A relatively small amount of groundwater trickling through Alaska’s tundra is releasing huge quantities of carbon into the ocean, where it can contribute to climate change, according to new research out of The University of Texas at Austin.
A relatively small amount of groundwater trickling through Alaska’s tundra is releasing huge quantities of carbon into the ocean, where it can contribute to climate change, according to new research out of The University of Texas at Austin.
Researchers found that although the groundwater only makes up a fraction of the water discharged to the sea, it’s liberating an estimated 230 tons of organic carbon per day along the almost 2,000-kilometer coastline of the Beaufort Sea in summer. This quantity of carbon is on par with what free-flowing rivers in the area release during summer months.
“This study shows that there’s humongous amounts of organic carbon and carbon dioxide released via fresh groundwater discharge in summer,” said Cansu Demir, who led the research while she was completing her doctoral degree at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences. She is now a postdoctoral research associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The research was published recently in Geophysical Research Letters.
Read more at University of Texas at Austin
Image: An aerial image of the study site in Kaktovik Lagoon of northern Alaska. (Credit: Nathan Sonderman)
