Toet, Anne Tolvanen, Maria Väisänen, Richard Van Logtestijn, Vigdis Vandvik, Carolina Voigt, Josefine Walz, Jeffrey M. Welker, Yuanhe Yang, Henni Ylänne, and Sybryn L. Maes
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-837, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-837, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD
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Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems are warming rapidly, yet measurements of how they release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere remain scarce. We compiled field measurements of ecosystem respiration from warming experiments across tundra regions worldwide. By combining respiration data with information on climate, vegetation, and soils, this database improves our ability to understand and predict how tundra carbon cycling responds to climate warming and feeds back to the global climate system.
Oriol Ambrogio Gali, Sarah E. Metcalfe, Elizabeth A. C. Rushton, Betsabé de la Barreda-Bautista, Georgina H. Endfield, Sofia Márdero, Franziska Schrodt, and Alec McLellan
Clim. Past, 22, 25–47, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-25-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-25-2026, 2026
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This work presents the first documentary-derived chronology of droughts in British colonial Belize (1771-1981), integrating archival sources with extended instrumental records. Results show exceptional droughts in the 1880s, 1920s, and 1943-1955. Comparison of extreme colonial droughts with Terminal Classic Period palaeoclimate records shows a similar magnitude of precipitation reduction (29-59%) and provides a context to assess future climate projections for the region.
Anna-Maria Virkkala, Isabel Wargowsky, Judith Vogt, McKenzie A. Kuhn, Simran Madaan, Richard O'Keefe, Tiffany Windholz, Kyle A. Arndt, Brendan M. Rogers, Jennifer D. Watts, Kelcy Kent, Mathias Göckede, David Olefeldt, Gerard Rocher-Ros, Edward A. G. Schuur, David Bastviken, Kristoffer Aalstad, Kelly Aho, Joonatan Ala-Könni, Haley Alcock, Inge Althuizen, Christopher D. Arp, Jun Asanuma, Katrin Attermeyer, Mika Aurela, Sivakiruthika Balathandayuthabani, Alan Barr, Maialen Barret, Ochirbat Batkhishig, Christina Biasi, Mats P. Björkman, Andrew Black, Elena Blanc-Betes, Pascal Bodmer, Julia Boike, Abdullah Bolek, Frédéric Bouchard, Ingeborg Bussmann, Lea Cabrol, Eleonora Canfora, Sean Carey, Karel Castro-Morales, Namyi Chae, Andres Christen, Torben R. Christensen, Casper T. Christiansen, Housen Chu, Graham Clark, Francois Clayer, Patrick Crill, Christopher Cunada, Scott J. Davidson, Joshua F. Dean, Sigrid Dengel, Matteo Detto, Catherine Dieleman, Florent Domine, Egor Dyukarev, Colin Edgar, Bo Elberling, Craig A. Emmerton, Eugenie Euskirchen, Grant Falvo, Thomas Friborg, Michelle Garneau, Mariasilvia Giamberini, Mikhail V. Glagolev, Miquel A. Gonzalez-Meler, Gustaf Granath, Jón Guðmundsson, Konsta Happonen, Yoshinobu Harazono, Lorna Harris, Josh Hashemi, Nicholas Hasson, Janna Heerah, Liam Heffernan, Manuel Helbig, Warren Helgason, Michal Heliasz, Greg Henry, Geert Hensgens, Tetsuya Hiyama, Macall Hock, David Holl, Beth Holmes, Jutta Holst, Thomas Holst, Gabriel Hould-Gosselin, Elyn Humphreys, Jacqueline Hung, Jussi Huotari, Hiroki Ikawa, Danil V. Ilyasov, Mamoru Ishikawa, Go Iwahana, Hiroki Iwata, Marcin Antoni Jackowicz-Korczynski, Joachim Jansen, Järvi Järveoja, Vincent E. J. Jassey, Rasmus Jensen, Katharina Jentzsch, Robert G. Jespersen, Carl-Fredrik Johannesson, Chersity P. Jones, Anders Jonsson, Ji Young Jung, Sari Juutinen, Evan Kane, Jan Karlsson, Sergey Karsanaev, Kuno Kasak, Julia Kelly, Kasha Kempton, Marcus Klaus, George W. Kling, Natacha Kljun, Jacqueline Knutson, Hideki Kobayashi, John Kochendorfer, Kukka-Maaria Kohonen, Pasi Kolari, Mika Korkiakoski, Aino Korrensalo, Pirkko Kortelainen, Egle Koster, Kajar Koster, Ayumi Kotani, Praveena Krishnan, Juliya Kurbatova, Lars Kutzbach, Min Jung Kwon, Ethan D. Kyzivat, Jessica Lagroix, Theodore Langhorst, Elena Lapshina, Tuula Larmola, Klaus S. Larsen, Isabelle Laurion, Justin Ledman, Hanna Lee, A. Joshua Leffler, Lance Lesack, Anders Lindroth, David Lipson, Annalea Lohila, Efrén López-Blanco, Vincent L. St. Louis, Erik Lundin, Misha Luoto, Takashi Machimura, Marta Magnani, Avni Malhotra, Marja Maljanen, Ivan Mammarella, Elisa Männistö, Luca Belelli Marchesini, Phil Marsh, Pertti J. Martkainen, Maija E. Marushchak, Mikhail Mastepanov, Alex Mavrovic, Trofim Maximov, Christina Minions, Marco Montemayor, Tomoaki Morishita, Patrick Murphy, Daniel F. Nadeau, Erin Nicholls, Mats B. Nilsson, Anastasia Niyazova, Jenni Nordén, Koffi Dodji Noumonvi, Hannu Nykanen, Walter Oechel, Anne Ojala, Tomohiro Okadera, Sujan Pal, Alexey V. Panov, Tim Papakyriakou, Dario Papale, Sang-Jong Park, Frans-Jan W. Parmentier, Gilberto Pastorello, Mike Peacock, Matthias Peichl, Roman Petrov, Kyra St. Pierre, Norbert Pirk, Jessica Plein, Vilmantas Preskienis, Anatoly Prokushkin, Jukka Pumpanen, Hilary A. Rains, Niklas Rakos, Aleski Räsänen, Helena Rautakoski, Riika Rinnan, Janne Rinne, Adrian Rocha, Nigel Roulet, Alexandre Roy, Anna Rutgersson, Aleksandr F. Sabrekov, Torsten Sachs, Erik Sahlée, Alejandro Salazar, Henrique Oliveira Sawakuchi, Christopher Schulze, Roger Seco, Armando Sepulveda-Jauregui, Svetlana Serikova, Abbey Serrone, Hanna M. Silvennoinen, Sofie Sjogersten, June Skeeter, Jo Snöälv, Sebastian Sobek, Oliver Sonnentag, Emily H. Stanley, Maria Strack, Lena Strom, Patrick Sullivan, Ryan Sullivan, Anna Sytiuk, Torbern Tagesson, Pierre Taillardat, Julie Talbot, Suzanne E. Tank, Mario Tenuta, Irina Terenteva, Frederic Thalasso, Antoine Thiboult, Halldor Thorgeirsson, Fenix Garcia Tigreros, Margaret Torn, Amy Townsend-Small, Claire Treat, Alain Tremblay, Carlo Trotta, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Merritt Turetsky, Masahito Ueyama, Muhammad Umair, Aki Vähä, Lona van Delden, Maarten van Hardenbroek, Andrej Varlagin, Ruth K. Varner, Elena Veretennikova, Timo Vesala, Tarmo Virtanen, Carolina Voigt, Jorien E. Vonk, Robert Wagner, Katey Walter Anthony, Qinxue Wang, Masataka Watanabe, Hailey Webb, Jeffrey M. Welker, Andreas Westergaard-Nielsen, Sebastian Westermann, Jeffrey R. White, Christian Wille, Scott N. Williamson, Scott Zolkos, Donatella Zona, and Susan M. Natali
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Preprint under review for ESSD
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This dataset includes monthly measurements of carbon dioxide and methane exchange between land, water, and the atmosphere from over 1,000 sites in Arctic and boreal regions. It combines measurements from a variety of ecosystems, including wetlands, forests, tundra, lakes, and rivers, gathered by over 260 researchers from 1984–2024. This dataset can be used to improve and reduce uncertainty in carbon budgets in order to strengthen our understanding of climate feedbacks in a warming world.
Maxime Thomas, Thomas Moenaert, Julien Radoux, Baptiste Delhez, Eléonore du Bois d'Aische, Maëlle Villani, Catherine Hirst, Erik Lundin, François Jonard, Sébastien Lambot, Kristof Van Oost, Veerle Vanacker, Matthias B. Siewert, Carl-Magnus Mörth, Michael W. Palace, Ruth K. Varner, Franklin B. Sullivan, Christina Herrick, and Sophie Opfergelt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3788, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3788, 2025
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This study examines the rate of permafrost degradation, in the form of the transition from intact well-drained palsa to fully thawed and inundated fen at the Stordalen mire, Abisko, Sweden. Across the 14 hectares of the palsa mire, we demonstrate a 5-fold acceleration of the degradation in 2019–2021 compared to previous periods (1970–2014) which might lead to a pool of 12 metric tons of organic carbon exposed annually for the topsoil (23 cm depth), and an increase of ~1.3%/year of GHG emissions.
Sofie Sjögersten, Martha Ledger, Matthias Siewert, Betsabé de la Barreda-Bautista, Andrew Sowter, David Gee, Giles Foody, and Doreen S. Boyd
Biogeosciences, 20, 4221–4239, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4221-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4221-2023, 2023
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Permafrost thaw in Arctic regions is increasing methane emissions, but quantification is difficult given the large and remote areas impacted. We show that UAV data together with satellite data can be used to extrapolate emissions across the wider landscape as well as detect areas at risk of higher emissions. A transition of currently degrading areas to fen type vegetation can increase emission by several orders of magnitude, highlighting the importance of quantifying areas at risk.
Juri Palmtag, Jaroslav Obu, Peter Kuhry, Andreas Richter, Matthias B. Siewert, Niels Weiss, Sebastian Westermann, and Gustaf Hugelius
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4095–4110, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4095-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4095-2022, 2022
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The northern permafrost region covers 22 % of the Northern Hemisphere and holds almost twice as much carbon as the atmosphere. This paper presents data from 651 soil pedons encompassing more than 6500 samples from 16 different study areas across the northern permafrost region. We use this dataset together with ESA's global land cover dataset to estimate soil organic carbon and total nitrogen storage up to 300 cm soil depth, with estimated values of 813 Pg for carbon and 55 Pg for nitrogen.
Selena Georgiou, Edward T. A. Mitchard, Bart Crezee, Paul I. Palmer, Greta C. Dargie, Sofie Sjögersten, Corneille E. N. Ewango, Ovide B. Emba, Joseph T. Kanyama, Pierre Bola, Jean-Bosco N. Ndjango, Nicholas T. Girkin, Yannick E. Bocko, Suspense A. Ifo, and Simon L. Lewis
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-580, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-580, 2022
Preprint archived
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Two major vegetation types, hardwood trees and palms, overlay the Central Congo Basin peatland complex, each dominant in different locations. We investigated the influence of terrain and climatological variables on their distribution, using a regression model, and found elevation and seasonal rainfall and temperature contribute significantly. There are indications of an optimal range of net water input for palm swamp to dominate, above and below which hardwood swamp dominates.
Andrew V. Bradley, Roxane Andersen, Chris Marshall, Andrew Sowter, and David J. Large
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 261–277, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-261-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-261-2022, 2022
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The condition of peatland largely determines its capacity to store carbon, but peatland condition is not accurately known. Combining the knowledge of management, vegetation, and detecting differences in seasonal surface movement from satellite radar data, we map peat condition. In a blanket bog landscape we discovered the presence of wetter and dryer conditions, which could help guide restoration decisions, and we conclude that this approach could be transferred peat management worldwide.
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Short summary
Climate warming is thawing permafrost that makes up palsa (frost mound) peatlands, risking ecosystem collapse and carbon release as methane. We measure this regional degradation using radar satellite technology to examine ground elevation changes and show how terrain roughness measurements can be used to estimate local permafrost damage. We find that over half of Sweden's largest palsa peatlands are degrading, with the worse impacts to the north linked to increased winter precipitation.
Climate warming is thawing permafrost that makes up palsa (frost mound) peatlands, risking...