Symposium no. 43 Paper no. 86 Presentation: oral 86-1

• Main Authors: Cryosols In Changing, Tarnocai Charles
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cryosols; permafrost; global change; research; cryogenic environments; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.11.2455; http://www.sfst.org/Proceedings/17WCSS_CD/papers/0086.pdf

Cryosols cover approximately 18 x 10 , or about 13% of the Earth's land surface. They occur in the permafrost zones in both the Northern Hemisphere and Antarctica as well as in some alpine regions. Cryosols are of global concern since it is predicted that both Polar Regions will experience a significant increase in average temperature. The primary concern, however, is the impact that global warming will have on these perennially frozen soils and on the large amounts of ice and organic carbon stored in them. The resulting changes could lead to a major re-shaping of the northern landscape, degradation of water quality and the release of large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. These changes could severely affect living organisms (including human life), which are now more or less in equilibrium with local edaphic and climatic conditions.