| Volumes and Issues Contents of Issue 2 |
www.clim-past-discuss.net/5/1231/2009/
doi:10.5194/cpd-5-1231-2009
© Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
The importance of Northern Peatlands in global carbon systems during the Holocene
1Department of Geography and McGill School of Environment, McGill University, 3534 University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2A7, Canada
2Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA
3Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K6, Canada
*now at: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 999 Battelle BLVD, P.O. Box 999, MSIN K9-24, Richland, WA 99354, USA
Abstract. We applied an inverse model to simulate global carbon (C) cycle dynamics during the Holocene period using atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations reconstructed from Antarctic ice cores and prescribed C accumulation rates of Northern Peatlands (NP) as inputs. Previous studies indicated that different sources could contribute to the 20 parts per million by volume (ppmv) atmospheric CO2 increase over the past 8000 years. These sources of C include terrestrial release of 40–200 petagram C (PgC, 1 petagram=1015 gram), deep oceanic adjustment to a 500 PgC terrestrial biomass buildup early in this interglacial period, and anthropogenic land-use and land-cover changes of unknown magnitudes. Our study shows that the prescribed peatland C accumulation significantly modifies our previous understanding of Holocene C cycle dynamics. If the buildup of the NP is considered, the terrestrial pool becomes the C sink of about 160–280 PgC over the past 8000 years, and the only C source for the terrestrial and atmospheric C increases is presumably from the deep ocean due to calcium carbonate compensation. Future studies need to be conducted to constrain the basal times and growth rates of the NP C accumulation in the Holocene. These research endeavors are challenging because they need a dynamically-coupled peatland simulator to be constrained with the initiation time and reconstructed C reservoir of the NP. Our results also suggest that the huge reservoir of deep ocean C explains the major variability of the glacial-interglacial C cycle dynamics without considering the anthropogenic C perturbation.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 1375 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 4 Comments) Final Revised Paper (CP)
Notice on Discussion StatusCitation: Wang, Y., Roulet, N. T., Frolking, S., and Mysak, L. A.: The importance of Northern Peatlands in global carbon systems during the Holocene, Clim. Past Discuss., 5, 1231-1258, doi:10.5194/cpd-5-1231-2009, 2009. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
