Increased rainfall stimulates permafrost thaw across a variety of Interior Alaskan boreal ecosystems
Abstract Earth’s high latitudes are projected to experience warmer and wetter summers in the future but ramifications for soil thermal processes and permafrost thaw are poorly understood. Here we present 2750 end of summer thaw depths representing a range of vegetation characteristics in Interior Al...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41612-020-0130-4 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-020-0130-4.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-020-0130-4 |
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crspringernat:10.1038/s41612-020-0130-4 2023-05-15T15:06:49+02:00 Increased rainfall stimulates permafrost thaw across a variety of Interior Alaskan boreal ecosystems Douglas, Thomas A. Turetsky, Merritt R. Koven, Charles D. 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41612-020-0130-4 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-020-0130-4.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-020-0130-4 en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY npj Climate and Atmospheric Science volume 3, issue 1 ISSN 2397-3722 Atmospheric Science Environmental Chemistry Global and Planetary Change journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-020-0130-4 2022-01-14T15:42:09Z Abstract Earth’s high latitudes are projected to experience warmer and wetter summers in the future but ramifications for soil thermal processes and permafrost thaw are poorly understood. Here we present 2750 end of summer thaw depths representing a range of vegetation characteristics in Interior Alaska measured over a 5 year period. This included the top and third wettest summers in the 91-year record and three summers with precipitation close to mean historical values. Increased rainfall led to deeper thaw across all sites with an increase of 0.7 ± 0.1 cm of thaw per cm of additional rain. Disturbed and wetland sites were the most vulnerable to rain-induced thaw with ~1 cm of surface thaw per additional 1 cm of rain. Permafrost in tussock tundra, mixed forest, and conifer forest was less sensitive to rain-induced thaw. A simple energy budget model yields seasonal thaw values smaller than the linear regression of our measurements but provides a first-order estimate of the role of rain-driven sensible heat fluxes in high-latitude terrestrial permafrost. This study demonstrates substantial permafrost thaw from the projected increasing summer precipitation across most of the Arctic region. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic permafrost Tundra Alaska Springer Nature (via Crossref) Arctic npj Climate and Atmospheric Science 3 1 |
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Open Polar |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Atmospheric Science Environmental Chemistry Global and Planetary Change |
spellingShingle |
Atmospheric Science Environmental Chemistry Global and Planetary Change Douglas, Thomas A. Turetsky, Merritt R. Koven, Charles D. Increased rainfall stimulates permafrost thaw across a variety of Interior Alaskan boreal ecosystems |
topic_facet |
Atmospheric Science Environmental Chemistry Global and Planetary Change |
description |
Abstract Earth’s high latitudes are projected to experience warmer and wetter summers in the future but ramifications for soil thermal processes and permafrost thaw are poorly understood. Here we present 2750 end of summer thaw depths representing a range of vegetation characteristics in Interior Alaska measured over a 5 year period. This included the top and third wettest summers in the 91-year record and three summers with precipitation close to mean historical values. Increased rainfall led to deeper thaw across all sites with an increase of 0.7 ± 0.1 cm of thaw per cm of additional rain. Disturbed and wetland sites were the most vulnerable to rain-induced thaw with ~1 cm of surface thaw per additional 1 cm of rain. Permafrost in tussock tundra, mixed forest, and conifer forest was less sensitive to rain-induced thaw. A simple energy budget model yields seasonal thaw values smaller than the linear regression of our measurements but provides a first-order estimate of the role of rain-driven sensible heat fluxes in high-latitude terrestrial permafrost. This study demonstrates substantial permafrost thaw from the projected increasing summer precipitation across most of the Arctic region. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Douglas, Thomas A. Turetsky, Merritt R. Koven, Charles D. |
author_facet |
Douglas, Thomas A. Turetsky, Merritt R. Koven, Charles D. |
author_sort |
Douglas, Thomas A. |
title |
Increased rainfall stimulates permafrost thaw across a variety of Interior Alaskan boreal ecosystems |
title_short |
Increased rainfall stimulates permafrost thaw across a variety of Interior Alaskan boreal ecosystems |
title_full |
Increased rainfall stimulates permafrost thaw across a variety of Interior Alaskan boreal ecosystems |
title_fullStr |
Increased rainfall stimulates permafrost thaw across a variety of Interior Alaskan boreal ecosystems |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increased rainfall stimulates permafrost thaw across a variety of Interior Alaskan boreal ecosystems |
title_sort |
increased rainfall stimulates permafrost thaw across a variety of interior alaskan boreal ecosystems |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41612-020-0130-4 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-020-0130-4.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-020-0130-4 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic permafrost Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic permafrost Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
npj Climate and Atmospheric Science volume 3, issue 1 ISSN 2397-3722 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-020-0130-4 |
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npj Climate and Atmospheric Science |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766338371454500864 |