Permafrost response to land use and land cover change in the last millennium across the Northern Hemisphere

• Published in: Land Degradation & Development
• Main Authors: Peng, Xiaoqing, Zhang, Tingjun, Frauenfeld, Oliver W., Du, Ran
• Other Authors: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Lanzhou University, State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2020
• Subjects: Active layer thickness; permafrost
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ldr.3578; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fldr.3578; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ldr.3578; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ldr.3578

Abstract Land use and land cover change (LULCC) can alter surface climate through biogeophysical feedbacks including the modification of energy, moisture, and momentum exchanges between the land and atmosphere. Permafrost, a component of the cryosphere, plays an important role in the climate system. However, the role of permafrost in LULCC in cold regions is still not clearly understood. Here, we employ a LULCC sensitivity experiment carried out by the community Earth system model last millennium ensemble project to investigate the effect of LULCC in permafrost regions across the Northern Hemisphere during 850–2005. LULCC is associated with statistically significant large‐scale cooling in permafrost regions. The overall area‐averaged annual surface air temperature decreased 0.37°C during 850–2005, and soil temperature decreased 0.39°C. Active layer thickness declined at a rate of −0.54 cm/100 year ± 0.023 cm, with a net decline of 6.24 ± 0.26 cm during 850–2005 in association with LULCC. Soil moisture also showed a decrease, most pronounced in summer and autumn. Seasonally, the greatest surface air temperature decreases occurred in autumn at a rate of −0.042°C/100 year, and 0.2 m winter soil temperature decreased 0.036°C/100 year, both with time lags. Comparisons of cooling associated with LULCC demonstrate that permafrost regions are more sensitive to LULCC than the rest of the Northern Hemisphere.