As part of the Aquatic Ecosystems and Climate Change course Professor John Anderson from Loughborough University will give an open seminar talk 28 October 2014 at DTU Lyngby Campus, building 307, room 127.
The title of the talk is "Lakes and carbon cycling in the Arctic: what can we learn from the Kangerlussuaq Lake District (SW Greenland)?"
All are welcome to attend.
Abstract
The Arctic represents a major store of organic carbon, most of it in frozen soils; sustained warming at high latitudes threatens to release this C pool into the atmosphere as CO2. Lakes form a major component of Arctic landscapes and have two important roles in relation to C dynamics: mineralizing terrestrially-derived organic carbon (OC) and sequestering (storing) carbon in their sediments. Regional warming, permafrost thawing and altered soil microbiology may result in release of CO2 but also lateral movement of OC pools and soil-derived nutrients which can affect lake functioning (increasing productivity). The Kangerlussuaq area has thousands of lakes covering a regional climate gradient (both precipitation and temperature) which have varying dissolved organic C (DOC) concentrations. After a brief review of the main characteristics of arctic lakes and the key limnic processes, I will illustrate our recent work on carbon dynamics in the lakes along Søndre Strømfjord (Kangerlussuaq) which has focussed on characterizing C fluxes in lakes as well as the importance of the DOC pool in the lakes for their functioning.
Course in Aquatic ecosystems and climate change
The talk is part of the course Aquatic ecosystems and climate change.
Learn more about the course "Aquatic ecosystems and climate change"