Abstracts
SEARCH Open Science Meeting
October 27, 2003
Seattle, Washington, USA
Spatial Variability of the Active-layer Thickness: Observations, Analysis, and Modeling
Nikolay I. Shiklomanov1, Frederick E. Nelson2
1Geography, University of Delaware, 216 Pearson Hall, Newark, DE, 19716, USA, Phone 302-831-1314, Fax 302-831-2294, shiklom@udel.edu
2Geography, University of Delaware, 216 Pearson Hall, Newark, DE, 19716, USA, Phone 302-831-0852, Fax 302-831-6654, fnelson@udel.edu
The uppermost layer of seasonal thawing above permafrost (the active layer) is an important regulator of energy and mass fluxes between the surface and the atmosphere in the polar regions. A major difficulty in predicting and mapping active-layer thickness stems from its large spatial variability over a wide range of geographic scale, in response to many interacting climatic and terrestrial factors. Here we address the problem of spatial and temporal variability of active-layer thickness over a wide range of scales, and the landscape-specific effects of this variability in several environmental settings.
Data from eight years of extensive, spatially oriented field investigations conducted in North-Central Alaska are used to examine regularities in thaw depth for several landscape types and to provide a comprehensive evaluation of spatial and temporal active-layer variability under contemporary climate. The results can be used to facilitate detailed characterization of active-layer thickness at small geographical scale, evaluation of currently available spatially-distributed permafrost models, and bridge a critical gap between models of climate-permafrost interactions and localized thaw depth measurements.
Abstract Categories: Changes on Land
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