HR: 10:20h
AN: C11E-01 INVITED     [PDF]
TI: The Role of Permafrost-Affected Soils in Climate Change
AU: * Bockheim, J G
EM: bockheim@wisc.edu
AF: University of Wisconsin, 1525 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706-1299 United States
AU: Hinkel, K M
EM: kenneth.hinkel@uc.edu
AF: University of Cincinnati, Department of Geography, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0131 United States
AU: Eisner, W R
EM: wendy.eisner@uc.edu
AF: University of Cincinnati, Department of Geography, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0131 United States
AU: Nelson, F E
EM: fnelson@udel.edu
AF: University of Delaware, Department of Geography, Newark, DE 19716-2541 United States
AB: Whereas permafrost-affected soils comprise 20% of the global land area, they contain an estimated 42% of the global soil carbon pool. In the Northern Hemisphere, dramatic increases in winter and spring air temperature since $~$1970 have been accompanied by increases in the seasonal thaw layer, warming of permafrost, and a possible shift in Arctic Tundra from being a net sink to a net source for atmospheric CO2. There are several challenges in determining C pools in permafrost-affected soils, including large small-scale variability due to patterned ground, mixing of organic C into the subsoil by cryoturbation, the presence of large amounts of C in the permafrost at depths $>1$ m, and the difficulties in scaling up from the pedon to the landscape or regional level. Cryopedologists are addressing these challenges through specially adapted field techniques including the use of ground-penetrating radar and satellite imagery. Some issues, however, will require development of international methodological protocol to ensure that results can be compared between regions, within the circumarctic, and between hemispheres.
DE: 1615 Biogeochemical processes (4805)
DE: 1625 Geomorphology and weathering (1824, 1886)
DE: 4806 Carbon cycling
DE: 9315 Arctic region
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting