Measuring greenhouse gas release from permafrost soils
Throughout the summer, I worked as an REU Fellow with Dr. Laura Lapham to quantify the release of CO2 and CH4 from thawing permafrost soils. We designed an incubation experiment using soil samples from a 15m core collected from the Mackenzie River Delta in the Northwest Territories, Canada. I incubated these soils under various conditions and measured concentrations of CO2 and CH4 in the vial headspace over time using a GC-FID/TCD. I also used a Picarro Small Sample Isotope Module to assess if the CH4 was produced biologically. This project is particularly relevant because rising global temperatures are currently causing permafrost thaw; this makes large stores of organic carbon vulnerable to microbial degradation, which results in the production of potent greenhouse gases like CO2 and CH4. You can read about the findings of my incubation experiments and other contributions from coauthors here.
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