Long-term flux measurements suggest dynamic emission factors are needed for rewetted peatlands

Long-term flux measurements suggest dynamic emission factors are needed for rewetted peatlands | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Long-term flux measurements suggest dynamic emission factors are needed for rewetted peatlands Aram Kalhori, Christian Wille, Pia Gottschalk, Zhan Li, Joshua Hashemi, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3241711/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Feb, 2024 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Rewetting drained peatlands is recognized as a leading and effective natural solution to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, rewetting creates novel ecosystems whose emission behavior is not well captured by the currently used emission factors (EFs). These EFs are static and do not capture the temporal dynamics of GHG emissions. Hence, they often do not reflect the true emission reduction potential after rewetting. Here, we provide long-term data showing a mismatch between actual emissions and default EFs and revealing the temporal patterns of annual CO2 and CH4 fluxes in a rewetted peatland site in northeastern Germany. We show that site-level annual emissions of CO2 and CH4 approach the IPCC default EFs and those suggested for the German national inventory report only between 13 to 16 years after rewetting. Over the entire study period, we observed a source-to-sink transition of annual CO2 fluxes with a decreasing trend of -0.36 t CO2-C ha-1 yr-1, and a decrease in annual CH4 emissions of -23.6 kg CH4 ha-1 yr-1. Our results indicate that EFs should represent the temporally dynamic nature of peatlands post rewetting and consider the effects of site characteristics to better estimate associated GHG budgets. Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Climate change/Climate-change mitigation Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Atmospheric science/Atmospheric dynamics Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Biogeochemistry trace gases carbon dioxide methane peatlands emission factors eddy covariance climate mitigation Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SuppInfoNCCZrkEFsKalhorietal2023.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Feb, 2024 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3241711","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":226520486,"identity":"e05892de-7002-4ffc-ab54-697cda79b86c","order_by":0,"name":"Aram 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