Post-Little Ice Age rock wall permafrost evolution in Norway
The ground thermal regime and permafrost development have an important influence on geomorphological processes in periglacial regions and ultimately landscape development. About 10 % of unstable rock slopes in Norway are potentially underlain by widespread permafrost. Permafrost thaw and degradation...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tc100606 2023-07-30T04:04:04+02:00 Post-Little Ice Age rock wall permafrost evolution in Norway Czekirda, Justyna Etzelmüller, Bernd Westermann, Sebastian Isaksen, Ketil Magnin, Florence 2023-07-13 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2725-2023 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2725/2023/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-17-2725-2023 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2725/2023/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2023 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2725-2023 2023-07-17T16:24:17Z The ground thermal regime and permafrost development have an important influence on geomorphological processes in periglacial regions and ultimately landscape development. About 10 % of unstable rock slopes in Norway are potentially underlain by widespread permafrost. Permafrost thaw and degradation may play a role in slope destabilisation, and more knowledge about rock wall permafrost in Norway is needed to investigate possible links between the ground thermal regime, geomorphological activity and natural hazards. We assess spatio-temporal permafrost variations in selected rock walls in Norway over the last 120 years. Ground temperature is modelled using the two-dimensional ground heat flux model CryoGrid 2D along nine profiles crossing instrumented rock walls in Norway. The simulation results show the distribution of permafrost is sporadic to continuous along the modelled profiles. Results suggest that ground temperature at 20 m depth in steep rock faces increased by 0.2 ∘ C per decade on average since the 1980s, and rates of change increase with elevation within a single rock wall section. Heat flow direction is primarily vertical within mountains in Norway. Nevertheless, narrow ridges may still be sensitive to even small differences in ground surface temperature and may have horizontal heat fluxes. This study further demonstrates how rock wall temperature increase rates and rock wall permafrost distribution are influenced by factors such as surface air temperature uncertainties; surface offsets arising from the incoming shortwave solar radiation; snow conditions on, above and below rock walls; and rock wall geometry and size together with adjacent blockfield-covered plateaus or glaciers. Text Ice permafrost Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Norway The Cryosphere 17 7 2725 2754 |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
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English |
description |
The ground thermal regime and permafrost development have an important influence on geomorphological processes in periglacial regions and ultimately landscape development. About 10 % of unstable rock slopes in Norway are potentially underlain by widespread permafrost. Permafrost thaw and degradation may play a role in slope destabilisation, and more knowledge about rock wall permafrost in Norway is needed to investigate possible links between the ground thermal regime, geomorphological activity and natural hazards. We assess spatio-temporal permafrost variations in selected rock walls in Norway over the last 120 years. Ground temperature is modelled using the two-dimensional ground heat flux model CryoGrid 2D along nine profiles crossing instrumented rock walls in Norway. The simulation results show the distribution of permafrost is sporadic to continuous along the modelled profiles. Results suggest that ground temperature at 20 m depth in steep rock faces increased by 0.2 ∘ C per decade on average since the 1980s, and rates of change increase with elevation within a single rock wall section. Heat flow direction is primarily vertical within mountains in Norway. Nevertheless, narrow ridges may still be sensitive to even small differences in ground surface temperature and may have horizontal heat fluxes. This study further demonstrates how rock wall temperature increase rates and rock wall permafrost distribution are influenced by factors such as surface air temperature uncertainties; surface offsets arising from the incoming shortwave solar radiation; snow conditions on, above and below rock walls; and rock wall geometry and size together with adjacent blockfield-covered plateaus or glaciers. |
format |
Text |
author |
Czekirda, Justyna Etzelmüller, Bernd Westermann, Sebastian Isaksen, Ketil Magnin, Florence |
spellingShingle |
Czekirda, Justyna Etzelmüller, Bernd Westermann, Sebastian Isaksen, Ketil Magnin, Florence Post-Little Ice Age rock wall permafrost evolution in Norway |
author_facet |
Czekirda, Justyna Etzelmüller, Bernd Westermann, Sebastian Isaksen, Ketil Magnin, Florence |
author_sort |
Czekirda, Justyna |
title |
Post-Little Ice Age rock wall permafrost evolution in Norway |
title_short |
Post-Little Ice Age rock wall permafrost evolution in Norway |
title_full |
Post-Little Ice Age rock wall permafrost evolution in Norway |
title_fullStr |
Post-Little Ice Age rock wall permafrost evolution in Norway |
title_full_unstemmed |
Post-Little Ice Age rock wall permafrost evolution in Norway |
title_sort |
post-little ice age rock wall permafrost evolution in norway |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2725-2023 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2725/2023/ |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Ice permafrost |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-17-2725-2023 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2725/2023/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2725-2023 |
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The Cryosphere |
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17 |
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7 |
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2725 |
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2754 |
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