title: Circumpolar distribution and carbon storage of thermokarst landscapes.
abstract: Thermokarst is the process whereby the thawing of ice-rich permafrost ground causes land subsidence, resulting in development of distinctive landforms. Accelerated thermokarst due to climate change will damage infrastructure, but also impact hydrology, ecology and biogeochemistry. Here, we present a circumpolar assessment of the distribution of thermokarst landscapes, defined as landscapes comprised of current thermokarst landforms and areas susceptible to future thermokarst development. At 3.6 × 106km2, thermokarst landscapes are estimated to cover ∼20% of the northern permafrost region, with approximately equal contributions from three landscape types where characteristic wetland, lake and hillslope thermokarst landforms occur. We estimate that approximately half of the below-ground organic carbon within the study region is stored in thermokarst landscapes. Our results highlight the importance of explicitly considering thermokarst when assessing impacts of climate change, including future landscape greenhouse gas emissions, and provide a means for assessing such impacts at the circumpolar scale.
authors.affiliation: Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2H1.|Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Olefeldt
authors.affiliation: Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.|National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organization, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500037, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goswami
authors.affiliation: Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Telegrafenberg A45, Potsdam 14473, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grosse
authors.affiliation: School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04473, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hugelius
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kuhry
authors.affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: McGuire
authors.affiliation: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA.|Tyumen State Oil and Gas University, Tyumen, Tyument. Oblast 625000, Russia.
authors.forename: V E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Romanovsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: A B K
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Sannel
authors.affiliation: Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011, USA.
authors.forename: E A G
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Schuur
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Turetsky