Thermokarst Lagoons - Carbon Pools and Panarctic Distribution

• Main Author: Jenrich, Maren
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Climate change; Ice; laptev; Laptev Sea; permafrost; Sea ice; Thermokarst; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/51597/; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.defffe1f-c01e-4817-803d-2240a2137792

The permafrost carbon (C) pool is a major storage component of the terrestrial C cycle and it is vulnerable in a warming climate. Permafrost carbon is mobilized by different processes of thaw and erosion, including thermokarst and thermo-erosion. For example, thermokarst lagoons in the Arctic form along ice-rich permafrost coasts of Siberia, Alaska, and Canada by thaw subsidence, lake formation, and subsequent breaching by coastal erosion and marine inundation of lakes or drained lake basins. Thermokarst lagoon formation is an important step in the process of mobilizing terrestrial permafrost C pools along rapidly changing Arctic coasts. In addition, they affect the temperature and salinity of former thermokarst lake taliks during their transition to the marine environment. During current and future climate change in the Arctic, sea-level rise, accelerated permafrost thaw, intensified coastal erosion and changing sea ice regimes likely will increase the rate of thermokarst lagoon formation. Given the potentially increasing frequency of thermokarst lagoon formation and their rapid effect on permafrost degradation during the transition from a terrestrial to a marine system, it is important to understand how sedimentation regime, permafrost warming, and organic C stocks are affected during this transition. The objective of this master thesis is to asses (1) the sediment and pore water characteristics, (2) the C inventory, and (3) the spatial coverage of such thermokarst lagoon features with a multidisciplinary approach using sedimentological, hydrochemical, biogeochemical and remote sensing techniques. Samples of 30 m long sediment cores from two thermokarst lagoons on the Bykovsky Peninsula (Laptev Sea, Siberia) were analysed to characterise and quantify the C-pools as well as the sediment and pore water properties. The lagoons are examples for two different lagoon systems, an open and a semi-closed lagoon system. GIS and remote sensing tools were used to identify, map, and characterise thermokarst lagoons on a ...