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  1. Home
  2. Essential Climate Variables
  3. Permafrost

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Data Sources

ECV Products and Requirements


Permafrost

The properties of frozen ground react sensitively to climate and environmental changes in high-latitude and high-altitude regions. This includes the temperature distribution in the permafrost layer and the depth of the overlying active layer where seasonal freezing and thawing occur. Changes in these quantities have important impacts on terrain stability, coastal erosion, surface and subsurface water, the carbon cycle and vegetation development.
  Domain: Terrestrial
  Subdomain: Cyrosphere
  Scientific Area: Snow and Ice
  ECV Steward: Philippe Schoeneich
  Products:  Thermal State of Permafrost; Active Layer Thickness

 


Permafrost Temperature Evolution

Figure: Permafrost temperature evolution at 20 m depth at selected borehole sites: Left: Permafrost sites in Norway and the European Alps. Right: Permafrost temperature along the Qinghai-Xizang Highway on the Tibetan Plateau.

Source: BAMS report 2019 (in prep.)


 

 

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