Horizon Europe DisC-PP Project: Carbon discharge into groundwater from permafrost peatlands
- Type Project
- Status Signed
- Execution 2025 -2027
- Assigned Budget 165.312,96 €
- Scope Europeo
- Autonomous community Cataluña
- Main source of financing Horizon Europe 2021-2027
- Project website https://doi.org/10.3030/101150019
High-latitude terrestrial ecosystems play an important role in the carbon budget. However, how global warming affects their carbon cycle is difficult to measure due to the combined forces of hydrology, soil temperature, and biogeochemical processes. Fluxes in groundwater carbon (GDC) discharge play a key but uncertain role, as they are difficult to measure, non-uniform, and affected by permafrost thaw. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions program, the DisC-PP project aims to provide insights into GDC fluxes in permafrost peatlands. Through field measurements and ecosystem models, it will attempt to uncover the main causes of GDC fluctuations, the consequences of climate-induced changes in hydrology and carbon cycling on GDC, as well as the GDC's contribution to the carbon balance.
A better understanding of the terrestrial carbon (C) cycle at high latitudes is essential for predicting the future of the global climate. This urgency arises from the large C pools present in permafrost soils and the rapid regional warming observed over the past decades. The complexity introduced by the strong coupling between hydrology, soil temperature, and biogeochemical processes in these systems impedes efforts to close the C budget and understand the fate of newly thawed soil organic C. In particular, groundwater C discharge (GDC) stands out as a significant source of uncertainty in the high-latitude C budget because these fluxes are difficult to measure, highly heterogeneous, and strongly impacted by permafrost thaw.
The primary objective of the DisC-PP project is to improve understanding of GDC fluxes within permafrost peatlands. Groundwater plays a key but uncertain role in the functioning of these distinctive C-rich wetland ecosystems. By combining field measurements with ecosystem modeling, DisC-PP will address three knowledge gaps:
- What are the dominant factors responsible for spatial and seasonal fluctuations in the GDC of permafrost peatlands?
- How will climate change affect hydrology and the carbon cycle in the GDC?
- What is the contribution of GDC to the overall C balance of permafrost peatlands?
The project will be conducted in Stordalen Mire, an intensively characterized permafrost peatland in subarctic Sweden. The modeling component will employ ecosys, a validated, process-rich mechanistic ecosystem model with proven applicability in high-latitude ecosystems. DisC-PP will significantly advance my career by developing relevant skills, gaining exposure to diverse high-latitude ecosystems, and establishing new relationships with leading ecohydrology experts. Furthermore, the project will enhance understanding of how lateral C fluxes via groundwater discharge impact high-latitude C cycling and climate, addressing a current gap in global climate models.
- UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA
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