Alaskan Permafrost Groundwater Storage Changes Derived from GRACE and Ground Measurements

Abstract

Abstract:The Arctic is in transition from climate-driven thawing of permafrost. We investigate satellite-derived water equivalent mass changes, snow water equivalent with in situ measurements of runoff and ground-survey derived geoid models from 1999 through 2009. The Alaskan Arctic coastal plain groundwater storage (including wetland bog, thaw pond and lake) is increasing by 1.15 ± 0.65 km 3 /a (area-average 1.10 ± 0.62 cm/a), andYukon River watershed groundwater storage is decreasing by 7.44 ± 3.76 km 3 /a (area-average 0.79 ± 0.40 cm/a). Geoid changes show increases within the Arctic coastal region and decreases within the Yukon River watershed. We hypothesize these changes are linked to the development of new predominately closed-and possibly open-talik in the continuous permafrost zone under large thaw lakes with increases of lakes and new predominately open-talik and reduction of permafrost extent in the discontinuous and sporadic zones with decreases of thaw lakes.

Land Cover Change in the Lower Yenisei River Using Dense Stacking of Landsat Imagery in Google Earth Engine

“…Thaw propagation into ice-rich near-surface permafrost can be accompanied by ground subsidence (e.g., [60]) and/or formation or expansion of thermokarst depressions (e.g., [61]). Lowering of the permafrost table may result in the formation of taliks, enhancing underground drainage and resulting in dryer surface conditions (e.g., [24,25]). To investigate whether the change in number and areal extent of large (>40 ha) closed lakes detected in this study can potentially be attributed to permafrost degradation, associations between lake changes and permafrost conditions were also examined.…”

Climatogenic Dynamics of Solifluction in the Permafrost Zone of Central Siberia

“…спутника GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), позволяющего измерять аномалии гравитационного поля Земли, обусловленные, в частности, изменениями водной массы в Ар-ктике, Антарктике, а также в зонах вечной мерзлоты Сибири и Аляски [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Water Mass Dynamics in Cryolithozone of Central Siberia Based on Grace Remote Sensing Data

“…В южной зоне бассейна р. Лена обнару-жен рост массы подземных вод [10]. Аналогичное явление наблюдалось на арктическом побережье Аляски, в то время как в бассейне р. Юкон отмечено уменьшение водной массы [11]. По данным GRACE в разных районах Земли отмечено значительное сокращение за-пасов подземных вод [12].…”