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Ice shield: Scientists discuss the role of permafrost in offsetting the impact of global warming
Ice shield: Scientists discuss the role of permafrost in offsetting the impact of global warming
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Permafrost acts as a natural shield which limits global warming, according to scientists from Tomsk State University, affiliated with an international team of researchers, as per the press service of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education.Permafrost can be called an “ice shield” which protects the hydrosphere from huge volumes of substances being discharged by soils, project manager Ivan Kritskov, a research associate with the BioGeoKlim Laboratory, explained.According to Kritskov, the area of permafrost determines the effectiveness of transferring substances which are dissolved in water from soils into rivers, including carbon dioxide and methane. This makes it possible to slow down the global warming process.Scientists from Tomsk State University, the Lavyorov Federal Center of Comprehensive Arctic Studies (the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), the Institute for Monitoring Climate and Environmental Systems (the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and University of Toulouse studied six permanent hydrological formations for the first time, including soil waters, a swamp, a lake, a coastal area, a creek and a river, located over a distance of 1,500 kilometers along the West Siberian Depression, from the taiga without permafrost to the permanently frozen tundra.The authors claim that their data can serve as a basis for forecasting the projected reaction of Arctic rivers to melting permafrost layers and global warming. Their findings are published in the Water Research journal.Ivan Kritskov noted that permafrost limited the enrichment of water runoffs with migrating components at all six studied elements of the permanent hydrological formation, including soil, peat bogs, lakes, coastal areas, creeks and rivers.According to the researcher, the melting intensity of permafrost layers depends on the current global warming background. However, this process is not so fast because it is affected by alternating sharp fluctuations of subzero and warm temperatures.The research paper presents the first regional assessment of fluctuations of organic carbon, greenhouse gas and other elements inside permanent hydrological formations encompassing the entire area of permafrost layers across the West Siberian Depression. The project was implemented with the support of the Russian Science Foundation.
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Ice shield: Scientists discuss the role of permafrost in offsetting the impact of global warming
Permafrost acts as a natural shield which limits global warming, according to scientists from Tomsk State University, affiliated with an international team of researchers, as per the press service of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
Permafrost can be called an “ice shield” which protects the hydrosphere from huge volumes of substances being discharged by soils, project manager Ivan Kritskov, a research associate with the BioGeoKlim Laboratory, explained.
According to Kritskov, the area of permafrost determines the effectiveness of transferring substances which are dissolved in water from soils into rivers, including carbon dioxide and methane. This makes it possible to slow down the global warming process.
Scientists from Tomsk State University, the Lavyorov Federal Center of Comprehensive Arctic Studies (the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), the Institute for Monitoring Climate and Environmental Systems (the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and University of Toulouse studied six permanent hydrological formations for the first time, including soil waters, a swamp, a lake, a coastal area, a creek and a river, located over a distance of 1,500 kilometers along the West Siberian Depression, from the taiga without permafrost to the permanently frozen tundra.
The authors claim that their data can serve as a basis for forecasting the projected reaction of Arctic rivers to melting permafrost layers and global warming. Their findings are published in the Water Research journal.
Ivan Kritskov noted that permafrost limited the enrichment of water runoffs with migrating components at all six studied elements of the permanent hydrological formation, including soil, peat bogs, lakes, coastal areas, creeks and rivers.
According to the researcher, the melting intensity of permafrost layers depends on the current global warming background. However, this process is not so fast because it is affected by alternating sharp fluctuations of subzero and warm temperatures.
“It is quite difficult to estimate temporal warming boundaries because the overall long-term picture features episodes when temperatures drop sharply and when more intensive warming sets in. However, one can unequivocally say that this rather slow process lasts for decades,” the scientist commented.
The research paper presents the first regional assessment of fluctuations of organic carbon, greenhouse gas and other elements inside permanent hydrological formations encompassing the entire area of permafrost layers across the West Siberian Depression. The project was implemented with the support of the Russian Science Foundation.
