Massive losses and gains of northern land carbon stocks since the Last Glacial Maximum

Summary, in English

The dynamics of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations during and following the last deglaciation have mainly been ascribed to carbon release from and uptake in oceans, primarily in the Southern Ocean. But recent studies also point toward a terrestrial influence. We quantify dynamic changes to northern terrestrial carbon stocks from the Last Glacial Maximum (21,000 years) until present at millennial time steps using a combination of paleo-data and climate-biome modeling. During the deglaciation, northern land carbon storage declined by >300 petagrams of carbon with a minimum around 11,000 years, followed by progressively higher land carbon stocks during the Holocene. We find evidence that dynamic changes in terrestrial land carbon stocks were of a scale to exert large influence on atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and that postglacial terrestrial carbon stock dynamics were dominated by losses from permafrost-affected loess and gains into peatlands.

• Author: Amelie Lindgren; Peter Kuhry; Max Holloway; Zhengyao Lu; George Tanski; Gustaf Hugelius
• Department/s: Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science; MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system; BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
• Publishing year: 2025-08
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Science Advances
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 35
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adt6231
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Topic: Physical Geography; Climate Science
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 2375-2548