Department of Earth System Science

The soil sink of molecular hydrogen is the largest and most uncertain term in the global atmospheric H₂ budget. Lack of information about the mechanisms regulating this sink limits our ability to predict how atmospheric H₂ may respond to future changes in climate or anthropogenic emissions. Here we present the results from a series of laboratory experiments designed to systematically evaluate and describe the temperature and soil moisture dependence of H₂ uptake by soils from boreal forest and desert ecosystems. We observed substantial H₂ uptake between −4°C and 0°C, a broad temperature optimum between 20°C and 30°C, a soil moisture optimum at approximately 20% saturation, and inhibition of uptake at both low and high soil moisture. A sigmoidal function described the temperature response of H₂ uptake by soils between −15°C and 40°C. Based on our results, we present a framework for a model of the soil H₂ sink.