Modelling the effects of climate change on methane emission from a northern ombrotrophic bog in Canada

作者：Lai Derrick Y F^*

来源：Environmental Geology, 2009, 58(6): 1197-1206.

DOI：10.1007/s00254-008-1613-5

• Canada
• Climate change
• Methane
• Modelling
• Peatland

Peatlands are a large potential source of methane (CH(4)) to the atmosphere. In order to investigate the effects of climate change on CH(4) emission from northern ombrotrophic peatlands, a simulation model coupling water table dynamics with methane emission was developed for the Mer Bleue Bog in Ontario, Canada. The model was validated against reported values of CH(4) flux from field measurements and the model outputs exhibited high sensitivity to acrotelm thickness, leaf area index, transmissivity and slope of water table. With a 2-4A degrees C temperature rise over the 4-year simulation period, the rate of CH(4) release dropped significantly to under 0.1 mg m(-2) day(-1). On the other hand, mean CH(4) emission increased by > 26-fold when the increase in precipitation was > 15%. When looking at the combined effects, the highest CH(4) release (13.3 mg m(-2) day(-1)) was attained under the scenario of 2A degrees C temperature rise and 25% precipitation increase. Results obtained in this study highlight the importance of avoiding more extreme climate change, which would otherwise lead to enhanced methane release from peatlands and further atmospheric warming through positive feedback.

• 出版日期2009-9