Permafrost warming and vegetation changes in continental Antarctica
Continental Antarctica represents the last pristine environment on Earth and is one of the most suitable contexts to analyze the relations between climate, active layer and vegetation. In 2000 we started long-term monitoring of the climate, permafrost, active layer and vegetation in Victoria Land, c...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045001 https://doaj.org/article/5ecb98080676419e82baf993aea386a8 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5ecb98080676419e82baf993aea386a8 2023-09-05T13:11:11+02:00 Permafrost warming and vegetation changes in continental Antarctica Mauro Guglielmin Michele Dalle Fratte Nicoletta Cannone 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045001 https://doaj.org/article/5ecb98080676419e82baf993aea386a8 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045001 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045001 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/5ecb98080676419e82baf993aea386a8 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 9, Iss 4, p 045001 (2014) climate change active layer permafrost vegetation Antarctica mosses Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045001 2023-08-13T00:37:22Z Continental Antarctica represents the last pristine environment on Earth and is one of the most suitable contexts to analyze the relations between climate, active layer and vegetation. In 2000 we started long-term monitoring of the climate, permafrost, active layer and vegetation in Victoria Land, continental Antarctica. Our data confirm the stability of mean annual and summer air temperature, of snow cover, and an increasing trend of summer incoming short wave radiation. The active layer thickness is increasing at a rate of 0.3 cm y ^−1 . The active layer is characterized by large annual and spatial differences. The latter are due to scarce vegetation, a patchy and very thin organic layer and large spatial differences in snow accumulation. The active layer thickening, probably due to the increase of incoming short wave radiation, produced a general decrease of the ground water content due to the better drainage of the ground. The resultant drying may be responsible for the decline of mosses in xeric sites, while it provided better conditions for mosses in hydric sites, following the species-specific water requirements. An increase of lichen vegetation was observed where the climate drying occurred. This evidence emphasizes that the Antarctic continent is experiencing changes that are in total contrast to the changes reported from maritime Antarctica. Article in Journal/Newspaper Active layer thickness Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica permafrost Victoria Land Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic The Antarctic Victoria Land Environmental Research Letters 9 4 045001 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
climate change active layer permafrost vegetation Antarctica mosses Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
climate change active layer permafrost vegetation Antarctica mosses Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Mauro Guglielmin Michele Dalle Fratte Nicoletta Cannone Permafrost warming and vegetation changes in continental Antarctica |
topic_facet |
climate change active layer permafrost vegetation Antarctica mosses Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Continental Antarctica represents the last pristine environment on Earth and is one of the most suitable contexts to analyze the relations between climate, active layer and vegetation. In 2000 we started long-term monitoring of the climate, permafrost, active layer and vegetation in Victoria Land, continental Antarctica. Our data confirm the stability of mean annual and summer air temperature, of snow cover, and an increasing trend of summer incoming short wave radiation. The active layer thickness is increasing at a rate of 0.3 cm y ^−1 . The active layer is characterized by large annual and spatial differences. The latter are due to scarce vegetation, a patchy and very thin organic layer and large spatial differences in snow accumulation. The active layer thickening, probably due to the increase of incoming short wave radiation, produced a general decrease of the ground water content due to the better drainage of the ground. The resultant drying may be responsible for the decline of mosses in xeric sites, while it provided better conditions for mosses in hydric sites, following the species-specific water requirements. An increase of lichen vegetation was observed where the climate drying occurred. This evidence emphasizes that the Antarctic continent is experiencing changes that are in total contrast to the changes reported from maritime Antarctica. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mauro Guglielmin Michele Dalle Fratte Nicoletta Cannone |
author_facet |
Mauro Guglielmin Michele Dalle Fratte Nicoletta Cannone |
author_sort |
Mauro Guglielmin |
title |
Permafrost warming and vegetation changes in continental Antarctica |
title_short |
Permafrost warming and vegetation changes in continental Antarctica |
title_full |
Permafrost warming and vegetation changes in continental Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Permafrost warming and vegetation changes in continental Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Permafrost warming and vegetation changes in continental Antarctica |
title_sort |
permafrost warming and vegetation changes in continental antarctica |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045001 https://doaj.org/article/5ecb98080676419e82baf993aea386a8 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Victoria Land |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Victoria Land |
genre |
Active layer thickness Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica permafrost Victoria Land |
genre_facet |
Active layer thickness Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica permafrost Victoria Land |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 9, Iss 4, p 045001 (2014) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045001 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045001 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/5ecb98080676419e82baf993aea386a8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/4/045001 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
045001 |
_version_ |
1776198887193706496 |