Recent advances in the study of Arctic submarine permafrost

Angelopoulos, Michael; Overduin, Paul; Miesner, Frederieke; Grigoriev, Mikhail N.; Vasiliev, Alexander

doi:10.1002/ppp.2061

Cited by 47 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…This compares reasonably well to bottom-up estimates based on extrapolations of flux measurements [111,117,158], but the continuous formation and drainage of thermokarst lakes in permafrost landscapes make it challenging to model emissions prognostically [159]. For the Arctic Ocean, detailed models exist that can simulate the evolution of gas hydrates and their emission to the atmosphere (e.g., [160]) but due to the slow thaw of subsea permafrost, which has been ongoing since these environments were submerged at the end of the last glacial, gas hydrates are not expected to destabilize until the next millennium [161]. Bottom-up estimates of geological emissions from the terrestrial Arctic are relatively small,~2 TgC year −1 [162], but these emissions may respond to changes in permafrost thickness and disappearance of glaciers and ice caps.…”

Section: Bottom-up Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Arctic Carbon Cycle and Its Response to Changing Climate

Parmentier

Crill

Leonard

et al. 2021

Curr Clim Change Rep

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Purpose of Review The Arctic has experienced the most rapid change in climate of anywhere on Earth, and these changes are certain to drive changes in the carbon budget of the Arctic as vegetation changes, soils warm, fires become more frequent, and wetlands evolve as permafrost thaws. In this study, we review the extensive evidence for Arctic climate change and effects on the carbon cycle. In addition, we re-evaluate some of the observational evidence for changing Arctic carbon budgets. Recent Findings Observations suggest a more active CO2 cycle in high northern latitude ecosystems. Evidence points to increased uptake by boreal forests and Arctic ecosystems, as well as increasing respiration, especially in autumn. However, there is currently no strong evidence of increased CH4 emissions. Summary Long-term observations using both bottom-up (e.g., flux) and top-down (atmospheric abundance) approaches are essential for understanding changing carbon cycle budgets. Consideration of atmospheric transport is critical for interpretation of top-down observations of atmospheric carbon.

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Section: Bottom-up Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Arctic Carbon Cycle and Its Response to Changing Climate

Parmentier

Crill

Leonard

et al. 2021

Curr Clim Change Rep

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“…None of the reviewed articles dedicated their research to subsea-permafrost. While several studies focused their research to sea surface properties (e.g., [151,[217][218][219]255,258,410]), submarine permafrost itself is largely invisible to satellite remote sensing which explains the lack of studies in this field of research [483].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in Satellite Earth Observation for Permafrost Related Analyses—A Review

Philipp

Dietz

Buchelt³

et al. 2021

Remote Sensing

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Climate change and associated Arctic amplification cause a degradation of permafrost which in turn has major implications for the environment. The potential turnover of frozen ground from a carbon sink to a carbon source, eroding coastlines, landslides, amplified surface deformation and endangerment of human infrastructure are some of the consequences connected with thawing permafrost. Satellite remote sensing is hereby a powerful tool to identify and monitor these features and processes on a spatially explicit, cheap, operational, long-term basis and up to circum-Arctic scale. By filtering after a selection of relevant keywords, a total of 325 articles from 30 international journals published during the last two decades were analyzed based on study location, spatio-temporal resolution of applied remote sensing data, platform, sensor combination and studied environmental focus for a comprehensive overview of past achievements, current efforts, together with future challenges and opportunities. The temporal development of publication frequency, utilized platforms/sensors and the addressed environmental topic is thereby highlighted. The total number of publications more than doubled since 2015. Distinct geographical study hot spots were revealed, while at the same time large portions of the continuous permafrost zone are still only sparsely covered by satellite remote sensing investigations. Moreover, studies related to Arctic greenhouse gas emissions in the context of permafrost degradation appear heavily underrepresented. New tools (e.g., Google Earth Engine (GEE)), methodologies (e.g., deep learning or data fusion etc.) and satellite data (e.g., the Methane Remote Sensing LiDAR Mission (Merlin) and the Sentinel-fleet) will thereby enable future studies to further investigate the distribution of permafrost, its thermal state and its implications on the environment such as thermokarst features and greenhouse gas emission rates on increasingly larger spatial and temporal scales.

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“…Any released gas might not reach the atmosphere, as it has to bypass numerous sinks, including anaerobic oxidation in the sediment column (Overduin et al, 2015), dissolution in the pore water and surface water, lowpermeability layers, and lagoon ice. Angelopoulos et al (2020b) provide a review of subsea permafrost within the context of global climate change, and Ruppel and Kessler (2017) provide a review specific to climate change interactions with gas hydrates.…”

Section: Impact Of Marine Inundationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermokarst Lagoons: A Core-Based Assessment of Depositional Characteristics and an Estimate of Carbon Pools on the Bykovsky Peninsula

et al. 2021

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Permafrost region subsurface organic carbon (OC) pools are a major component of the terrestrial carbon cycle and vulnerable to a warming climate. Thermokarst lagoons are an important transition stage with complex depositional histories during which permafrost and lacustrine carbon pools are transformed along eroding Arctic coasts. The effects of temperature and salinity changes during thermokarst lake to lagoon transitions on thaw history and lagoon deposits are understudied. We analyzed two 30-m-long sediment cores from two thermokarst lagoons on the Bykovsky Peninsula, Northeast Siberia, using sedimentological, geochronological, hydrochemical, and biogeochemical techniques. Using remote sensing we distinguished between a semi-closed and a nearly closed lagoon. We (1) characterized the depositional history, (2) studied the impact of marine inundation on ice-bearing permafrost and taliks, and (3) quantified the OC pools for different stages of thermokarst lagoons. Fluvial and former Yedoma deposits were found at depth between 30 and 8.5 m, while lake and lagoon deposits formed the upper layers. The electrical conductivity of the pore water indicated hypersaline conditions for the semi-closed lagoon (max: 108 mS/cm), while fresh to brackish conditions were observed beneath a 5 m-thick surface saline layer at the nearly closed lagoon. The deposits had a mean OC content of 15 ± 2 kg/m3, with higher values in the semi-closed lagoon. Based on the cores we estimated a total OC pool of 5.7 Mt-C for the first 30 m of sediment below five mapped lagoons on the Bykovsky Peninsula. Our results suggest that paleo river branches shaped the middle Pleistocene landscape followed by late Pleistocene Yedoma permafrost accumulation and early Holocene lake development. Afterward, lake drainage, marine flooding, and bedfast ice formation caused the saline enrichment of pore water, which led to cryotic talik development. We find that the OC-pool of Arctic lagoons may comprise a substantial inventory of partially thawed and partially refrozen OC, which is available for microbial degradation processes at the Arctic terrestrial-marine interface. Climate change in the Arctic leading to sea level rise, permafrost thaw, coastal erosion, and sea ice loss may increase the rate of thermokarst lagoon formation and thus increase the importance of lagoons as biogeochemical processors of former permafrost OC.

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Recent advances in the study of Arctic submarine permafrost

Cited by 47 publications

References 96 publications

The Arctic Carbon Cycle and Its Response to Changing Climate

The Arctic Carbon Cycle and Its Response to Changing Climate

Trends in Satellite Earth Observation for Permafrost Related Analyses—A Review

Thermokarst Lagoons: A Core-Based Assessment of Depositional Characteristics and an Estimate of Carbon Pools on the Bykovsky Peninsula

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