Thermal erosion patterns of permafrost peat plateaus in northern Norway
Abstract. Subarctic peatlands underlain by permafrost contain significant amounts of organic carbon and our ability to quantify the evolution of such permafrost landscapes in numerical models is critical to provide robust predictions of the environmental and climatic changes to come. Yet, the accura...
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ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-03967417v1 2023-05-15T16:37:26+02:00 Thermal erosion patterns of permafrost peat plateaus in northern Norway Martin, Léo, Nitzbon, Jan Scheer, Johanna Aas, Kjetil, Eiken, Trond Langer, Moritz Filhol, Simon Etzelmüller, Bernd Westermann, Sebastian Department of Geosciences Oslo Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Oslo University of Oslo (UiO)-University of Oslo (UiO) Utrecht University Utrecht Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research Partenaires INRAE Danmarks Tekniske Universitet = Technical University of Denmark (DTU) University of Oslo (UiO) 2023-02-01 https://hal.science/hal-03967417 https://hal.science/hal-03967417/document https://hal.science/hal-03967417/file/tc-2020-338.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-338 en eng HAL CCSD info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/tc-2020-338 hal-03967417 https://hal.science/hal-03967417 https://hal.science/hal-03967417/document https://hal.science/hal-03967417/file/tc-2020-338.pdf doi:10.5194/tc-2020-338 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess https://hal.science/hal-03967417 2023 [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/preprint Preprints, Working Papers, . 2023 ftunivnantes https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-338 2023-03-01T01:02:36Z Abstract. Subarctic peatlands underlain by permafrost contain significant amounts of organic carbon and our ability to quantify the evolution of such permafrost landscapes in numerical models is critical to provide robust predictions of the environmental and climatic changes to come. Yet, the accuracy of large-scale predictions is so far hampered by small-scale physical processes that create a high spatial variability of surface ground thermal regime and thus of permafrost degradation patterns. In this regard, a better understanding of the small-scale interplay between microtopography and lateral fluxes of heat, water and snow can be achieved by field monitoring and process-based numerical modeling. Here, we quantify the topographic changes of the Šuoššjávri peat plateau (Northern Norway) over a three-years period using repeated drone-based high-resolution photogrammetry. Our results show that edge degradation is the main process through which thermal erosion occurs and represents about 80 % of measured subsidence, while most of the inner plateau surface exhibits no detectable subsidence. Based on detailed investigation of eight zones of the plateau edge, we show that this edge degradation corresponds to a volumetric loss of 0.13 ± 0.07 m3 yr−1 m−1 (cubic meter per year and per meter of plateau circumference). Using the CryoGrid land surface model, we show that these degradation patterns can be reproduced in a modeling framework that implements lateral redistribution of snow, subsurface water and heat, as well as ground subsidence due to melting of excess ice. We reproduce prolonged climate-driven edge degradation that is consistent with field observations and present a sensitivity test of the plateau degradation on snow depth over the plateau. Small snow depth variations (from 0 to 30 cm) result in highly different degradation behavior, from stability to fast degradation. These results represent a new step in the modeling of climate-driven landscape development and permafrost degradation in highly heterogeneous ... Report Ice Northern Norway Peat Peat plateau permafrost Subarctic Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES Norway |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences |
spellingShingle |
[SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences Martin, Léo, Nitzbon, Jan Scheer, Johanna Aas, Kjetil, Eiken, Trond Langer, Moritz Filhol, Simon Etzelmüller, Bernd Westermann, Sebastian Thermal erosion patterns of permafrost peat plateaus in northern Norway |
topic_facet |
[SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences |
description |
Abstract. Subarctic peatlands underlain by permafrost contain significant amounts of organic carbon and our ability to quantify the evolution of such permafrost landscapes in numerical models is critical to provide robust predictions of the environmental and climatic changes to come. Yet, the accuracy of large-scale predictions is so far hampered by small-scale physical processes that create a high spatial variability of surface ground thermal regime and thus of permafrost degradation patterns. In this regard, a better understanding of the small-scale interplay between microtopography and lateral fluxes of heat, water and snow can be achieved by field monitoring and process-based numerical modeling. Here, we quantify the topographic changes of the Šuoššjávri peat plateau (Northern Norway) over a three-years period using repeated drone-based high-resolution photogrammetry. Our results show that edge degradation is the main process through which thermal erosion occurs and represents about 80 % of measured subsidence, while most of the inner plateau surface exhibits no detectable subsidence. Based on detailed investigation of eight zones of the plateau edge, we show that this edge degradation corresponds to a volumetric loss of 0.13 ± 0.07 m3 yr−1 m−1 (cubic meter per year and per meter of plateau circumference). Using the CryoGrid land surface model, we show that these degradation patterns can be reproduced in a modeling framework that implements lateral redistribution of snow, subsurface water and heat, as well as ground subsidence due to melting of excess ice. We reproduce prolonged climate-driven edge degradation that is consistent with field observations and present a sensitivity test of the plateau degradation on snow depth over the plateau. Small snow depth variations (from 0 to 30 cm) result in highly different degradation behavior, from stability to fast degradation. These results represent a new step in the modeling of climate-driven landscape development and permafrost degradation in highly heterogeneous ... |
author2 |
Department of Geosciences Oslo Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Oslo University of Oslo (UiO)-University of Oslo (UiO) Utrecht University Utrecht Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research Partenaires INRAE Danmarks Tekniske Universitet = Technical University of Denmark (DTU) University of Oslo (UiO) |
format |
Report |
author |
Martin, Léo, Nitzbon, Jan Scheer, Johanna Aas, Kjetil, Eiken, Trond Langer, Moritz Filhol, Simon Etzelmüller, Bernd Westermann, Sebastian |
author_facet |
Martin, Léo, Nitzbon, Jan Scheer, Johanna Aas, Kjetil, Eiken, Trond Langer, Moritz Filhol, Simon Etzelmüller, Bernd Westermann, Sebastian |
author_sort |
Martin, Léo, |
title |
Thermal erosion patterns of permafrost peat plateaus in northern Norway |
title_short |
Thermal erosion patterns of permafrost peat plateaus in northern Norway |
title_full |
Thermal erosion patterns of permafrost peat plateaus in northern Norway |
title_fullStr |
Thermal erosion patterns of permafrost peat plateaus in northern Norway |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thermal erosion patterns of permafrost peat plateaus in northern Norway |
title_sort |
thermal erosion patterns of permafrost peat plateaus in northern norway |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-03967417 https://hal.science/hal-03967417/document https://hal.science/hal-03967417/file/tc-2020-338.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-338 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Ice Northern Norway Peat Peat plateau permafrost Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Ice Northern Norway Peat Peat plateau permafrost Subarctic |
op_source |
https://hal.science/hal-03967417 2023 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/tc-2020-338 hal-03967417 https://hal.science/hal-03967417 https://hal.science/hal-03967417/document https://hal.science/hal-03967417/file/tc-2020-338.pdf doi:10.5194/tc-2020-338 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-338 |
_version_ |
1766027735697719296 |