The Arctic is exposed to even faster temperature changes than most other areas on Earth. Constantly increasing temperature will lead to thawing permafrost and changes in the methane (CH₄) emissions from wetlands. One of the places exposed to those changes is the Abisko–Stordalen Mire in northern Sweden, where climate and vegetation studies have been conducted since the 1970s.

In our study, we analyzed field-scale methane emissions measured by the eddy covariance method at Abisko–Stordalen Mire for 3 years (2014–2016). The site is a subarctic mire mosaic of palsas, thawing palsas, fully thawed fens, and open water bodies. A bimodal wind pattern prevalent at the site provides an ideal opportunity to measure mire patches with different permafrost status with one flux measurement system. The flux footprint for westerly winds was dominated by elevated palsa plateaus, while the footprint was almost equally distributed between palsas and thawing bog-like areas for easterly winds. As these patches are exposed to the same climatic and weather conditions, we analyzed the differences in the responses of their methane emission for environmental parameters.

The methane fluxes followed a similar annual cycle over the 3 study years, with a gentle rise during spring and a decrease during autumn, without emission bursts at either end of the ice-free season. The peak emission during the ice-free season differed significantly for the two mire areas with different permafrost status: the palsa mire emitted 19 mg-C m⁻² d⁻¹ and the thawing wet sector 40 mg-C m⁻² d⁻¹. Factors controlling the methane emission were analyzed using generalized linear models. The main driver for methane fluxes was peat temperature for both wind sectors. Soil water content above the water table emerged as an explanatory variable for the 3 years for western sectors and the year 2016 in the eastern sector. The water table level showed a significant correlation with methane emission for the year 2016 as well. Gross primary production, however, did not show a significant correlation with methane emissions.

Annual methane emissions were estimated based on four different gap-filing methods. The different methods generally resulted in very similar annual emissions. The mean annual emission based on all models was 3.1 ± 0.3 g-C m⁻² a⁻¹ for the western sector and 5.5 ± 0.5 g-C m⁻² a⁻¹ for the eastern sector. The average annual emissions, derived from these data and a footprint climatology, were 2.7 ± 0.5 and 8.2 ± 1.5 g-C m⁻² a⁻¹ for the palsa and thawing surfaces, respectively. Winter fluxes were relatively high, contributing 27 %–45 % to the annual emissions.

We analysed the effect of the 2018 European drought on greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange of five North European mire ecosystems. The low precipitation and high summer temperatures in Fennoscandia led to a lowered water table in the majority of these mires. This lowered both carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake and methane (CH4) emission during 2018, turning three out of the five mires from CO(2)sinks to sources. The calculated radiative forcing showed that the drought-induced changes in GHG fluxes first resulted in a cooling effect lasting 15-50 years, due to the lowered CH(4)emission, which was followed by warming due to the lower CO(2)uptake. This article is part of the theme issue 'Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale'.

Ecosystems exchange climate-relevant trace gases with the atmosphere, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are a small but highly reactive part of the carbon cycle. VOCs have important ecological functions and implications for atmospheric chemistry and climate. We measured the ecosystem-level surface-atmosphere VOC fluxes using the eddy covariance technique at a shallow subarctic lake and an adjacent graminoid-dominated fen in northern Sweden during two contrasting periods: the peak growing season (mid-July) and the senescent period post-growing season (September-October). In July, the fen was a net source of methanol, acetaldehyde, acetone, dimethyl sulfide, isoprene, and monoterpenes. All of these VOCs showed a did cycle of emission with maxima around noon and isoprene dominated the fluxes (93 +/- 22 mu mol m(-2) d(-1), mean +/- SE). Isoprene emission was strongly stimulated by temperature and presented a steeper response to temperature (Q(10) = 14.5) than that typically assumed in biogenic emission models, supporting the high temperature sensitivity of arctic vegetation. In September, net emissions of methanol and isoprene were drastically reduced, while acetaldehyde and acetone were deposited to the fen, with rates of up to -6.7 +/- 2.8 mu mol m(-2) d(-1) for acetaldehyde. Remarkably, the lake was a sink for acetaldehyde and acetone during both periods, with average fluxes up to -19 +/- 1.3 mu mol m(-2) d(-1) of acetone in July and up to -8.5 +/- 2.3 mu mol m(-2) d(-1) of acetaldehyde in September. The deposition of both carbonyl compounds correlated with their atmospheric mixing ratios, with deposition velocities of -0.23 +/- 0.01 and -0.68 +/- 0.03 cm s(-1) for acetone and acetaldehyde, respectively. Even though these VOC fluxes represented less than 0.5 % and less than 5 % of the CO2 and CH4 net carbon ecosystem exchange, respectively, VOCs alter the oxidation capacity of the atmosphere. Thus, understanding the response of their emissions to climate change is important for accurate prediction of the future climatic conditions in this rapidly warming area of the planet.