Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-837
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-837
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
12 Mar 2026
| 12 Mar 2026
Status: this preprint is currently under review for the journal ESSD.
TundraFlux: A database of ecosystem respiration with biotic and abiotic metadata from Arctic and alpine tundra warming experiments
Abstract. Empirical in-situ measurements of ecosystem carbon dioxide respiration (Reco) in high-latitude ecosystems remain limited, yet they are essential for understanding how tundra carbon cycling responds to climate warming across different environmental contexts and for reducing uncertainties in upscaled carbon budgets and carbon–climate feedbacks. Here, we present the TundraFlux Database, which to date is the most comprehensive synthesis of tundra Reco responses to experimental warming. The database compiles over 24,000 daily-aggregated in-situ Reco measurements from control and plots warmed with open-top chambers at 64 Arctic and alpine tundra sites across 12 countries. By coupling Reco measurements with extensive metadata on climate, vegetation, and soil characteristics, the TundraFlux Database enables the integration of field-scale ecological processes into large-scale models, offering new opportunities to refine global carbon budgets and test predictions of tundra ecosystem responses to warming. Open access to the TundraFlux Database empowers the research community to better quantify and predict how warming alters carbon cycling in Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems.
How to cite. Schwieger, S., Dietrich, J., Björkman, M. P., Sarneel, J. M., Li, B., White, J., Althuizen, I. H. J., Biasi, C., Björk, R. G., Böhner, H., Bremset Hansen, B., Carbognani, M., Chiari, G., Christiansen, C. T., Cooper, E. J., Cornelissen, H., D'Imperio, L., Dorrepaal, E., Elberling, B., Faubert, P., Fetcher, N., Forte, T. G. W., Gaudard, J., Gavazov, K., Guan, Z.-H., Guðmundsson, J., Haugum, S. V., He, J.-S., Hicks Pries, C., Hovenden, M., Lang, S. I., Jespersen, G., Jónsdóttir, I. S., Jung, J. Y., Khitun, O., Kortegaard Danielsen, B., Lamprecht, R., Le Moullec, M., Lee, H., Marushchak, M. E., Michelsen, A., Munir, T., Myrsky, E., Newsham, K. K., Nyberg, M., Oberbauer, S. F., Olivas, P., Olofsson, J., Óskarsson, H., Parker, T. C., Petit Bon, M., Petraglia, A., Pickering Pedersen, E., Raundrup, K., Ravn, N. R., Rinnan, R., Rodenhizer, H., Ryde, I., Salazar, A., Schmidt, N. M., Schuur, T., Sjögersten, S., Skov Nielsen, C., Stark, S., Strack, M., Tang, J., Toet, S., Tolvanen, A., Väisänen, M., Van Logtestijn, R., Vandvik, V., Voigt, C., Walz, J., Welker, J. M., Yang, Y., Ylänne, H., and Maes, S. L.: TundraFlux: A database of ecosystem respiration with biotic and abiotic metadata from Arctic and alpine tundra warming experiments, Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-837, in review, 2026.
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Sarah Schwieger
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Climate Impacts Research Centre, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Abisko, Sweden
Department of Ecology, Environment and Geoscience, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Jan Dietrich
Climate Impacts Research Centre, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Abisko, Sweden
Department of Ecology, Environment and Geoscience, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Mats P. Björkman
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 463, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Judith M. Sarneel
Department of Ecology, Environment and Geoscience, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Bowen Li
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 463, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Joel White
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 463, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Inge H. J. Althuizen
NORCE Research AS, Bergen, Norway
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Norway
Christina Biasi
University of Eastern Finland, Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, PO Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland
University of Innsbruck, Department of Ecology, Sternwartestraße 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Robert G. Björk
Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Hanna Böhner
Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT – the Arctic University of Norway, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
Brage Bremset Hansen
Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim, Norway
Gjærevoll Centre for Biodiversity Foresight Analysis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Høgskoleringen 5, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Michele Carbognani
Water and development research group, Aalto University, Finland
Giorgio Chiari
Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Casper T. Christiansen
Terrestrial Ecology Section, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Center for Permafrost, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Elisabeth J. Cooper
Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT – the Arctic University of Norway, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
Hans Cornelissen
Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment (A-LIFE), Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ludovica D'Imperio
Forest and Landscape Ecology, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Ellen Dorrepaal
Climate Impacts Research Centre, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Abisko, Sweden
Department of Ecology, Environment and Geoscience, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Bo Elberling
Center for Permafrost, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Patrick Faubert
Carbone boréal, Département des sciences fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 555 boulevard de l’Université, Chicoutimi, QC, G7H 2B1, Canada
Ned Fetcher
Institute for Environmental Science and Sustainability, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766
T'ai G. W. Forte
Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Joseph Gaudard
Department of Biological Sciences and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Norway
Konstantin Gavazov
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Lausanne, Switzerland
Climate Impacts Research Centre, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Abisko, Sweden
Zhen-Huan Guan
State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, and College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Jón Guðmundsson
Agricultural University of Iceland, Árleyni 22, 112 Reykjavik, Iceland
Siri V. Haugum
The Heathland Centre, Alver, Norway
Jin-Sheng He
Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, and College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Caitlin Hicks Pries
Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA 03755
Mark Hovenden
Biological Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Australian Mountain Research Facility
Simone I. Lang
Department of Arctic Biology, University Centre in Svalbard, PO Box 156, Longyearbyen, Norway
Gus Jespersen
Department of Biological Sciences University of Alaska Anchorage
Ingibjörg S. Jónsdóttir
University of Iceland, Life and Environmental Sciences, Sturlugata 2, 102 Reykjavík, Iceland
Ji Young Jung
Division of Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
Olga Khitun
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 463, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
Birgitte Kortegaard Danielsen
Center for Permafrost, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Richard Lamprecht
University of Eastern Finland, Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, PO Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland
Mathilde Le Moullec
Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Kivioq 2, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland
Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Høgskoleringen 5, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Hanna Lee
Department of Biology, NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
Maija E. Marushchak
University of Eastern Finland, Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, PO Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland
Anders Michelsen
Terrestrial Ecology Section, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Tariq Munir
Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Eero Myrsky
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland
University of Helsinki, Finland
Kevin K. Newsham
British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, United Kingdom
Marion Nyberg
Biological Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Steven F. Oberbauer
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
Institute of Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
Paulo Olivas
Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
Institute of Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
Johan Olofsson
Department of Ecology, Environment and Geoscience, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Hlynur Óskarsson
Agricultural University of Iceland, Árleyni 22, 112 Reykjavik, Iceland
Thomas C. Parker
Ecological Sciences, The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK AB15 8QH
Matteo Petit Bon
Department of Applied Ecology | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University, NC-27695 Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Alessandro Petraglia
Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Emily Pickering Pedersen
Climate Impacts Research Centre, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Abisko, Sweden
Terrestrial Ecology Section, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Katrine Raundrup
Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Kivioq 2, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland
Nynne R. Ravn
Terrestrial Ecology Section, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Riikka Rinnan
Center for Volatile Interactions, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Heidi Rodenhizer
Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ USA
Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth MA, USA
Ingvild Ryde
Terrestrial Ecology Section, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Center for Permafrost, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Alejandro Salazar
Agricultural University of Iceland, Árleyni 22, 112 Reykjavik, Iceland
Niels M. Schmidt
Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
Ted Schuur
Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ USA
Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ USA
Sofie Sjögersten
School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, LE12 5ND, Loughborough, UK
Cecilie Skov Nielsen
SEGES Innovation P/S, Agro Food Park 15, Aarhus, Denmark
Center for Permafrost, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Sari Stark
Department of Arctic Biology, University Centre in Svalbard, PO Box 156, Longyearbyen, Norway
Maria Strack
Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Jianwu Tang
The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
deceased
Sylvia Toet
Department of Biology, University of York, UK
Anne Tolvanen
Natural Resources Institute Finland
Maria Väisänen
Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Richard Van Logtestijn
Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment (A-LIFE), Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Vigdis Vandvik
Department of Biological Sciences and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Norway
Carolina Voigt
University of Eastern Finland, Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, PO Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland
Permafrost Research Section, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
University of Hamburg, Department of Earth System Sciences, Allende-Platz 2, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
Josefine Walz
Climate Impacts Research Centre, Umeå University, Abisko, Sweden
Jeffrey M. Welker
Department of Biological Sciences University of Alaska Anchorage
Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu Finland
University of the Arctic
Yuanhe Yang
State Key Laboratory of Forage Breeding-by-Design and Utilization
Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Henni Ylänne
School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
Sybryn L. Maes
Climate Impacts Research Centre, Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Abisko, Sweden
Forest Ecology and Management Group (FORECOMAN), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Short summary
Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems are warming rapidly, yet measurements of how they release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere remain scarce. We compiled field measurements of ecosystem respiration from warming experiments across tundra regions worldwide. By combining respiration data with information on climate, vegetation, and soils, this database improves our ability to understand and predict how tundra carbon cycling responds to climate warming and feeds back to the global climate system.
Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems are warming rapidly, yet measurements of how they release...
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This manuscript describes the aggregation of ecosystem respiration data from air warming experiments across arctic and alpine tundra warming manipulations. Efforts to aggregate data from similar groups of experiments run by PIs distributed across institutions and nations is extremely valuable to facilitate synthesis, model comparison, and identify gaps. Thus, I think this database is a valuable contribution to the literature. There are several other chamber-based flux aggregation products which the authors mention in their next steps as a goal to facilitate integration. I believe it would be worth explicitly mentioning and distinguishing these in the introduction or description and structure sections. A few aggregated datasets of which I am aware are ABCFlux (ambient only), COSORE (global, focused on continuous, not necessarily aggregated for experimental manipulations), and the ITEX Ecosystem carbon flux dataset. Additonally, are all the sites in TrundraFlux listed in Vogt et al 2025. ARGO: ARctic greenhouse Gas Observation metadata version 1? If not, adding entries there would be a good way to build on existing resources and reduce diverging aggregation efforts.
Overall, this paper is well written with informative graphics and descriptions of the data structure. I feel I have a good grasp of what I expect to find in the dataset and how it is organized.
Some detailed, line-by-line comments
Data sources:
Table S1: do some of these come from databases (eg: LTER for CiPEHR and Toolik sites)? It would be helpful to add these links to the table as well. I think it would be additionally helpful to identify which of these sites originates from the establishment of ITEX.
Table S2: not sure how useful Nobs is other than to show generally large vs small datasets. Instead perhaps adding the frequency/interval of measurement or mode of measurement such as manual vs automated.
Table S4: Is the Daily_% the percent of days in a year with measurements? So 0.5% would be and average of 1.8 days of measurement over the years measured?
Use country codes that match a standard. I believe Fluxnet currently uses: ISO-3611-2: https://fluxnet.org/data/fluxnet2015-dataset/known-issues/. I think using standardized names reduces guessing and makes it easier to link with other products.
Reviewer access URL for code, readme, data dictionary did not work (page not found error from Zenodo)
Text:
Line 128: Suggestion not starting the paragraph with ‘its’. Instead something like: ‘Ecosystem respiration plays a central role… making it important to predict… ‘
Line 135: It would be useful to briefly describe the OTC method.
Line 169-171: Are these metadata time-varying if the experiment is multiple years long? Or are they site-specific and temporally fixed?
Line 232-235: Restricting the NEE fluxes to night-time only is a reasonable approach. However, I wonder what the data source was for the CiPEHR data because Reco (extrapolated from night to day using a temperature-response function) is included in the datasets in the BNZ LTER data catalog: https://www.lter.uaf.edu/data/data-detail/id/481.
There are also some respiration measurements during and from the end of the growing season. Not sure if they are included?
https://www.lter.uaf.edu/data/data-detail/id/611
https://www.lter.uaf.edu/data/data-detail/id/572
https://www.lter.uaf.edu/data/data-detail/id/652
Line 262: I think this sentence has a word missing
Line 288: perhaps cite Schadel et al 2018 Divergent patterns of experimental and model-derived permafrost ecosystem carbon dynamics in response to Arctic warming as an example?
Line 295: Remove ‘while’ to start with The TundraFlux Database? I think it’s important to point out, as you do, that the imbalance is a reflection of the field rather than a limitation of the TundraFlux data aggregation effort. In a sense, these aggregation efforts allow us to see the imbalance more clearly.
Line 372: and/or air vs soil warming as the CiPEHR experiments show that the effects of snow-fences carry over into the summer because the warming soil profile is cumulative. And air warming in summer can alter winter conditions as shifts in vegetation can alter soil conditions (eg: Heather Kropp et al 2021 Environ. Res. Lett.)