In upland Fairbanks, Alaska landscapes have been releasing some of the highest methane emissions yet documented among northern terrestrial ecosystems. The methane consists of carbon thousands of years older than previously seen from upland environments. Typically, methane emissions are associated with wetlands, where low oxygen levels in water-saturated soils favor gas producing microbes. Yet methane emissions at a study’s well-drained, drier sites were sometimes higher than those measured in wetlands. This means that the permafrost carbon feedback is going to be a lot bigger this century than thought.
www.uaf.edu/news/researchers-find-unexpectedly-large-methane-source-in-overlooked-landscape.php