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.     

Numerical simulations of the influence of the seasonal snow cover on the occurrence of permafrost at high latitudes

It has repeatedly been reported that snow cover is a dominating factor in determining the presence or absence of permafrost in the discontinuous and sporadic permafrost regions. The temperature at the snow-soil interface by the end of winter, known as the bottom temperature of winter snow (BTS) method, has been used to detect the existence of permafrost in European alpine regions when the maximum snow depth is about 1.0 m or greater. A critical snow thickness of about 50 cm or greater can prevent the development of permafrost in eastern Hudson Bay, Canada. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of snow cover on the presence or absence of permafrost in cold regions through numerical simulations. A one-dimensional heat transfer model with phase change and a snow cover regime is used to simulate energy exchange between deep soils and the atmosphere. The model has been validated against the in situ data in the Arctic. The simulation results indicate that both snow depth and the onset date of snow cover establishment are important parameters in relation to the presence or absence of permafrost. Early establishment of snow cover can make permafrost disappear, even with a relatively thin snow cover. Permafrost may survive when snow cover starts after the middle of December even with a snow thickness >1.0 m. This effect of snow cover on the ground thermal regime can be explained with reference to the pattern of seasonal temperature variation. Early establishment of snow cover enhances the insulating impact over the entire cold season, thus warming and eventually thawing the permafrost. The insulating effect is substantially reduced when snow cover starts relatively late and snowmelt in the spring creates a huge heat sink, resulting in a favorable combination for permafrost existence.     

Mapping vertical profile of discontinuous permafrost with ground penetrating radar at Nalaikh depression,Mongolia

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has become an important geophysical tool which can provide a wealth of interpretive information about the vertical profile of discontinuous permafrost. A GPR investigation was conducted in October 2006 at the Nalaikh site at the southern boundary of the Siberian discontinuous permafrost region in Mongolia. GPR data were collected along four 100-m-long profiles to identify the location of the permafrost body, which included an in situ drilling borehole and analysis of temperature observations and soil water content measurements from boreholes. The GPR interpretation results indicated that the thickness of discontinuous permafrost at the study site was only 1.9–3.0 m and the permafrost is vulnerable to climate change. The soil temperature and soil water content data demonstrate the precision of GPR image interpretation. This case demonstrated that GPR is well suited for mapping the internal structure of discontinuous permafrost with relatively low soil water content.     

Influences of alpine ecosystem degradation on soil temperature in the freezing-thawing process on Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

The alpine ecosystem is very sensitive to environmental change due to global and local disturbances. The alpine ecosystem degradation, characterized by reducing vegetation coverage or biomass, has been occurring in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, which alters local energy balance, and water and biochemical cycles. However, detailed characterization of the ecosystem degradation effect is lack in literature. In this study, the impact of alpine ecosystem degradation on soil temperature for seasonal frozen soil and permafrost are examined. The vegetation coverage is used to indicate the degree of ecosystems degradation. Daily soil temperature is monitored at different depths for different vegetation coverage, for both permafrost and seasonal frozen soils. Results show that under the insulating effort of the vegetation, the freezing and thawing process become quicker and steeper, and the start of the freezing and thawing process moves up due to the insulating effort of the vegetation. The influence of vegetation coverage on the freezing process is more evident than the thawing process; with the decrease of vegetation coverage, the integral of frozen depth increases for seasonal frozen soil, but is vice versa for permafrost.     

A modified landform development model for the topography of drained thermokarst lake basins in fine‐grained sediments

Permafrost degradation associated with the expansion of thermokarst lakes is commonly interrupted by catastrophic drainage. Subsequently, in tundra areas, permafrost aggradation in drained basins leads to uneven topography characterized by raised centres and wet, depressed margins. The genesis of such topography has been investigated in Old Crow Flats (OCF), a glaciolacustrine plain in the continuous permafrost of northern Yukon. The thermokarst lakes of OCF have a mean depth of only 1.5 m because excess ice is dominantly found only in the uppermost 10 m of the ground. Surface conditions were measured in three drained thermokarst lake basins, including relief, snow conditions, ground temperatures, near‐surface ground ice, and sediment stratigraphy. Four nearby lakes provided information on wave base, shore recession patterns, and bathymetry before drainage: the bottoms of these lakes were not raised in the centre. An elevation difference of up to 2 m was recorded between drained basin margins and centres but was not associated with variations in ice‐wedge density or segregated ice content. Hence basin topography was not controlled by differences in volumetric ground‐ice content between margins and centres. We propose that transport of fine sediment away from eroding lake margins during lake development is the primary mechanism for the genesis of depressed margins and raised centres in drained basins of OCF. Over time, the transport results in the deposition of more and finer sediment in the central parts of lakes, where the lake bottom has subsided below wave base, than at the shallow margins, where resuspension by wave action occurs frequently. This difference in sediment volume is revealed in the topography after drainage, when permafrost aggrades in the lake‐bottom sediment and underlying talik. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

青海木里冻土区水合物稳定带的特征研究——模拟与钻探结果对比

基于青海木里冻土区的气体组成、钻孔泥浆的温度测量数据等对该区水合物稳定带的顶底深度进行了模拟计算,并将计算结果与钻探揭示的水合物产出深度进行了对比.模拟计算的水合物顶深在148.8～122.7 m 间,底深在324.6～354.8 m间,水合物厚度在175.8～232.2 m间,钻探揭示水合物及其异常产出在133～39...     

Climate and material controls on periglacial soil processes: Toward improving periglacial climate indicators

One of the distinguished efforts of A.L. Washburn was to reconstruct mean annual air temperature using periglacial features as climate indicators. This paper reviews existing periglacial indicators and proposes a strategy to improve their thermal resolution based on recent periglacial process studies, with a focus on solifluction and thermal contraction cracking and associated landforms/structures. Landforms resulting from solifluction reflect both the depth subjected to freeze-thaw and the thickness of frost-susceptible soils. The thickness of a solifluction structure can be used to infer the dominant freeze-thaw regime and minimum seasonal frost depth. Ice-wedge pseudomorphs have limited potential as a climate indicator because (1) they mainly reflect extreme winter temperatures, (2) their thermal thresholds depend on the host material, and (3) they need to be distinguished from frost wedges of other origin produced under different thermal and/or material conditions. Monitoring studies of currently active ice wedges suggest that ice-wedge cracking requires a combination of low temperature and large temperature gradients in the frozen active layer. Further field monitoring of periglacial processes and their controlling factors under various climate conditions and in various materials are needed, however, to improve the resolution of periglacial paleoclimate indicators.     

Numerical studies of methane production from Class 1 gas hydrate accumulations enhanced with carbon dioxide injection

Class 1 gas hydrate accumulations are characterized by a permeable hydrate-bearing interval overlying a permeable interval with mobile gas, sandwiched between two impermeable intervals. Depressurization-induced dissociation is currently the favored technology for producing gas from Class 1 gas hydrate accumulations. The depressurization production technology requires heat transfer from the surrounding environment to sustain dissociation as the temperature drops toward the hydrate equilibrium point and leaves the reservoir void of gas hydrate. Production of gas hydrate accumulations by exchanging carbon dioxide with methane in the clathrate structure has been demonstrated in laboratory experiments and proposed as a field-scale technology. The carbon dioxide exchange technology has the potential for yielding higher production rates and mechanically stabilizing the reservoir by maintaining hydrate saturations. We used numerical simulation to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of using carbon dioxide injection to enhance the production of methane from Class 1 gas hydrate accumulations. Numerical simulations in this study were primarily concerned with the mechanisms and approaches of carbon dioxide injection to investigate whether methane production could be enhanced through this approach. To avoid excessive simulation execution times, a five-spot well pattern with a 500-m well spacing was approximated using a two-dimensional domain having well boundaries on the vertical sides and impermeable boundaries on the horizontal sides. Impermeable over- and under burden were included to account for heat transfer into the production interval. Simulation results indicate that low injection pressures can be used to reduce secondary hydrate formation and that direct contact of injected carbon dioxide with the methane hydrate present in the formation is limited due to bypass through the higher permeability gas zone.     

青藏高原冻土退化的研究

青藏高原从70年代后期气温持续转暖,导致高原多年冻土呈区域性退化趋势。年平均地温升高0.1～0.5℃,在边缘地带垂向上形成不衔接冻土和融化夹层,多年冻土分布下界上升40～80 m,高原多年冻土总面积约减少10×10⁴km²。