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.     

Permafrost distribution modelling in the mountains of the Mediterranean: Corral del Veleta,Sierra Nevada,Spain

A statistical model for automated mapping of the spatial distribution of permafrost in the area of Corral del Veleta in south-east Spain (3703' N, 322' W; 3398 m a.s.l.) was developed and applied. The model uses a relationship between permafrost occurrence as indicated by BTS measurements, and variables such as altitude, solar radiation and summer snow cover. The model was implemented within a geographical information system (GIS) and determines the spatial distribution of probable permafrost in Corral del Veleta. Validation was achieved by comparing the predicted permafrost distribution with the results of recent fieldwork, such as geomorphic mapping, geophysical soundings and ground temperature logging.     

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.     

Late Glacial and Holocene Palaeoenvironmental Changes in the Rostov-Yaroslavl’ Area, West Central Russia

Three lake sediment sequences (lakes Nero, Chashnitsy, Zaozer’e) from the Rostov-Jaroslavl’ region north of Moscow were studied to provide information on palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental changes during the past 15,000 cal yr. The multi-proxy study (i.e., pollen, macrofossils, mineral magnetic measurements, total carbon, nitrogen and sulphur) is chronologically constrained by AMS ¹⁴C measurements. Lake Nero provided the longest sedimentary record back to ca. 15,000 cal yr BP, while sediment accumulation began around ca. 11,000 cal yr BP in the two other lakes, possibly due to melting of permafrost. Limnic plant macrofossil remains suggest increased lake productivity and higher mean summer temperatures after 14,500 cal yr BP. While the late glacial vegetation was dominated by Betula and Salix shrubs and various herbs, it appears that Betula sect. Albae became established as early as 14,000 cal yr BP. Major hydrological changes in the region led to distinctly lower lake levels, starting 13,000 cal yr BP in Lake Nero and ca. 9000 cal yr BP in lakes Chashnitsy and Zaozer’e, which are situated at higher elevations. These changes resulted in sedimentary hiatuses in all three lakes that lasted 3500–4500 cal yr. Mixed broad-leaved – coniferous forests were widespread in the area between 8200 and 6100 cal yr BP and developed into dense, species-rich forests between 6100 and 2500 cal yr BP, during what was likely the warmest interval of the studied sequences. Agricultural activity is documented since 500 cal yr BP, but probably began earlier, since Rostov was a major capital by 862 A.D. This apparent gap may be caused by additional sedimentary hiatuses around 2500 and 500 cal yr BP.     

Climatic and geographic patterns of river runoff formation in Northern Eurasia

Siberian rivers are of global importance as they impact on the freshwater budget of the Arctic Ocean, which affects the Thermo-Haline circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean. Siberian rivers, in particular the tributaries to the larger rivers, are under-represented in the international river-regime databases. The runoff of three Russian rivers in the Central Siberian taiga (Kureyka, Karabula and Erba) is modelled to analyse the relative influence of climate. In addition three rivers (Rhine, Maas and Odra) in Western Europe are similarly assessed as a control. The results show that the role of precipitation and autocorrelation as factors in the formation of river runoff is stronger under oceanic climate conditions, increasing from the central regions of Northern Eurasia towards the Arctic Ocean in the North and the Atlantic in the West. At the same time the influence of summer temperatures is weakened. The formation of Northern Eurasian river runoff appears to be influenced by periodically thawing top horizons of permafrost soil. Time served as an indicator for land use change after inclusion of meteorological data in the models. Maas and Erba showed a significant influence of the time factor. For the Erba the onset of agricultural land use in the catchment coincides with a drop in runoff. A similar causal relationship is suggested for the Maas. Land use can change the formation of runoff, which in turn can be used as an environmental indicator for sustainable land use.     

青藏铁路多年冻土工程地质特征及其评价

青藏高原多年冻土是地质历史时期高海拔寒冷气候条件下的产物,也是青藏铁路建设的三大难题之一;而多年冻土工程地质特征及其评价工作是作出合理、可靠的工程设计的基础。结合青藏铁路沿线多年冻土区的15个地形地貌分区,在青藏铁路多年冻土区选择了70个典型断面进行了地质勘查,采用地质钻探和室内试验相结合的方法,研究了各区的工程地质特征并对其工程地质类型进行了评价。研究表明:青藏铁路多年冻土区冻土类型多样,高含冰量冻土、厚层地下冰广泛分布,不同区段地温差异性较大,工程地质条件复杂多变,良好、一般、不良和极差的工程地质区段交错分布。     

青藏高原多年冻土区热融滑塌变形现场监测分析

为了了解青藏高原多年冻土区K3035里程热融滑塌体的变形特征,分别在未滑动土体、近滑塌前缘滑体中布设了2个变形监测孔,利用Geokon-603型测斜仪实施了近1 a的变形监测。结果表明,发育在平缓斜坡上的热融滑塌具有明显的变形特征,其位移主要发生在土层浅部,越往深部,位移越小,这一监测结果通过室内数值模拟得到了验证。将阳坡的K3035热融滑塌与阴坡的K3057热融滑塌体的变形做了对比监测,无论是滑塌体后缘还是前缘,前者的滑动变形均显著大于后者。而无热融滑塌发育的斜坡(青藏铁路DK1139)土体变形量极小,这种差异一方面说明了开挖是导致热融滑塌发生的直接因素,另一方面,由于热融滑塌的影响,其后缘相对稳定的原斜坡土体也处于相对较大的蠕变变形之中。     

基于Sentinel-1 SAR数据的黑河上游冻土形变时序InSAR监测

多年冻土活动层变化导致冻土区大范围地面变形,严重破坏区域内基础设施和水文地质条件,亟需加强活动层季节冻融过程的观测研究.本文提出一种基于分布式目标的小基线集时序InSAR(DSs-SBAS)的冻土形变监测方法.该方法采用分布式目标提取和特征值分解算法,并结合基于地温-形变约束关系的参考点选取新策略,提高了冻土形变监测结果的时空分辨率和可靠性.以祁连山黑河西支源头的野牛沟为研究区域,通过对27景Sentinel-1SAR影像进行时序InSAR分析,获取了2014-2016年该区多年冻土的形变时间序列和年均形变速率,并利用Stefan模型联合地温数据估算其季节性形变幅度.实地踏勘和结果分析表明:(1)研究区大部分多年冻土处于稳定状态(-1.0^+1.0cm·a^-1),在地形陡峭的南坡边缘及含冰量丰富的野牛沟河上游两侧沟底部分区域存在较大形变;(2)区域内冻土形变时间序列呈现年周期变化,冻土冻融形变存在季节性周期形变和季节性波动下沉两种形变特征,形变幅度和速率最大可达6.0cm和-3.0cm·a^-1;(3)不同区域的活动层冻结/融化始日和冻土形变存在明显差异,主要和冻土地貌、土壤类型以及活动层厚度有关.本文提出的方法在青藏高原多年冻土区大范围冻融监测和活动层厚度反演研究方面具有很大的应用潜力.     

Role of permafrost in resilience of social-ecological system and its spatio-temporal dynamics in the source regions of Yangtze and Yellow Rivers

Permafrost is one of the key components of terrestrial ecosystem in cold regions. In the context of climate change, few studies have investigated resilience of social ecological system(SER) from the perspective of permafrost that restricts the hydrothermal condition of alpine grassland ecosystem. In this paper, based on the structural dynamics, we developed the numerical model for the SER in the permafrost regions of the source of Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, analyzed the spatial-temporal characteristics and sensitivity of the SER, and estimated the effect of permafrost change on the SER. The results indicate that: 1) the SER has an increasing trend, especially after 1997, which is the joint effect of precipitation, temperature, NPP and ecological conservation projects; 2) the SER shows the spatial feature of high in southeast and low in northwest,which is consistent with the variation trends of high southeast and low northwest for the precipitation, temperature and NPP, and low southeast and high northwest for the altitude; 3) the high sensitive regions of SER to the permafrost change have gradually transited from the island distribution to zonal and planar distribution since 1980, moreover, the sensitive degree has gradually reduced; relatively, the sensitivity has high value in the north and south, and low value in the south and east; 4) the thickness of permafrost active layer shows a highly negative correlation with the SER. The contribution rate of permafrost change to the SER is-4.3%, that is, once the thickness of permafrost active layer increases 1 unit, the SER would decrease 0.04 units.     

Full-glacial paleosols in perennially frozen loess sequences, Klondike goldfields, Yukon Territory, Canada

Perennially frozen loess deposits in the Klondike goldfields include paleosols formed in full-glacial environments, correlated by Alaskan distal tephra with Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 2 and 4. Patterns of organic and inorganic carbon and clay distribution, microstructures, and profile morphologies indicate that soil formation occurred in a base-rich environment in which organic matter accreted predominantly as root detritus. At sites approximately 20 km apart, the expression of cryoturbation and ice wedge development decreases in strength upward in loess-paleosol sequences correlated with MIS 4, suggesting increasing aridity. Configurations of cryoturbation features and ice-wedge thaw unconformities, the presence of numerous ground squirrel burrows, and an absence of peat accumulation suggest that these substrates were predominantly well-drained, with active layers of equal or greater thickness than in modern soils on similar sites in the west-central Yukon. Some characteristics of these paleosols are similar to those of modern steppe and tundra soils, consistent with plant macrofossil evidence for local ecological diversity during full-glacial conditions in eastern Beringia.