Permafrost Sub-grid Heterogeneity of Soil Properties Key for 3-D Soil Processes and Future Climate Projections

Frontiers in Digital Humanities

Beer, Christian¹ 

[1] Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

关键词: soil heterogeneity;    Carbon Cycle;    Climate projection;    Permafrost;    Cryoturbation;    soil temperature;    Ice content;   

DOI  :  10.3389/feart.2016.00081

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

There are massive carbon stocks stored in permafrost-affected soils due to the 3-D soil movement process called cryoturbation. For a reliable projection of the past, recent and future Arctic carbon balance, and hence climate, a reliable concept for representing cryoturbation in a land surface model (LSM) is required. The basis of the underlying transport processes is pedon-scale heterogeneity of soil hydrological and thermal properties as well as insulating layers, such as snow and vegetation. Today we still lack a concept of how to reliably represent pedon-scale properties and processes in a LSM. One possibility could be a statistical approach. This perspective paper demonstrates the importance of sub-grid heterogeneity in permafrost soils as a pre-requisite to implement any lateral transport parametrization. Representing such heterogeneity at the sub-pixel size of a LSM is the next logical step of model advancements. As a result of a theoretical experiment, heterogeneity of thermal and hydrological soil properties alone lead to a remarkable initial sub-grid range of subsoil temperature of 2 deg C, and active-layer thickness of 150 cm in East Siberia. These results show the way forward in representing combined lateral and vertical transport of water and soil in LSMs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY