HR: 0800h
AN: C31A-1110    [Abstracts]
TI: Effects of Vegetation Removal and Subsequent Re-vegetation on Warm Ice Rich Permafrost
AU: * Bjella, K
EM: kevin.bjella@erdc.usace.army.mil
AF: Cold Region Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755 United States
AB: Continued polar climate change will impact existing infrastructure built on warm permafrost, and will also affect the design of future infrastructure on frozen ground. Determining the role that vegetation plays on the stabilization and possible aggrading of permafrost will be a key component for future project design. In 1946, a study was conducted by Kenneth Linell at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) Permafrost Experiment Station in Fairbanks, Alaska on warm, ice rich permafrost to determine the rate at which subsurface thawing proceeded following the removal of the insulating vegetation. Three one acre plots were chosen and the boreal vegetation was removed to varying degrees. Thaw depth of the permafrost was then observed through 1972, and results were published for the 2nd International Conference on Permafrost, in 1973. Permafrost boundaries have not been measured at the site for some time, and in areas where vegetation has returned, it is unknown whether permafrost degradation has continued, abated, or aggraded. We will examine the current depth to permafrost in the `Linell Plots' and the extent of the active layer. DC resistivity will be used to obtain a macro scale picture of the depth to permafrost over the plots. Micro scale ground truthing by soil borings will then be performed to confirm the geophysical survey and yield useful soil classifications. This information will add knowledge to the understanding of the role that vegetation plays in permafrost dynamics over time.
DE: 0475 Permafrost, cryosphere, and high-latitude processes (0702, 0716)
DE: 0700 CRYOSPHERE (4540)
DE: 0702 Permafrost (0475)
DE: 0760 Engineering
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005