Multi-decadal degradation and persistence of permafrost in the Alaska Highway corridor, northwest Canada
Changes in permafrost distribution in the southern discontinuous zone were evaluated by repeating a 1964 survey through part of the Alaska Highway corridor (56° N–61° N) in northwest Canada. A total of 55 sites from the original survey in northern British Columbia and southern Yukon were located usi...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:a7a469a914d14052a144314baab6fb90 2023-09-05T13:22:24+02:00 Multi-decadal degradation and persistence of permafrost in the Alaska Highway corridor, northwest Canada Megan James Antoni G Lewkowicz Sharon L Smith Christina M Miceli 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/045013 https://doaj.org/article/a7a469a914d14052a144314baab6fb90 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/045013 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/045013 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/a7a469a914d14052a144314baab6fb90 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 8, Iss 4, p 045013 (2013) permafrost thaw climate warming subarctic permafrost geophysics Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/045013 2023-08-13T00:37:28Z Changes in permafrost distribution in the southern discontinuous zone were evaluated by repeating a 1964 survey through part of the Alaska Highway corridor (56° N–61° N) in northwest Canada. A total of 55 sites from the original survey in northern British Columbia and southern Yukon were located using archival maps and photographs. Probing for frozen ground, manual excavations, air and ground temperature monitoring, borehole drilling and geophysical techniques were used to gather information on present-day permafrost and climatic conditions. Mean annual air temperatures have increased by 1.5–2.0 ° C since the mid-1970s and significant degradation of permafrost has occurred. Almost half of the permafrost sites along the entire transect which exhibited permafrost in 1964 do so no longer. This change is especially evident in the south where two-thirds of the formerly permafrost sites have thawed and the limit of permafrost appears to have shifted northward. The permafrost that persists is patchy, generally less than 15 m thick, has mean annual surface temperatures >0 ° C, mean ground temperatures between −0.5 and 0 ° C, is in peat or beneath a thick organic mat, and appears to have a thicker active layer than in 1964. Its persistence may relate to the latent heat requirements of thawing permafrost or to the large thermal offset of organic soils. The study demonstrates that degradation of permafrost has occurred in the margins of its distribution in the last few decades, a trend that is expected to continue as the climate warms. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Subarctic Alaska Yukon Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) Canada Yukon Environmental Research Letters 8 4 045013 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
permafrost thaw climate warming subarctic permafrost geophysics Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
permafrost thaw climate warming subarctic permafrost geophysics Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Megan James Antoni G Lewkowicz Sharon L Smith Christina M Miceli Multi-decadal degradation and persistence of permafrost in the Alaska Highway corridor, northwest Canada |
topic_facet |
permafrost thaw climate warming subarctic permafrost geophysics Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Changes in permafrost distribution in the southern discontinuous zone were evaluated by repeating a 1964 survey through part of the Alaska Highway corridor (56° N–61° N) in northwest Canada. A total of 55 sites from the original survey in northern British Columbia and southern Yukon were located using archival maps and photographs. Probing for frozen ground, manual excavations, air and ground temperature monitoring, borehole drilling and geophysical techniques were used to gather information on present-day permafrost and climatic conditions. Mean annual air temperatures have increased by 1.5–2.0 ° C since the mid-1970s and significant degradation of permafrost has occurred. Almost half of the permafrost sites along the entire transect which exhibited permafrost in 1964 do so no longer. This change is especially evident in the south where two-thirds of the formerly permafrost sites have thawed and the limit of permafrost appears to have shifted northward. The permafrost that persists is patchy, generally less than 15 m thick, has mean annual surface temperatures >0 ° C, mean ground temperatures between −0.5 and 0 ° C, is in peat or beneath a thick organic mat, and appears to have a thicker active layer than in 1964. Its persistence may relate to the latent heat requirements of thawing permafrost or to the large thermal offset of organic soils. The study demonstrates that degradation of permafrost has occurred in the margins of its distribution in the last few decades, a trend that is expected to continue as the climate warms. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Megan James Antoni G Lewkowicz Sharon L Smith Christina M Miceli |
author_facet |
Megan James Antoni G Lewkowicz Sharon L Smith Christina M Miceli |
author_sort |
Megan James |
title |
Multi-decadal degradation and persistence of permafrost in the Alaska Highway corridor, northwest Canada |
title_short |
Multi-decadal degradation and persistence of permafrost in the Alaska Highway corridor, northwest Canada |
title_full |
Multi-decadal degradation and persistence of permafrost in the Alaska Highway corridor, northwest Canada |
title_fullStr |
Multi-decadal degradation and persistence of permafrost in the Alaska Highway corridor, northwest Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Multi-decadal degradation and persistence of permafrost in the Alaska Highway corridor, northwest Canada |
title_sort |
multi-decadal degradation and persistence of permafrost in the alaska highway corridor, northwest canada |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/045013 https://doaj.org/article/a7a469a914d14052a144314baab6fb90 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
geographic |
British Columbia Canada Yukon |
geographic_facet |
British Columbia Canada Yukon |
genre |
permafrost Subarctic Alaska Yukon |
genre_facet |
permafrost Subarctic Alaska Yukon |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 8, Iss 4, p 045013 (2013) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/045013 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/045013 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/a7a469a914d14052a144314baab6fb90 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/045013 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
045013 |
_version_ |
1776202924966281216 |