Importance of boreal forest ecosystems of Komi Republic for the regional and European methane budget

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The European budget of the greenhouse gas methane is dominated by landscape sources from the cold climates ecozone (taiga and tundra), according to our first rough estimate approximately by up to 76 %. Large areas of Komi Republic and the rest of European Russia are covered by paludified forests characterised by waterlogged soils that contain high amounts of carbon. These soil properties have been recognized as prerequisites for methane emissions in many studies. Assuming that these ecosystems are methane sources would increase the European CH4 emission estimate from 5 to 13 Tg CH4 per year. Additional to the natural paludification this process might occur after clear cut which is the main implemented logging type in Russia. Hence the amount of possible methane emissions from paludified forests of Komi Republic has to be quantified and included into the regional and European greenhouse gas emission budgets. The aim of this project is to understand the current methane dynamics in natural paludified forests and on clear cut areas. We will determine the current emissions of methane and analyse the soil and vegetation properties as well as climatic conditions as controls of methane emissions. We will use remote sensing techniques to estimate the area of natural paludified forests and paludified clear cuts and calculate scenarios of different logging methods and intensities as well as calculate how far Russia is offsetting their carbon budget by prospective induced methane emissions due to clear cutting.