Multi-decadal year-round CO2 and CH4 fluxes to understand long-term impact of climate change on the Arctic carbon balance

Organic carbon in northern soils is more than double the current atmospheric pool. An increasing fraction of this organic carbon is vulnerable to conversion to carbon dioxide and methane. Temperatures in far northern latitudes have increased by 0.6 °C in the last 30 years, which is twice the global average with the largest increase in the non-summer seasons. This increase has been linked to increased atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gas fluxes in high latitude wetlands but the drivers of this renewed growth are still largely uncertain. This project establishes long-term, year-round field observations to better understand the controls on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the Arctic at time scales that will encompass climate change and variability.

Participants Involved in This Project

Holli outdoors

Holli Grant | Educator Fellow

Lake Worth ISD | Lake Worth, Texas
Macall in front of snow

Macall Hock | Researcher Fellow

San Diego State University | San Diego, CA

From the Blog

Erika wearing a puffy jacket and holding up her hands in front of shelves of ice cores.
The Power of Collaboration
As a high school science teacher, I’m always looking for ways to inspire my students with real-world science and deepen their understanding of our planet. The PolarSTEAM Educator Fellowship has been an extraordinary opportunity to merge my passion for polar environments with my teaching. Through this year-long virtual collaboration with T.J. Fudge, a research scientist at the University of Washington, I’ve been immersed in cutting-edge research on ice cores, allowing me to bring current polar science research to my students.
Seven people sit up in sleeping bags in front of a building
A Day in the Life
The Juneau Icefield is a group of interconnected glaciers just north of Juneau, Alaska that extends into British Columbia, Canada and covers an area the size of Rhode Island. Maybe you’ve heard of the Mendenhall Glacier? It is part of the Juneau Icefield! The Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP) has been collecting data on the icefield since 1948. 
Macall and Holli filtering water samples
A Day in the Life
An Unforgettable Adventure Begins As a high school science teacher, the invitation to join Macall Hock on an expedition to study the effects of a warming Arctic ecosystem on stream carbon cycling in Utqiagvik, Alaska, felt like stepping into a thrilling adventure. The beauty of the Arctic wilderness was a sight to behold, but the
A cartoon reindeer stands in front of a water tower with an illustrated reindeer logo that says "National Science Foundation Navigating the New Arctic"
Connecting to the Classroom
Drs. Peter Ungar, Mary Heskel, and Aleksey Sheshukov explained (patiently) their areas of expertise, Arctic research projects, and provided me with a virtual mountain of photographs from their fieldwork. We talked about what projects would be suitable and appropriate for a variety of audiences. What would be engaging to different ages, interests and levels of scientific knowledge? I knew that I wanted my Photoshop class to be involved with this project, so I suggested creating a comic book.
One person prepares to throw harpoon at a board painted with two black humps to symbolize a whale. Two other people watch.
A Day in the Life
Today we got set up and met the local 8th graders out on the ice! For some of them it was the first time they had been on the land-fast sea ice (which is ice that is "fastened" to the coastline). For some, it was old news. It was quite cold (-30F with the windchill), so many students hid in the tents we had set up. The previous days had been relatively warm, hovering around 0-10F degrees. The students were split into groups and rotated between the stations.