Field data on methane fluxes, temperature, soil gas profiles and microbial activities in ponds of the northeast Siberian polygonal tundra

Methane (CH4) production, oxidation, and emission were studied in ponds of the permafrost-affected polygonal tundra in northeast Siberia. Microbial degradation of organic matter in water-saturated soils is the most important source for the climate-relevant trace gas CH4. Although ponds and lakes cover a substantial fraction of the land surface of northern Siberia, data on CH4 fluxes from these water bodies are scarce. Summer CH4 fluxes were measured with closed chambers at the margins of ponds vegetated by vascular plants and in their centers without vascular plants. Furthermore, CH4 and oxygen concentration gradients, stable carbon isotope signatures of dissolved and emitted CH4, and microbial CH4 production and CH4 oxidation were determined. Mean summer fluxes were significantly higher at the margins of the ponds (46.1 ± 15.4 mg CH4/m2/d) than at the centers (5.9 ± 8.2 mg CH4/m2/d). […]