Sensitivity of ecosystem-protected permafrost under changing boreal forest structures ...

• Main Authors: Stuenzi, Simone M, Boike, Julia, Gädeke, Anne, Herzschuh, Ulrike, Kruse, Stefan, Pestryakova, Luidmila, Westermann, Sebastian, Langer, Moritz
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 2021
• Subjects: global warming impact; boreal forest; permafrost; 577 Ökologie; Siberia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18452/25090; https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/25774

Boreal forests efficiently insulate underlying permafrost. The magnitude of this insulation effect is dependent on forest density and composition. A change therein modifies the energy and water fluxes within and below the canopy. The direct influence of climatic change on forests and the indirect effect through a change in permafrost dynamics lead to extensive ecosystem shifts such as a change in composition or density, which will, in turn, affect permafrost persistence. We derive future scenarios of forest density and plant functional type composition by analyzing future projections provided by the dynamic global vegetation model (LPJ-GUESS) under global warming scenarios. We apply a detailed permafrost-multilayer canopy model to study the spatial impact-variability of simulated future scenarios of forest densities and compositions for study sites throughout eastern Siberia. Our results show that a change in forest density has a clear effect on the ground surface temperatures (GST) and the maximum active ...