Siberian Ecosystems as Drivers of Cryospheric Climate Feedbacks in the Terrestrial Arctic

• Published in: Frontiers in Climate
• Main Authors: Michael M. Loranty, Heather D. Alexander, Heather Kropp, Anna C. Talucci, Elizabeth E. Webb
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
• Subjects: Siberia; larch; permafrost; wildfire; snow—vegetation interactions; ecosystems; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Arctic; albedo; Climate change; Ice; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.730943; https://doaj.org/article/54eb4c4a5f7d40f09e98df8182119c8a

Climate warming is altering the persistence, timing, and distribution of permafrost and snow cover across the terrestrial northern hemisphere. These cryospheric changes have numerous consequences, not least of which are positive climate feedbacks associated with lowered albedo related to declining snow cover, and greenhouse gas emissions from permafrost thaw. Given the large land areas affected, these feedbacks have the potential to impact climate on a global scale. Understanding the magnitudes and rates of changes in permafrost and snow cover is therefore integral for process understanding and quantification of climate change. However, while permafrost and snow cover are largely controlled by climate, their distributions and climate impacts are influenced by numerous interrelated ecosystem processes that also respond to climate and are highly heterogeneous in space and time. In this perspective we highlight ongoing and emerging changes in ecosystem processes that mediate how permafrost and snow cover interact with climate. We focus on larch forests in northeastern Siberia, which are expansive, ecologically unique, and studied less than other Arctic and subarctic regions. Emerging fire regime changes coupled with high ground ice have the potential to foster rapid regional changes in vegetation and permafrost thaw, with important climate feedback implications.