Artigo Produção Nacional Revisado por pares

Spatial Variability of CO 2 Emissions from Newly Exposed Paraglacial Soils at a Glacier Retreat Zone on King George Island, Maritime Antarctica

2014; Wiley; Volume: 25; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/ppp.1818

ISSN

1099-1530

Autores

André Thomazini, Daniel De Bortoli Teixeira, Caio Vinícius Gabrig Turbay Rangel, Newton La Scala, Carlos Ernesto Gonçalves Reynaud Schaefer, Eduardo de Sá Mendonça,

Tópico(s)

Polar Research and Ecology

Resumo

ABSTRACT Thawed soils in Antarctica represent organic carbon (C) reservoirs with great potential to increase the net losses of CO 2 to the atmosphere under climate change scenarios. This study spatially zones CO 2 emissions from soil and vegetation along a transect in front of the retreating margin of Ecology Glacier in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, South Shetlands, near the Polish Antarctic station Henryk Arctowski. Two experiments were carried out to determine soil respiration: (1) a transect of 150 measuring points spaced 1 m apart, statistically analysed with split moving windows, identified three regions with different patterns of CO 2 emissions; (2) a survey with three grids containing 60 sampling points, with a minimum distance between points of 0.30 m, totalling 2.7 × 1.5 m, in each of the identified locations. The survey showed that CO 2 emission rates decreased (from 2.38 to 0.00 µmol m ‐2 s ‐1 ) and soil temperature at 5 cm depth increased (from 1.9 to 7°C) near the glacier. The site farthest from the glacier provided an emission 3.5 times higher than the closest site. The spatial variability of CO 2 emissions decreased with distance from the glacier. Soil development and vegetation are identified as key drivers of CO 2 emissions. Soil formation and vegetation growth increased with longer exposure since deglaciation, leading to enhanced homogeneity of CO 2 emissions, independent of permafrost occurrence and stability. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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