MOMENT – Permafrost Research Towards Integrated Observation and Modelling of the Methane Budget of Ecosystems

 

Project description

The joint project MOMENT (Permafrost Research Towards Integrated Observation and Modelling of the Methane Budget of Ecosystems) will close important gaps in the process understanding of the methane cycle in northern latitudes using innovative laboratory studies and multi-scale methane flux observations on Disko Island, Greenland based on state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Permafrost regions are a central element in our climate system, as large quantities of organic carbon are stored in the soils, which have largely remained permanently frozen to date – the so-called permafrost soils. The above-average warming currently being observed in the Arctic is causing the permafrost soils to thaw deeper and the previously stored carbon can be broken down by microorganisms into the greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide. Global Earth system models do not depict the methane fluxes in the Arctic regions sufficiently well because, on the one hand, the underlying interactions and influencing variables have not yet been fully deciphered and, on the other hand, the permafrost regions are characterized by a large degree of small-scale heterogeneity.

MOMENT investigates the small-scale variability of methane emissions and the potential biochemical and physical parameters of the soil and water bodies in situ and in the laboratory on Disko Island in Greenland's Blæsedalen, the "windy valley". The measurement results flow directly to the modelers involved in the project for the further development and validation of state-of-the-art earth system models.

If you would like to learn more about our project, please visit our project website.  

 

Staff at Institute of Soil Science

• Professor for Dynamics of Soil Processes: Prof. Dr. Christian Beer
• Professor for Soils in the Climate System: Prof. Dr. Lars Kutzbach
• Scientist: PD. Dr. Christian Knoblauch
• Scientist: Dr. Claudia Fiencke
• Scientist: Dr. Christina Steffens
• Scientist: Dr. Carolina Voigt
• Scientific programmer: Dr. Xavier Rodriguez
• PhD student: Marius Moser
• PhD student: Selina Undeutsch
• Technician: Birgit Grabellus
  
  

Collaboration partners

• Prof. Dr. Julia Boike from Alfred-Wegener-Institute, Helmholtz-Centre for Polar and Marine Research Potsdam
• Prof. Dr. Susanne Liebner und Prof. Dr. Torsten Sachs from Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
• Prof. Dr. Georg Guggenberger from Leibniz Universität Hannover
• Dr. Mathias Goeckede vom Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
• Prof. Dr. Victor Brovkin vom Max Planck Institute für Meteorology
• Prof. Dr. Janet Rethemeyer von der University of Cologne

Publications

• J. Ramage, M. Kuhn, A. Virkkala, C. Voigt, M. E. Marushchak, A. Bastos, C. Biasi, J. G. Canadell, P. Ciais, E. López-Blanco, S. M. Natali, D. Olefeldt, S. Potter, B. Poulter, B. M. Rogers, E. A. G. Schuur, C. Treat, M. R. Turetsky, J. Watts, G. Hugelius (2024) The Net GHG Balance and Budget of the Permafrost Region (2000-2020) From Ecosystem Flux Upscaling. Global biogeochemical cycles 38 (4). DOI: 10.1029/2023gb007953
• J. Strauss, M. E. Marushchak, L. van Delden, T. Sanders, C. Biasi, C. Voigt, L. L. Jongejans, C. Treat (2024) Potential nitrogen mobilisation from the Yedoma permafrost domain. Environmental Research Letters 19 (4). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ad3167
• C. Voigt, A. M. Virkkala, G. Hould Gosselin, K. A. Bennett, T. A. Black, M. Detto, C. Chevrier-Dion, G. Guggenberger, W. Hashmi, L. Kohl, D. Kou, C. Marquis, P. Marsh, M. E. Marushchak, Z. Nesic, H. Hykänen, T. Saarela, L. Sauheitl, B. Walker, N. Weiss, E. J. Wilcox, O. Sonnentag (2023) Arctic soil methane sink increases with drier conditions and higher ecosystem respiration. Nature Climate Change 13. 1095-1104. DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01785-3
• C. Voigt (2023) Carbon availability and soil moisture drive the Arctic soil methane sink. Nature Climate Change. 13 (10) 1027-1028. DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01787-1
• J. Boike, A. Abramov, K. E. Bennett, L. Kutzbach (2023) Arctic permafrost. In: Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment. Vol 5, 2nd Edition. S. 410-418. Elsevier Ltd. DOI: 10:1016/B978-0-12-822974-3.00141-5