Ignoring carbon emissions from thermokarst ponds results in overestimation of tundra net carbon uptake

Abstract

Arctic permafrost landscapes have functioned as a global carbon sink for millennia. These landscapes are very heterogeneous, and the omnipresent water bodies within them act as a carbon source. Yet, few studies have focused on the impact of these water bodies on the landscape carbon budget. We deepen our understanding of carbon emissions from thermokarst ponds and constrain their impact by comparing carbon dioxide and methane fluxes from these ponds to fluxes from the surrounding tundra. We use eddy covariance measurements from a tower located at the border between a large pond and semi-terrestrial tundra. When we take the open-water areas of thermokarst ponds into account, our results show that the estimated summer carbon uptake of the polygonal tundra is 11 % lower. Further, the data show that open-water methane emissions are of a similar magnitude to polygonal tundra emissions. However, some parts of the pond's shoreline exhibit much higher emissions. This finding underlines the high spatial variability in methane emissions. We conclude that gas fluxes from thermokarst ponds can contribute significantly to the carbon budget of Arctic tundra landscapes. Consequently, changes in the water body distribution of tundra landscapes due to permafrost degradation may substantially impact the overall carbon budget of the Arctic.