Changing carbon sinks in subarctic Canada

在人类世，人类驱动的碳循环变化改变了全球和地方气候，从而改变了经济和人类生活的方方面面。亚北极地区占加拿大陆地面积的1/6，但对该地区的研究很少，人类居住稀少，资源开采率正在增加。由于广泛的永久冻土、大量的碳储存和低年降水量，亚北极中部和西部特别容易受到气候变化的影响（温度和降水）。从地表水体到大气的碳通量作为温室气体（二氧化碳和甲烷）是来自陆地系统（包括湿地和湖/池塘边缘）的碳源与沉积物中储存的碳之间的平衡。地表水体的这种损失是巨大的，使我们量化气候变化和人类活动对这一大片地区的影响的能力变得复杂。该方案考察了沿沿着南北剖面的连续冻土、大面积不连续冻土和零星不连续冻土三个区域的碳平衡。我们使用水文气候信息，化学分析，高度专业化的同位素技术，遥感和数值模拟相结合，以提高我们的定量理解和预测碳动态，温室气体的产生，碳储量和沉积物中长期储存（碳封存）和释放到大气中（增加温室气体）之间的临界碳平衡。我们已经形成了一个强大的研究团队，包括来自大学，地区和联邦政府，学生和土著社区的加拿大和国际研究科学家。研究成果将为科学管理和政策决定提供信息，并为加拿大北部气候变化行动和加拿大温室气体排放国际报告义务提供信息。

In the Anthropocene, human-driven changes to carbon cycles alter global and local climates and hence allaspects of economy and human life. The subarctic is 1/6 of the Canadian land mass but a poorly studied areawhere human habitation is sparse and rates of resource extraction are increasing. The central and westernsubarctic is particularly vulnerable to climate change effects (temperature and precipitation) due to extensivepermafrost, large stores of carbon, and low annual precipitation. Carbon fluxes to the atmosphere from surfacewater bodies as greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and methane) is a balance between carbon sources fromterrestrial systems including wetlands and lake/pond margins and carbon stored in sediments. This loss fromsurface water bodies is large and complicates our ability to quantify the effect of climate change and humanactivities on this large region. This proposal examines the landscape-scale carbon balance in three areas along atransect from south to north covering conditions of continuous, widespread discontinuous, and sporadicdiscontinuous permafrost. We use a combination of hydroclimatic information, chemical analysis, highlyspecialized isotopic techniques, remote sensing, and numerical modelling to improve our quantitativeunderstanding and forecasting of carbon dynamics, greenhouse gas production, carbon stores and the criticalcarbon balance between long-term storage in sediments (carbon sequestration) and release to the atmosphere(increasing greenhouse gases). We have formed a strong research team including Canadian and internationalresearch scientists from universities, territorial and federal governments, students, and Indigenouscommunities. Research outcomes will inform science-based management and policy decisions and delivery ofclimate change actions for Canada's north and Canada's obligations for international reporting on greenhousegas emissions.