A model of permafrost formation and occurrences in the intracontinental mountains

The proposed method of permafrost distribution mapping entails the use of a computer-based model that takes into account the specific conditions of arid mountains for permafrost formation and occurrence. In the intracontinental arid mountains, incoming short-wave solar radiation, mean annual temperature and evaporation are the main influences on the distribution of permafrost. Coarse debris is widespread in the high mountains and greatly influences the thermal state of the ground. The model can compute heat transfer in the coarse debris, which is considered a porous body, and it can be used for permafrost distribution mapping with various degrees of spatial resolution. As a result, the GIS-based map of permafrost distribution for the Bolshaya Almatinka River basin, Kazakhstan, was generated.     

Deep permafrost boreholes in western Svalbard,northern Sweden and southern Norway

The first deep permafrost boreholes (>10 m) ever drilled in Scandinavia for climatic studies constitute part of a transect of deep mountain permafrost boreholes through the mountains of Europe established under the EU PACE (Permafrost and Climate in Europe) Project. In Scandinavia, PACE boreholes are located at Juvvasshøe, southern Norway, Tarfalaryggen in northern Sweden, and northernmost in the transect at Janssonhaugen, western Svalbard. This paper outlines the aims and objectives of the PACE programme, and describes in detail the Svalbard and Scandinavian permafrost boreholes.     

Morphology and geotechnique of active-layer detachment failures in discontinuous and continuous permafrost, northern Canada

Fifty active-layer detachment failures triggered after forest fire in the discontinuous permafrost zone (central Mackenzie Valley, 65° N.) are compared to several hundred others caused by summer meteorological triggers in continuous permafrost (Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, 80°N). Most failures fall into compact or elongated morphological categories. The compact type occur next to stream channels and have little internal disturbance of the displaced block, whereas the elongated types can develop on any part of the slope and exhibit greater internal deformation. Frequency distributions of length-to-width and length-to-depth ratios are similar at all sites. Positive pore pressures, expected theoretically, were measured in the field at the base of the thawing layer. Effective stress analysis could predict the instability of slopes in both areas, providing cohesion across the thaw plane was set to zero and/or residual strength parameters were employed. The location of the shear planes or zones in relation to the permafrost table and the degree of post-failure secondary movements (including headwall recession and thermokarst development within the failure track) differed between the localities, reflecting dissimilarity in the environmental triggers and in the degree of ground thermal disturbance.     

大兴安岭多年冻土区森林土壤温室气体通量

多年冻土温室气体排放对全球气候变化有重要影响。采用静态暗箱—气相色谱法,于2016—2017年生长季（5—9月）,对大兴安岭多年冻土区兴安落叶松林、樟子松林和白桦林土壤二氧化碳（CO₂）、甲烷（CH₄）和氧化亚氮（N₂O）通量进行野外原位观测,对比分析温室气体通量的动态变化特征及其关键影响因子。结果表明：3种林型土壤CO₂通量范围为65.88~883.59 mg·m^-2·h^-1;CH₄通量范围为-93.29~-2.82 μg·m^-2·h^-1;N₂O通量范围为-5.31~45.22 μg·m^-2·h^-1。整个生长季兴安落叶松林、樟子松林和白桦林土壤均表现为CO₂、N₂O的排放源、CH₄的吸收汇,土壤CO₂和CH₄通量在不同林型和年际间差异显著。3种林型土壤CO₂通量与5 cm、10 cm和15 cm土壤温度呈极显著正相关（P < 0.01）;CH₄通量受土壤含水量和10 cm、15 cm土壤温度的影响较大（P < 0.05）;兴安落叶松林和樟子松林土壤N₂O通量与气温呈显著正相关（P < 0.05）,而白桦林土壤N₂O则与15 cm土壤温度呈显著负相关（P < 0.05）。基于100 a时间尺度计算温室气体全球综合增温潜势,3种林型土壤温室气体的排放对气候变暖具有正反馈作用。     

阿尔泰山喀纳斯河谷晚第四纪冰川地貌演化过程

阿尔泰山喀纳斯河流域在第四纪期间发生过多次冰川进退,丰富的侵蚀与堆积地貌为区域地貌演化过程分析提供了重要依据,同时,该区的第四纪冰川作用对全球环境变化研究具有重要的科学意义。通过对喀纳斯湖口以下主谷内古冰川地貌的实地考察,测定不同地段多级U型谷底(台地)的海拔高度以及冰川漂砾的上限与分布位置,并对主谷内不同地段不同期次的冰碛物进行电子自旋共振(ESR)测年,研究发生在主谷内的古冰川作用系列、规模及演化过程。结果表明:喀纳斯湖到驼颈湾地区的谷地中主要发生过4次冰川作用,时代分别对应中梁贛冰期(MIS12)、MIS8/10、倒数第二次冰期(MIS6)以及末次冰期。末次冰期冰川作用又可细分为3个阶段,分别对应MIS4、MIS3中期与MIS2;根据三级U型谷的分布特征推断,古冰川作用规模呈现渐次变小的规律,自冰川站至下游接近冰川末端,中梁贛冰期时冰川厚度达50~395 m,覆盖范围包括主谷及两侧的山梁和支谷,延伸的长度和宽度都最大,MIS8/10以及倒二冰期时的厚度分别在102~199 m和88~269 m之间,冰川末端到达驼颈湾附近;鸭泽湖附近坡地上保存完好的多级台地,说明发生在河谷内的古冰川活性大,流动性和连续性较强,具有温冰川的性质;喀纳斯主谷有明显的不对称性,与局部小气候和地形对冰川的发育影响有关。     

Assessment of geomorphic hazards in connection with permafrost occurrence in the Zugspitze area (Bavarian Alps, Germany)

In the Zugspitze area (Bavarian Alps, Germany), permafrost conditions are present in limestone bedrock and in regolith. Distribution is strongly dependent on topography in the east–west oriented mountain crest with steep north- and south-facing slopes. Numerous structures mainly for tourist purposes (cable car and recreation buildings, ski-lift masts, rack-railway tunnel, tunnel with supply facilities) are situated in the area, and several of them are placed on ground with permafrost. Results from a temperature measurement programme and distribution modelling show that for some of these constructions, the effects of permafrost degradation have to be considered in terms of stability of the foundations.The permafrost limit is close to the summit crest, and therefore, stability evaluations for the constructions in this area have to bear in mind the possible warming or even melting of ice within the bedrock crevasses caused by climate warming. Stability of the foundations as well as stability of rock walls in this area will probably be affected by a shifting of the permafrost limit. Constructions in the Zugspitzplatt area are already affected by the melting ground ice, and stabilizing measures have to be evaluated for several foundations where subsidence is likely to occur.Besides the local results, the study provides for the first time data on permafrost distribution in the northern Alpine margin based on standard methods of BTS measurements and numerical modelling.     

GIS-simulation of the spatial distribution of snow cover and observed ground temperatures in the Daisetsu Mountains,Japan

This paper describes one geometrical method of simulating the spatial distribution of snow cover. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and precise Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were used in the simulation. The model is based on empirical parameters called coefficients depending on slope aspect and inclination. As a result, this model predicts that windward convex terrains remain snow-free during winter. This snow cover distribution was validated by usage of an air photograph taken in early spring, and the distribution of vegetation patches which represent the outer fringes of snow covered areas. Low ground temperatures together with high DC resistivities, which suggest the presence of permafrost, were identified in simulated snow-free areas.     

Recent air temperature changes in the permafrost landscapes of northeastern Eurasia

In the last two decades, climatic change has resulted in increased cryogenic activity in northeastern Eurasia, with adverse consequences for landscapes and socio-economic systems in the permafrost zone.The main purpose of this study was to assess the recent phases of warming, starting with Arctic warming. We performed a spatiotemporal analysis of climatic conditions during phases of maximum warming (i.e., 1935–1945, 1988–1995, and 2005–2009) in northeastern Eurasia and compared the magnitude of warming and its effect on permafrost among these critical periods. Our observations of permafrost landscape dynamics confirmed that the last two warming phases have played major roles in changing the environment.Data analysis has revealed regional patterns in the intensity of warming. Areas south of 60–62° latitude experienced no rise in air temperature during the Arctic warming period (1935–1945), whereas during 1988–1995, the center of warming shifted to the south of northeastern Eurasia. The last phase of warming (2005–2009) was characterized by maximum values of mean annual air temperature and the thawing index, and a decrease in the freezing index throughout northeastern Eurasia.     

Geocryological characteristics of the upper permafrost in a tundra-forest transition of the Indigirka River Valley,Russia

Understanding geocryological characteristics of frozen sediment, such as cryostratigraphy, ice content, and stable isotope ratio of ground ice, is essential to predicting consequences of projected permafrost thaw in response to global warming. These characteristics determine thermokarst extent and controls hydrological regime—and hence vegetation growth—especially in areas of high latitude; it also yields knowledge about the history of changes in the hydrological regime. To obtain these fundamental data, we sampled and analyzed unfrozen and frozen surficial sediments from 18 boreholes down to 1–2.3 m depth at five sites near Chokurdakh, Russia. Profiles of volumetric ice content in upper permafrost excluding wedge ice volume showed large variation, ranging from 40 to 96%, with an average of 75%. This large amount of ground ice was in the form of ice lenses or veins forming well-developed cryostructures, mainly due to freezing of frost-susceptible sediment under water-saturated condition. Our analysis of geocryological characteristics in frozen ground including ice content, cryostratigraphy, soil mechanical characteristics, organic matter content and components, and water stable isotope ratio provided information to reconstruct terrestrial paleo-environments and to estimate the influence of recent maximum thaw depth, microtopography, and flooding upon permafrost development in permafrost regions of NE Russia.     

Using relict rockglaciers in GIS-based modelling to reconstruct Younger Dryas permafrost distribution patterns in the Err-Julier area,Swiss Alp

Differences in mean annual air temperature between the Younger Dryas period and today were estimated at the fronts of 32 relict rockglaciers in the Err-Julier area, eastern Swiss Alps. The analyses were based on a case-by-case calculation of direct incoming solar radiation and mean annual air temperature using a digital elevation model (DEM) and meteo data of recent years. Our results suggest that mean annual air temperature during the Younger Dryas was lowered by c. 3C to 4C, and that the lower limit of permafrost occurrence was depressed considerably more than glacier equilibrium lines. This indicates strongly reduced precipitation (30% to 40% reduction) and much larger abundance of mountain permafrost at that time. A model simulation of the corresponding spatial permafrost distribution during the Younger Dryas indicates that glaciers in the study area were mostly surrounded by permafrost at that time and probably had a polythermal structure of englacial temperatures.     

气候变化下的祁连山地区近40 年多年冻土分布变化模拟

冻土是一种对气候变化极为敏感的土体介质,故气候的变化过程能反映和模拟冻土的分布及变化趋势。基于高程-响应模型,运用高分辨率的高程数据（DEM）、经度数据（Longitude）、纬度数据（Latitude）、年平均气温数据（MAAT）和气温垂直递减率数据（VLRT）对祁连山地区近40 年的多年冻土分布状况进行了数值模拟。分析表明：① 该高程-响应模型模拟的冻土范围和变化趋势与相关研究所引入逻辑回归模型的模拟结果基本一致。② 该模型模拟的1970s、1980s、1990s,2000s 的祁连山地区冻土分布面积分别为9.75×10⁴ km²、9.35×10⁴ km²、8.85×10⁴ km²、7.66×10⁴ km²。在这40 年中,冻土的分布范围呈现出明显减少的趋势。③ 从1970s 到1980s、1980s 到1990s、1990s 到2000s 三个时间段内,冻土分布范围的退缩速率分别为4.1%、5.3%、13.4%,其呈现逐渐增速的趋势,1990s 到2000s 出现了跳跃式增长。本研究可为分析长时间序列祁连山地区的多年冻土变化提供科学参考依据。     

Landform and Vegetation Change in the Greaves Creek Basin: An asymmetric hanging valley in the Blue Mountains,New South Wales

Greaves Creek has cut a hanging valley through the entire Triassic sandstone sequence near Blackheath in the western Blue Mountains, New South Wales. Downstream of Beauchamp Falls, it cuts into Permian strata in the Grose Gorge. The hanging valley has a valley-in-valley structure. The narrow inner valley is bounded by high cliffs and its floor is cut by a deep narrow slot canyon where stream incision has occurred without valley widening. The course of the creek is related to joint directions. Intense jointing, minor faulting and sapping influence the stability of cliffs but up to 30m of incision has occurred without valley widening in the slot canyon. Topographic asymmetry expressed as unequal slopes of the valley sides is related to differential insolation, erosion, vegetation cover, bioturbation and fire intensity. In the western Blue Mountains and elsewhere in the Sydney Basin asymmetric slopes occur in many other valley-ridge systems, particularly those whose long axes are oriented between about east-west and north-east-south-west. Vegetation structure and floristics within Greaves Creek valley are related to physiography of the valley and to aspect through their effects on fire, moisture availability, light availability, soil depth and temperature.     

大小兴安岭多年冻土的主导成因及分布模式

大小兴安岭海拔高度由北向南增高对纬度偏低带来的温升具有相对补偿功能,从而使冻土分区界线大大南凸。大兴安岭山地为一个连续的整体,不宜仅将南部视为山地多年冻土,而将中、北部划为高纬多年冻土。多年冻土南界应在黄岗梁山南麓通过。小兴安岭的多年冻土南界应在呼兰河源中山的南麓通过。大兴安岭北端断续多年冻土区应将伊勒呼里山平均海拔1000 m的中山部分包括在内;岛状融区多年冻土区南伸至阿尔山附近终结;小兴安岭南端汤旺河与呼兰河的河源区存在岛状融区多年冻土闭合圈。     

The role of neotectonics and glaciation on terrace formation along the Nysa K odzka River in the Sudeten Mountains (southwestern Poland)

The Nysa K odzka river drainage basin in the Sudeten Mts., SW Poland, preserves a complex late Cainozoic succession that includes eight fluvial series or terraces and deposits from two glacial episodes as well as local volcanic rocks, slope deposits and loess. Fluvial sedimentation took place during the Late Pliocene and from the early Middle Pleistocene (Cromerian), with a long erosion phase (gap) during the Early Pleistocene. Fluvial series are dated to the Late Pliocene, Cromerian, Holsteinian, late Saalian/Eemian, Weichselian, and the Holocene. Glacial deposits represent the early Elsterian and early Saalian stages. Almost all these stratigraphic units have been observed in all geomorphic zones of the river: the mountainous K odzko Basin, the Bardo Mts. (Bardo gorge) and in the mountain foreland. The main phase of tectonic uplift and strong erosion was during the Early Pleistocene. Minor uplift is documented also during the post-early Saalian and probably the post-Elsterian. The post-early Saalian and post-Elstrian uplift phases are probably due to glacio-isostatic rebound. The Quaternary terrace sequence was formed due to base-level changes, epigenetic erosion after glaciations and neotectonic movements. The Cromerian fluvial deposits/terraces do not indicate tectonic influence at all. All other Quaternary terraces indicate clear divergence, and the post-early Saalian terraces also show fault scarps. The fluvial pattern remained stable, once formed during the Pliocene, with only minor changes along the uplifted block along the Bardo gorge, inferring an antecedent origin for the Bardo gorge. Only during the post-glacial times, have epigenetic incisions slightly modified the valley.     

The influence of river training on mountain channel changes (Polish Carpathian Mountains)

The purpose of this paper is to explain the influence of river training on channel changes in mountain rivers. Also considered are the causes of failure of different training schemes. The research was conducted on the regulated Mszanka and Porębianka Rivers, belonging to the Raba River drainage basin in the Polish Flysh Carpathian Mountains. Channel mapping carried out in 2004 drew attention to the contemporary morphology of the channels and the development of their dynamic typology. General changes in channel morphometry and land cover were identified by comparing cartographic sources from various years. Archive material from Cracow's Regional Water Management Authority (RZGW) was used to analyse the detailed channel changes caused by each regulation structure. The material consisted of technical designs of individual training works, as well as plans, longitudinal profiles and cross-sections of trained channel reaches. A series of minimum annual water stages at the Mszana Dolna gauging station was used to determine the tendency of channel bed degradation over 53 years. During the first half of the 20th century, the middle and lower courses of the Mszanka and Porębianka Rivers had braided patterns. The slopes, mostly covered with crops, were an important source of sediment delivery to the river channels. Today, both channels are single-threaded, narrow and sinuous. Downcutting is the leading process transforming the channels. They cut down to bedrock along about 60% of their lengths. The main type of channel is an erosion channel, which occurs also in the middle and lower courses of the rivers. The channel sediment deficit is an important cause for river incision. Sediment supply to the channels was reduced after a replacement of crops on the slopes by meadows or forests. Gravel mining has also caused channel downcutting. The rapid channel changes began after 1959, as systematic training was introduced. Channel regulation seems therefore to be a major factor determining channel adjustment. Debris dams and groynes were built before 1980 and these caused the greatest change of channel pattern, increase of channel gradient and magnitude of river incision. After that date the measures mostly involved drop structures. From then on, the rate of downcutting decreased considerably, but has not ceased. The rivers continued to incise until bedrock was exposed or training structures were destroyed. After that, a tendency to lateral migration and local braiding were observed in the deepened channel. The channels displayed a tendency to return to their morphology and dynamic from before the training. The results demonstrate that river training distorts the equilibrium of channel systems. A channel becomes divided into artificial reaches, which later follow different evolutionary patterns. Most training schemes on mountain channels are ineffective in the long term, as river managers seem to consider a channel at a reach scale only. Individual channel reaches, however, are not independent but rather form a system that must be managed at the entire channel scale.     

Statistic-empirical modelling of mountain permafrost distribution in the Abisko region,sub-Arctic northern Sweden

The mountain permafrost distribution in the Abisko region in northern Sweden has been assessed using a combination of empirical and statistical analysis. The empirical data was obtained using the bottom temperature of snow cover (BTS) method, supported by continuous ground temperature measurements. The statistical analysis was based on 148 data points in total and used logistic regression to model the probability of permafrost occurrence. Further, Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) was introduced as an exploratory tool for detecting non-stationarity in the relationships between permafrost and the independent variables models and showed to be a useful tool in the statistical analysis. As a result of the GWR analysis the region was divided into two subregions. The models show probabilities >0.8 for permafrost at elevations above 1300 m a.s.l. in the western part of the region. In the eastern part, the probabilities are likely to be influenced by the potential incoming shortwave summer radiation, indicating a probability >0.8 above 850 m a.s.l. on the north-east and east-facing slopes, above 1000 m on the west-facing slopes and above 1100 m a.s.l. on the south-facing slopes. Permafrost conditions throughout the region were found to be marginal and sensitive to current warming trends.     

Synoptic Classification of Snowfall Events in the Great Smoky Mountains,USA

Mean annual snowfall in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) exhibits considerable spatial variability, ranging from 30 cm in the valleys to 254 cm at higher elevations. Snowfall can be tied to a variety of synoptic classes (e.g., Miller A or B cyclones, 500 hPa cutoff lows), but the frequency and significance of different synoptic classes have not been fully assessed, particularly at higher elevations. In this paper, we manually classify all snowfall events during the period 1991 to 2004 according to a synoptic classification scheme, calculate mean annual snowfall by 850 hPa wind direction and synoptic class, and develop composite plots of various synoptic fields. Hourly observations from nearby first-order stations and 24 hr snowfall totals from five sites within the GSMNP are used to define snowfall events. NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data are used to develop composite plots of various synoptic fields for cyclones passing south and then east of the area (e.g., Miller A cyclones). Results indicate that over 50% of the mean annual snowfall at higher elevations occurs in association with low-level northwest flow, and that Miller A cyclones contribute the greatest amount to mean annual snowfall at all elevations.     

Characteristics of evapotranspiration from a permafrost black spruce forest in interior Alaska

Here, the year 2011 characteristics of evapotranspiration and the energy budget of a black spruce forest underlain by permafrost in interior Alaska were explored. Energy balance was nearly closed during summer, and the mean value of the daily energy balance ratio (the ratio of turbulent energy fluxes to available energy) from June to August was 1.00, though a large energy balance deficit was observed in the spring. Such a deficit was explained partly by the energy consumed by snowmelt. Ground heat flux played an important role in the energy balance, explaining 26.5% of net radiation during summer. The mean daily evapotranspiration of this forest during summer was 1.37 mm day^?1 – considered typical for boreal forests. The annual evapotranspiration and sublimation yielded 207.3 mm year^?1, a value much smaller than the annual precipitation. Sublimation accounted for 8.8% (18.2 mm year^?1) of the annual evapotranspiration and sublimation; thus, the sublimation is not negligible in the annual water balance in boreal forests. The daytime average decoupling coefficient was very small, and the mean value was 0.05 during summer. Thus, evapotranspiration from this forest was mostly explained by the component from the dryness of the air, resulting from the aerodynamically rough surface of this forest.