Vegetation grows more luxuriantly in Arctic permafrost drained lake basins
Abstract As Arctic warming, permafrost thawing, and thermokarst development intensify, increasing evidence suggests that the frequency and magnitude of thermokarst lake drainage events are increasing. Presently, we lack a quantitative understanding of vegetation dynamics in drained lake basins, whic...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15853 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.15853 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/gcb.15853 |
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crwiley:10.1111/gcb.15853 2024-06-02T08:00:12+00:00 Vegetation grows more luxuriantly in Arctic permafrost drained lake basins Chen, Yating Liu, Aobo Cheng, Xiao 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15853 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.15853 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/gcb.15853 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Global Change Biology volume 27, issue 22, page 5865-5876 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 journal-article 2021 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15853 2024-05-03T11:04:30Z Abstract As Arctic warming, permafrost thawing, and thermokarst development intensify, increasing evidence suggests that the frequency and magnitude of thermokarst lake drainage events are increasing. Presently, we lack a quantitative understanding of vegetation dynamics in drained lake basins, which is necessary to assess the extent to which plant growth in thawing ecosystems will offset the carbon released from permafrost. In this study, continuous satellite observations were used to detect thermokarst lake drainage events in northern Alaska over the past 20 years, and an advanced temporal segmentation and change detection algorithm allowed us to determine the year of drainage for each lake. Quantitative analysis showed that the greenness (normalized difference vegetation index [NDVI]) of tundra vegetation growing on wet and nutrient‐rich lake sediments increased approximately 10 times faster than that of the peripheral vegetation. It takes approximately 5 years (4–6 years for the 25%–75% range) for the drainage lake area to reach the greenness level of the peripheral vegetation. Eventually, the NDVI values of the drained lake basins were 0.15 (or 25%) higher than those of the surrounding areas. In addition, we found less lush vegetation in the floodplain drained lake basins, possibly due to water logging. We further explored the key environmental drivers affecting vegetation dynamics in and around the drained lake basins. The results showed that our multivariate regression model well simulated the growth dynamics of the drainage lake ecosystem ( , p < .001) and peripheral vegetation ( , p < .001). Among climate variables, moisture variables were more influential than temperature variables, indicating that vegetation growth in this area is susceptible to water stress. Our study provides valuable information for better modeling of vegetation dynamics in thermokarst lake areas and provides new insights into Arctic greening and carbon balance studies as thermokarst lake drainage intensifies. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greening Arctic permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska Wiley Online Library Arctic Global Change Biology 27 22 5865 5876 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
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English |
description |
Abstract As Arctic warming, permafrost thawing, and thermokarst development intensify, increasing evidence suggests that the frequency and magnitude of thermokarst lake drainage events are increasing. Presently, we lack a quantitative understanding of vegetation dynamics in drained lake basins, which is necessary to assess the extent to which plant growth in thawing ecosystems will offset the carbon released from permafrost. In this study, continuous satellite observations were used to detect thermokarst lake drainage events in northern Alaska over the past 20 years, and an advanced temporal segmentation and change detection algorithm allowed us to determine the year of drainage for each lake. Quantitative analysis showed that the greenness (normalized difference vegetation index [NDVI]) of tundra vegetation growing on wet and nutrient‐rich lake sediments increased approximately 10 times faster than that of the peripheral vegetation. It takes approximately 5 years (4–6 years for the 25%–75% range) for the drainage lake area to reach the greenness level of the peripheral vegetation. Eventually, the NDVI values of the drained lake basins were 0.15 (or 25%) higher than those of the surrounding areas. In addition, we found less lush vegetation in the floodplain drained lake basins, possibly due to water logging. We further explored the key environmental drivers affecting vegetation dynamics in and around the drained lake basins. The results showed that our multivariate regression model well simulated the growth dynamics of the drainage lake ecosystem ( , p < .001) and peripheral vegetation ( , p < .001). Among climate variables, moisture variables were more influential than temperature variables, indicating that vegetation growth in this area is susceptible to water stress. Our study provides valuable information for better modeling of vegetation dynamics in thermokarst lake areas and provides new insights into Arctic greening and carbon balance studies as thermokarst lake drainage intensifies. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Chen, Yating Liu, Aobo Cheng, Xiao |
spellingShingle |
Chen, Yating Liu, Aobo Cheng, Xiao Vegetation grows more luxuriantly in Arctic permafrost drained lake basins |
author_facet |
Chen, Yating Liu, Aobo Cheng, Xiao |
author_sort |
Chen, Yating |
title |
Vegetation grows more luxuriantly in Arctic permafrost drained lake basins |
title_short |
Vegetation grows more luxuriantly in Arctic permafrost drained lake basins |
title_full |
Vegetation grows more luxuriantly in Arctic permafrost drained lake basins |
title_fullStr |
Vegetation grows more luxuriantly in Arctic permafrost drained lake basins |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vegetation grows more luxuriantly in Arctic permafrost drained lake basins |
title_sort |
vegetation grows more luxuriantly in arctic permafrost drained lake basins |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15853 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.15853 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/gcb.15853 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Greening Arctic permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greening Arctic permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Global Change Biology volume 27, issue 22, page 5865-5876 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15853 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
27 |
container_issue |
22 |
container_start_page |
5865 |
op_container_end_page |
5876 |
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1800744193896742912 |