Invited perspective: What lies beneath a changing arctic?

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: McKenzie, Jeffrey M., Kurylyk, Barret L., Walvoord, Michelle A., Bense, Victor F., Fortier, Daniel, Spence, Christopher, Grenier, Christophe
• Other Authors: McGill University = Université McGill Montréal, Canada, Dalhousie University Halifax, Wageningen University and Research Wageningen (WUR), Université de Montréal (UdeM), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Modélisation Hydrologique (HYDRO), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Arctic; permafrost
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03141481; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03141481/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03141481/file/tc-15-479-2021.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-479-2021

International audience As permafrost thaws in the Arctic, new subsurface pathways open for the transport of groundwater, energy, and solutes. We identify different ways that these subsurface changes are driving observed surface consequences, including the potential for increased contaminant transport, modification to water resources, and enhanced rates of infrastructure (e.g. buildings and roads) damage. Further, as permafrost thaws it allows groundwater to transport carbon, nutrients, and other dissolved constituents from terrestrial to aquatic environments via progressively deeper subsurface flow paths. Cryohydrogeology, the study of groundwater in cold regions, should be included in northern research initiatives to account for this hidden catalyst of environmental and societal change.