Active layer thickness as a function of soil water content
Abstract Active layer thickness (ALT) is a critical metric for monitoring permafrost. How soil moisture influences ALT depends on two competing hypotheses: (a) increased soil moisture increases the latent heat of fusion for thaw, resulting in shallower active layers, and (b) increased soil moisture...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c/pdf |
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crioppubl:10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c 2024-06-23T07:44:55+00:00 Active layer thickness as a function of soil water content Clayton, Leah K Schaefer, Kevin Battaglia, Michael J Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura Chen, Jingyi Chen, Richard H Chen, Albert Bakian-Dogaheh, Kazem Grelik, Sarah Jafarov, Elchin Liu, Lin Michaelides, Roger John Moghaddam, Mahta Parsekian, Andrew D Rocha, Adrian V Schaefer, Sean R Sullivan, Taylor Tabatabaeenejad, Alireza Wang, Kang Wilson, Cathy J Zebker, Howard A Zhang, Tingjun Zhao, Yuhuan National Science Foundation National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE) Arctic 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c/pdf unknown IOP Publishing http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining Environmental Research Letters volume 16, issue 5, page 055028 ISSN 1748-9326 journal-article 2021 crioppubl https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c 2024-06-10T04:11:25Z Abstract Active layer thickness (ALT) is a critical metric for monitoring permafrost. How soil moisture influences ALT depends on two competing hypotheses: (a) increased soil moisture increases the latent heat of fusion for thaw, resulting in shallower active layers, and (b) increased soil moisture increases soil thermal conductivity, resulting in deeper active layers. To investigate their relative influence on thaw depth, we analyzed the Field Measurements of Soil Moisture and Active Layer Thickness (SMALT) in Alaska and Canada dataset, consisting of thousands of measurements of thaw depth and soil moisture collected at dozens of sites across Alaska and Canada as part of NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). As bulk volumetric water content (VWC) integrated over the entire active layer increases, ALT decreases, supporting the latent heat hypothesis. However, as VWC in the top 12 cm of soil increases, ALT increases, supporting the thermal conductivity hypothesis. Regional temperature variations determine the baseline thaw depth while precipitation may influence the sensitivity of ALT to changes in VWC. Soil latent heat dominates over thermal conductivity in determining ALT, and the effect of bulk VWC on ALT appears consistent across sites. Article in Journal/Newspaper Active layer thickness Arctic permafrost Alaska IOP Publishing Arctic Canada Environmental Research Letters 16 5 055028 |
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Abstract Active layer thickness (ALT) is a critical metric for monitoring permafrost. How soil moisture influences ALT depends on two competing hypotheses: (a) increased soil moisture increases the latent heat of fusion for thaw, resulting in shallower active layers, and (b) increased soil moisture increases soil thermal conductivity, resulting in deeper active layers. To investigate their relative influence on thaw depth, we analyzed the Field Measurements of Soil Moisture and Active Layer Thickness (SMALT) in Alaska and Canada dataset, consisting of thousands of measurements of thaw depth and soil moisture collected at dozens of sites across Alaska and Canada as part of NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). As bulk volumetric water content (VWC) integrated over the entire active layer increases, ALT decreases, supporting the latent heat hypothesis. However, as VWC in the top 12 cm of soil increases, ALT increases, supporting the thermal conductivity hypothesis. Regional temperature variations determine the baseline thaw depth while precipitation may influence the sensitivity of ALT to changes in VWC. Soil latent heat dominates over thermal conductivity in determining ALT, and the effect of bulk VWC on ALT appears consistent across sites. |
author2 |
National Science Foundation National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE) Arctic |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Clayton, Leah K Schaefer, Kevin Battaglia, Michael J Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura Chen, Jingyi Chen, Richard H Chen, Albert Bakian-Dogaheh, Kazem Grelik, Sarah Jafarov, Elchin Liu, Lin Michaelides, Roger John Moghaddam, Mahta Parsekian, Andrew D Rocha, Adrian V Schaefer, Sean R Sullivan, Taylor Tabatabaeenejad, Alireza Wang, Kang Wilson, Cathy J Zebker, Howard A Zhang, Tingjun Zhao, Yuhuan |
spellingShingle |
Clayton, Leah K Schaefer, Kevin Battaglia, Michael J Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura Chen, Jingyi Chen, Richard H Chen, Albert Bakian-Dogaheh, Kazem Grelik, Sarah Jafarov, Elchin Liu, Lin Michaelides, Roger John Moghaddam, Mahta Parsekian, Andrew D Rocha, Adrian V Schaefer, Sean R Sullivan, Taylor Tabatabaeenejad, Alireza Wang, Kang Wilson, Cathy J Zebker, Howard A Zhang, Tingjun Zhao, Yuhuan Active layer thickness as a function of soil water content |
author_facet |
Clayton, Leah K Schaefer, Kevin Battaglia, Michael J Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura Chen, Jingyi Chen, Richard H Chen, Albert Bakian-Dogaheh, Kazem Grelik, Sarah Jafarov, Elchin Liu, Lin Michaelides, Roger John Moghaddam, Mahta Parsekian, Andrew D Rocha, Adrian V Schaefer, Sean R Sullivan, Taylor Tabatabaeenejad, Alireza Wang, Kang Wilson, Cathy J Zebker, Howard A Zhang, Tingjun Zhao, Yuhuan |
author_sort |
Clayton, Leah K |
title |
Active layer thickness as a function of soil water content |
title_short |
Active layer thickness as a function of soil water content |
title_full |
Active layer thickness as a function of soil water content |
title_fullStr |
Active layer thickness as a function of soil water content |
title_full_unstemmed |
Active layer thickness as a function of soil water content |
title_sort |
active layer thickness as a function of soil water content |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c/pdf |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Active layer thickness Arctic permafrost Alaska |
genre_facet |
Active layer thickness Arctic permafrost Alaska |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters volume 16, issue 5, page 055028 ISSN 1748-9326 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
055028 |
_version_ |
1802640619081826304 |