As an important component of the cryosphere, permafrost is sensitive to climate warming. During the past decades, permafrost regions have been warming twice or more as the global average. As a result, permafrost degradation has been observed widely. Climate warming and permafrost degradation lead to great changes in surface energy balance, vegetation dynamics, hydrology and hydrochemistry, biogeochemical cycle of organic carbon as well as pollutants. These changes put great risks on local environmental safety, but also cause feedback to regional or global climate systems via the effects of changes in albedo, evapotranspiration, lateral materials export, and greenhouse gas emissions.
This Research Topic aims to bring together a series of high-quality articles that outline recent advances in understanding the permafrost environment changes in both high latitudes and high latitudes and their interactions with climate. Papers will include issues that focus on multiple data and different methods that reveal the changes, mechanisms and impacts of the permafrost environment. Special attention will be paid to multidisciplinary research (e.g., environmental physics, meteorology, hydrology, biology and ecology) and how combining insight from different methodologies (e.g., process-based models, machine learning, remote sensing monitoring and in situ measurements), which can substantially improve our understanding of underlying drivers for rapid changes of a near-future in these regions.
The types of manuscripts include original research papers, review articles, short communication, and discussion paper. Topics are relevant but not limited to:
• Algorithms and applications of multiple observation data targeting permafrost changes
• Biogeophysical feedback of land cover changes to climate
• High-resolution and/or long-term mapping of soil, land cover type, and landform
• Changes in vegetation growth and their future trends
• High-resolution mapping of soil organic carbon distribution and their controlling factors
• Release and transformation of pollutants and their relationship to permafrost
• Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide budget
As an important component of the cryosphere, permafrost is sensitive to climate warming. During the past decades, permafrost regions have been warming twice or more as the global average. As a result, permafrost degradation has been observed widely. Climate warming and permafrost degradation lead to great changes in surface energy balance, vegetation dynamics, hydrology and hydrochemistry, biogeochemical cycle of organic carbon as well as pollutants. These changes put great risks on local environmental safety, but also cause feedback to regional or global climate systems via the effects of changes in albedo, evapotranspiration, lateral materials export, and greenhouse gas emissions.
This Research Topic aims to bring together a series of high-quality articles that outline recent advances in understanding the permafrost environment changes in both high latitudes and high latitudes and their interactions with climate. Papers will include issues that focus on multiple data and different methods that reveal the changes, mechanisms and impacts of the permafrost environment. Special attention will be paid to multidisciplinary research (e.g., environmental physics, meteorology, hydrology, biology and ecology) and how combining insight from different methodologies (e.g., process-based models, machine learning, remote sensing monitoring and in situ measurements), which can substantially improve our understanding of underlying drivers for rapid changes of a near-future in these regions.
The types of manuscripts include original research papers, review articles, short communication, and discussion paper. Topics are relevant but not limited to:
• Algorithms and applications of multiple observation data targeting permafrost changes
• Biogeophysical feedback of land cover changes to climate
• High-resolution and/or long-term mapping of soil, land cover type, and landform
• Changes in vegetation growth and their future trends
• High-resolution mapping of soil organic carbon distribution and their controlling factors
• Release and transformation of pollutants and their relationship to permafrost
• Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide budget