Seasonal progression of active-layer thickness dependent on microrelief

• Main Authors: Kutzbach, Lars, Stoof, Günter, Schneider, Waldemar, Wille, Christian, Abramova, Ekaterina N.
• Other Authors: Schirrmeister, Lutz
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: AWI, Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung 2004
• Subjects: Active layer thickness; Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung; lena delta; permafrost; Reports on Polar and Marine Research; Tundra
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/27439/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/27439/1/2004_Kutzbach-etal-Saisonal_BerPolMeerFor-489.pdf

Introduction Active-layer thickness is a major factor for all physical and biological processes in permafrost soils. It is closely related to the fluxes of energy, water and carbon between permafrost landscapes and the atmosphere. Active-layer thickness is mainly driven by air temperature, but also influenced by snow cover, summer rainfall, soil properties and vegetation characteristics (Nelson et al., 1998). The typical polygonal tundra of the Lena Delta is characterised by a pronounced microrelief, which causes a high small-scale heterogeneity of soil and vegetation properties. Consequently, also the active-layer thickness varies substantially across small lateral distances of decimetres to metres. In order to up-scale results of process studies to the landscape scale, a quantification of the heterogeneity of active-layer thickness is of great interest.