Soil Climate and its Control on wetland Carbon Balance in Interior Boreal Alaska: Experimental Manipulation of Thermal and Moisture Regimes

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In association with recent climatic warming in interior Alaska, water bodies in some wetland regions are drying (for example, the Yukon Flats), while other regions are becoming wetter (for example, the Tanana Flats). In a wetland located near Fairbanks, three plots will be established: (1) a non-manipulated control plot, (2) a plot that is ditched to lower the water table, and (3) a plot to which water is added to raise the water table. In sub-plots of each plot, insulation will be added during the winter to locally increase soil temperature. The net fluxes of carbon dioxide and methane will be measured regularly on these plots to quantify the dynamics and mechanisms responsible for the responses.Global warming is affecting much of the boreal forest region, a region which contains between ~30% of the world's soil carbon, much of it stored in wetlands. The response of the two most important greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, in boreal wetlands has the potential to alter the warming effects of these gases on climate. This study will improve the ability to quantify how responses of these gases may enhance or mitigate the warming effects of these gases on climate.