InSAR-measured permafrost degradation of palsa peatlands in northern Sweden
Climate warming is degrading palsa peatlands across the circumpolar permafrost region. Permafrost degradation may lead to ecosystem collapse and potentially strong climate feedbacks, as this ecosystem is an important carbon store and can transition to being a strong greenhouse gas emitter. Landscape...
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Language: | English |
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Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap
2024
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Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-223838 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1773-2024 |
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ftumeauniv:oai:DiVA.org:umu-223838 2024-05-19T07:46:06+00:00 InSAR-measured permafrost degradation of palsa peatlands in northern Sweden Valman, Samuel Siewert, Matthias B. Boyd, Doreen Ledger, Martha Gee, David De La Barreda-Bautista, Betsabé Sowter, Andrew Sjögersten, Sofie 2024 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-223838 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1773-2024 eng eng UmeÃ¥ universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap Nottingham Geospatial Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, United Kingdom; School of Biological Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Terra Motion, Nottingham, United Kingdom School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, United Kingdom School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, United Kingdom The Cryosphere, 1994-0416, 2024, 18:4, s. 1773-1790 orcid:0000-0003-2890-8873 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-223838 doi:10.5194/tc-18-1773-2024 ISI:001203442800001 Scopus 2-s2.0-85190797064 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Physical Geography Naturgeografi Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2024 ftumeauniv https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1773-2024 2024-04-30T23:35:21Z Climate warming is degrading palsa peatlands across the circumpolar permafrost region. Permafrost degradation may lead to ecosystem collapse and potentially strong climate feedbacks, as this ecosystem is an important carbon store and can transition to being a strong greenhouse gas emitter. Landscape-level measurement of permafrost degradation is needed to monitor this impact of warming. Surface subsidence is a useful metric of change in palsa degradation and can be monitored using interferometric synthetic-aperture radar (InSAR) satellite technology. We combined InSAR data, processed using the ASPIS algorithm to monitor ground motion between 2017 and 2021, with airborne optical and lidar data to investigate the rate of subsidence across palsa peatlands in northern Sweden. We show that 55% of Sweden's eight largest palsa peatlands are currently subsiding, which can be attributed to the underlying permafrost landforms and their degradation. The most rapid degradation has occurred in the largest palsa complexes in the most northern part of the region of study, also corresponding to the areas with the highest percentage of palsa cover within the overall mapped wetland area. Further, higher degradation rates have been found in areas where winter precipitation has increased substantially. The roughness index calculated from a lidar-derived digital elevation model (DEM), used as a proxy for degradation, increases alongside subsidence rates and may be used as a complementary proxy for palsa degradation. We show that combining datasets captured using remote sensing enables regional-scale estimation of ongoing permafrost degradation, an important step towards estimating the future impact of climate change on permafrost-dependent ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Sweden palsa permafrost The Cryosphere Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) The Cryosphere 18 4 1773 1790 |
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Open Polar |
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Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftumeauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical Geography Naturgeografi |
spellingShingle |
Physical Geography Naturgeografi Valman, Samuel Siewert, Matthias B. Boyd, Doreen Ledger, Martha Gee, David De La Barreda-Bautista, Betsabé Sowter, Andrew Sjögersten, Sofie InSAR-measured permafrost degradation of palsa peatlands in northern Sweden |
topic_facet |
Physical Geography Naturgeografi |
description |
Climate warming is degrading palsa peatlands across the circumpolar permafrost region. Permafrost degradation may lead to ecosystem collapse and potentially strong climate feedbacks, as this ecosystem is an important carbon store and can transition to being a strong greenhouse gas emitter. Landscape-level measurement of permafrost degradation is needed to monitor this impact of warming. Surface subsidence is a useful metric of change in palsa degradation and can be monitored using interferometric synthetic-aperture radar (InSAR) satellite technology. We combined InSAR data, processed using the ASPIS algorithm to monitor ground motion between 2017 and 2021, with airborne optical and lidar data to investigate the rate of subsidence across palsa peatlands in northern Sweden. We show that 55% of Sweden's eight largest palsa peatlands are currently subsiding, which can be attributed to the underlying permafrost landforms and their degradation. The most rapid degradation has occurred in the largest palsa complexes in the most northern part of the region of study, also corresponding to the areas with the highest percentage of palsa cover within the overall mapped wetland area. Further, higher degradation rates have been found in areas where winter precipitation has increased substantially. The roughness index calculated from a lidar-derived digital elevation model (DEM), used as a proxy for degradation, increases alongside subsidence rates and may be used as a complementary proxy for palsa degradation. We show that combining datasets captured using remote sensing enables regional-scale estimation of ongoing permafrost degradation, an important step towards estimating the future impact of climate change on permafrost-dependent ecosystems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Valman, Samuel Siewert, Matthias B. Boyd, Doreen Ledger, Martha Gee, David De La Barreda-Bautista, Betsabé Sowter, Andrew Sjögersten, Sofie |
author_facet |
Valman, Samuel Siewert, Matthias B. Boyd, Doreen Ledger, Martha Gee, David De La Barreda-Bautista, Betsabé Sowter, Andrew Sjögersten, Sofie |
author_sort |
Valman, Samuel |
title |
InSAR-measured permafrost degradation of palsa peatlands in northern Sweden |
title_short |
InSAR-measured permafrost degradation of palsa peatlands in northern Sweden |
title_full |
InSAR-measured permafrost degradation of palsa peatlands in northern Sweden |
title_fullStr |
InSAR-measured permafrost degradation of palsa peatlands in northern Sweden |
title_full_unstemmed |
InSAR-measured permafrost degradation of palsa peatlands in northern Sweden |
title_sort |
insar-measured permafrost degradation of palsa peatlands in northern sweden |
publisher |
Umeå universitet, Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och geovetenskap |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-223838 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1773-2024 |
genre |
Northern Sweden palsa permafrost The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden palsa permafrost The Cryosphere |
op_relation |
The Cryosphere, 1994-0416, 2024, 18:4, s. 1773-1790 orcid:0000-0003-2890-8873 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-223838 doi:10.5194/tc-18-1773-2024 ISI:001203442800001 Scopus 2-s2.0-85190797064 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1773-2024 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1773 |
op_container_end_page |
1790 |
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1799486226041929728 |