Soils 415 and Zoom
Climate change is rapidly altering vegetation communities and the hydrology of northern watersheds by degrading permanently frozen soil layers (permafrost). These soils store ~1500 gigatons of organic carbon (C). Permafrost degradation through thickening of the seasonally thawed active layer and melting of ground ice will modify water transfers and the export of nutrients and organic matter (OM) from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems. All these processes modify the C-N-P cycles from plants to soils and hydrosystems, further regulating the high latitude ecosystem C balance, and northern ecosystem feedback to climate change. During this talk, investigations on DOM (dissolved organic matter) dynamics carried out in Northern Siberia, in the context of degrading frozen peatlands will be highlighted. Ongoing research projects in the Canadian Arctic focusing on carbon and nutrient dynamics at the interface of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems will also be discussed.
