Articles | Volume 17, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5163-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5163-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
26 Oct 2020
Research article |
| 26 Oct 2020
| 26 Oct 2020
Thermokarst amplifies fluvial inorganic carbon cycling and export across watershed scales on the Peel Plateau, Canada
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E3, Canada
present address: Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, MA 02540, USA
Suzanne E. Tank
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E3, Canada
Robert G. Striegl
United States Geological Survey, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA
Steven V. Kokelj
Northwest Territories Geological Survey, Yellowknife, NT, X1A 2L9, Canada
Justin Kokoszka
Northwest Territories Geological Survey, Yellowknife, NT, X1A 2L9, Canada
Cristian Estop-Aragonés
Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E3, Canada
present address: Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
David Olefeldt
Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E3, Canada
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Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2887–2909, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2887-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2887-2025, 2025
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Wildfires have the potential to accelerate permafrost thaw and the associated feedbacks to climate change. We assembled a dataset of permafrost thaw depth measurements from burned and unburned sites contributed by researchers from across the northern high-latitude region. We estimated maximum thaw depth for each measurement, which addresses a key challenge: the ability to assess impacts of wildfire on maximum thaw depth when measurement timing varies.
Bernhard Lehner, Mira Anand, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Florence Tan, Filipe Aires, George H. Allen, Philippe Bousquet, Josep G. Canadell, Nick Davidson, Meng Ding, C. Max Finlayson, Thomas Gumbricht, Lammert Hilarides, Gustaf Hugelius, Robert B. Jackson, Maartje C. Korver, Liangyun Liu, Peter B. McIntyre, Szabolcs Nagy, David Olefeldt, Tamlin M. Pavelsky, Jean-Francois Pekel, Benjamin Poulter, Catherine Prigent, Jida Wang, Thomas A. Worthington, Dai Yamazaki, Xiao Zhang, and Michele Thieme
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2277–2329, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2277-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2277-2025, 2025
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The Global Lakes and Wetlands Database (GLWD) version 2 distinguishes a total of 33 non-overlapping wetland classes, providing a static map of the world’s inland surface waters. It contains cell fractions of wetland extents per class at a grid cell resolution of ~500 m. The total combined extent of all classes including all inland and coastal waterbodies and wetlands of all inundation frequencies – that is, the maximum extent – covers 18.2 × 106 km2, equivalent to 13.4 % of total global land area.
Aelis Spiller, Cynthia M. Kallenbach, Melanie S. Burnett, David Olefeldt, Christopher Schulze, Roxane Maranger, and Peter M. J. Douglas
SOIL, 11, 371–379, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-371-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-371-2025, 2025
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Permafrost peatlands are large reservoirs of carbon. As frozen permafrost thaws, drier peat moisture conditions can arise, affecting the microbial production of climate-warming greenhouse gases like CO2 and N2O. Our study suggests that future peat CO2 and N2O production depends on whether drier peat plateaus thaw into wetter fens or bogs and on their diverging responses of peat respiration to more moisture-limited conditions.
Hayley F. Drapeau, Suzanne E. Tank, Maria A. Cavaco, Jessica A. Serbu, Vincent L. St. Louis, and Maya P. Bhatia
Biogeosciences, 22, 1369–1391, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1369-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1369-2025, 2025
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From glacial headwaters to 100 km downstream, we found clear organic matter gradients in Canadian Rocky Mountain rivers. In contrast, microbial communities exhibited overall cohesion, indicating that species dispersal may be an over-riding control on community dynamics in these connected rivers. Identification of glacial-specific microbes suggests that glaciers seed headwater microbial assemblages; these findings show the importance of glacial waters and microbiomes in changing mountain systems.
Jennika Hammar, Inge Grünberg, Steven V. Kokelj, Jurjen van der Sluijs, and Julia Boike
The Cryosphere, 17, 5357–5372, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5357-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5357-2023, 2023
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Roads on permafrost have significant environmental effects. This study assessed the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway (ITH) in Canada and its impact on snow accumulation, albedo and snowmelt timing. Our findings revealed that snow accumulation increased by up to 36 m from the road, 12-day earlier snowmelt within 100 m due to reduced albedo, and altered snowmelt patterns in seemingly undisturbed areas. Remote sensing aids in understanding road impacts on permafrost.
Jurjen van der Sluijs, Steven V. Kokelj, and Jon F. Tunnicliffe
The Cryosphere, 17, 4511–4533, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4511-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4511-2023, 2023
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There is an urgent need to obtain size and erosion estimates of climate-driven landslides, such as retrogressive thaw slumps. We evaluated surface interpolation techniques to estimate slump erosional volumes and developed a new inventory method by which the size and activity of these landslides are tracked through time. Models between slump area and volume reveal non-linear intensification, whereby model coefficients improve our understanding of how permafrost landscapes may evolve over time.
Liam Heffernan, Maria A. Cavaco, Maya P. Bhatia, Cristian Estop-Aragonés, Klaus-Holger Knorr, and David Olefeldt
Biogeosciences, 19, 3051–3071, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3051-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3051-2022, 2022
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Permafrost thaw in peatlands leads to waterlogged conditions, a favourable environment for microbes producing methane (CH4) and high CH4 emissions. High CH4 emissions in the initial decades following thaw are due to a vegetation community that produces suitable organic matter to fuel CH4-producing microbes, along with warm and wet conditions. High CH4 emissions after thaw persist for up to 100 years, after which environmental conditions are less favourable for microbes and high CH4 emissions.
Sarah Shakil, Suzanne E. Tank, Jorien E. Vonk, and Scott Zolkos
Biogeosciences, 19, 1871–1890, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1871-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1871-2022, 2022
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Permafrost thaw-driven landslides in the western Arctic are increasing organic carbon delivered to headwaters of drainage networks in the western Canadian Arctic by orders of magnitude. Through a series of laboratory experiments, we show that less than 10 % of this organic carbon is likely to be mineralized to greenhouse gases during transport in these networks. Rather most of the organic carbon is likely destined for burial and sequestration for centuries to millennia.
David Olefeldt, Mikael Hovemyr, McKenzie A. Kuhn, David Bastviken, Theodore J. Bohn, John Connolly, Patrick Crill, Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Sarah A. Finkelstein, Hélène Genet, Guido Grosse, Lorna I. Harris, Liam Heffernan, Manuel Helbig, Gustaf Hugelius, Ryan Hutchins, Sari Juutinen, Mark J. Lara, Avni Malhotra, Kristen Manies, A. David McGuire, Susan M. Natali, Jonathan A. O'Donnell, Frans-Jan W. Parmentier, Aleksi Räsänen, Christina Schädel, Oliver Sonnentag, Maria Strack, Suzanne E. Tank, Claire Treat, Ruth K. Varner, Tarmo Virtanen, Rebecca K. Warren, and Jennifer D. Watts
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5127–5149, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5127-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5127-2021, 2021
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Wetlands, lakes, and rivers are important sources of the greenhouse gas methane to the atmosphere. To understand current and future methane emissions from northern regions, we need maps that show the extent and distribution of specific types of wetlands, lakes, and rivers. The Boreal–Arctic Wetland and Lake Dataset (BAWLD) provides maps of five wetland types, seven lake types, and three river types for northern regions and will improve our ability to predict future methane emissions.
McKenzie A. Kuhn, Ruth K. Varner, David Bastviken, Patrick Crill, Sally MacIntyre, Merritt Turetsky, Katey Walter Anthony, Anthony D. McGuire, and David Olefeldt
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5151–5189, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5151-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5151-2021, 2021
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Methane (CH4) emissions from the boreal–Arctic region are globally significant, but the current magnitude of annual emissions is not well defined. Here we present a dataset of surface CH4 fluxes from northern wetlands, lakes, and uplands that was built alongside a compatible land cover dataset, sharing the same classifications. We show CH4 fluxes can be split by broad land cover characteristics. The dataset is useful for comparison against new field data and model parameterization or validation.
Steven V. Kokelj, Justin Kokoszka, Jurjen van der Sluijs, Ashley C. A. Rudy, Jon Tunnicliffe, Sarah Shakil, Suzanne E. Tank, and Scott Zolkos
The Cryosphere, 15, 3059–3081, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3059-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3059-2021, 2021
Short summary
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Climate-driven landslides are transforming glacially conditioned permafrost terrain, coupling slopes with aquatic systems, and triggering a cascade of downstream effects. Nonlinear intensification of thawing slopes is primarily affecting headwater systems where slope sediment yields overwhelm stream transport capacity. The propagation of effects across watershed scales indicates that western Arctic Canada will be an interconnected hotspot of thaw-driven change through the coming millennia.
Kyra A. St. Pierre, Brian P. V. Hunt, Suzanne E. Tank, Ian Giesbrecht, Maartje C. Korver, William C. Floyd, Allison A. Oliver, and Kenneth P. Lertzman
Biogeosciences, 18, 3029–3052, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3029-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3029-2021, 2021
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Using 4 years of paired freshwater and marine water chemistry from the Central Coast of British Columbia (Canada), we show that coastal temperate rainforest streams are sources of organic nitrogen, iron, and carbon to the Pacific Ocean but not the inorganic nutrients easily used by marine phytoplankton. This distinction may have important implications for coastal food webs and highlights the need to sample all nutrients in fresh and marine waters year-round to fully understand coastal dynamics.
Rupesh Subedi, Steven V. Kokelj, and Stephan Gruber
The Cryosphere, 14, 4341–4364, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4341-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4341-2020, 2020
Short summary
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Permafrost beneath tundra near Lac de Gras (Northwest Territories, Canada) contains more ice and less organic carbon than shown in global compilations. Excess-ice content of 20–60 %, likely remnant Laurentide basal ice, is found in upland till. This study is based on 24 boreholes up to 10 m deep. Findings highlight geology and glacial legacy as determinants of a mosaic of permafrost characteristics with potential for thaw subsidence up to several metres in some locations.
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Short summary
High-latitude warming thaws permafrost, exposing minerals to weathering and fluvial transport. We studied the effects of abrupt thaw and associated weathering on carbon cycling in western Canada. Permafrost collapse affected < 1 % of the landscape yet enabled carbonate weathering associated with CO2 degassing in headwaters and increased bicarbonate export across watershed scales. Weathering may become a driver of carbon cycling in ice- and mineral-rich permafrost terrain across the Arctic.
High-latitude warming thaws permafrost, exposing minerals to weathering and fluvial transport....
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