ARCUS Student Award | 2nd Annual Award

2nd Annual ARCUS Award for Arctic Research Excellence

Submitted by: Sadredin C. Moosavi
Authors: Sadredin C. Moosavi and Patrick M. Crill
Title: CH4 Oxidation by Tundra Wetlands as Measured by a Selective Inhibitor
Affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA

Abstract

Rates of methane (CH4) oxidation were measured in three wet sedge communities on Alaska's North Slope in 1993 and 1995 using the selective inhibitor methyl flouride (CH3F). Comparison of CH4 flux prior to inhibition (net flux) with flux after inhibition (gross flux) enables one to infer CH4 oxidation rates by difference. Oxidation rates from Franklin Bluffs, Sagavanirktok River floodplain, Toolik Lake Inlet, and Toolik Lake Outlet averaged 24.9, 14.7 (1.6), (17.6) and 25.2 (49.8) mg CH4/m2/d in 1995 (1993) respectively. Plot level data suggest that oxidation rates vary greatly spatially and temporally down to the meter scale. As a percentage of flux, however, mean CH4 oxidation rates of 13.4, 21.7 (2.0), (16.5) and 19.4 (38.0) % at Franklin Bluffs, Sagavanirktok, Toolik Lake Inlet and Toolik Lake Outlet in 1995 (1993) respectively, were seen to be rather uniform over the region. The effects of temperature on CH4 production appear to be the dominant control on CH4 oxidation rates in wet sedge environments as opposed to soil moisture dependency in upland soils. Nutrient fertilization was not found to influence the fraction of CH4 lost to oxidation. This suggests that CH4 oxidation, while significant in tundra wetlands, may consume a near constant fraction of available CH4.