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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-3659</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Ditches, microtopographical hotspots and hot moments drive greenhouse gas emissions from a clear-felled conifer plantation on an organic soil</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Keane</surname>
<given-names>Ben</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7614-8018</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Blei</surname>
<given-names>Emanuel</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2307-6345</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Gibson-Poole</surname>
<given-names>Simon</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ineson</surname>
<given-names>Phil</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Morison</surname>
<given-names>James I. L.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0803-637X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Perks</surname>
<given-names>Mike</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Vanguelova</surname>
<given-names>Elena</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Wilkinson</surname>
<given-names>Matt</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Williams</surname>
<given-names>Mat</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6117-5208</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Xenakis</surname>
<given-names>Georgios</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2950-4101</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yamulki</surname>
<given-names>Sirwan</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Toet</surname>
<given-names>Sylvia</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7657-4607</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK, YO10 5DD</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>The Dot Collective, Southwark, 70 Colombo Street, London, UK, SE1 8DP</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>SRUC, Peter Wilson Building, Kings Buildings, Edinburgh, UK, EH9 3JG</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK, YO10 5DD</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge, Wrecclesham, Farnham, Surrey, UK, GU10 4LH</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff6">
<label>6</label>
<addr-line>Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian, UK, EH25 9SY</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff7">
<label>7</label>
<addr-line>School of Geosciences, Grant Institute, King&apos;s Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, UK, EH9 3JW</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>26</day>
<month>06</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>31</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Ben Keane et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3659/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3659/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3659/egusphere-2026-3659.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3659/egusphere-2026-3659.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>In the United Kingdom (UK), forests on peaty gley, peaty podsol and deep peat soils contain ca. 50 % of the total forest soil C stock (Vanguelova, 2015). Many such forests were planted in the 1970s and 80s and are due for harvest, raising the question: what is the greenhouse gas (GHG) balance after felling?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Typically, planted forests in the wetter UK uplands contain a network of ditches and ridge-with-furrows resulting in a complex mosaic of microtopographical features. Measuring GHG exchange from such a complex landscape is challenging; methane (CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;) and nitrous oxide (N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O) fluxes can vary greatly in both space and time, and ditches have been highlighted as potentially important GHG sources although they are challenging to measure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We used a combination of flux measurement techniques to quantify GHG fluxes and identify the drivers from the key microtopographies (ridges, hollows, ditches) within an upland forest in northern England immediately after clear felling. We deployed manual flux chambers, a SkyLine2D automated chamber system and two eddy covariance towers to measure carbon dioxide (CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;), CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;, and N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O for an intensive campaign of five weeks. We used remote sensing to estimate the proportions of microtopographies and upscaled fluxes from the chamber to the forest block scale. We investigated the contribution of brash to the GHG emissions of harvest through a litter addition experiment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cumulative flux estimates based on the different techniques and the GHGs measured varied considerably. We found that CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; fluxes did not differ between microtopographies but the needle litter in harvesting residues increased CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; emissions by ca. 33 %. Soil moisture was an important driver of both CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; and N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O fluxes. Ditches were the largest source of CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; fluxes, followed by hollows and then ridges. The opposite pattern was seen for N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O fluxes, which were greatest from ridges and other drier areas within the landscape. Following heavy rainfall, emissions of all GHGs increased rapidly over the next 24 hours.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Natural Environment Research Council</funding-source>
<award-id>NE/K002538/1</award-id>
<award-id>NE/K002619/1</award-id>
<award-id>NE/K002619/1</award-id>
<award-id>NE/B000190/1</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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