Permafrost degradation on a warmer Earth: Challenges and perspectives

Oliva, Marc; Fritz, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.coesh.2018.03.007

Cited by 42 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Northern landscapes are experiencing rapid change due to climate warming, with large scale thawing and erosion of permafrost soils in many regions (Oliva and Fritz, 2018). Around half of global soil carbon is estimated to be stored in permafrost (Schuur et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting Winter Versus Summer Microbial Communities and Metabolic Functions in a Permafrost Thaw Lake

et al. 2019

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Permafrost thawing results in the formation of thermokarst lakes, which are biogeochemical hotspots in northern landscapes and strong emitters of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere. Most studies of thermokarst lakes have been in summer, despite the predominance of winter and ice-cover over much of the year, and the microbial ecology of these waters under ice remains poorly understood. Here we first compared the summer versus winter microbiomes of a subarctic thermokarst lake using DNA- and RNA-based 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and qPCR. We then applied comparative metagenomics and used genomic bin reconstruction to compare the two seasons for changes in potential metabolic functions in the thermokarst lake microbiome. In summer, the microbial community was dominated by Actinobacteria and Betaproteobacteria, with phototrophic and aerobic pathways consistent with the utilization of labile and photodegraded substrates. The microbial community was strikingly different in winter, with dominance of methanogens, Planctomycetes, Chloroflexi and Deltaproteobacteria, along with various taxa of the Patescibacteria/Candidate Phyla Radiation (Parcubacteria, Microgenomates, Omnitrophica, Aminicenantes). The latter group was underestimated or absent in the amplicon survey, but accounted for about a third of the metagenomic reads. The winter lineages were associated with multiple reductive metabolic processes, fermentations and pathways for the mobilization and degradation of complex organic matter, along with a strong potential for syntrophy or cross-feeding. The results imply that the summer community represents a transient stage of the annual cycle, and that carbon dioxide and methane production continue through the prolonged season of ice cover via a taxonomically distinct winter community and diverse mechanisms of permafrost carbon transformation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting Winter Versus Summer Microbial Communities and Metabolic Functions in a Permafrost Thaw Lake

et al. 2019

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“…This promotes a biogeophysical impact on the climate system. However, as reviews and position papers (e.g., Oliva & Fritz, ) state, most ongoing and calls for future research are geared towards understanding the biogeochemical feedbacks that result from permafrost degradation. While clearly important, as the carbon storage in permafrost regions will play a large and still undetermined part in future warming, land‐atmosphere interactions that results from the thawing of these regions must also be included to understand and predict feedbacks on the regional weather and climate in the high‐latitudes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Permafrost in Eurasian Land‐Atmosphere Interactions

2019

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Permafrost is an important indicator of climate change that affects, e.g., ecosystems, hydrology, and infrastructure in cold regions. Interactions between the surface and atmosphere in permafrost regions are complex and vary seasonally due to the contrasting energy and moisture conditions of frozen versus unfrozen ground. Differences in surface-atmosphere connections have been documented between permafrost types, with significantly increased moisture feedbacks in areas of continuous Eurasian permafrost, but no such relationship in other regions. This study elucidates the processes responsible for these observed land-atmosphere feedbacks in Eurasian permafrost regions. The Weather Research and Forecasting model is used to determine the varying effects of discontinuous versus continuous permafrost on different weather scenarios. For two 72-hour periods, surface fluxes, boundary layer characteristics, and corresponding meso-to-synoptic scale meteorological features varied when comparing the two experiments: one with a saturated active layer representing continuous permafrost, and another witht1 a drier surface layer representing discontinuous permafrost. Depending on the weather regime, an increase in boundary layer moisture in response to increased latent heat fluxes over continuous permafrost increases precipitation and low-level cloudiness. The effects of changing soil conditions are evident as far aloft as 500 hPa, as a mid-level low over continuous permafrost is stronger and moves southward. Incipient moisture associated with continuous permafrost allows for different land-atmosphere interactions than over discontinuous permafrost. Continued permafrost degradation as a result of climate change may lead to increased dryness in the region, altering the surface energy balance and associated weather and climate feedbacks.

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“…The 4th International Polar Year (IPY; 2007/2008) promoted a substantial increase in the number and the multidisciplinary design of permafrost studies, and their publications . Around the same time, the global media turned its attention to the Arctic region due to a record low sea ice minimum, Russia's placement of its national flag on the seafloor at the North Pole and Al Gore's film on the effects of global warming, “An inconvenient truth” .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hot trends and impact in permafrost science

Sjöberg

Siewert

Rudy

et al. 2020

Permafrost & Periglacial

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An increased interest in Arctic environments, mainly due to climate change, has changed the conditions for permafrost research in recent years. This change has been accompanied by a global increase in scientific publications, as well as a trend towards open access publications. We have analyzed abstracts, titles and keywords for publications on permafrost from 1998 to 2017 to identify developments (topics, impact and collaboration) in the field of permafrost research in light of these changes. Furthermore, to understand how scientists build on and are inspired by each other's work, we have (a) developed citation networks from scientific publications on permafrost and (b) conducted an online survey on inspiration in permafrost science. Our results show an almost 400% increase in publications containing the word permafrost in the title, keywords or abstract over the study period, and a strong increase in climate-change-related research in terms of publications and citations. Survey respondents (n = 122) find inspiration not only in scientific journal publications, but to a large extent in books and public outreach materials. We argue that this increase in global-scope issues (i.e., climate change) complementing core permafrost research has provided new incentives for international collaborations and wider communication efforts.

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Permafrost degradation on a warmer Earth: Challenges and perspectives

Cited by 42 publications

References 41 publications

Contrasting Winter Versus Summer Microbial Communities and Metabolic Functions in a Permafrost Thaw Lake

Contrasting Winter Versus Summer Microbial Communities and Metabolic Functions in a Permafrost Thaw Lake

The Role of Permafrost in Eurasian Land‐Atmosphere Interactions

Hot trends and impact in permafrost science

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