Recent Arctic tundra fire initiates widespread thermokarst development
Fire-induced permafrost degradation is well documented in boreal forests, but the role of fires in initiating thermokarst development in Arctic tundra is less well understood. Here we show that Arctic tundra fires may induce widespread thaw subsidence of permafrost terrain in the first seven years f...
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1335327 2023-07-30T04:00:51+02:00 Recent Arctic tundra fire initiates widespread thermokarst development Jones, Benjamin M. Grosse, Guido Arp, Christopher D. Miller, Eric Liu, Lin Hayes, Daniel J. Larsen, Christopher F. 2023-06-26 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1335327 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1335327 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15865 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1335327 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1335327 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15865 doi:10.1038/srep15865 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 2023 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15865 2023-07-11T09:16:22Z Fire-induced permafrost degradation is well documented in boreal forests, but the role of fires in initiating thermokarst development in Arctic tundra is less well understood. Here we show that Arctic tundra fires may induce widespread thaw subsidence of permafrost terrain in the first seven years following the disturbance. Quantitative analysis of airborne LiDAR data acquired two and seven years post-fire, detected permafrost thaw subsidence across 34% of the burned tundra area studied, compared to less than 1% in similar undisturbed, ice-rich tundra terrain units. The variability in thermokarst development appears to be influenced by the interaction of tundra fire burn severity and near-surface, ground-ice content. Subsidence was greatest in severely burned, ice-rich upland terrain (yedoma), accounting for -50% of the detected subsidence, despite representing only 30% of the fire disturbed study area. Microtopography increased by 340% in this terrain unit as a result of ice wedge degradation. Increases in the frequency, magnitude, and severity of tundra fires will contribute to future thermokarst development and associated landscape change in Arctic tundra regions. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Ice permafrost Thermokarst Tundra wedge* SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Arctic Scientific Reports 5 1 |
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SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
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ftosti |
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Jones, Benjamin M. Grosse, Guido Arp, Christopher D. Miller, Eric Liu, Lin Hayes, Daniel J. Larsen, Christopher F. Recent Arctic tundra fire initiates widespread thermokarst development |
topic_facet |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
description |
Fire-induced permafrost degradation is well documented in boreal forests, but the role of fires in initiating thermokarst development in Arctic tundra is less well understood. Here we show that Arctic tundra fires may induce widespread thaw subsidence of permafrost terrain in the first seven years following the disturbance. Quantitative analysis of airborne LiDAR data acquired two and seven years post-fire, detected permafrost thaw subsidence across 34% of the burned tundra area studied, compared to less than 1% in similar undisturbed, ice-rich tundra terrain units. The variability in thermokarst development appears to be influenced by the interaction of tundra fire burn severity and near-surface, ground-ice content. Subsidence was greatest in severely burned, ice-rich upland terrain (yedoma), accounting for -50% of the detected subsidence, despite representing only 30% of the fire disturbed study area. Microtopography increased by 340% in this terrain unit as a result of ice wedge degradation. Increases in the frequency, magnitude, and severity of tundra fires will contribute to future thermokarst development and associated landscape change in Arctic tundra regions. |
author |
Jones, Benjamin M. Grosse, Guido Arp, Christopher D. Miller, Eric Liu, Lin Hayes, Daniel J. Larsen, Christopher F. |
author_facet |
Jones, Benjamin M. Grosse, Guido Arp, Christopher D. Miller, Eric Liu, Lin Hayes, Daniel J. Larsen, Christopher F. |
author_sort |
Jones, Benjamin M. |
title |
Recent Arctic tundra fire initiates widespread thermokarst development |
title_short |
Recent Arctic tundra fire initiates widespread thermokarst development |
title_full |
Recent Arctic tundra fire initiates widespread thermokarst development |
title_fullStr |
Recent Arctic tundra fire initiates widespread thermokarst development |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recent Arctic tundra fire initiates widespread thermokarst development |
title_sort |
recent arctic tundra fire initiates widespread thermokarst development |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1335327 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1335327 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15865 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Ice permafrost Thermokarst Tundra wedge* |
genre_facet |
Arctic Ice permafrost Thermokarst Tundra wedge* |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1335327 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1335327 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15865 doi:10.1038/srep15865 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15865 |
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Scientific Reports |
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5 |
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1 |
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1772811535357313024 |