1. Carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region
New Assessment:
Carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region
1 Pg = 1 billion tons or 1015 g
Permafrost zones
0-30 cm
0-100 cm
Continuous
110.38
298.75
Discontinuous
25.5
67.44
Sporadic
26.36
63.13
Isolated Patches
29.05
67.10
Total
191.29
496.42
Soil or deposit type
C stocks
Soils 0–300 cm
1024
Yedoma sediments
407
Deltaic deposits
241
Total
1672
Over the last three years a group of interdisciplinary scientists (soil scientists, climate models, biogeochemical modelers, gobal carbon cycle) has met several times to update the the database on carbon content in frozen ground. Climate-carbon models use commonly FAO soil maps which show C contnet in frozen soils for the first 30 cm ( Pg C). With this new effort we have almost increase the known C content in permafrost by an order of magntiude by bring new data from soil and sediment cores down to 3 meters, and including non conventional reserves of frozen carbon not usually taken into account (Yedoma sediments from Western Siberia) and Deltaic deposits.
The effort is supported by the GCP, the National Center for Ecological Synthesis and Analysis in California, and ICSU as part of the Polar Year.
Tarnocai C, JG Canadell, EAG Schuur, P Kuhry, Mazhitova G (2009) Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 23, GB2023, doi: /2008GB