Surface temperatures and their influence on the permafrost thermal regime in high Arctic rock walls on Svalbard
Permafrost degradation in steep rock walls and associated slope destabilization have been studied increasingly in recent years. While most studies focus on mountainous and sub-Arctic regions, the occurring thermo-mechanical processes play an important role also in the high Arctic. A more precise und...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:tcd91212 2023-05-15T13:03:27+02:00 Surface temperatures and their influence on the permafrost thermal regime in high Arctic rock walls on Svalbard Schmidt, Juditha Undine Etzelmüller, Bernd Schuler, Thomas Vikhamar Magnin, Florence Boike, Julia Langer, Moritz Westermann, Sebastian 2020-12-09 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-340 https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2020-340/ eng eng doi:10.5194/tc-2020-340 https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2020-340/ eISSN: 1994-0424 Text 2020 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-340 2020-12-14T17:22:14Z Permafrost degradation in steep rock walls and associated slope destabilization have been studied increasingly in recent years. While most studies focus on mountainous and sub-Arctic regions, the occurring thermo-mechanical processes play an important role also in the high Arctic. A more precise understanding is required to assess the risk of natural hazards enhanced by permafrost warming in high Arctic rock walls. This study presents rock surface temperature measurements of coastal and non-coastal rock walls in a high Arctic setting on Svalbard. We applied the surface energy balance model CryoGrid 3 for evaluation, including adjusted radiative forcing to account for vertical rock walls. Our measurements and model results show that rock surface temperatures at coastal cliffs are up to 1.5 °C higher than non-coastal rock walls when the fjord is ice-free in the winter season, resulting from additional energy input due to higher air temperatures at the coast and radiative warming by relatively warm seawater. An ice layer on the fjord counteracts this effect, leading to similar rock surface temperatures as in non-coastal settings. Our results include a simulated surface energy balance with short-wave radiation as the dominant energy source during spring and summer, and long-wave radiation being the main energy loss. While sensible heat fluxes can both warm and cool the surface, latent heat fluxes are mostly insignificant. Simulations for future climate conditions result in a warming of rock surface temperatures and a deepening of active layer thickness for both coastal and non-coastal rock walls. Our field data present a unique data set of rock surface temperatures in steep high Arctic rock walls, while our model can contribute towards the understanding of factors influencing coastal and non-coastal settings and the associated surface energy balance. Text Active layer thickness Arctic Ice permafrost Svalbard Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Svalbard |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Permafrost degradation in steep rock walls and associated slope destabilization have been studied increasingly in recent years. While most studies focus on mountainous and sub-Arctic regions, the occurring thermo-mechanical processes play an important role also in the high Arctic. A more precise understanding is required to assess the risk of natural hazards enhanced by permafrost warming in high Arctic rock walls. This study presents rock surface temperature measurements of coastal and non-coastal rock walls in a high Arctic setting on Svalbard. We applied the surface energy balance model CryoGrid 3 for evaluation, including adjusted radiative forcing to account for vertical rock walls. Our measurements and model results show that rock surface temperatures at coastal cliffs are up to 1.5 °C higher than non-coastal rock walls when the fjord is ice-free in the winter season, resulting from additional energy input due to higher air temperatures at the coast and radiative warming by relatively warm seawater. An ice layer on the fjord counteracts this effect, leading to similar rock surface temperatures as in non-coastal settings. Our results include a simulated surface energy balance with short-wave radiation as the dominant energy source during spring and summer, and long-wave radiation being the main energy loss. While sensible heat fluxes can both warm and cool the surface, latent heat fluxes are mostly insignificant. Simulations for future climate conditions result in a warming of rock surface temperatures and a deepening of active layer thickness for both coastal and non-coastal rock walls. Our field data present a unique data set of rock surface temperatures in steep high Arctic rock walls, while our model can contribute towards the understanding of factors influencing coastal and non-coastal settings and the associated surface energy balance. |
format |
Text |
author |
Schmidt, Juditha Undine Etzelmüller, Bernd Schuler, Thomas Vikhamar Magnin, Florence Boike, Julia Langer, Moritz Westermann, Sebastian |
spellingShingle |
Schmidt, Juditha Undine Etzelmüller, Bernd Schuler, Thomas Vikhamar Magnin, Florence Boike, Julia Langer, Moritz Westermann, Sebastian Surface temperatures and their influence on the permafrost thermal regime in high Arctic rock walls on Svalbard |
author_facet |
Schmidt, Juditha Undine Etzelmüller, Bernd Schuler, Thomas Vikhamar Magnin, Florence Boike, Julia Langer, Moritz Westermann, Sebastian |
author_sort |
Schmidt, Juditha Undine |
title |
Surface temperatures and their influence on the permafrost thermal regime in high Arctic rock walls on Svalbard |
title_short |
Surface temperatures and their influence on the permafrost thermal regime in high Arctic rock walls on Svalbard |
title_full |
Surface temperatures and their influence on the permafrost thermal regime in high Arctic rock walls on Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Surface temperatures and their influence on the permafrost thermal regime in high Arctic rock walls on Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Surface temperatures and their influence on the permafrost thermal regime in high Arctic rock walls on Svalbard |
title_sort |
surface temperatures and their influence on the permafrost thermal regime in high arctic rock walls on svalbard |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-340 https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2020-340/ |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Active layer thickness Arctic Ice permafrost Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Active layer thickness Arctic Ice permafrost Svalbard |
op_source |
eISSN: 1994-0424 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-2020-340 https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2020-340/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-340 |
_version_ |
1766336945157308416 |