Permafrost and organic layer interactions over a climate gradient in a discontinuous permafrost zone
Permafrost is tightly coupled to the organic soil layer, an interaction that mediates permafrost degradation in response to regional warming. We analyzed changes in permafrost occurrence and organic layer thickness (OLT) using more than 3000 soil pedons across a mean annual temperature (MAT) gradien...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035028 https://doaj.org/article/e0f31550ac054eb7be32a4414a598a4d |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e0f31550ac054eb7be32a4414a598a4d 2023-09-05T13:22:25+02:00 Permafrost and organic layer interactions over a climate gradient in a discontinuous permafrost zone Kristofer D Johnson Jennifer W Harden A David McGuire Mark Clark Fengming Yuan Andrew O Finley 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035028 https://doaj.org/article/e0f31550ac054eb7be32a4414a598a4d EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035028 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035028 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/e0f31550ac054eb7be32a4414a598a4d Environmental Research Letters, Vol 8, Iss 3, p 035028 (2013) permafrost discontinuous zone organic soil structural equation modeling interior Alaska Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035028 2023-08-13T00:37:28Z Permafrost is tightly coupled to the organic soil layer, an interaction that mediates permafrost degradation in response to regional warming. We analyzed changes in permafrost occurrence and organic layer thickness (OLT) using more than 3000 soil pedons across a mean annual temperature (MAT) gradient. Cause and effect relationships between permafrost probability (PF), OLT, and other topographic factors were investigated using structural equation modeling in a multi-group analysis. Groups were defined by slope, soil texture type, and shallow (<28 cm) versus deep organic (≥28 cm) layers. The probability of observing permafrost sharply increased by 0.32 for every 10-cm OLT increase in shallow OLT soils (OLTs) due to an insulation effect, but PF decreased in deep OLT soils (OLTd) by 0.06 for every 10-cm increase. Across the MAT gradient, PF in sandy soils varied little, but PF in loamy and silty soils decreased substantially from cooler to warmer temperatures. The change in OLT was more heterogeneous across soil texture types—in some there was no change while in others OLTs soils thinned and/or OLTd soils thickened at warmer locations. Furthermore, when soil organic carbon was estimated using a relationship with thickness, the average increase in carbon in OLTd soils was almost four times greater compared to the average decrease in carbon in OLTs soils across all soil types. If soils follow a trajectory of warming that mimics the spatial gradients found today, then heterogeneities of permafrost degradation and organic layer thinning and thickening should be considered in the regional carbon balance. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Environmental Research Letters 8 3 035028 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
permafrost discontinuous zone organic soil structural equation modeling interior Alaska Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
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permafrost discontinuous zone organic soil structural equation modeling interior Alaska Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Kristofer D Johnson Jennifer W Harden A David McGuire Mark Clark Fengming Yuan Andrew O Finley Permafrost and organic layer interactions over a climate gradient in a discontinuous permafrost zone |
topic_facet |
permafrost discontinuous zone organic soil structural equation modeling interior Alaska Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Permafrost is tightly coupled to the organic soil layer, an interaction that mediates permafrost degradation in response to regional warming. We analyzed changes in permafrost occurrence and organic layer thickness (OLT) using more than 3000 soil pedons across a mean annual temperature (MAT) gradient. Cause and effect relationships between permafrost probability (PF), OLT, and other topographic factors were investigated using structural equation modeling in a multi-group analysis. Groups were defined by slope, soil texture type, and shallow (<28 cm) versus deep organic (≥28 cm) layers. The probability of observing permafrost sharply increased by 0.32 for every 10-cm OLT increase in shallow OLT soils (OLTs) due to an insulation effect, but PF decreased in deep OLT soils (OLTd) by 0.06 for every 10-cm increase. Across the MAT gradient, PF in sandy soils varied little, but PF in loamy and silty soils decreased substantially from cooler to warmer temperatures. The change in OLT was more heterogeneous across soil texture types—in some there was no change while in others OLTs soils thinned and/or OLTd soils thickened at warmer locations. Furthermore, when soil organic carbon was estimated using a relationship with thickness, the average increase in carbon in OLTd soils was almost four times greater compared to the average decrease in carbon in OLTs soils across all soil types. If soils follow a trajectory of warming that mimics the spatial gradients found today, then heterogeneities of permafrost degradation and organic layer thinning and thickening should be considered in the regional carbon balance. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kristofer D Johnson Jennifer W Harden A David McGuire Mark Clark Fengming Yuan Andrew O Finley |
author_facet |
Kristofer D Johnson Jennifer W Harden A David McGuire Mark Clark Fengming Yuan Andrew O Finley |
author_sort |
Kristofer D Johnson |
title |
Permafrost and organic layer interactions over a climate gradient in a discontinuous permafrost zone |
title_short |
Permafrost and organic layer interactions over a climate gradient in a discontinuous permafrost zone |
title_full |
Permafrost and organic layer interactions over a climate gradient in a discontinuous permafrost zone |
title_fullStr |
Permafrost and organic layer interactions over a climate gradient in a discontinuous permafrost zone |
title_full_unstemmed |
Permafrost and organic layer interactions over a climate gradient in a discontinuous permafrost zone |
title_sort |
permafrost and organic layer interactions over a climate gradient in a discontinuous permafrost zone |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035028 https://doaj.org/article/e0f31550ac054eb7be32a4414a598a4d |
genre |
permafrost Alaska |
genre_facet |
permafrost Alaska |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 8, Iss 3, p 035028 (2013) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035028 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035028 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/e0f31550ac054eb7be32a4414a598a4d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035028 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
035028 |
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1776202936226938880 |