Thaw processes in ice-rich permafrost landscapes represented with laterally coupled tiles in a land surface model
Abstract. Earth system models (ESMs) are our primary tool for projecting future climate change, but their ability to represent small-scale land surface processes is currently limited. This is especially true for permafrost landscapes in which melting of excess ground ice and subsequent subsidence af...
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-03960444 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-591-2019 |
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ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-03960444v1 2023-05-15T16:36:47+02:00 Thaw processes in ice-rich permafrost landscapes represented with laterally coupled tiles in a land surface model Aas, Kjetil Martin, Léo Nitzbon, Jan Langer, Moritz Boike, Julia Lee, Hanna Berntsen, Terje Westermann, Sebastian University of Oslo (UiO) Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research Partenaires INRAE Humboldt University Of Berlin Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI) Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR) Department of Biological Sciences Bergen (BIO / UiB) University of Bergen (UiB)-University of Bergen (UiB) Department of Geosciences University of Arizona University of Arizona Center for International Climate and Environmental Research Oslo (CICERO) 2019 https://hal.science/hal-03960444 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-591-2019 en eng HAL CCSD Copernicus info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/tc-13-591-2019 hal-03960444 https://hal.science/hal-03960444 doi:10.5194/tc-13-591-2019 ISSN: 1994-0424 EISSN: 1994-0416 The Cryosphere https://hal.science/hal-03960444 The Cryosphere, 2019, 13 (2), pp.591-609. ⟨10.5194/tc-13-591-2019⟩ [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2019 ftunivnantes https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-591-2019 2023-02-08T01:46:31Z Abstract. Earth system models (ESMs) are our primary tool for projecting future climate change, but their ability to represent small-scale land surface processes is currently limited. This is especially true for permafrost landscapes in which melting of excess ground ice and subsequent subsidence affect lateral processes which can substantially alter soil conditions and fluxes of heat, water, and carbon to the atmosphere. Here we demonstrate that dynamically changing microtopography and related lateral fluxes of snow, water, and heat can be represented through a tiling approach suitable for implementation in large-scale models, and we investigate which of these lateral processes are important to reproduce observed landscape evolution. Combining existing methods for representing excess ground ice, snow redistribution, and lateral water and energy fluxes in two coupled tiles, we show that the model approach can simulate observed degradation processes in two very different permafrost landscapes. We are able to simulate the transition from low-centered to high-centered polygons, when applied to polygonal tundra in the cold, continuous permafrost zone, which results in (i) a more realistic representation of soil conditions through drying of elevated features and wetting of lowered features with related changes in energy fluxes, (ii) up to 2 ∘C reduced average permafrost temperatures in the current (2000–2009) climate, (iii) delayed permafrost degradation in the future RCP4.5 scenario by several decades, and (iv) more rapid degradation through snow and soil water feedback mechanisms once subsidence starts. Applied to peat plateaus in the sporadic permafrost zone, the same two-tile system can represent an elevated peat plateau underlain by permafrost in a surrounding permafrost-free fen and its degradation in the future following a moderate warming scenario. These results demonstrate the importance of representing lateral fluxes to realistically simulate both the current permafrost state and its degradation ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Peat Peat plateau permafrost The Cryosphere Tundra Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES The Cryosphere 13 2 591 609 |
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Open Polar |
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Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
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ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] |
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[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] Aas, Kjetil Martin, Léo Nitzbon, Jan Langer, Moritz Boike, Julia Lee, Hanna Berntsen, Terje Westermann, Sebastian Thaw processes in ice-rich permafrost landscapes represented with laterally coupled tiles in a land surface model |
topic_facet |
[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] |
description |
Abstract. Earth system models (ESMs) are our primary tool for projecting future climate change, but their ability to represent small-scale land surface processes is currently limited. This is especially true for permafrost landscapes in which melting of excess ground ice and subsequent subsidence affect lateral processes which can substantially alter soil conditions and fluxes of heat, water, and carbon to the atmosphere. Here we demonstrate that dynamically changing microtopography and related lateral fluxes of snow, water, and heat can be represented through a tiling approach suitable for implementation in large-scale models, and we investigate which of these lateral processes are important to reproduce observed landscape evolution. Combining existing methods for representing excess ground ice, snow redistribution, and lateral water and energy fluxes in two coupled tiles, we show that the model approach can simulate observed degradation processes in two very different permafrost landscapes. We are able to simulate the transition from low-centered to high-centered polygons, when applied to polygonal tundra in the cold, continuous permafrost zone, which results in (i) a more realistic representation of soil conditions through drying of elevated features and wetting of lowered features with related changes in energy fluxes, (ii) up to 2 ∘C reduced average permafrost temperatures in the current (2000–2009) climate, (iii) delayed permafrost degradation in the future RCP4.5 scenario by several decades, and (iv) more rapid degradation through snow and soil water feedback mechanisms once subsidence starts. Applied to peat plateaus in the sporadic permafrost zone, the same two-tile system can represent an elevated peat plateau underlain by permafrost in a surrounding permafrost-free fen and its degradation in the future following a moderate warming scenario. These results demonstrate the importance of representing lateral fluxes to realistically simulate both the current permafrost state and its degradation ... |
author2 |
University of Oslo (UiO) Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research Partenaires INRAE Humboldt University Of Berlin Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI) Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR) Department of Biological Sciences Bergen (BIO / UiB) University of Bergen (UiB)-University of Bergen (UiB) Department of Geosciences University of Arizona University of Arizona Center for International Climate and Environmental Research Oslo (CICERO) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Aas, Kjetil Martin, Léo Nitzbon, Jan Langer, Moritz Boike, Julia Lee, Hanna Berntsen, Terje Westermann, Sebastian |
author_facet |
Aas, Kjetil Martin, Léo Nitzbon, Jan Langer, Moritz Boike, Julia Lee, Hanna Berntsen, Terje Westermann, Sebastian |
author_sort |
Aas, Kjetil |
title |
Thaw processes in ice-rich permafrost landscapes represented with laterally coupled tiles in a land surface model |
title_short |
Thaw processes in ice-rich permafrost landscapes represented with laterally coupled tiles in a land surface model |
title_full |
Thaw processes in ice-rich permafrost landscapes represented with laterally coupled tiles in a land surface model |
title_fullStr |
Thaw processes in ice-rich permafrost landscapes represented with laterally coupled tiles in a land surface model |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thaw processes in ice-rich permafrost landscapes represented with laterally coupled tiles in a land surface model |
title_sort |
thaw processes in ice-rich permafrost landscapes represented with laterally coupled tiles in a land surface model |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-03960444 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-591-2019 |
genre |
Ice Peat Peat plateau permafrost The Cryosphere Tundra |
genre_facet |
Ice Peat Peat plateau permafrost The Cryosphere Tundra |
op_source |
ISSN: 1994-0424 EISSN: 1994-0416 The Cryosphere https://hal.science/hal-03960444 The Cryosphere, 2019, 13 (2), pp.591-609. ⟨10.5194/tc-13-591-2019⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/tc-13-591-2019 hal-03960444 https://hal.science/hal-03960444 doi:10.5194/tc-13-591-2019 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-591-2019 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
591 |
op_container_end_page |
609 |
_version_ |
1766027113166536704 |