Application of Landsat-7 satellite data and a DEM for the quantification of thermokarst-affected terrain types in the periglacial Lena–Anabar coastal lowland

Extensive parts of Arctic permafrost-dominated lowlands were affected by large-scale permafrost degradation, mainly through Holocene thermokarst activity. The effect of thermokarst is nowadays observed in most periglacial lowlands of the Arctic. Since permafrost degradation is a consequence as well as a significant factor of global climate change, it is necessary to develop efficient methods for the quantification of its past and current magnitude. We developed a procedure for the quantification of periglacial lowland terrain types with a focus on degradation features and applied it to the Cape Mamontov Klyk area in the western Laptev Sea region. Our terrain classification approach was based on a combination of geospatial datasets, including a supervised maximum likelihood classification applied to Landsat-7 ETM+ data and digital elevation data. Thirteen final terrain surface classes were extracted and subsequently characterized in terms of relevance to thermokarst and degradation of ice-rich deposits. 78% of the investigated area was estimated to be affected by permafrost degradation. The overall classification accuracy was 79%. Thermokarst did not develop evenly on the coastal plain, as indicated by the increasingly dense coverage of thermokarst-related areas from south to north. This regionally focused procedure can be extended to other areas to provide the highly detailed periglacial terrain mapping capabilities currently lacking in global-scale permafrost datasets.     

Characteristics and changes of permafrost along the engineering corridor of National Highway 214 in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Due to a series of linear projects built along National Highway 214, the second "Permafrost Engineering Corridor" on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has formed. In this paper, by overcoming the problems of data decentralization and standard inconsistency, permafrost characteristics and changes along the engineering corridor are systematically summarized based on the survey and monitoring data. The results show that: 1) Being controlled by elevation, the permafrost is distributed in flake discontinuity with mountains as the center along the line. The total length of the road section in permafrost regions is 365 km, of which the total length of the permafrost section of National Highway 214 is 216.7 km, and the total length of the permafrost section of Gong-Yu Expressway is 197.3 km. The mean annual ground temperature (MAGT) is higher than -1.5 °C, and permafrost with MAGT lower than -1.5 °C is only distributed in the sections at Bayan Har Mountain and E'la Mountain. There are obvious differences in the distribution of ground ice in the different sections along the engineering corridor. The sections with high ice content are mainly located in Zuimatan, Duogerong Plain and the top of north and south slope of Bayan Har Mountain. The permafrost thickness is controlled by the ground temperature, and permafrost thickness increases with the decrease of the ground temperature, with the change rate of about 37 m/°C. 2) Local factors (topography, landform, vegetation and lithology) affect the degradation process of permafrost, and then affect the distribution, ground temperature, thickness and ice content of permafrost. Asphalt pavement has greatly changed the heat exchange balance of the original ground, resulting in serious degradation of the permafrost. Due to the influence of roadbed direction trend, the phenomenon of shady-sunny slope is very significant in most sections along the line. The warming range of permafrost under the roadbed is gradually smaller with the increase of depth, so the thawing settlement of the shallow section with high ice-content permafrost is more significant.     

Interglacial History of a Palaeo-lake and Regional Environment: A Multi-proxy Study of a Permafrost Deposit from Bol’shoy Lyakhovsky Island, Arctic Siberia

Chironomid, pollen, and rhizopod records from a permafrost sequence at Bol’shoy Lyakhovsky Island (New Siberian Archipelago) document the development of a thermokarst palaeo-lake and environmental conditions in the region during the last Interglacial (MIS 5e). Open Poaceae and Artemisia associations dominated vegetation at the beginning of the interglacial period. Rare shrub thickets (Salix, Betula nana, Alnus fruticosa) grew in more protected and wetter places as well. Saalian ice wedges started to melt during this time, resulting in the formation of an initial thermokarst water body. The high percentage of semi-aquatic chironomids suggests that a peatland-pool initially existed at the site. A distinct decrease in semi-aquatic chironomid taxa and an increase in lacustrine ones point to a gradual pooling of water in the basin, which could in turn induce thermokarst and create a permanent pond during the subsequent period. The highest relative abundance of Chironomus and Procladius reflects unfrozen water remaining under the ice throughout the ice-covered period during the later stage of palaeo-lake development. The chironomid record points to three successive stages during the history of the lake: (1) a peatland pool; (2) a pond (i.e., shallower than the maximum ice-cover thickness); and (3) a shallow lake (i.e., deeper than the maximum ice-cover thickness). The trend of palaeo-lake development indicates that intensive thermokarst processes occurred in the region during the last Interglacial. Shrub tundra communities with Alnus fruticosa and Betula nana dominated the vegetation during the interglacial optimum. The climate was moister and warmer than present. The results of this study suggest that quantitative chironomid-based temperature reconstructions from Arctic thermokarst ponds/lakes may be problematic due to other key environmental factors, such as prolonged periods of winter anoxia and local hydrological/geomorphological processes, controlling the chironomid assemblages.     

Modeled response of talik development under thermokarst lakes to permafrost thickness on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Permafrost thickness under identical climates in cold regions can vary significantly because it is severely affected by climate change, topography, soil physical and thermal properties, and geothermal conditions. This study numerically in- vestigates the response of ground thermal regime and talik development processes to permafrost with different thicknesses under a thermokarst lake on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. On the basis of observed data and information from a representative monitored lake in the Beiluhe Basin, we used a heat transfer model with phase change under a cylindrical coordinate system to conduct three simulation cases with permafrost thicknesses of 45 m, 60 m, and 75 m, respectively. The simulated results indicate that increases in permafrost thickness not only strongly retarded the open talik formation time, but also delayed the permafrost lateral thaw process after the formation of open talik. Increasing the permafrost thickness by 33.3% and 66.7% led to open talik formation time increases of 83.66% and 207.43%, respectively, and resulted in increases in the lateral thaw duration of permafrost under the modeled thermokarst lake by 28.86% and 46.54%, respectively, after the formation of the open taliks.     

RESPONSE OF THE CANADIAN PERMAFROST ENVIRONMENT TO CLIMATIC CHANGE

Human-induced climatic warming will have major impacts on permafrost, which presently underlies half of Canada's land mass. The adaptation of the northern environment and its physical processes to the altered climate may be contemporaneous or may lag behind climatic change. The extent of permafrost will diminish, accompanied by modifications of the land surface through thermokarst or mass wasting. Streamflow regimes, sediment transport, coastal flooding and erosion will be affected. The magnitude of most components of the water balance will be altered. More research is needed to understand how the permafrost environment behaves during the transient phase, and the problem of permafrost adaptation should be addressed holistically. [Key words: climatic change, frozen ground, ground ice, hydrology, permafrost, periglacial geomorphology, water balance.]     

Reinterpretation of the Original Dekalb Mounds in Illinois

The enigmatic DeKalb mounds in north-central Illinois, United States, are oval, inactive hillocks of Wisconsinan age. They have heights up to 5 m, lengths up to 1 km, and are composed either of till and lacustrine sediment with a thin cap of loess, or entirely of outwash. They are underlain by one till member within a large depression that is flanked by higher, elevated, morainic till members. Different origins have been proposed for the DeKalb mound field but the only previous in-depth study identified them as pingo remnants, presumably due to the degradation of significant ground ice and permafrost. However, the investigators who reported this viewed their own hypothesis as problematical. These problems can be resolved by correlating the relict Illinois landforms to relict glacial landforms that show similar morphologies and field relationships in Saskatchewan, Canada, and North Dakota, United States. In this study, the DeKalb mounds are presumed to have developed from an intricate set of glacial dead-ice and mass movement processes. This reinterpretation reflects a range of either discontinuous permafrost or negative permafrost within the paleoenvironment.     

积沙影响下伏冻土的水热耦合模型研究

青藏高原地区冻土正呈退化趋势,除气候变化、人为活动的影响外,沙漠化也被认为是冻土退化的原因之一,但仍存在较大争议。基于不饱和土渗流和热传导理论,结合CoLM和Coup-Model模型,初步构建了积沙-冻土-水热概念模型和耦合模型。并在两模型的基础上,讨论了沙层反射率、积沙体热容量、积沙体厚度和沙的传热率等参数对下伏冻土的热影响过程。结果表明,沙层的反射率、地面发射率均高于天然地表,沙层接受的热量较天然地表偏少;积沙地表下的沙层和活动层能截留更多热量,使冻结层获得的热量相对减少;沙的导热性较差,导致积沙地表下地温变化出现延迟,从而延缓冻土退化;同时,积沙无论厚薄,都将起到延缓冻土退化的作用。因而,沙漠化对青藏高原冻土退化的影响可能较小,但全面揭示沙漠化对冻土的影响仍需深入研究。     

Characteristics of permafrost degradation in Northeast China and its ecological effects: A review

Latitudinal permafrost in Northern Northeast(NNE)China is located in the southern margin of the Eurasian continent,and is very sensitive to climatic and environmental change.Numerical simulations indicate that air temperature in the permafrost regions of Northeast China has been on the rise since the 1950s,and will keep rising in the 21st century,leading to extensive degradation of permafrost.Permafrost degradation in NNE China has its own characteristics,such as northward shifts in the shape of a"W"for the permafrost southern boundary(SLP),discontinuous permafrost degradation into islandlike frozen soil,and gradually disappearing island permafrost.Permafrost degradation leads to deterioration of the ecological environment in cold regions.As a result,the belt of larch forests dominated by Larix gmelinii has shifted northwards and wetland areas with symbiotic relationships with permafrost have decreased significantly.With rapid retreat and thinning of permafrost and vegetation change,the CO2 and CH4 flux increases with mean air temperature from continuous to sporadic permafrost areas as a result of activity of methanogen enhancement,positively feeding back to climate warming.This paper reviews the features of permafrost degradation,the effects of permafrost degradation on wetland and forest ecosystem structure and function,and greenhouse gas emissions on latitudinal permafrost in NNE China.We also put forward critical questions about the aforementioned effects,including:(1)establish long-term permafrost observation systems to evaluate the distribution of permafrost and SLP change,in order to study the feedback of permafrost to climate change;(2)carry out research about the effects of permafrost degradation on the wetland ecosystem and the response of Xing'an larch to global change,and predict ecosystem dynamics in permafrost degradation based on long-term field observation;(3)focus intensively on the dynamics of greenhouse gas flux in permafrost degradation of Northeast China and the feedback of greenhouse gas emissions to climate change;(4)quantitative studies on the permafrost carbon feedback and vegetation carbon feedback due to permafrost change to climate multi-impact and estimate the balance of C in permafrost regions in the future.     

RECONNAISSANCE SURVEYS OF CONTEMPORARY PERMAFROST ENVIRONMENTS IN CENTRAL ICELAND USING GEOELECTRICAL METHODS: IMPLICATIONS FOR PERMAFROST DEGRADATION AND SEDIMENT FLUXES

Four different sites in the highlands of central Iceland have been investigated for permafrost occurrence using two‐dimensional resistivity imaging. The results of the surveys indicate the presence of shallow permafrost of low to medium resistivity. The distribution pattern is spatially heterogeneous which is consistent with permafrost at the fringe of seasonal frost. These sites are likely to react rapidly to changes of the environmental boundary conditions, therefore future research should include monitoring for detecting the early impact of climate change on permafrost degradation. The extent to which periglacial morphodynamics and sediment fluxes are influenced by permafrost and/or seasonal frost and potential permafrost degradation is hard to determine. Hence, long‐term monitoring approaches for both permafrost and sediment dynamics are essential.     

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.     

A groundwater vortex hypothesis for mima-like mounds, Laramie Basin, Wyoming

Mima-like mounds in the Laramie Basin occur where: (1) impervious bedrock (shale) is at a shallow depth (∼ 2–5 m); (2) bedrock is overlain by a thin veneer (∼ 1–4 m) of alluvial gravels; and (3) a strong argillic/calcic or petrocalcic soil caps the landform, typically a terrace. Active and inactive mounds contain churned materials, including pebbles derived from adjacent/subjacent units. The mounds are circular in plan view and lens- or funnel-shaped in cross-section. The strong intermound (premound) soil collapses beneath the mound, is entirely or partly destroyed at its base, or is truncated at the mound edge. Stratigraphic relationships on the youngest terrace of the Laramie River indicate that the inactive mounds are Holocene in age.Sodium concentrations (used as a tracer) in mound material and adjacent/subjacent units suggest that the mounds rotate counterclockwise. This movement may be driven by free spiral vortices (low hydraulic head) in confined (artesian) groundwater flow in alluvium between shallow bedrock and strong surface soil. The vortices (similar to water draining from a bathtub or a whirlpool in a river) may result from enlargements, constrictions, or changes in permeability of the aquifer — or meandering of groundwater flow. Groundwater, dissolved ions, and materials in suspension, or through friction and turbidity, then would move from adjacent high-hydraulic head areas into and down the vortex. In effect, the high head (intermound) areas would act as a pump whereas the vortex (which would form a mound) would act as a turbine — responding, therefore, to energy transformations between groundwater velocity and pressure according to the Bernoulli principle and Newton's Second Law of Motion. Soil or sediment, incapable of being fully moved into and down the vortex, would amass at the land surface as a circular mound that in cross-section would have a lens or funnel (turbine) shape. Computer modelling shows that mounds tend to form over deep bedrock and thick alluvium.The groundwater vortex hypothesis can account for the building of the mound higher at its center, the circular plan view and lens (or funnel) shape in cross-section, the inward spiral of sodium, the churned character of mound material, and the collapse (or truncation) of soils and other units beneath and along mound edges. The hypothesis, however, must not be applied to all other Mima or mima-like mounds, unless vortex motion can be determined and if stratigraphic similarities can be demonstrated.     

呼伦湖近年水情变化原因分析

流域水量平衡变化机制及其效应的认识是理解湖泊水情变化与制定缓解措施的根本依据.针对2000年后呼伦湖持续水位的急剧下降,并考虑到流域监测资料稀缺的实际情况,借助遥感反演降水和蒸散时空数据序列,利用时空模式分解、趋势分析等方法揭示了流域降水时空变化特征及其引起的蒸散效应.结果表明:流域降水变化主要由空间分布及过程强弱互补...     

Permafrost distribution in the Posets massif,Central Pyrenees

The Posets massif is located in the Central Pyrenees and reaches a height of 3363 m a.s.l. at the Posets peak, the second highest massif in the Pyrenees. Geomorphological maps of scales 1:25000 and 1:10000, BTS (bottom temperature of winter snow), ground measurements and snow poles were used to observe the more representative periglacial active landform association, ground thermal regime, the winter snow cover evolution and basal temperatures of snow. The main active periglacial landforms and processes related to the ground thermal regime and snow cover were studied. Mountain permafrost up to 2700 m a.s.l. on northexposed slopes and up to 2900 m a.s.l. on south-exposed slopes were detected. Three permafrost belts were differentiated: sporadic permafrost between 2700 and 2800 m a.s.l. and between 2850 and 3000 m a.s.l., discontinuous permafrost between 2800 and 2950 and between 2950 and 3050, and continuous permafrost up to 2900 m a.s.l. and up to 3050 m a.s.l. on northern and southern slopes, respectively.     

A full-scale field experiment to study the thermal-deformation process of widening highway embankments in permafrost regions

As one of the widely used upgrading way in road engineering, the widening embankment(WE) has suffered evident differential deformation, which is even severer for highway in permafrost regions due to the temperature sensitivity of frozen soil and the heat absorption effect of the asphalt pavement. Given this issue, a full-scale experimental highway of WE was performed along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway(QTH) to investigate the differential deformation features and its developing law. The continuous three years' monitoring data taken from the experimental site, including the ground temperature and the layered deformation of WE and original embankment(OE), were used to analyze the thermal-deformation process. The results indicate that the widening part presented the remarkable thermal disturbance to the existing embankment(EE). The underlying permafrost was in a noteworthy degradation state, embodying the apparent decrease of the permafrost table and the increase of the ground temperature. Correspondingly, the heat disruption induced by widening led to a much higher deformation at the widening side compared to the original embankment, showing a periodic stepwise curve. Specifically, the deformation mainly occurred in the junction of the EE and the widening part, most of which was caused by the thawing consolidation near the original permafrost table. In contrast, the deformation of EE mainly attributed to the compression of the active layer. Furthermore, it was the deformation origination differences that resulted in the differential deformation of WE developed gradually during the monitoring period, the maximum of which reached up to 64 mm.     

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.     

Holocene environmental history of thermokarst lakes on Richards Island, Northwest Territories, Canada: Theocamoebians as paleolimnological indicators

Richards Island, Northwest Territories, Canada, is characterized by thermokarst lakes which record Holocene limnological change. This study is the first report of thecamoebian assemblages and continuous annual lake water temperatures from these Arctic lakes. Ecological environments on Richards Island are influenced by a climatic gradient resulting from the contrasting influences of the cold Beaufort Sea to the north and the warm waters of the Mackenzie Delta to the east and west. This climatic gradient in turn influences modern thecamoebian assemblages, and is an indication of the complexity involved in interpreting past conditions from core material in this area.Population abundance and species diversity of thecamoebian assemblages on Richards Island are not significantly different from those reported from temperate and semi-tropical latitudes. However, certain assemblage characteristics, such as large and coarse agglutinated tests, dominance of assemblages by one or two species and low morphological variation are interpreted to be diagnostic of Arctic conditions. Thecamoebian assemblages in core material from the area indicate that the local paleolimnological conditions may have changed within the last 3 ka, and this is unrecorded in previously reported pollen data.Paleoenvironmental interpretations in a permafrost landscape have to take into account morphological instability of thermokarst lakes, which can be the cause of paleolimnological and consequently faunal change. In this area ecosystem development is clearly related to geomorphology and local climatic effects and is not exclusively controlled by regional climate change.     

基于MODIS温度的青藏高原多年冻土活动层厚度变化研究

基于MODIS温度数据,采用TTOP模型和Stefan公式模拟了青藏高原地区的冻土分布并计算了活动层厚度,并与地面观测结果进行了对比。结果表明：2003—2019年青藏高原多年冻土面积为1.01×10⁶ km²;多年冻土活动层厚度区域平均值为1.79 m, 活动层厚度区域平均的变化率为3.67 cm/10a,且草甸地区的变化率明显大于草原地区,5100~5300 m高程带的活动层厚度变化速率最大。     

Evidencing a large body of ice in a rock glacier,Vanoise Massif,Northern French Alps

The Sachette rock glacier is an active rock glacier located between 2660 and 2480 m a.s.l. in the Vanoise Massif, Northern French Alps (45° 29′ N, 6° 52′ E). In order to characterize its status as permafrost feature, shallow ground temperatures were monitored and the surface velocity measured by photogrammetry. The rock glacier exhibits near‐surface thermal regimes suggesting permafrost occurrence and also displays significant surface horizontal displacements (0.6–1.3 ± 0.6 m yr^–1). In order to investigate its internal structure, a ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) survey was performed. Four constant‐offset GPR profiles were performed and analyzed to reconstruct the stratigraphy and model the radar wave velocity in two dimensions. Integration of the morphology, the velocity models and the stratigraphy revealed, in the upper half of the rock glacier, the good correspondence between widespread high radar wave velocities (>0.15–0.16 m ns^–1) and strongly concave reflector structures. High radar wave velocity (0.165–0.170 m ns^–1) is confirmed with the analysis of two punctual common mid‐point measurements in areas of exposed shallow pure ice. These evidences point towards the existence of a large buried body of ice in the upper part of the rock glacier. The rock glacier was interpreted to result from the former advance and decay of a glacier onto pre‐existing deposits, and from subsequent creep of the whole assemblage. Our study of the Sachette rock glacier thus highlights the rock glacier as a transitional landform involving the incorporation and preservation of glacier ice in permafrost environments with subsequent evolution arising from periglacial processes.     

Land use and climate change on the Yamal Peninsula of north-west Siberia: some ecological and socio-economic implications

Compared to climate, land use change is expected to comprise a more important component of global change in the coming decades. However, climate is anticipated to supass land use as a factor later in the next century, particularly in the Arctic. Discussed here are the implications of land use and climate change on the Yamal peninsula of north-west Siberia, homeland of the Yamal Nenets. Since the discovery of super-giant natural gas fields in the 1960s, extensive exploration has resulted in direct withdrawal of large areas for infrastructure development and associated disturbance regimes have led to cumulative impacts on thousands of additional hectares of land. The land withdrawals have pushed a relatively consistent or increasing number of reindeer onto progressively smaller parcels of pasture. This has led to excessive grazing and trampling of lichens, bryophytes and shrubs and, in many areas, erosion of sandy soils via deflation. The low Arctic tundra lies entirely within the continuous permafrost zone and ice-rich substrates are widespread. One implication of this is that both anthropogenic and zoogenic distubance regimes may easily initiate thermokarst and aeolian rosion, leading to significant further losses of pastures. Even without industrial distubance, a slight change of the climate would result in massive thermokarst erosion. This would have negative consequences equal to or greater than the mechanical distubances described above. The synergistic effects of land use coupled with climate, change therefore have profound implication for the ecosystems of Yamal, as well as the future of the Nenets culture, society and economy.     

Numerical analysis on the thermal regimes of thermosyphon embankment in snowy permafrost area

Snow covers the road embankments in winter in high latitude permafrost zones. The effect of snow cover on embankments was simulated based on field measurements of boundary conditions and initial ground temperature profile in Mohe, China. The effect of thermosyphons on the embankment warmed by snow cover was evaluated by numerical simulations as well. The results indicate that the difference of thermal regimes between non-thermosyphon and thermosyphon embankments reaches to 22 m in depth below the ground surface. It is much warmer in the non-thermosyphon embankment body in winter. Affected by the snow cover, heat flux gradually spreads into the deep ground of the subgrade over time. The permafrost table under the slope toe of a thermosyphon embankment is 1.2 m higher than that of a non-thermosyphon embankment in the 20th year. In addition, the permafrost table at the slope toe of a thermosyphon embankment is 26 cm deeper over 20 years. These results indicate that thermosyphons can greatly weaken the warm effect of snow cover. However, thermosyphons cannot avoid the degradation of permafrost under the scenarios of snow cover. Therefore, composite measures need to be adopted to keep embankment stability in snowy permafrost zones.