Response of Methane Emission to Temperature Anomalies of Mires: Case Study of the Southern Taiga in Western Siberia

Abstract

In the summer and autumn of 2017, anomalously high methane fluxes were measured using the chamber method on oligotrophic, mesotrophic, and eutrophic mires in the southern taiga in Western Siberia (mean ± std): up to 42.4 ± 18.7, 10.9 ± 6.1, and 17.9 ± 8.1 mg C m^–2 h^–1, respectively. The winter periods of the previous 3 years (2013–2016) showed air temperatures 1.3–2.1°C higher than the average over the past 13 years, which, combined with the maximum snow cover height and relatively windless weather, had led to heating of the peat layer by 3.5–5.5°С in 2017. The incubation experiments, made to calculate the potential methanogenic activity, confirmed the possibility of the formation of the amount of methane in peat that is necessary to explain the results of field studies.