Subsea permafrost dynamics
Martin Stendel1,#, Paul Overduin2, Sara Sayedi3,*, Cuicui Mu4
1. Danish Meteorological Institute, Dept. for Climate and Arctic Research, Copenhagen, Denmark, mas@dmi.dk
2. Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany, paul.overduin@awi.de
3. Abbott Lab of Ecosystem Ecology, Brigham Young University, Provo, USA,sarasayedi91@gmail.com
4. College of Earth and Environment Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China, mucc@lzu.edu.cn
* PYRN Member # session organizer and corresponding author
Session description (250 word maximum in English):
Subsea permafrost exists under large regions of the Arctic continental shelf. This permafrost formed during the last ice age when low sea levels exposed the coastal plains. After the Last Glacial Maximum, sea level rose by ~130 m, and large regions of land were inundated during the transgression period about 18 to 5 ky before present, resulting in the present-day coastal shelf and its relict terrestrial permafrost. Permafrost sediments contain organic carbon and greenhouse gases, partly as gas hydrates. These are stabilized by cold temperatures and low diffusivities in frozen sediment, which trap gas below and within the permafrost. Estimates of subsea permafrost organic carbon quantity and vulnerability to mineralization are exceedingly uncertain, representing one of the least understood aspects of the permafrost zone.
Recent publications have broadened our knowledge of the Arctic shelves and permafrost distribution, but observations are rare and unevenly distributed, and our process understanding is limited. Modelling of subsea permafrost and its potential degradation has produced a wide range of results.
We invite contributions that advance our understanding of the temporal evolution of subsea permafrost, both in past climates and under future climate change as well as contributions on observations of greenhouse gases and gas hydrates over the Arctic shelves. We welcome contributions that advance the development of models of subsea permafrost, including their parameterizations. New observation techniques and treatment of archive observations, measurements of gas fluxes or concentrations and studies of past and future climate including permafrost degradation are also welcome.
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