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Climate Change
Permafrost
Permafrost is permanently frozen soil, and occurs mostly in high latitudes. Permafrost comprises 24% of the land
in the Northern Hemisphere, and stores massive amounts of carbon. As a result of climate change, permafrost is
at risk of melting, releasing the stored carbon in the form of carbon dioxide and methane, which are powerful heattrapping gases. In addition, permafrost is structurally important, and its melting has been known to cause erosion,
disappearance of lakes, landslides, and ground subsidence. It will also cause changes in plant species
composition at high latitudes.
What is permafrost?
The Effect of Climate Change on Permafrost
Melting Permafrost Causes Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Carbon Exchange
Methane
Other Impacts of Melting Permafrost
Conclusion
Related Blogs
References
Further Information
What is permafrost?
Permafrost is permanently frozen soil, sediment, or rock. Its
classification is solely based on temperature, not moisture or ground
cover. The ground must remain at or below 0C for at least two
years in order to be considered permafrost. Although new
permafrost is forming, it can be over thousands of years old. For
example, some of the permafrost in western Canada's boreal
peatlands has been there since the Little Ice Age of the 1600's
(Turetsky et al., 2007).
Permafrost has layers, of which frozen ground is just one portion
(Figure 1). The active layer is ground that is seasonally frozen,
typically lying above the perennially frozen permafrost layer. Talik is
unfrozen ground that lies below the permafrost and between the
active layer and permafrost.
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In the Southern Hemisphere, permafrost is found in Antarctica, the Antarctic islands, and the Andes Mountains. In
areas where the conditions are such that the ground is cold enough year-round, continuous permafrost forms.
Discontinuous and sporadic permafrost occurs in locations where temperatures only get cold enough in certain areas,
such as in the shade, or on the northern side of a hill or mountain. Seasonal permafrost occurs during colder seasons
and thaws or disappears during warmer times of the year.
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In a recent study using freezing/thawing index, trend analysis of spatial data since 1970 indicates that in recent
decades, there has been a decrease in freezing during the cold season throughout North America's permafrost
regions. Additionally, coastal areas and eastern Canada have started to see "significant" increases in warm season
thawing of permafrost (Frauenfeld et al., 2007). Overall, this means there has been a decrease in freeze depths and in
the amount of permanent permafrost. Conversely, there has been an increase in seasonal permafrost. This increase in
seasonal permafrost is not due to increases in acres frozen, but to the decrease in permanent permafrost which is not
remaining frozen all year anymore. Since it is no longer perennially frozen, it loses its distinction as 'permanent' and
becomes 'seasonal'.
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Figure 6. Sishmaref photo series: Only two hours separate the first photo from the second. For reference, red arrows
mark the barrel. By the time the second photograph was taken, the coastline in the foreground had retreated past the
barrel. Although coastal erosion was significant, this was not a particularly strong storm. Image courtesy of Tony
Weyiouanna Sr. Image credit: NSIDC.
Erosion
Erosion is especially evident and worrisome in coastal areas, may of which are also being ravaged by winter storm
surge as the protective barrier of sea ice appears later and later (if at all) during the year. Intact permafrost is
extremely resilient. However, when it becomes compromised, it and the ground above and below it become much more
vulnerable to the erosive forces of wind and water. On our Sea Ice page, you can see a picture of a house in
Shismaref, Alaska that has had its foundation washed away by storm surge. These pictures to the right in Figure 4
were also taken in Shishmaref, Alaska, during a storm in 2003.
In some areas, erosion has been so much enhanced by exposed and degraded permafrost, the inhabitants might have
to be evacuated. Costs to relocate are hefty . for towns such as Kivalina, Alaska, they have been estimated at
upwards of $400 million. Due to the heavy toll climate change is taking on Kivalina, the town recently sued two dozen
oil, power, and coal companies for their contributions to global warming (CNN, 2008).
Landslides
As permafrost thaws, the friction needed between the frozen and thawing permafrost regions to maintain stability
disappears. On ice, you don't need a very sloped surface before you start to slip and slide . and that's exactly what
happens with the permafrost and overlying land, resulting in landslides. This happened in July of 1988 on the Fosheim
Peninsula of Canada's Ellesmere Island after a few years of increasingly warmer temperatures during the summers.
Hundreds of landslides, some of which were the size of over three football fields, carried tons of soil into a number of
creek valleys.
According to the Permafrost and Climate in Europe (PACE) project, thawing permafrost is likely to have similar effects
on the slopes of Europe's Alps and Pyrenees as global temperatures continue to rise. Landslides, such as the Val Pola
landslide of July 1987 in the Italian Alps are predicted to become more common as the permafrost underlying the
slopes of Europe's mountains degrades due to rising ground temperatures.
Subsidence
Ground subsidence can occur when
permafrost thaws and the soil
previously held up by the ice collapses.
The resulting landscape is characterized
by irregular surfaces of marshy hollows
and small hummocks called
thermokarst. Visitors and residents all
over permafrost regions have been
struck by the effects of this
phenomenon when they see a wooded
landscape affected by subsidence from
permafrost thaw. They call these areas
"drunken forests" because of the way
that the trees lean, as shown in Figure
5.
However, subsidence can have other
effects on vegetation. A group of
scientists studying the effect of
Figure 7. Permafrost distribution in the Arctic. Image credit: Philippe
permafrost thawing on vegetation in
Rekacewicz, 2005, UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library
Alaska noted, "This effect of warming
based on International Permafrost Association (1998) Circumpolar Activeacts on vegetation indirectly by creating
Layer Permafrost System (CAPS), version 1.0.
localized variability in moisture
conditions as lower karst areas
accumulate moisture and may have the water table near the soil surface, while nearby higher areas become drier"
(Schuur et al., 2007). In some of these areas, these changing conditions allow new plant species to grow. In other
pockets, water collects and they become thermokarst lakes or ponds. Once the underlying permafrost has thawed
Figure 8. A railroad in Alaska (left) and building (right), both buckled due to thawing permafrost. Image credit: (left)
NASA and U.S. Geological Survey, (right) Vladimir Romanovsky, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Ecology
The changes brought about by thawing permafrost will also have significant impacts on the ecosystems of the Arctic.
In addition to impacting migration routes and patterns in birds, reindeer, and caribou, it is expected that the effects of
thawing permafrost will change the plant species composition of the area, as well as its productivity.
Conclusion
Related Blogs
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Climate Change Moves Firmly Into the Present: Blockbuster National Climate Assessment - May 6, 2014
California Drought/Polar Vortex Jet Stream Pattern Linked to Global Warming - April 16, 2014
IPCC: Cost of Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change Super-Affordable if We Act Now - April 13, 2014
IPCC: Climate Change Increasing Risk of Hunger, Thirst, Disease, Refugees, and War - March 31, 2014
Save the Keeling Curve! - March 11, 2014
Dr. Ricky Rood's Recent Climate Change Blogs
Energy, Food, Population and Climate - April 9, 2014
Enjoying the Cold - March 4, 2014
The whole silly warming pause, warming hiatus thing - February 21, 2014
Are the changes in the Arctic messing with our weather? The Future of Blocking - February 5, 2014
Are the changes in the Arctic messing with our weather? Analysis - January 26, 2014
References
"Adaptation to Climate Change Key Challenge for Arctic Peoples and Arctic Economy: Thawing Permafrost, Melting
Sea Ice and Significant Changes in Natural Resources Demands Comprehensive Sustainable Development Plan."
United Nations Environment Programme, April 10, 2007.
"Climate change and permafrost thaw alter greenhouse gas emissions in northern wetlands." Physorg.com, August 9,
2007.
"Climate change threatens existence, Eskimo lawsuit says." CNN, February 27, 2008.
"Permafrost: Permafrost and Climate Change." Geological Survey Canada (GCS), Natural Resources Cananda,
December 2007.
"Warm Arctic may enhance global warming." Environmental News Network, March 1, 1999.
Bently, Molly. "Earth's permafrost starts to squelch." BBC News. December 29, 2004.
Frauenfeld, Oliver W., Tingjun Zhang, and James L. Mccreight. "Northern Hemisphere freezing/thawing index
variations over the twentieth century." International Journal of Climatology 27, no. 1 (2007): 47.63.
Goulden, M. L., S. C. Wofsy, J. W. Harden, S. E. Trumbore, P. M. Crill, S. T. Gower, T. Fries, B. C. Daube, S.-M. Fan,
D. J. Sutton, A. Bazzaz, and J. W. Munger. "Sensitivity of boreal forest carbon balance to soil thaw." Science 279
(1998): 214.217.
Isaksen, K., J. L. Sollid, P. Holmlund, and C. Harris. "Recent warming of mountain permafrost in Svalbard and
Scandinavia." Journal of Geophysical Research 112 (2007): F02S04.
Johansson, Torbjoern, Nils Malmer, Patrick M Crill, Thomas Friborg, Jonas H Aakerman, Mikhail Mastepanov, and
Torben R. Christensen. "Decadal vegetation changes in a northern peatland, greenhouse gas fluxes and net radiative
forcing." Global Change Biology 12, no. 12 (December 2006): 2352.2369.
Romanovsky, Vladimir E. "How rapidly is permafrost changing and what are the impacts of these changes?" NOAA
webpage.
Schuur, Edward A. G., Kathryn G. Crummer, Jason G. Vogel and Michelle C. Mack. "Plant Species Composition and
Productivity following Permafrost Thaw and Thermokarst in Alaskan Tundra." Ecosystems 10, no. 2 (March 2007):
280.292.
Smith, L. C., Y. Sheng, G. M. MacDonald, and L. D. Hinzman. "Disappearing Arctic Lakes." Science 308, no. 5727
(June 3, 2005): 1429.
Turetsky, M. R., R. K. Wieder, D. H. Vitt, R. J. Evans, and K. D. Scott. "The disappearance of relict permafrost in boreal
North America: Effects on peatland carbon storage and fluxes." Global Change Biology 13, no. 9 (2007): 1922.1934.
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