Climate of the Past www.clim-past.net 1814-9324 1814-9332 5 4 2009 10.5194/cp-5-683-2009 http://www.clim-past.net/5/683/2009/ http://www.clim-past.net/5/683/2009/cp-5-683-2009.html http://www.clim-past.net/5/683/2009/cp-5-683-2009.pdf 683 693 2009-11-11 The importance of Northern Peatlands in global carbon systems during the Holocene Y. Wang ywang699@gmail.com N. T. Roulet S. Frolking L. A. Mysak Department of Geography, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9SJ, UK Dept. of Geography and McGill School of Environment, McGill Univ., 3534 Univ., Montreal, Quebec H3A 2A7, Canada Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, 805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K6, Canada We applied an inverse model to simulate global carbon (C) cycle dynamics during the Holocene period using atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations reconstructed from Antarctic ice cores and prescribed C accumulation rates of Northern Peatlands (NP) as inputs. Previous studies indicated that different sources could contribute to the 20 parts per million by volume (ppmv) atmospheric CO₂ increase over the past 8000 years. These sources of C include terrestrial release of 40–200 petagram C (PgC, 1 petagram=10¹⁵ gram), deep oceanic adjustment to a 500 PgC terrestrial biomass buildup early in this interglacial period, and anthropogenic land-use and land-cover changes of unknown magnitudes. Our study shows that the prescribed peatland C accumulation significantly modifies our previous understanding of Holocene C cycle dynamics. If the buildup of the NP is considered, the terrestrial pool becomes the C sink of about 160–280 PgC over the past 8000 years, and the only C source for the terrestrial and atmospheric C increases is presumably from the deep ocean due to calcium carbonate compensation. Future studies need to be conducted to constrain the basal times and growth rates of the NP C accumulation in the Holocene. These research endeavors are challenging because they need a dynamically-coupled peatland simulator to be constrained with the initiation time and reconstructed C reservoir of the NP. 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