MOMENT

The project " Permafrost Research Towards Integrated Observation and Modelling of the Methane Budget of Ecosystems," abbreviated as MOMENT, aims to reduce uncertainties in future greenhouse gas projections. This requires a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative understanding of the methane cycle in permafrost regions. In the Blæsedalen Valley on Disko Island, West Greenland, various studies on the current carbon cycle are being conducted. The newly collected data serve as a crucial foundation for model evaluation and are combined with data gathered in Siberia over the past decades.
MOMENT is divided into four sub-projects:

• Sub-project 1: Scientific and technical coordination.
• Sub-project 2: Process studies on methane production and oxidation (from micro to pedon scale).
• Sub-project 3: Impacts of permafrost degradation and aggradation on CH4 fluxes in heterogeneous tundra landscapes (from pedon to landscape scale).
• Sub-project 4: Modeling analysis of the spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability of permafrost landscapes and their greenhouse gas fluxes.

AWI is participating with the research group of Prof. Dr. Julia Boike in Sub-project 3. In this context, the impact of climate change on various control factors of methane fluxes is investigated on the pedon to landscape scale, including snow cover, soil moisture, soil temperature, soil chemical properties, and vegetation cover. Extensive measurements and sample collection are carried out in collaboration with Sub-project 2, followed by comprehensive analyses in the laboratory on the collected soil samples.