November 9 , 2011 Miriam Jones, The role of drained thermokarst lake basins in arctic carbon cycling: examples from Alaska and Siberia, University of Alaska Fairbanks

The role of drained thermokarst lake basins in arctic carbon cycling: examples from Alaska and Siberia

Miriam Jones, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Thermokarst lakes and peat-accumulating drained lake basins cover a substantial portion of arctic lowland landscapes, yet the role of thermokarst lake drainage and ensuing peat formation in landscape-scale carbon (C) budgets remains understudied. We characterized regional lake drainage chronology, C accumulation rates, and the role of thermokarst-lake cycling in carbon dynamics throughout the Holocene on the northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska and are working on a similar study from drained lake basins near Cherskii, Siberia.