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#permafrost — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #permafrost, aggregated by home.social.

  1. Challenges In The Use Of Local Data For Regional Scale Mapping Of C And N Stocks In The Continuous Permafrost Zone At The Yukon Coastal Plain | Heatwave Risks To Tipping Point Of Permafrost
    --
    doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-113-20 <-- shared paper
    --
    doi.org/10.1038/s41558-026-026 <-- shared paper
    --
    theguardian.com/environment/20 <-- shared media article
    --
    cbc.ca/news/canada/north/perma <-- shared media article
    --
    [putting together two different ‘sorts’/focuses of research/reporting, but…]
    H/T @gustaf Hugelius | Professor at Stockholm University
    --
    “Permafrost soils are particularly vulnerable to climate change. To assess and improve estimations of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) budgets it is necessary to accurately map soil carbon and nitrogen in the permafrost region. In particular, soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks have been predicted and mapped by many studies from local to pan-Arctic scales. Several studies have been carried out at the Canadian Beaufort Sea coast, though no regional maps of terrestrial carbon stocks based on spatial modelling has been conducted yet. This study combines available field data from the Canadian Yukon coastal plain and uses it to map regional SOC and N stocks using the machine learning algorithm random forest and environmental variables based on remote sensing data. [The authors] developed models using the data for the entire region and separate models for the coastal mainland area and Qikiqtaruk Herschel Island. Each model was used to map SOC and N stocks for its respective area. [They] assessed the performance of the different random forest models by using crossvalidation. [They] further assessed model results using the Area of Applicability (AOA) method and the quantile regression forest approach, comparing the results and discussing their implications within the context of both methods. [They] explore[d] local differences in soil properties and how soil data distribution across the region affects the accuracy of the predictions of SOC and N stocks..."
    #permafrost #soils #geology #climatechange #temperature #thawing #melting #emissions #CO2 #methane #carbon #nitrogen #GIS #spatial #mapping #Qikiqtaruk #HerschelIsland #Yukon #Canada #soilorganiccarbon #SOC #arctic #cryosphere #BeaufortSea #coast #coastal #machinelearning #model #modeling #remotesensing #earthobservation #carbonstocks #island #mainland #spatialanalysis #scale

  2. Rock Weathering Can Counteract River CO2 Emissions Induced By Permafrost Thaw
    --
    doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-106 <-- shared paper
    --
    H/T @aaron Bufe
    “[The researchers] measured carbon emissions and water chemistry in 50 headwater rivers draining 780,000 km² of the Tibetan Plateau.
    The rivers flow in landscapes underlain by continuous permafrost and landscapes in which the permafrost has retreated since the last glacial maximum. They collect[ed] organic carbon from soils and dissolved inorganic carbon that is fixed by rock-weathering.
    Where the permafrost cover is continuous, rivers emit CO2 from degrading (permafrost) soil carbon. Weathering reactions in these catchments are relatively slow.
    In landscapes with (almost) no permafrost, carbon fluxes from weathering are faster than CO2 emissions from rivers.
    Thus, as permafrost landscapes transition to landscapes without permafrost cover, chemical weathering reactions may play an ever more important role in riverine carbon cycling.
    Interestingly, weathering can affect the carbon cycle in different ways. Where sulfide minerals are present, weathering reactions can emit CO2. Where silicate minerals dominate, weathering draws down CO2 from the atmosphere…”
    --
    “Climate-induced permafrost thaw unlocks large stores of organic carbon that are mineralized and emitted as carbon dioxide (CO2) from rivers to the atmosphere. Concurrently, warming and permafrost thaw can increase mineral weathering rates, thus affecting the release and sequestration of inorganic carbon. Yet how these biological and geological carbon cycles interact and jointly affect CO2 dynamics (emission compared with drawdown) in permafrost rivers remains unknown. Here [they] combine[d] CO2 emissions, organic and inorganic solute concentrations, dual carbon isotopes (δ13C–Δ14C) and geochemical modelling to infer how permafrost thaw may affect river biogeochemistry over decades to centuries across the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Leveraging a gradient of thermal permafrost degradation, we find that river CO2 emissions decline, whereas solute fluxes from rock weathering increase with decreasing permafrost cover. Across this region, net CO2 drawdown fluxes from rock weathering are about 35% of river CO2 emissions, varying from around 15% in catchments with continuous permafrost to more than 100% in catchments with discontinuous or isolated permafrost. Thus, carbon fluxes from chemical weathering may become increasingly important with ongoing permafrost thaw, potentially even outpacing river CO2 emissions. [Their] findings disentangle the interplay between biological and geological carbon fluxes that are important for the cryosphere and the global carbon cycle…”
    #permafrost #melting #thaw #climatechange #warming #Tibet #TibetanPlateau #Qinghai #water #hydrology #carbonemissions #CO2 #emissions #waterchemistry #waterquality #cryosphere #sediment #sedimentation #weathering #rock #carbon #river #riverine #carboncyling #geochemistry #biology #geology #soil

  3. Okay, dann ist die nächste #Pandemie wohl von einer #Bakterie:

    Ein 5.000 Jahre eingefrorenes #Bakterium aus einer rumänischen #Eishöhle zeigt Resistenz gegenüber zehn #Antibiotika.

    Forschende fanden mehr als 100 #Resistenzgene, die beim Auftauen in die Umwelt gelangen und heutige Erreger stärken könnten.

    scinexx.de/news/biowissen/5-00

    #Mikrobiologie #Eis #Permafrost #Superkeim #healthcare

  4. Im Schweizer Ort #Blatten drohen Millionen Kubikmeter #Gestein ins Tal zu stürzen.

    Der #Klimawandel begünstigt solche Ereignisse, etwa durch tauenden #Permafrost oder schmelzenden #Gletscher. Diese Veränderungen erhöhen die Instabilität der #Berghänge.

    Fachleute beobachten vor allem die Gefahr eines #Murgangs, der durch Wasser, Eis und Geröll schwere Schäden anrichten könnte.

    ostsee-zeitung.de/wissen/bergs

    #Bergsturz #Naturgefahren #Gebirge #Geophysik #KleinesNesthorn #Lötschental

  5. Ökologin #Christina_Biasi entschlüsselt, unter welchen Bedingungen #Organismen dazu beitragen, dass #Permafrost-Böden #Lachgas ausstoßen. Ihre Forschung könnte entscheidend für #Klimaschutz sein
    globalmagazin.com/unbekannter-
    F: fwf

  6. Der #Klimawandel verstärkt Naturgefahren in den #Alpen, wie eine Schweizer Metastudie zeigt.

    spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/

    Besonders #Steinschläge nehmen in Hochlagen zu, da das Tauen von #Permafrost und #Gletscherschwund Gestein destabilisieren.

    Auch #Bergstürze und #Murgänge könnten häufiger werden. #Lawinen enthalten zunehmend Nassschnee und treten in höheren Lagen vermehrt auf.

    #Naturgefahren #Alpen #Erderwärmung #GlobaleErwärmung #Gletscher #Felsstürze

  7. #Permafrost Thaw May Cause #Arctic River Erosion to Speed Up

    October 09, 2024

    "Permafrost, the thick layer of perennially frozen ground that covers much of the Arctic, slows down the migration of Arctic rivers, according to a new Caltech study. River migration is a common process in which a river's path meanders over time due to erosion of the riverbanks. This rerouting, which can also occur in #SuddenFloods, poses a threat for many communities that live along and depend on rivers. The findings also have implications for how the Arctic region will be impacted by a warming climate as permafrost thaws over time.

    "The research was conducted in the Caltech laboratory of Michael Lamb, professor of geology, and is described in a paper appearing in the journal Nature on October 9.

    "Led by graduate student Emily Geyman, the study focused on the #KoyukukRiver, a large tributary of the #YukonRiver that winds for hundreds of miles through interior Alaska. There was debate within the scientific community about whether the frozen soil along the riverbanks serves to fortify the banks against erosion or to promote it.

    "'Large rivers like the Yukon or the Amazon can move tens to hundreds of feet per year,' Geyman says. "Arctic rivers in particular differ from temperate rivers because they need to thaw the material of their banks before they can pick that material up and move it.'

    "Due to #ClimateChange, permafrost is slowly thawing over decades. But a river can experience drastic natural changes within a single year, with flow conditions changing from very cold and fast in early spring to warm and slow a few months later. Geyman and her collaborators leveraged these major changes that take place within a single season to gain a glimpse into how the rivers will behave in response to climate change decades or centuries into the future.

    "In spring, the Koyukuk River swells in volume from snowmelt, flowing with fast, cold water. For more temperate rivers, a fast flow means more erosion. But in the Arctic, the temperature of the water matters—cold water is unable to thaw the frozen banks in order to migrate.

    "In the new study, Geyman and her collaborators used satellite imagery of the Koyukuk over the past several years and developed a technique to decode high-resolution changes from the images. The team hypothesized that if permafrost was slowing the river's migration, they should only see migration later in the summer when the river water has warmed up. Their hypothesis matched with the satellite data, suggesting that permafrost does, in fact, slow down river migration.

    "Next, the team compared sections of the river that flow through permafrost with those that do not. The Koyukuk is special because it traverses a patchwork of both permafrost and unfrozen ground. The team traveled to the Arctic to map the erosion on various bends of the river and found that sections without permafrost migrated twice as fast as analogous riverbends through permafrost terrain.

    "The research is part of a larger effort to understand the dynamics of rivers and how they transport carbon, nutrients, and other materials trapped in the soil.

    "'River migration has implications for local communities and infrastructure, and also for the Arctic environment,' Lamb says. 'About 1,500 gigatons of #carbon are stored in the frozen permafrost—about twice as much carbon as in the atmosphere, for comparison. There is also #mercury frozen in the soil that could be liberated into rivers as permafrost thaws. We are, ultimately, trying to understand what happens to these elements in the context of river erosion.'

    "The work was a collaboration with local Alaska #Native communities, in particular from the town of #Huslia."

    Read more:
    caltech.edu/about/news/permafr

    #GlobalWarming #PermafrostMelt #MercuryPoisoning #CarbonSinks #WaterIsLife #ClimateChange #Arctic #Alaska

  8. #Permafrost Thaw May Cause #Arctic River Erosion to Speed Up

    October 09, 2024

    "Permafrost, the thick layer of perennially frozen ground that covers much of the Arctic, slows down the migration of Arctic rivers, according to a new Caltech study. River migration is a common process in which a river's path meanders over time due to erosion of the riverbanks. This rerouting, which can also occur in #SuddenFloods, poses a threat for many communities that live along and depend on rivers. The findings also have implications for how the Arctic region will be impacted by a warming climate as permafrost thaws over time.

    "The research was conducted in the Caltech laboratory of Michael Lamb, professor of geology, and is described in a paper appearing in the journal Nature on October 9.

    "Led by graduate student Emily Geyman, the study focused on the #KoyukukRiver, a large tributary of the #YukonRiver that winds for hundreds of miles through interior Alaska. There was debate within the scientific community about whether the frozen soil along the riverbanks serves to fortify the banks against erosion or to promote it.

    "'Large rivers like the Yukon or the Amazon can move tens to hundreds of feet per year,' Geyman says. "Arctic rivers in particular differ from temperate rivers because they need to thaw the material of their banks before they can pick that material up and move it.'

    "Due to #ClimateChange, permafrost is slowly thawing over decades. But a river can experience drastic natural changes within a single year, with flow conditions changing from very cold and fast in early spring to warm and slow a few months later. Geyman and her collaborators leveraged these major changes that take place within a single season to gain a glimpse into how the rivers will behave in response to climate change decades or centuries into the future.

    "In spring, the Koyukuk River swells in volume from snowmelt, flowing with fast, cold water. For more temperate rivers, a fast flow means more erosion. But in the Arctic, the temperature of the water matters—cold water is unable to thaw the frozen banks in order to migrate.

    "In the new study, Geyman and her collaborators used satellite imagery of the Koyukuk over the past several years and developed a technique to decode high-resolution changes from the images. The team hypothesized that if permafrost was slowing the river's migration, they should only see migration later in the summer when the river water has warmed up. Their hypothesis matched with the satellite data, suggesting that permafrost does, in fact, slow down river migration.

    "Next, the team compared sections of the river that flow through permafrost with those that do not. The Koyukuk is special because it traverses a patchwork of both permafrost and unfrozen ground. The team traveled to the Arctic to map the erosion on various bends of the river and found that sections without permafrost migrated twice as fast as analogous riverbends through permafrost terrain.

    "The research is part of a larger effort to understand the dynamics of rivers and how they transport carbon, nutrients, and other materials trapped in the soil.

    "'River migration has implications for local communities and infrastructure, and also for the Arctic environment,' Lamb says. 'About 1,500 gigatons of #carbon are stored in the frozen permafrost—about twice as much carbon as in the atmosphere, for comparison. There is also #mercury frozen in the soil that could be liberated into rivers as permafrost thaws. We are, ultimately, trying to understand what happens to these elements in the context of river erosion.'

    "The work was a collaboration with local Alaska #Native communities, in particular from the town of #Huslia."

    Read more:
    caltech.edu/about/news/permafr

    #GlobalWarming #PermafrostMelt #MercuryPoisoning #CarbonSinks #WaterIsLife #ClimateChange #Arctic #Alaska

  9. #Permafrost Thaw May Cause #Arctic River Erosion to Speed Up

    October 09, 2024

    "Permafrost, the thick layer of perennially frozen ground that covers much of the Arctic, slows down the migration of Arctic rivers, according to a new Caltech study. River migration is a common process in which a river's path meanders over time due to erosion of the riverbanks. This rerouting, which can also occur in #SuddenFloods, poses a threat for many communities that live along and depend on rivers. The findings also have implications for how the Arctic region will be impacted by a warming climate as permafrost thaws over time.

    "The research was conducted in the Caltech laboratory of Michael Lamb, professor of geology, and is described in a paper appearing in the journal Nature on October 9.

    "Led by graduate student Emily Geyman, the study focused on the #KoyukukRiver, a large tributary of the #YukonRiver that winds for hundreds of miles through interior Alaska. There was debate within the scientific community about whether the frozen soil along the riverbanks serves to fortify the banks against erosion or to promote it.

    "'Large rivers like the Yukon or the Amazon can move tens to hundreds of feet per year,' Geyman says. "Arctic rivers in particular differ from temperate rivers because they need to thaw the material of their banks before they can pick that material up and move it.'

    "Due to #ClimateChange, permafrost is slowly thawing over decades. But a river can experience drastic natural changes within a single year, with flow conditions changing from very cold and fast in early spring to warm and slow a few months later. Geyman and her collaborators leveraged these major changes that take place within a single season to gain a glimpse into how the rivers will behave in response to climate change decades or centuries into the future.

    "In spring, the Koyukuk River swells in volume from snowmelt, flowing with fast, cold water. For more temperate rivers, a fast flow means more erosion. But in the Arctic, the temperature of the water matters—cold water is unable to thaw the frozen banks in order to migrate.

    "In the new study, Geyman and her collaborators used satellite imagery of the Koyukuk over the past several years and developed a technique to decode high-resolution changes from the images. The team hypothesized that if permafrost was slowing the river's migration, they should only see migration later in the summer when the river water has warmed up. Their hypothesis matched with the satellite data, suggesting that permafrost does, in fact, slow down river migration.

    "Next, the team compared sections of the river that flow through permafrost with those that do not. The Koyukuk is special because it traverses a patchwork of both permafrost and unfrozen ground. The team traveled to the Arctic to map the erosion on various bends of the river and found that sections without permafrost migrated twice as fast as analogous riverbends through permafrost terrain.

    "The research is part of a larger effort to understand the dynamics of rivers and how they transport carbon, nutrients, and other materials trapped in the soil.

    "'River migration has implications for local communities and infrastructure, and also for the Arctic environment,' Lamb says. 'About 1,500 gigatons of #carbon are stored in the frozen permafrost—about twice as much carbon as in the atmosphere, for comparison. There is also #mercury frozen in the soil that could be liberated into rivers as permafrost thaws. We are, ultimately, trying to understand what happens to these elements in the context of river erosion.'

    "The work was a collaboration with local Alaska #Native communities, in particular from the town of #Huslia."

    Read more:
    caltech.edu/about/news/permafr

    #GlobalWarming #PermafrostMelt #MercuryPoisoning #CarbonSinks #WaterIsLife #ClimateChange #Arctic #Alaska

  10. #Permafrost Thaw May Cause #Arctic River Erosion to Speed Up

    October 09, 2024

    "Permafrost, the thick layer of perennially frozen ground that covers much of the Arctic, slows down the migration of Arctic rivers, according to a new Caltech study. River migration is a common process in which a river's path meanders over time due to erosion of the riverbanks. This rerouting, which can also occur in #SuddenFloods, poses a threat for many communities that live along and depend on rivers. The findings also have implications for how the Arctic region will be impacted by a warming climate as permafrost thaws over time.

    "The research was conducted in the Caltech laboratory of Michael Lamb, professor of geology, and is described in a paper appearing in the journal Nature on October 9.

    "Led by graduate student Emily Geyman, the study focused on the #KoyukukRiver, a large tributary of the #YukonRiver that winds for hundreds of miles through interior Alaska. There was debate within the scientific community about whether the frozen soil along the riverbanks serves to fortify the banks against erosion or to promote it.

    "'Large rivers like the Yukon or the Amazon can move tens to hundreds of feet per year,' Geyman says. "Arctic rivers in particular differ from temperate rivers because they need to thaw the material of their banks before they can pick that material up and move it.'

    "Due to #ClimateChange, permafrost is slowly thawing over decades. But a river can experience drastic natural changes within a single year, with flow conditions changing from very cold and fast in early spring to warm and slow a few months later. Geyman and her collaborators leveraged these major changes that take place within a single season to gain a glimpse into how the rivers will behave in response to climate change decades or centuries into the future.

    "In spring, the Koyukuk River swells in volume from snowmelt, flowing with fast, cold water. For more temperate rivers, a fast flow means more erosion. But in the Arctic, the temperature of the water matters—cold water is unable to thaw the frozen banks in order to migrate.

    "In the new study, Geyman and her collaborators used satellite imagery of the Koyukuk over the past several years and developed a technique to decode high-resolution changes from the images. The team hypothesized that if permafrost was slowing the river's migration, they should only see migration later in the summer when the river water has warmed up. Their hypothesis matched with the satellite data, suggesting that permafrost does, in fact, slow down river migration.

    "Next, the team compared sections of the river that flow through permafrost with those that do not. The Koyukuk is special because it traverses a patchwork of both permafrost and unfrozen ground. The team traveled to the Arctic to map the erosion on various bends of the river and found that sections without permafrost migrated twice as fast as analogous riverbends through permafrost terrain.

    "The research is part of a larger effort to understand the dynamics of rivers and how they transport carbon, nutrients, and other materials trapped in the soil.

    "'River migration has implications for local communities and infrastructure, and also for the Arctic environment,' Lamb says. 'About 1,500 gigatons of #carbon are stored in the frozen permafrost—about twice as much carbon as in the atmosphere, for comparison. There is also #mercury frozen in the soil that could be liberated into rivers as permafrost thaws. We are, ultimately, trying to understand what happens to these elements in the context of river erosion.'

    "The work was a collaboration with local Alaska #Native communities, in particular from the town of #Huslia."

    Read more:
    caltech.edu/about/news/permafr

    #GlobalWarming #PermafrostMelt #MercuryPoisoning #CarbonSinks #WaterIsLife #ClimateChange #Arctic #Alaska

  11. #Permafrost Thaw May Cause #Arctic River Erosion to Speed Up

    October 09, 2024

    "Permafrost, the thick layer of perennially frozen ground that covers much of the Arctic, slows down the migration of Arctic rivers, according to a new Caltech study. River migration is a common process in which a river's path meanders over time due to erosion of the riverbanks. This rerouting, which can also occur in #SuddenFloods, poses a threat for many communities that live along and depend on rivers. The findings also have implications for how the Arctic region will be impacted by a warming climate as permafrost thaws over time.

    "The research was conducted in the Caltech laboratory of Michael Lamb, professor of geology, and is described in a paper appearing in the journal Nature on October 9.

    "Led by graduate student Emily Geyman, the study focused on the #KoyukukRiver, a large tributary of the #YukonRiver that winds for hundreds of miles through interior Alaska. There was debate within the scientific community about whether the frozen soil along the riverbanks serves to fortify the banks against erosion or to promote it.

    "'Large rivers like the Yukon or the Amazon can move tens to hundreds of feet per year,' Geyman says. "Arctic rivers in particular differ from temperate rivers because they need to thaw the material of their banks before they can pick that material up and move it.'

    "Due to #ClimateChange, permafrost is slowly thawing over decades. But a river can experience drastic natural changes within a single year, with flow conditions changing from very cold and fast in early spring to warm and slow a few months later. Geyman and her collaborators leveraged these major changes that take place within a single season to gain a glimpse into how the rivers will behave in response to climate change decades or centuries into the future.

    "In spring, the Koyukuk River swells in volume from snowmelt, flowing with fast, cold water. For more temperate rivers, a fast flow means more erosion. But in the Arctic, the temperature of the water matters—cold water is unable to thaw the frozen banks in order to migrate.

    "In the new study, Geyman and her collaborators used satellite imagery of the Koyukuk over the past several years and developed a technique to decode high-resolution changes from the images. The team hypothesized that if permafrost was slowing the river's migration, they should only see migration later in the summer when the river water has warmed up. Their hypothesis matched with the satellite data, suggesting that permafrost does, in fact, slow down river migration.

    "Next, the team compared sections of the river that flow through permafrost with those that do not. The Koyukuk is special because it traverses a patchwork of both permafrost and unfrozen ground. The team traveled to the Arctic to map the erosion on various bends of the river and found that sections without permafrost migrated twice as fast as analogous riverbends through permafrost terrain.

    "The research is part of a larger effort to understand the dynamics of rivers and how they transport carbon, nutrients, and other materials trapped in the soil.

    "'River migration has implications for local communities and infrastructure, and also for the Arctic environment,' Lamb says. 'About 1,500 gigatons of #carbon are stored in the frozen permafrost—about twice as much carbon as in the atmosphere, for comparison. There is also #mercury frozen in the soil that could be liberated into rivers as permafrost thaws. We are, ultimately, trying to understand what happens to these elements in the context of river erosion.'

    "The work was a collaboration with local Alaska #Native communities, in particular from the town of #Huslia."

    Read more:
    caltech.edu/about/news/permafr

    #GlobalWarming #PermafrostMelt #MercuryPoisoning #CarbonSinks #WaterIsLife #ClimateChange #Arctic #Alaska

  12. Der #Klimawandel stellt die #Alpen vor immense #Herausforderungen: Schmelzender #Permafrost und #Gletscherschwund destabilisieren die #Berglandschaft und machen das #Bergsteigen immer gefährlicher. Auf der #Zugspitze und anderen Hochgebirgen erwärmt sich der Permafrost zunehmend, was zu Rissen und potenziell gefährlichen Erdrutschen führt. Der rapide Gletscherschwund erhöht das Risiko für #Felsstürze und #Spaltenstürze.

    #Gletscherschmelze #Klimakrise #globaleErwärmung

    taz.de/Klimawandel-und-Tourism

  13. Ice lens (Glaciology 🗻)

    Ice lenses are bodies of ice formed when moisture, diffused within soil or rock, accumulates in a localized zone. The ice initially accumulates within small collocated pores or pre-existing crack, and, as long as the conditions remain favorable, continues to collect in the ice layer or ice lens, wedging the soil or rock apart. Ice lenses grow parallel to the surface and several...

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_lens

    #IceLens #Glaciology #Permafrost #ErosionLandforms