Articles | Volume 13, issue 22
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-6305-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-6305-2016
Research article
 | 
25 Nov 2016
Research article |  | 25 Nov 2016

Quantifying soil carbon accumulation in Alaskan terrestrial ecosystems during the last 15 000 years

Sirui Wang, Qianlai Zhuang, and Zicheng Yu

Abstract. Northern high latitudes contain large amounts of soil organic carbon (SOC), of which Alaskan terrestrial ecosystems account for a substantial proportion. In this study, the SOC accumulation in Alaskan terrestrial ecosystems over the last 15 000 years was simulated using a process-based biogeochemistry model for both peatland and non-peatland ecosystems. Comparable with the previous estimates of 25–70 Pg C in peatland and 13–22 Pg C in non-peatland soils within 1 m depth in Alaska using peat-core data, our model estimated a total SOC of 36–63 Pg C at present, including 27–48 Pg C in peatland soils and 9–15 Pg C in non-peatland soils. Current vegetation stored 2.5–3.7 Pg C in Alaska, with 0.3–0.6 Pg C in peatlands and 2.2–3.1 Pg C in non-peatlands. The simulated average rate of peat C accumulation was 2.3 Tg C yr−1, with a peak value of 5.1 Tg C yr−1 during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) in the early Holocene, 4-fold higher than the average rate of 1.4 Tg C yr−1 over the rest of the Holocene. The SOC accumulation slowed down, or even ceased, during the neoglacial climate cooling after the mid-Holocene, but increased again in the 20th century. The model-estimated peat depths ranged from 1.1 to 2.7 m, similar to the field-based estimate of 2.29 m for the region. We found that the changes in vegetation and their distributions were the main factors in determining the spatial variations of SOC accumulation during different time periods. Warmer summer temperature and stronger radiation seasonality, along with higher precipitation in the HTM and the 20th century, might have resulted in the extensive peatland expansion and carbon accumulation.

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Short summary
We used a model to quantify the carbon stock and its changes in terrestrial ecosystems of Alaska during the last 15 000 years. We found that the changes in vegetation distribution due to climate were the key factors in the spatial variations of carbon in different time periods. The warming during 11–9 k years ago characterized by the increased summer temperature and seasonality of radiation, along with the high precipitation, might play an important role in causing the high carbon accumulation.
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