ALBERT

Description: Climate change is destabilizing permafrost landscapes, affecting infrastructure, ecosystems and human livelihoods. The rate of permafrost thaw is controlled by surface and subsurface properties and processes, all of which are potentially linked with each other. Yet, no standardized protocol exists for measuring permafrost thaw and related processes and properties in a linked manner. The permafrost thaw action group of the Terrestrial Multidisciplinary distributed Observatories for the Study of the Arctic Connections (T-MOSAiC) project has developed a protocol, for use by non-specialist scientists and technicians, citizen scientists and indigenous groups, to collect standardized metadata and data on permafrost thaw.The protocol introduced here addresses the need to jointly measure permafrost thaw and the associated surface and subsurface environmental conditions. The parameters measured along transects are: snow depth, thaw depth, vegetation height, soil texture, and water level. The metadata collection includes data on timing of data collection, geographical coordinates, land surface characteristics (vegetation, ground surface, water conditions), as well as photographs. Our hope is that this openly available dataset will also be highly valuable for validation and parameterization of numerical and conceptual models, thus to the broad community represented by the T-MOSAIC project.

Description: There is an urgent need for data collection to better understand permafrost thaw and its interaction with vegetation, hydrology, soil and snow. Greater spatial coverage, and improved coordination and consistency of measurements is particularly needed. To enable this, the Permafrost Thaw Action Group of T-MOSAiC have developed a data collection protocol and a user-friendly app (myThaw) aimed at non experts to facilitate collection and synthesis of data from across the Arctic. Recognising the fundamental role of interactions between the different components of the permafrost system, we addressed the need to measure the interconnected parameters of snow, vegetation, hydrology and permafrost in a single protocol so that measurements will be co-located in space and time, allowing relationships between variables to be disentangled. In particular the protocol locates all measurements on 10-30m transects that are revisited throughout the year. The measured variables include snow depth, vegetation height, soil texture and type, water level and permafrost thaw depth. This protocol uses simple measurements so more difficult-to-measure parameters are not collected, but the lack of specialist equipment and skills should enable a much greater participation in data collection and thus an improved coverage of the permafrost region, which is a central goal of this action group. Along with the protocol and the myThaw app, we present here the first results from the data collection which has been live now for several months, and details of how to get involved.

Description: Climate change is destabilizing permafrost landscapes, affecting infrastructure, ecosystems and human livelihoods. The rate of permafrost thaw is affected by surface and subsurface properties and processes, all of which are potentially linked with each other. Yet, no standardized protocol exists for measuring permafrost thaw and related processes and properties in a linked manner. The permafrost thaw action group of the Terrestrial Multidisciplinary distributed Observatories for the Study of the Arctic Connections (T-MOSAiC) project has developed a protocol, for use by non-specialist scientists and technicians, citizen scientists and indigenous groups, to collect standardized metadata and data on permafrost thaw. The protocol introduced here addresses the need to jointly measure permafrost thaw and the associated surface and subsurface environmental conditions. The parameters along transects are: snow depth, thaw depth, and vegetation height, soil texture and water level. The metadata collection includes data on timing of data collection, geographical coordinates, land surface characteristics (vegetation, ground surface, water conditions), as well as photographs. The comprehensive description and management of all data with metadata, central data storage and controlled data access is applied through the Observation to Archives (O2A) dataflow framework. Through this standardized procedure, data can be monitored in near-real time and their spatial distribution visualized. The dedicated user-friendly application (app) myThaw facilitates the data entry of field measurements and provides standardized data collection and documentation. We started our first measurements during March 2021 with snow depth measurements at the Bayelva site along a 10 meter transect. Several INTERACT sites in Svalbard, Alaska, Canada and Siberia have also agreed to start this data collection. This openly available dataset will also be highly valuable for validation and parameterization of numerical and conceptual models, thus to the broad community represented by the T-MOSAIC project.

Description: Boreal forests in permafrost regions make up around one-third of the global forest cover and are an essential component of regional and global climate patterns. Further, climatic change can trigger extensive ecosystem shifts such as the partial disappearance of near-surface permafrost or changes to the vegetation structure and composition. Therefore, our aim is to understand how the interactions between the vegetation, permafrost, and the atmosphere stabilize the forests and the underlying permafrost. Existing model setups are often static or are not able to capture important processes such as the vertical structure or the leaf physiological properties. There is a need for a physically-based model with a robust radiative transfer scheme through the canopy. A one-dimensional land surface model (CryoGrid) is adapted for the application in vegetated areas by coupling a multilayer canopy model (CLM-ml v0; Community Land Model) and is used to reproduce the energy transfer and thermal regime at a study site (63.18946∘ N, 118.19596∘ E) in mixed boreal forest in eastern Siberia. An extensive comparison between measured and modeled energy balance variables reveals a satisfactory model performance justifying its application to investigate the thermal regime; surface energy balance; and the vertical exchange of radiation, heat, and water in this complex ecosystem. We find that the forests exert a strong control on the thermal state of permafrost through changing the radiation balance and snow cover phenology. The forest cover alters the surface energy balance by inhibiting over 90 % of the solar radiation and suppressing turbulent heat fluxes. Additionally, our simulations reveal a surplus in longwave radiation trapped below the canopy, similar to a greenhouse, which leads to a magnitude in storage heat flux comparable to that simulated at the grassland site. Further, the end of season snow cover is 3 times greater at the forest site, and the onset of the snow-melting processes are delayed.

Description: 〈jats:p〉Abstract. Understanding the future evolution of permafrost requires a better understanding of its climatological past. This requires permafrost models to efficiently simulate the thermal dynamics of permafrost over the past centuries to millennia, taking into account highly uncertain soil and snow properties. In this study, we present a computationally efficient numerical permafrost model which satisfactorily reproduces the current ground temperatures and active layer thicknesses of permafrost in the Arctic and their trends over recent centuries. The performed simulations provide insights into the evolution of permafrost since the 18th century and show that permafrost on the North American continent is subject to early degradation, while permafrost on the Eurasian continent is relatively stable over the investigated 300-year period. Permafrost warming since industrialization has occurred primarily in three “hotspot” regions in northeastern Canada, northern Alaska, and, to a lesser extent, western Siberia. We find that the extent of areas with a high probability (p3 m>0.9) of near-surface permafrost (i.e., 3 m of permafrost within the upper 10 m of the subsurface) has declined substantially since the early 19th century, with loss accelerating during the last 50 years. Our simulations further indicate that short-term climate cooling due to large volcanic eruptions in the Northern Hemisphere in some cases favors permafrost aggradation within the uppermost 10 m of the ground, but the effect only lasts for a relatively short period of a few decades. Despite some limitations, e.g., with respect to the representation of vegetation, the presented model shows great potential for further investigation of the climatological past of permafrost, especially in conjunction with paleoclimate modeling. 〈/jats:p〉

Description: Boreal forests efficiently insulate underlying permafrost. The magnitude of this insulation effect is dependent on forest density and composition. A change therein modifies the energy and water fluxes within and below the canopy. The direct influence of climatic change on forests and the indirect effect through a change in permafrost dynamics lead to extensive ecosystem shifts such as a change in composition or density, which will, in turn, affect permafrost persistence. We derive future scenarios of forest density and plant functional type composition by analyzing future projections provided by the dynamic global vegetation model (LPJ-GUESS) under global warming scenarios. We apply a detailed permafrost-multilayer canopy model to study the spatial impact-variability of simulated future scenarios of forest densities and compositions for study sites throughout eastern Siberia. Our results show that a change in forest density has a clear effect on the ground surface temperatures (GST) and the maximum active layer thickness (ALT) at all sites, but the direction depends on local climate conditions. At two sites, higher forest density leads to a significant decrease in GSTs in the snow-free period, while leading to an increase at the warmest site. Complete forest loss leads to a deepening of the ALT up to 0.33 m and higher GSTs of over 8 compfnC independently of local climatic conditions. Forest loss can induce both, active layer wetting up to four times or drying by 50%, depending on precipitation and soil type. Deciduous-dominated canopies reveal lower GSTs compared to evergreen stands, which will play an important factor in the spreading of evergreen taxa and permafrost persistence under warming conditions. Our study highlights that changing density and composition will significantly modify the thermal and hydrological state of the underlying permafrost. The induced soil changes will likely affect key forest functions such as the carbon pools and related feedback mechanisms such as swamping, droughts, fires, or forest loss.

Description: Boreal forests cover over half of the global permafrost area and protect underlying permafrost. Boreal forest development, therefore, has an impact on permafrost evolution, especially under a warming climate. Forest disturbances and changing climate conditions cause vegetation shifts and potentially destabilize the carbon stored within the vegetation and permafrost. Disturbed permafrost-forest ecosystems can develop into a dry or swampy bush- or grasslands, shift toward broadleaf- or evergreen needleleaf-dominated forests, or recover to the pre-disturbance state. An increase in the number and intensity of fires, as well as intensified logging activities, could lead to a partial or complete ecosystem and permafrost degradation. We study the impact of forest disturbances (logging, surface, and canopy fires) on the thermal and hydrological permafrost conditions and ecosystem resilience. We use a dynamic multilayer canopy-permafrost model to simulate different scenarios at a study site in eastern Siberia. We implement expected mortality, defoliation, and ground surface changes and analyze the interplay between forest recovery and permafrost. We find that forest loss induces soil drying of up to 44%, leading to lower active layer thicknesses and abrupt or steady decline of a larch forest, depending on disturbance intensity. Only after surface fires, the most common disturbances, inducing low mortality rates, forests can recover and overpass pre-disturbance leaf area index values. We find that the trajectory of larch forests after surface fires is dependent on the precipitation conditions in the years after the disturbance. Dryer years can drastically change the direction of the larch forest development within the studied period.