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- Title
Prolongation of soil frost resulting from reduced snow cover increases nitrous oxide emissions from boreal forest soil.
- Authors
Maljanenh, Marja; AIm, Jukka; Martikainen, Pertti J.; Repo, Tapani
- Abstract
Emission rates of the greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide (N2O), from northern upland forest soils are generally low. According to recent climate scenarios, the snow cover in the boreal region is predicted to decrease and which will result in lower soil temperatures. In this study, we investigated whether lower soil temperatures during winter can also trigger N2O emissions from boreal forest soils with originally low N2O emissions, as has earlier been shown for northern agricultural soils with higher N2O emissions. We measured the N2O emissions from a spruce forest in eastern Finland where the soil temperature was changed by manipulating snow-pack thickness and using insulating covers. The effects of the treatments on methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes were also studied for comparative purposes. The results show that there can be an increase in N2O emissions and CO2 production rate from boreal upland forest soils resulting from a thinner snow cover that causes a prolongation of soil frost. Reducing the snow pack thickness had only minor effects on the CH4 fluxes.
- Subjects
FINLAND; GREENHOUSE gases; AIR pollution; NITROUS oxide; CARBON dioxide; TAIGAS; TAIGA ecology
- Publication
Boreal Environment Research, 2010, Vol 15, Issue 1, p34
- ISSN
1239-6095
- Publication type
Article