As the Arctic rapidly warms, what is the contribution of arctic ecosystems to the global carbon budget?
ONGOING RESEARCH
As part of the NASA ABoVE program, aircraft measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) were made over Alaska and northern Canada in Summer 2017 for a project called ArctiCAP (PI Colm Sweeney, NOAA). Luke Schiferl is working on the analysis of this data.
We are also working on understanding the drivers of long-term trends in CO2 and CH4 from the North Slope of Alaska.
RECENT RESULTS
As part of the Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment (CARVE) project, we calculated the emissions of methane and flux of carbon dioxide from Alaska. We also used NOAA data to examine the long-term trends in early winter CO2 respiration.
Recent publications include: Commane et al., PNAS, 2017, Luus et al., 2017, Zona et al., PNAS, 2016, Parazoo et al., PNAS, 2016, Miller et al., 2016,
More accessible introductions to many of these publications include:
Commane et al., 2017: Early Winter Respiration from Alaskan Tundra May 2017
Methane publications overview: Regional Methane fluxes in Alaska January 2017
Parazoo et al., 2016: Future CO2 in Alaska June 2016
Zona et al., 2016: Methane in the Arctic January 2016
Carbon Fluxes in the Arctic: CARVE October 2015
Commane Group Arctic Carbon in the News
05/2018: Washington Post: The Arctic’s carbon bomb might be even more potent than we thought
02/2018: Inside Science: Global Warming’s Frozen Giant
01/2018:Commane et al., 2017 mentioned in an NPR article: Is there a ticking time bomb under the Arctic?
05/2017: Washington Post article on Commane et al., 2017: We all knew this was coming: Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide into the air
05/2017: New York Times article on Commane et al., 2017: Tundra May Be Shifting Alaska to Put Out More Carbon Than It Stores, Study Says
05/2017 Guardian article on Commane et al., 2017: Slow-freezing Alaska soil driving surge in carbon dioxide emissions
06/2016: Popular Science article based on Parazoo, Commane et al., PNAS, 2016: CO2 Emissions Data In Arctic Winter May Not Be As Accurate As Hoped
12/2015: Washington Post article on Zona, Gioli, Commane et al., PNAS, 2016: Bad News: Scientists say we could be underestimating Arctic methane emissions
ARCTIC ORGANIZATIONS, PROJECTS AND FIELD SITES
Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABOVE) Project
Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE) Arctic Project
Carbon in the Arctic Vulnerability Experiment (CARVE) Project
Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research Station
Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS)
Permafrost Carbon Network (PCN)
Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee Collaborations (IARPC)
US Permafrost Association (USPA)
Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN)