Title: Future Trajectories of Peatland Permafrost Under Climate and Ecosystem Change in Northeastern Canada
Citation: See supplemental information.
Study Site: Labrador Sea coastline
Purpose: Peatland permafrost ecosystems include culturally and ecologically important habitats for plants and wildlife. Widespread degradation of palsas and peat plateaus suggests vulnerability of these landforms to climate warming, but ecosystem changes, including landscape greening due to shrub expansion and related changes in snow distribution, are also expected to impact permafrost persistence. In this study, a process-based one-dimensional transient model is used to simulate an ensemble of future ground temperature trajectories for seven palsa and two peat plateau study sites along the Labrador Sea coastline.
Abstract: Ground temperatures are modeled from 2024 to 2100 under nine scenarios, which account for differences in future land cover, snow, and climate warming (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5).
Supplemental Information Summary: The Northern Ecosystem Soil Temperature model was first described by Zhang et al. (2003). The model is not available for direct download but is available upon request from the developer, Dr. Yu Zhang, Natural Resources Canada (yu.zhang@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca). Data from the borehole study sites has been made available through the Nordicana D data repository (Wang, Way, Lewkowicz, & Beer, 2024).
Research:
Further Info: Wang., Y, & Way, R.G. (2025). Future Trajectories of Peatland Permafrost Under Climate and Ecosystem Change in Northeastern Canada. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Science, 130(2): https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JF007930
Status: Complete
Keywords:
effects of disturbance,
Climate change,
Permafrost,
Geographical coordinates: North: 56.47, South: 51.43 East: -56.44 West: -61.72
Bounding Temporal Extent: Start Date: 2014-01-01, End
Date: 2022-12-31
