The Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment (CARVE): Five Years of Insights into the High Latitude Carbon Cycle

Abstract:

CARVE is a NASA Earth Ventures (EV-1) investigation designed to quantify correlations between atmospheric and surface state variables for the Alaskan terrestrial ecosystems through intensive seasonal aircraft campaigns, ground-based observations, and analysis. In 2015 CARVE completed its 5-year mission. CARVE campaigns across the 2012-2015 growing seasons have established a baseline for monthly, regional scale estimates for surface-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄), and begun to elucidate their environmental and biogeochemical controls. We find that large interannual variability in biogenic CH4 and CO2 fluxes, fire, and significant cold season fluxes complicate attempts to estimate accurate annual C budgets or C balance trends for high latitude ecosystems. We discuss our current estimates for seasonal to interannual CH4 and CO2 fluxes as well as lessons learned from CARVE to guide future investigations of carbon cycling and ecosystem vulnerability in the Arctic-Boreal region with particular emphasis on NGEE-Arctic and ABoVE.