Abstract. Measurements of surface-atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes have been relatively sparse across the Arctic tundra and boreal biomes, causing significant uncertainties in ...

The Antarctic coastal zone is not simply the edge of the continent. It is a tightly coupled system where the ice from the ice sheet extends over the seabed, initially resting on it and further ou...

The abrupt disappearance of a lake is one clear sign that the ice below is melting, and a clue to wider permafrost changes.

The abrupt disappearance of a lake is one clear sign that the ice below is melting, and a clue to wider permafrost changes.

Permafrost holds an extraordinary molecular record of ancient life — and we are only now learning to read it, just as warming begins to erase it.

Explore the fully funded PhD opportunity in Earth Observation and Remote Sensing at ETH Zurich. Work on cutting-edge Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) research to monitor Arctic permafrost changes using advanced satellite technologies.

Permafrost carbon–climate feedback amplifies Earth system tipping risks, Steinert, Norman J, Munday, Gregory, Sandstad, Marit, Sanderson, Benjamin M, Wunderling, Nico

Scientific Reports - Rapid increase in West Siberia’s retrogressive thaw slumps since 1964 associated with Arctic winter warming

This study estimates that Arctic deltas contain vast amounts of soil organic carbon (57.7 Pg) and soil nitrogen (3.8 Pg). This highlights the importance of these vulnerable permafrost landscapes at th...

Many rivers flow into the Arctic Ocean north of the Arctic Circle—including the Lena in Siberia and the Mackenzie River in Canada. The deltas of these large and small rivers store large amounts of car...

Bergdörfer, die verschüttet werden. Flüsse, die rosten. Tsunamis im Himalaja und in den Alpen. Und vielleicht schlummert im Boden das nächste Penicillin.

Abstract. Thermokarst lakes are among the most common and dynamic landscape features in ice-rich lowland permafrost regions. They influence carbon, water and energy fluxes between atmosphere and land ...

Thawing permafrost emissions could accelerate climate change as Arctic soils become 25x to 100x more permeable, releasing much more gas.

New year, new team! We have some changes in our editorial team and would like to introduce our new chief editors to you today – please say hi to Mack and Leah! Mack and Leah will be taking over the ro...

Are you enthusiastic about climate research in the Arctic and keen to find out how the rapidly changing permafrost landscapes have developed since the last ice age and how they will respond to ongoing...

This year's Arctic Report Card from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration finds that the northernmost part of the Earth is warming faster than the global average, leading to melting glac...

The 20th anniversary of the annual report tracks how sea ice, snow cover and many other vital signs of the Arctic have changed, and the impact that’s having on people and wildlife.

Storms that battered Alaska’s western coast this fall have brought renewed attention to low-lying Indigenous villages left increasingly vulnerable by climate change.

Abstract. Permafrost thaw disrupts ecosystems, hydrology, and biogeochemical cycles, reinforcing climate change through a positive permafrost-carbon feedback loop. Thaw can be gradual, deepening the a...

In Alaska verschwindet binnen Stunden ein See. Der Grund: tauender Permafrost. Forscher wollen nun wissen, wann das System kippen könnte und ganze Landschaften verändern.

‘As the storm approached Alaska, everything went sideways,’ leaving people no time to evacuate and little time to prepare. An Alaska meteorologist explains what happened and the challenges ahead.

Bering Land Bridge (BLB) climate and vegetation during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) remains largely understudied, given challenges associated with collecting records from the submerged BLB. Previ...

Driftwood plays a key role in Arctic coastal ecosystems: it stores carbon, stabilises coastlines and provides a habitat for animals. At the same time, it can offer clues regarding climate change in the Arctic region, providing information on the likes of storm surges, coastal erosion and shifting fluvial dynamics. Despite the crucial role it plays, there is still a lot that we do not know about the large-scale distribution patterns of driftwood. Now, for the first time, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have systematically mapped driftwood deposits along an 11,000 kilometre stretch of coastline in Alaska and North West Canada, using satellite imagery and AI-powered evaluation methods. The result is the largest database ever produced, with researchers able to identify over 19,000 stable driftwood deposits. The findings will soon be published in the Scientific Reports journal.

Permafrost in der Arktis speichert große Mengen an organischem Kohlenstoff in gefrorenen Böden und tieferen Ablagerungen. Doch die Arktis erwärmt sich besonders schnell und lässt diese Speicher auftauen. Die Folge: Immer mehr Treibhausgase aus den Böden gelangen in die Atmosphäre. Wo und wie schnell Permafrost auftaut, ist erst wenig erforscht, ebenso wie die Prozesse, die das Tauwetter antreiben. Das internationale Projekt PeTCaT will insbesondere die Wissenslücken um schnelle Tauprozesse schließen. Unter der Leitung des Alfred-Wegener-Instituts werden Forschende aus Deutschland, den USA, Kanada, den Niederlanden und Schweden einen neuartigen Datensatz aufbauen, mit dem sie die möglichen Entwicklungen und Einflüsse von Treibhausgasen aus tauendem Permafrost projizieren können. Gefördert wird das Projekt von der gemeinnützigen Organisation Schmidt Sciences.