UC Berkeley

Differences of surface elevation in arctic polygonal landforms cause spatial variation in soil water contents (θ), active layer depths (ALD), and thereby in CO2 and CH4 exchange. Here we test hypotheses in ecosys for topographic controls on CO2 and CH4 exchange in trough, rim, and center features of low- and flat-centered polygons (LCP and FCP) against chamber and eddy covariance (EC) measurements during 2013 at Barrow, Alaska. Larger CO2 influxes and CH4 effluxes were measured with chambers and modeled with ecosys in LCPs than in FCPs and in lower features (troughs) than in higher (rims) within LCPs and FCPs. Spatially aggregated CO2 and CH4 fluxes from ecosys were significantly correlated with EC flux measurements. Lower features were modeled as C sinks (52–56 g C m−2 yr−1) and CH4 sources (4–6 g C m−2 yr−1), and higher features as near C neutral (−2–15 g C m−2 yr−1) and CH4 neutral (0.0–0.1 g C m−2 yr−1). Much of the spatial and temporal variations in CO2 and CH4 fluxes were modeled from topographic effects on water and snow movement and thereby on θ, ALD, and soil O2 concentrations. Model results forced with meteorological data from 1981 to 2015 indicated increasing net primary productivity in higher features and CH4 emissions in some lower and higher features since 2008, attributed mostly to recent rises in precipitation. Small-scale variation in surface elevation causes large spatial variation of greenhouse gas (GHG) exchanges and therefore should be considered in estimates of GHG exchange in polygonal landscapes.