Permafrost
Greenland active-layer soils eat permafrost VOCs
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Active-layer soils from Disko Island and Kangerlussuaq consume most tested VOCs, likely microbially, before they can escape to the air.
How this study connects
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Greenland active-layer soils eat permafrost VOCs
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Permafrost underlies about 11% of the global surface.
Permafrost is ground that remains frozen for at least two consecutive years and underlies about 11% of the global surface .
Is uptake mainly physical dissolution?
Nevertheless, the different uptake coefficients for the different compounds observed in our study suggest that the uptake processes are not merely physical, as more uniform coefficients would have been expected in such cases.
Key findings
Soils consumed all 12 VOCs at 10 cm (acetaldehyde failed in some deeper samples). Highest uptake was for benzyl alcohol, isoprene, and linalool. Depth mattered less than site/glacier proximity. Wetting often increased uptake, but compound-specific patterns argue against pure dissolution; microbes are the likely sink, analogous to methane oxidation.
Methodology
Authors incubated active-layer soils from two Greenland sites at several depths in a PTR-ToF-MS chamber, measured emission blends and uptake of 12 target VOCs, and tested water addition versus field moisture.
Limitations
Short incubations cannot separate adsorption from metabolism or prove no later re-emission. Lab VOC concentrations may differ from soil pores. Two Greenland locales do not map the pan-Arctic, and thaw-driven emission fluxes were not quantified in situ.
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