Threshold sensitivity of shallow Arctic lakes and sublake permafrost to changing winter climate

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Arp, Christopher D., Jones, Benjamin M., Grosse, Guido, Bondurant, Allen C., Romanovsky, Vladimir E., Hinkel, Kenneth M., Parsekian, Andrew D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; Talik; Round Lake; Ice; permafrost; Alaska
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/41737/; https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL068506; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.48602

Interactions and feedbacks between abundant surface waters and permafrost fundamentally shape lowland Arctic landscapes. Sublake permafrost is maintained when the maximum ice thickness (MIT) exceeds lake depth and mean annual bed temperatures (MABTs) remain below freezing. However, declining MIT since the 1970s is likely causing talik development below shallow lakes. Here we show high-temperature sensitivity to winter ice growth at the water-sediment interface of shallow lakes based on year-round lake sensor data. Empirical model experiments suggest that shallow (1m depth) lakes have warmed substantially over the last 30years (2.4°C), withMABT above freezing5 of the last 7years.This is incomparison to slower ratesofwarming in deeper (3 m) lakes (0.9°C), with already well-developed taliks. Our findings indicate that permafrost below shallow lakes has already begun crossing a critical thawing threshold approximately 70 years prior to predicted terrestrial permafrost thaw in northern Alaska.