Recent permafrost degradation in bogs of the James Bay area, northern Quebec, Canada

Thibault, Simon; Payette, Serge

doi:10.1002/ppp.660

Cited by 81 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Thawing of ice-rich permafrost leads to ground settlement and collapse, ponding of water (thermokarst) and a conversion of forested ecosytems to sedge wetlands and fens (Smith et al 2008;Vallée and Payette 2007;Payette et al 2004;Thibault and Payette 2009). Changes in subsurface conditions can also lead to land instability in permafrost regions.…”

Section: The Cryosphere As An Integrated Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability and change in the Canadian cryosphere

et al. 2012

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During the International Polar Year (IPY), comprehensive observational research programs were undertaken to increase our understanding of the Canadian polar cryosphere response to a changing climate. Cryospheric components considered were snow, permafrost, sea ice, freshwater ice, glaciers and ice shelves. Enhancement of conventional observing systems and retrieval algorithms for satellite measurements facilitated development of a snapshot of current cryospheric conditions, providing a baseline against which future change can be assessed. Key findings include: 1. surface air temperatures across the Canadian Arctic exhibit a warming trend in all seasons over the past 40 years. A consistent pan-cryospheric response to these warming temperatures is evident through the analysis of multi-decadal datasets; 2. in recent years (including the IPY period) a higher rate of change was observed compared to previous decades including warming permafrost, reduction in snow cover extent and duration, reduction in summer sea ice extent, increased mass loss from glaciers, and thinning and break-up of the remaining Canadian ice shelves. These changes illustrate both a reduction in the spatial extent and mass of the cryosphere and an increase in the temporal persistence of melt related parameters. The observed changes in the cryosphere have important implications for human activity including the close ties of northerners to the land, access to northern regions for natural resource development, and the integrity of northern infrastructure.

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Section: The Cryosphere As An Integrated Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability and change in the Canadian cryosphere

et al. 2012

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“…The sites are located in a region described as discontinuous permafrost, where ground temperatures are slightly below freezing, at least according to the Canadian and world permafrost maps. No sign of permafrost was found at any of the measured sites nor at the sites that were excluded (see Table 2); however, permafrost has been reported in the James Bay lowlands near Eleonore, Eastmain, and La Grande (Thibault and Payette, 2009). Not only are the present average ground surface temperatures well above the freezing point of water, but, except for Nielsen Island, the ground surface temperature histories retrieved from inversion also reveal that the temperature has remained well above the freezing point for the last 500 years, indicating that the potential for permafrost was minimal to absent.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Climate trends in northern Ontario and Québec from borehole temperature profiles

2016

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Abstract. The ground surface temperature histories of the past 500 years were reconstructed at 10 sites containing 18 boreholes in northeastern Canada. The boreholes, between 400 and 800 m deep, are located north of 51 • N and west and east of James Bay in northern Ontario and Québec. We find that both sides of James Bay have experienced similar ground surface temperature histories with a warming of 1.51 ± 0.76 K during the period of 1850 to 2000, similar to borehole reconstructions for the southern portion of the Superior Province and in agreement with available proxy data. A cooling period corresponding to the Little Ice Age was found at only one site. Despite permafrost maps locating the sites in a region of discontinuous permafrost, the ground surface temperature histories suggest that the potential for permafrost was minimal to absent over the past 500 years. This could be the result of air surface temperature interpolation used in permafrost models being unsuitable to account for the spatial variability of ground temperatures along with an offset between ground and air surface temperatures due to the snow cover.

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“…In Alaska, slumping and drainage due to permafrost thawing have caused major landscape change [Bowden, 2010] and have damaged certain types of vegetation, including the complete destruction of some forest ecosystems [Jorgenson and Osterkamp, 2005]. In low Arctic Canada, the southern limit of discontinuous permafrost has moved northward by 130 kilometers over the past few decades, and thermokarst lakes-ponds that form in thawed depressions in the permafrosthave become larger and more abundant [Thibault and Payette, 2009]. Throughout the North American Arctic, a deepening of the active layer, the surface layer of the ground that thaws and freezes back every year, has accompanied increasing air temperatures since the end of the 20th century [Burn and Kokelj, 2009;Smith et al, 2010].…”

Section: Magnetic Observatoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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2013

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Recent permafrost degradation in bogs of the James Bay area, northern Quebec, Canada

Cited by 81 publications

References 21 publications

Variability and change in the Canadian cryosphere

Variability and change in the Canadian cryosphere

Climate trends in northern Ontario and Québec from borehole temperature profiles

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