Greenhouse Gas Fluxes and Earth System Feedbacks

The exchange of GHGs between the atmosphere and the northern oceans and coastal areas, as well as Arctic and Subarctic terrestrial ecosystems, are very sensitive to temperature changes due to the melting of sea ice and glaciers, thawing of permafrost, and changes in snow cover. Over the past 100 years, the surface ocean has warmed by more than 0.7°C on average. This warming is enhanced at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere, and future warming is projected to be strongest in these regions.

The overall objective of GreenFeedBack is to enhance our understanding of key processes of the terrestrial biosphere – freshwater – ocean continuum in surface-atmosphere GHG exchange, the connection between them, and the impacts from human pressures. We will primarily focus on enhancing our understanding of the GHG exchange processes, biogeochemical cycles and feedback mechanisms in high latitude terrestrial and freshwater systems, marine shelves and ocean areas and thereby advance the process-based representation of ecosystems in Earth System Models (ESM), allowing for more certain climate change projections from which climate mitigation and adaptation strategies can be evaluated.