As anthropogenic climate change continues seemingly unabated, research continues into the impact of our warming climate on a variety of habitats. IET Editor Rachael Simpson recently spoke to
Carolina Voigt, lead author of the paper “Warming of subarctic tundra increases emissions of all three important greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide”, about her work monitoring greenhouse emissions on the Russian tundra, and the interesting results she has seen.
1. So Carolina, could you give us a bit on your background – your qualifi cations, where your interest on this subject stems from for example.
Rachael Simpson
I am a PhD student and I’m writing my doctoral thesis at the moment at the University of Eastern Finland with the Biogeochemistry research group. I did my masters in Germany on a similar topic, studying greenhouse
gas cycling from peatlands which is where I became interested in this topic. I then applied for a PhD position here in Finland, with the opportunity of studying greenhouse gas fl uxes from permafrost soils in the Arctic. I’ve been here in Finland for the past 5 years.
2. You mention similar research you’d undertaken in Germany – was this study in the Arctic a follow-on from your previous work?
Fluxes of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide from Arctic soils is generally a topic that interests me, and in particular the fi eldwork connected to it. Taking measurements during Arctic fi eld expeditions and living in remote conditions with an international research team for several months in a row – that’s what interested me in the fi rst place. And then of course in terms of the topic itself, there is huge potential for new fi ndings and some very interesting subjects for a PhD thesis work in this fi eld.
3. Can you give an explanation of the methods, research techniques and equipment used in this study?
What we are using is a quite basic method called the chamber method that is used to measure fl uxes of greenhouse gases produced (or consumed) in the soil. We just place a chamber, any kind of chamber from simple to very sophisticated, on pre-installed collars in the soil and then leave the chamber in place for a certain period of time. Within this time frame there is an accumulation of gases within the chamber headspace
IET March / April 2017
www.envirotech-online.com
Source: University of Eastern Finland “
Taking measurements during Arctic fi eld expeditions and living in remote conditions with an international research team for several months in a row –
that’s what interested me in the fi rst place.
”
and that is what we actually measure. From that concentration change in the chamber headspace we can calculate the fl ux of greenhouse gases that are emitted or taken up by the soil and vegetation.
We also have a warming experiment going on alongside, where we are measuring fl uxes from control surfaces next to surfaces that are artifi cially warmed. We use Plexiglass chambers (so-called open-top chambers, OTCs) which are open on top so they don’t limit air exchange much but are still warming the soil surface and the air close to it by a few degrees, which is what is predicted for the near future in climate change scenarios.
These are the core measurement methods that we are using. Of course, we are also using all kinds of surrounding supportive
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