IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/perpro/v28y2017i3p543-551.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ground Temperatures and Permafrost Warming from Forest to Tundra, Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands and Anderson Plain, NWT, Canada

Author

Listed:
  • S. V. Kokelj
  • M. J. Palmer
  • T. C. Lantz
  • C. R. Burn

Abstract

Annual mean ground temperatures (Tg) decline northward from approximately −3.0°C in the boreal forest to −7.0°C in dwarf‐shrub tundra in the Tuktoyuktuk Coastlands and Anderson Plain, NWT, Canada. The latitudinal decrease in Tg from forest to tundra is accompanied by an increase in the range of values measured in the central, tall‐shrub tundra zone. Field measurements from 124 sites across this ecotone indicate that in undisturbed terrain Tg may approach 0°C in the forest and −4°C in dwarf‐shrub tundra. The greatest range of local variation in Tg (~7°C) was observed in the tall‐shrub transition zone. Undisturbed terrain units with relatively high Tg include riparian areas and slopes with drifting snow, saturated soils in polygonal peatlands and areas near lakes. Across the region, the warmest permafrost is associated with disturbances such as thaw slumps, drained lakes, areas burned by wildfires, drilling‐mud sumps and roadsides. Soil saturation following terrain subsidence may increase the latent heat content of the active layer, while increases in snow depth decrease the rate of ground heat loss in autumn and winter. Such disturbances increase freezeback duration and reduce the period of conductive ground cooling, resulting in higher Tg and, in some cases, permafrost thaw. The field measurements reported here confirm that minimum Tg values in the uppermost 10 m of permafrost have increased by ~2°C since the 1970s. The widespread occurrence of Tg above −3°C indicates warm permafrost exists in disturbed and undisturbed settings across the transition from forest to tundra. Copyright © 2017 Government of the Northwest Territories. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • S. V. Kokelj & M. J. Palmer & T. C. Lantz & C. R. Burn, 2017. "Ground Temperatures and Permafrost Warming from Forest to Tundra, Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands and Anderson Plain, NWT, Canada," Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 543-551, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:perpro:v:28:y:2017:i:3:p:543-551
    DOI: 10.1002/ppp.1934
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1934
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/ppp.1934?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Samuel Gagnon & Michel Allard, 2021. "Modeled (1990–2100) variations in active‐layer thickness and ice‐wedge activity near Salluit, Nunavik (Canada)," Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(3), pages 447-467, July.
    2. Nicholson, Sarah R. & Kober, Leya R. & Atefrad, Pedram & Mwesigye, Aggrey & Dworkin, Seth B., 2021. "The influence of geometry on the performance of a helical steel pile as a geo-exchange system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 714-727.
    3. Madeleine C. Garibaldi & Philip P. Bonnaventure & Scott F. Lamoureux, 2021. "Utilizing the TTOP model to understand spatial permafrost temperature variability in a High Arctic landscape, Cape Bounty, Nunavut, Canada," Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(1), pages 19-34, January.
    4. Tracey A. Proverbs & Trevor C. Lantz & Gwich’in Tribal Council Department of Cultural Heritage, 2020. "Cumulative Environmental Impacts in the Gwich’in Cultural Landscape," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-22, June.
    5. Stepan Prokopievich Varlamov & Yuri Borisovich Skachkov & Pavel Nikolaevich Skryabin, 2021. "Long-Term Variability in Ground Thermal State in Central Yakutia’s Tuymaada Valley," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-22, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:perpro:v:28:y:2017:i:3:p:543-551. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1530 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.