Nitin Chaudhary
Postdoc
Peatland dynamics in response to past and potential future climate change : A regional modelling approach
Author
Summary, in English
LPJ-GUESS is quite robust in capturing peat accumulation and permafrost dynamics including reasonable vegetation and hydrological conditions at temporal and spatial scales across various climate gradients. The simulations improved our knowledge of peatland functioning in the past, present and future. It was found that Stordalen mire will continue to accumulate carbon in the coming decades but later will turn into a carbon source. It was also found that permafrost-free regions that are predicted to experience reduced rates of precipitation may lose significant amount of carbon in the future due to reductions in soil moisture. Conversely, peatlands currently underlain with permafrost could gain carbon due to an initial increase in soil moisture as a result of permafrost thawing. My modelling results also suggest that peatlands can show diverse range of behaviour with alternative compositional and structural dynamics depending on the initial topographical, climatic conditions, and plant characteristics, therefore, it will be challenging to represent such dynamics in current Earth System Models (ESMs). With the inclusion of aforementioned processes, LPJ-GUESS has now become quite robust. The resultant model can now be coupled with ESM where it can address issues related to peatland-mediated biogeochemical and biophysical feedbacks to climate change in the Arctic and globally.
Department/s
- MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
- BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
- Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
Publishing year
2017-03
Language
English
Full text
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Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
Lund University, Faculty of Science, Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
Topic
- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
- Physical Geography
Keywords
- PEATLANDS
- PERMAFROST
- Carbon accumulation
- Microtopography
- LPJ-GUESS
- Earth system models
Status
Published
Supervisor
- Benjamin Smith
- Paul Miller
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISBN: 978-91-85793-80-8
- ISBN: 978-91-85793-79-2
Defence date
21 April 2017
Defence time
13:00
Defence place
Lecture hall “Världen”, Geocentre I, Sölvegatan 10, Lund
Opponent
- Mathew Williams (Dr.)