Visualizing data on permafrost degradation in a pan-arctic pilot service aiming at a non-scientific audience

Climate change has led to an increase in permafrost warming and thaw at global scale. Land surface change associated with permafrost thaw include the acceleration of Arctic coastal erosion, increased thaw slumping in hillslope regions, the drainage and formation of lakes, as well as an intensification of disturbances on land, such as forest fires and droughts. Thermo-erosion threatens infrastructure and leads to gullying, slumping, and even landslides. Arctic communities living on frozen ground are strongly affected by these processes and are increasingly forced to adapt their livelihoods. In some areas, the relocation of settlements has become the last resort and is already actively planned for several communities in Alaska. Remote sensing analyses can be applied to detect and map permafrost disturbances at high spatial resolution across large regions to quantify landscape change, hydrological dynamics, and permafrost vulnerability. In the ERC PETA-CARB, ESA CCI Permafrost, and NSF Permafrost Discovery Gateway projects, a pan-arctic time series covering twenty years was produced using Landsat TM, ETM+, and OLI imagery. Following good scientific practice, this data is published via a digital data library and also available through a cloud-based analysis platform to facilitate re-use by other scientists. However, the data is not readily designed and presented to be interpreted by non-scientists and non-experts. In order to make the scientific findings more easily accessible, within the EU Arctic PASSION project we designed a tailored web-based portal specifically targeting non-scientific user communities, stakeholders, and rightsholders as part of the projects Permafrost Pilot Service. With the new portal, the Arctic Landscape EXplorer (ALEX), we provide interactive maps for recent information on land surface changes, hot spots of disturbances, and potential areas of active permafrost thaw and erosion. While focusing on the local to regional scale relevant for private users, as well as local, regional, and state-level decision makers, exploring the data up to the pan-arctic scale may open new avenues for understanding permafrost change for the general public. Recent consultations with local representatives and stakeholders from Alaska aimed to ensure that their actual information needs are met. Having received positive feedback and strong interest in the tool encouraged us to continue our work

A web-based portal for serving geospatial information on permafrost disturbances to permafrost communities

Permafrost is warming at a global scale, yet land surface change associated with abrupt permafrost thaw strongly affects permafrost communities and Arctic research stations at the local scale. In the ERC PETA-CARB, ESA CCI Permafrost, and NSF Permafrost Discovery Gateway projects, remote sensing time series were used to detect and map permafrost disturbances at high spatial resolution across large regions to quantify landscape change, hydrological dynamics, and permafrost vulnerability. The multitude of geospatial datasets that were produced in these projects provide useful information also for local scales. Hence, the question arises how such large and complex science datasets can be made available for permafrost communities and Arctic research stations to deal with the issues and challenges they experience with land surface disturbances and permafrost thaw at the local scale. The geospatial datasets are published according to the FAIR principles and are available to the research community via well-established channels such as the GTN-P database, the PANGAEA world data centre, and the geodata portal Arctic Permafrost Geospatial Centre (APGC). Currently, the scientific data is not readily designed and presented to be interpreted by non-scientists and non-experts. We are designing a tailored web-based portal specifically targeting non-scientific user communities, stakeholders, and rightsholders. We will develop interactive maps and adequate cartographic visualizations for near real-time information on land surface changes, hot spots of disturbances, and potential areas of active permafrost thaw. While focusing on the local scale, the data will be explorable up to the panarctic scale and may open new avenues for understanding permafrost change for the general public. Through planned consultations with local permafrost communities and stakeholders we aim to ensure that their actual information needs are met

Presenting land surface changes through the web-based Arctic Landscape EXplorer (ALEX) to permafrost communities – A permafrost service

The EU-funded Arctic PASSION research project focuses on refining, improving and extending pan-Arctic scientific and community-based monitoring systems. The aim is to create a coherent and integrated Arctic observing system, tailored to the needs of the users or stakeholders. Within the project’s Permafrost Service, we are developing a web-based portal, the ‘Arctic Landscape EXplorer’ (ALEX). In this online tool we present data on permafrost region land surface changes derived from remote sensing analysis. Using tailored visualizations and story maps as a means of more effectively communicating scientific observations of change, we specifically address non-scientific user communities, stakeholders, and rights holders in the Arctic

The genesis of Yedoma Ice Complex permafrost – grain-size endmember modeling analysis from Siberia and Alaska

The late Pleistocene Yedoma Ice Complex is an ice-rich and organic-bearing type of permafrost deposit widely distributed across Beringia and is assumed to be especially prone to deep degradation with warming temperature, which is a potential tipping point of the climate system. To better understand Yedoma formation, its local characteristics, and its regional sedimentological composition, we compiled the grain-size distributions (GSDs) of 771 samples from 23 Yedoma locations across the Arctic; samples from sites located close together were pooled to form 17 study sites. In addition, we studied 160 samples from three non-Yedoma ice-wedge polygon and floodplain sites for the comparison of Yedoma samples with Holocene depositional environments. The multimodal GSDs indicate that a variety of sediment production, transport, and depositional processes were involved in Yedoma formation. To disentangle these processes, a robust endmember modeling analysis (rEMMA) was performed. Nine robust grain-size endmembers (rEMs) characterize Yedoma deposits across Beringia. The study sites of Yedoma deposits were finally classified using cluster analysis. The resulting four clusters consisted of two to five sites that are distributed randomly across northeastern Siberia and Alaska, suggesting that the differences are associated with rather local conditions. In contrast to prior studies suggesting a largely aeolian contribution to Yedoma sedimentation, the wide range of rEMs indicates that aeolian sedimentation processes cannot explain the entire variability found in GSDs of Yedoma deposits. Instead, Yedoma sedimentation is controlled by local conditions such as source rocks and weathering processes, nearby paleotopography, and diverse sediment transport processes. Our findings support the hypothesis of a polygenetic Yedoma origin involving alluvial, fluvial, and niveo-aeolian transport; accumulation in ponding waters; and in situ frost weathering as well as postdepositional processes of solifluction, cryoturbation, and pedogenesis. The characteristic rEM composition of the Yedoma clusters will help to improve how grain-size-dependent parameters in permafrost models and soil carbon budgets are considered. Our results show the characteristic properties of ice-rich Yedoma deposits in the terrestrial Arctic. Characterizing and quantifying site-specific past depositional processes is crucial for elucidating and understanding the trajectories of this unique kind of ice-rich permafrost in a warmer future

Filling a White Spot on the Yedoma Map: the Baldwin Peninsula, West Alaska

Vast regions of Arctic Siberia, Alaska and the Yukon are covered with ice-rich silts penetrated by large ice wedges, resulting from syngenetic sedimentation and freezing during the Pleistocene. These deposits are termed yedoma permafrost. Because of rapid incorporation of organic material into permafrost during sedimentation, yedoma deposits are expected to store poorly degraded organic matter. The total amount of organic carbon in the yedoma region is estimated to be approx. 400 gigatons. As a consequence of the high ground ice content, yedoma deposits are especially prone to degradation triggered by climate changes and/or human activity. When yedoma deposits degrade, large amounts of previously sequestered carbon as well as nutrients will be released which is of global significance for the climate system. Following on the tracks of permafrost pioneer David M. Hopkins, who studied this region during his conceptualization of the Bering Land Bridge in the 1950/60s (Hopkins et al. 1959, 1962), we conducted a field campaign to the Baldwin Peninsula in West Alaska. Based at the town of Kotzebue, one of the aims of this expedition was to describe yedoma landscapes and start a carbon inventory of this previously undocumented part of yedoma. The intention was to search for and characterize yedoma deposits whose presence was inferred from landscape morphometrics typical for yedoma (deep thermokarst lake basins, multiple overlapping lake basin generations, rolling hills with uplands where small deep thermokarst ponds are found, steep erosion margins along lake and coastal shores) on the neighboring Seward Peninsula and in Siberia as identified in remote sensing imagery. We were able to identify several yedoma upland exposures eroded by the Chukchi Sea on the western shore of the Baldwin Peninsula. We found clear evidence of yedoma permafrost occurrence at Cape Blossom, 20 km south of Kotzebue. We used a cryostratigraphical approach to sample yedoma and drained thaw lake basin exposures at this site. Moreover, different generations of drained lake basins in the hinterland of the cape were sampled with a SIPRE permafrost auger. For landscape scale estimation we used Landsat and high resolution WorldView imagery, airborne IfSAR digital elevation datasets as well as aerial survey flights during the expedition. The yedoma layer at Cape Blossom was characterized by a height of approx. 12 m including massive syngenetic ice wedges. The mean carbon content of the 7.8-m high sampled profile was 2.0 wt%. The average ice content for the sediment, not including ice wedges, was 45.2 wt%. Another bluff close by exposing sediments of a drained thermokarst basin contains 6.8 wt% carbon and 41.1 wt% pore ice. We were able to detect a chaotic layer at the bottom of the sediment sequence indicating lake initiation. This study gives evidence for the occurrence of ice-rich late Pleistocene yedoma deposits in Western Alaska. This yedoma is of importance because of its paleoenvironmental implications for the widespread occurrence of yedoma in the Bering Land Bridge region (e.g. mammoth steppe conditions), as well as for the future vulnerability of the landscape to thaw because of its high excess ground ice content. Permafrost thaw will affect these yedoma areas first, as its location is close to the continuous/discontinuous permafrost zone border, with the result that a considerable amount of carbon becomes available for microbial activity. References: Hopkins, D.M., 1959. Cenozoic History of the Bering Land Bridge. Science 129, 1519-1528. Hopkins, D.M., McCulloch, D.S., and Janda, R.J., 1962, Pleistocene stratigraphy and structure of Baldwin Peninsula, Kotzebue Sound, Alaska: 12th Alaskan Science Conference, p. 150-151

Permafrost Deep Organic Matter: The IPA Yedoma Action Group

Die Action Group "The Yedoma Region: A Synthesis of Circum-Arctic Distribution and Thickness" der Internationalen Permafrost Assoziation (IPA) hat es zum Ziel die Verbreitung und Mächtigkeit von Yedoma Permafrost, einem spätpleitozänen sehr eisreichem Permafrost, zu quantifizieren. Yedoma ist durch Eisgehalte von bis zu 80vol% sehr anfällig gegenüber Erwärmung. Denn wenn das Bodeneis schmilzt und abgeführt wird sind Absenkungen der Bodenoberflächen von mehr als 30 Metern möglich, was deutliche Auswirkungen hat auf die Landschaft, samt Infrastruktur und menschlicher Landnutzung. Als Produkt dieses Projektes möchten wir hier eine circum-arktische Karte präsentieren. Diese Daten werden als Grundlage dazu dienen, den Kohlenstoffpool von Yedoma Ablagerungen realistisch in computergestützte Modelle zu implementieren und die zukünftigen Auswirkungen von Thermokarst und Thermoerosion auf die Treibhausgasemissionen abzuschätzen

Web-GIS Visualisation of Permafrost-Related Remote Sensing Products for ESA GlobPermafrost

The GlobPermafrost project focuses on the accessibility of remote sensing data. This comprises of data product generation as well as on specific infrastructure to give information on and access to data. Further information regarding project status and events are available from www.globpermafrost.info. An online user survey conducted within the project highlights that GIS software is applied by a great deal of the user community. Additionally, data preview was requested by the majority of the survey participants. The Permafrost Information System PerSys will be conceptualized as an open access geospatial data dissemination and visualization portal. PerSys will allow raster and vector products visualisation resulting from GlobPermafrost such as land cover classifications, Landsat/Sentinel Trend datasets, lake and wetland extents, InSAR-based land surface deformation maps, block glaciers’ velocity fields, spatial permafrost model outputs, LST datasets, and many more. The data will be published as WebGIS services relying on OGC-standardized Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) technologies for data display and visualization. The technical WebGIS environment will be hosted at AWI where a geodata infrastructure has been implemented comprising of ArcGIS for Server 10.4, PostgreSQL 9.2 and a browser-driven data viewer unit based on Leaflet (http://leafletjs.com). Independently, we will provide an ‘Access - Restricted Data Dissemination Service’, which will be available to users for testing frequently updated versions of project datasets. In addition, the European Research Council (ERC) funded PETA-CARB project (http://www.awi.de/) developing the Arctic Permafrost Geospatial Centre (APGC) where PerSys will become a core project. The APGC Data Catalogue will contain all final products of GlobPermafrost and links to the derived permanent DOI-based ESA remote sensing products archived in PANGAEA data repository

PerSys - WebGIS-based permafrost data visualisation system for ESA GlobPermafrost

ESA DUE GlobPermafrost (www.globpermafrost.info) provides a remote sensing data service for permafrost research and applications. This service comprises of the generation of remote sensing products for various regions and spatial scales, and specific infrastructures for visualisation, dissemination and access to datasets. PerSys is the ESA GlobPermafrost geospatial information service for publishing and visualisation of information and data productstothepublic.DataproductsaredescribedandsearchableinthePerSysDataCatalogue,acorecomponent of the Arctic Permafrost Geospatial Centre (APGC), established within the framework of ERC PETA-CARB at AWI. The data visualisation employs the AWI WebGIS-infrastructure maps@awi (http://maps.awi.de), a highly scalable data visualisation unit within the AWI data-workflow framework O2A, from Observation to Archive. WebGIS technology in maps@awi supports the project-specific visualisation of raster and vector data products of diverse spatial resolutions and remote sensing sources. This is a prerequisite for the visualisation of the wide range of GlobPermafrost remote sensing products like: Landsat multispectral index trends (Tasseled Cap Brightness, Greeness, Wetness; Normalized Vegetation Index NDVI), Arctic land cover (e.g., shrub height, vegetation composition), lake ice grounding, InSAR-based land surface deformation, rock glacier velocities and a spatially distributed permafrost model output with permafrost probability and ground temperature per pixel. All WebGIS projects are adapted to the products specific spatial scale. For example, the WebGIS ‘Arctic’ visualises the Circum-Artic products. Higher spatial resolution products for rock glacier movements are visualised on regional scales in the WebGIS projects ‘Alps’, ‘Andes’ and ‘Central Asia’. GIS services were created and designed using ArcGIS for Desktop (10.4) and finally published as a Web MapService(WMS),aninternationallystandardizedformat(OpenGeospatialConsortium(OGC)),usingArcGIS for Server (10.4). The project-specific data WMS as well as a resolution-specific background map WMS are embedded into a GIS viewer application based on Leaflet, an open-source JavaScript library. The GIS viewer application was adapted to interlink all WebGIS projects, and especially to enable their direct accessibility via the GlobPermafrost Overview WebGIS project. The PerSys WebGIS is accessible via the GlobPermafrost project webpage and linked to the respective product groups as well as on maps@awi (maps.awi.de). All GlobPermafrost data products will be DOI-registered and archived in PANGAEA. In future, PerSys intends to encourage permafrost researchers other than GlobPermafrost to integrate and visualise their dat

25 years of joint Yedoma Ice Complex studies in Arctic Russia, especially in Sakha/Yakutia

Since 1994, permafrost deposits of the Siberian Yedoma region have been in the focus of the joint Russian-German scientific cooperation in terrestrial Polar research (Figure 1). These studies focused on cryostratigraphic, geochemical, geochronological, and paleontological characteristics at more than 25 individual study sites of the late Pleistocene Yedoma Ice Complex in Siberia and provided a detailed insight into the paleoenvironments and paleoclimate for the westernmost part of Beringia. The multidisciplinary investigations resulted in new ideas and discussions in the ongoing scientific debate on the origin of Yedoma Ice Complex and the main periglacial processes involved in its formation (1,2,3). The Yedoma Ice Complex is an ice-rich type of permafrost deposit widely distributed across Beringia. The Ice Complex aggradation is mainly controlled by the growth of syngenetic ice wedge polygons contributing up to 60 vol% of the entire formation. The clastic sedimentation of ice-oversaturated Yedoma deposits with considerable organic matter content is further controlled by local conditions such as source rocks and periglacial weathering processes, paleotopography, and temporary surface stabilization with autochthonous peat growth and soil formation. Key processes include alluvial, fluvial, and niveo-aeolian transport (4) as well as accumulation in ponding waters and continued in-situ frost weathering over millennial time-scales. Important post-depositional processes affecting Yedoma deposits are solifluction, cryoturbation, and pedogenesis. Major joint Russian-German field studies were conducted on Taymyr Peninsula (5,6,7,8,9,10,11), along the western and central Laptev Sea coasts (12,13,14,15,16,17,18), in the Lena Delta (19,20,21,22), on islands of the New Siberian Archipelago (23,24,25,26,27,28), and the adjacent mainland (29). Further study sites were conducted in the Kolyma Lowland (30), the Yana Highlands (31,32), in the foothills of the Verkhoyan Mountains (33,34,35,36), and in Central Yakutia (37). Comprehensive sampling and further analytical work included not only the Yedoma Ice Complex itself but also included its stratigraphic context of older underlying sequences and younger overlying deposits. The latter often are subaerial or subaquatic deposits associated with late-Glacial to Holocene thermokarst dynamics that led to Yedoma degradation during the deglacial and Holocene warming of these regions (38,39,40). Figure 1: Joint Russian-German fieldwork sites in NE Siberia labeled with the year of expedition. Besides geomorphological and cryolithological studies, extensive paleo-ecological investigations were carried out on zoological (41,42,43,44,45) and botanic fossils (46,47,48,49,50,51) to derive quantitative and qualitative reconstructions late Pleistocene Beringian environments and climate conditions. New methods in geochronology were also tested (52,53,54,55). In addition to the sedimentary components of the frozen deposits, segregated ground ice and in particular the large syngenetic ice wedges of Yedoma Ice Complex were also studied as geochemical and stable isotope archives of paleoclimate (56,57,58, 59,60,61,62). In addition, a range of remote sensing methods in combination with GIS analyses (63,64,65) and geophysical surveys (66) were used for large-scale analyses of landscape changes associated with Yedoma Ice Complex degradation (67,68,69). In the last few years, an additional important focus has been on using modern biogeochemical methods of organic matter analysis to characterize the frozen organic matter in Yedoma Ice Complex deposits and for permafrost carbon pool calculations (70, 71,72,73,74,75,76,77) as well as microbiological studies (78) and genetic studies on fossil DNA (79,80). The rich body of scientific data and literature produced in Russian-German co-authorship within the more than 25 years of joint research on Yedoma Ice Complex represents an important cornerstone for understanding the Late Quaternary evolution of Siberian Yedoma regions, its role in the Earth System, and its feedbacks with climate and ecosystems. References 1. Schirrmeister, L., Dietze, E., Matthes, H., Grosse, G., Strauss, J., Laboor, S., Ulrich, M., Kienast, F., and Wetterich, S. (2020) The genesis of Yedoma Ice Complex permafrost – grain-size endmember modeling analysis from Siberia and Alaska, E&G Quaternary Sci. J., 69, 33–53, doi: 10.5194/egqsj-69-33-2020. 2. Schirrmeister, L., Froese, D., Tumskoy, V., Grosse,G., Wetterich, S. (2013.) Yedoma: Late Pleistocene ice-rich syngenetic permafrost of Beringia. In: Elias S.A. (ed.) The Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science 2nd edition, vol. 3, pp. 542-552. Amsterdam: Elsevier. 3. Schirrmeister, L., Kunitsky, V.V., Grosse, G., Wetterich, S., Meyer, H., Schwamborn, G., Babiy, O., Derevyagin, A.Y., and Siegert, C.: Sedimentary characteristics and origin of the Late Pleistocene Ice Complex on North-East Siberian Arctic coastal lowlands and islands - a review. Quaternary International 241, 3-25, doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2010.04.004, 2011. 4. Kunitsky, V., Schirrmeister, L., Grosse, G., Kienast, F. (2002). Snow patches in nival landscapes and their role for the Ice Complex formation in the Laptev Sea coastal lowlands, Polarforschung, 70, 53-67, doi:10.2312/polarforschung.70.53. 5. Andreev, A. , Siegert, C. , Klimanov, V. A. , Derevyagin, A. Y. , Shilova, G. N. and Melles, M. (2002) Late Pleistocene and Holocene vegetation and climate changes in the Taymyr lowland, Northern Siberia Quaternary research, 57, pp. 138-150 . 6. Andreev, A. , Tarasov, P. E. , Siegert, C. , Ebel, T. , Klimanov, V. A. , Melles, M. , Bobrov, A. A. , Derevyagin, A. Y. , Lubinski, D. J. and Hubberten, H. W. (2003) Vegetation and climate changes on the northern Taymyr, Russia during the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene reconstructed from pollen records , Boreas, 32 (3), pp. 484-505 . 7. Chizhov, A. B. , Derevyagin, A. Y. , Simonov, E. F. , Hubberten, H. W. and Siegert, C. (1997) Isotopic composition of ground ice at the Labaz Lake region (Taymyr). Kriosfera Zemlii (Earth Cryoshere), 1, No 3, pp. 79-84 . (in Russian), 8. Derevyagin, A.Yu., Chizhov, A.B., Brezgunov, V.S., Siegert, C., Hubberten, H.-W., 1999.Isotopic composition of ice wedges of Cape Sabler (Lake Taymyr). Kriosfera Zemlii (Earth Cryosphere) 3/3, 41-49 (in Russian). 9. Kienast, F., Siegert, C., Dereviagin, A., Mai, H.D. Climatic implications of Late Quaternary plant macrofossil assemblages from the Taymyr Peninsula, Siberia, Global and Planetary Change, Volume 31, Issues 1–4, 265-281, 2001, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8181(01)00124-2. 10. Kienel, U. , Siegert, C. and Hahne, J. (1999) Late Quarternary paeloenvironmental reconstruction from a permafrost sequence (Northsiberian Lowland, SE Taymyr Peninsula) - a multidisciplinary case study, Boreas, 28 (1), pp. 181-193 . 11. Siegert C., Derevyagin A.Y., Shilova G.N., Hermichen WD., Hiller A. (1999) Paleoclimatic Indicators from Permafrost Sequences in the Eastern Taymyr Lowland. In: Kassens H. et al. (eds) Land-Ocean Systems in the Siberian Arctic. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. 12. Bobrov, A.A., Müller, S., Chizhikova, N.A., Schirrmeister, L., Andreev, A.A.(2009).Testate Amoebae in Late Quaternary Sediments of the Cape Mamontov Klyk (Yakutia), Biology Bulletin, 36(4), 363-372. 13. Schirrmeister, L., Grosse, G., Kunitsky, V., Magens, D., Meyer, H., Dereviagin, A., Kuznetsova, T., Andreev, A., Babiy, O., Kienast, F., Grigoriev, M., Overduin, P.P., and Preusser, F.: Periglacial landscape evolution and environmental changes of Arctic lowland areas for the last 60,000 years (Western Laptev Sea coast, Cape Mamontov Klyk), Polar Research, 27(2), 249-272, doi: 10.1111/j.1751-8369.2008.00067.x, 2008. 14. Winterfeld, M., Schirrmeister, L., Grigoriev, M., Kunitsky, V.V., Andreev, A., and Overduin, P.P.: Permafrost and Landscape Dynamics during the Late Pleistocene, Western Laptev Sea Shelf, Siberia, Boreas 40(4), 697–713, doi: 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2011.00203.x, 2011. 15. Siegert, C., Schirrmeister, L., and Babiy, O.: The sedimentological, mineralogical and geochemical composition of late Pleistocene deposits from the ice complex on the Bykovsky peninsula, northern Siberia, Polarforschung, 70, 2000, 3-11, doi: 10.2312/polarforschung.70.3, 2002. 16. Schirrmeister, L., Siegert, C., Kuznetsova, T., Kuzmina, S., Andreev, A.A., Kienast, F., Meyer, H., and Bobrov, A.A.: Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic records from permafrost deposits in the Arctic region of Northern Siberia, Quaternary International, 89, 97-118, doi: 10.1016/S1040-6182(01)00083-0, 2002. 17. Schirrmeister, L., Siegert, C., Kunitzky, V.V., Grootes, P.M., and Erlenkeuser, H.: Late Quaternary ice-rich permafrost sequences as a paleoenvironmental archive for the Laptev Sea Region in northern Siberia, International Journal of Earth Sciences, 91, 154-167, doi: 10.1007/s005310100205, 2002. 18. Schirrmeister, L., Schwamborn, G., Overduin, P.P., Strauss, J., Fuchs, M.C., Grigoriev, M., Yakshina, I., Rethemeyer, J., Dietze, E., and Wetterich, S.: Yedoma Ice Complex of the Buor Khaya Peninsula (southern Laptev Sea), Biogeosciences 14, 1261-1283, doi: 10.5194/bg-14-1261-2017, 2017. 19. Schirrmeister, L., Kunitsky, V.V., Grosse, G., Schwamborn, G., Andreev, A.A., Meyer, H., Kuznetsova, T., Bobrov, A., and Oezen, D.: Late Quaternary history of the accumulation plain north of the Chekanovsky Ridge (Lena Delta, Russia) - a multidisciplinary approach, Polar Geography, 27(4), 277-319, doi: 10.1080/789610225, 2003. 20. Schirrmeister, L., Grosse, G. Schnelle, M., Fuchs, M., Krbetschek, M., Ulrich, M., Kunitsky, V., Grigoriev, M., Andreev, A. Kienast, F., Meyer, H., Klimova, I., Babiy, O., Bobrov, A., Wetterich, S., and Schwamborn, G.: Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental records from the western Lena Delta, Arctic Siberia, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 299, 175–196, doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.11.017, 2011. 21. Schwamborn, G., Rachold, V., and Grigoriev, M.N.: Late Quaternary sedimentation history of the Lena Delta, Quaternary International 89, 119–134, doi: 10.1016/S1040-6182(01)00084-2, 2002. 22. Wetterich, S., Kuzmina, S., Andreev, A.A., Kienast, F., Meyer, H., Schirrmeister, L., Kuznetsova, T., and Sierralta, M.: Palaeoenvironmental dynamics inferred from late Quaternary permafrost deposits on Kurungnakh Island, Lena Delta, Northeast Siberia, Russia, Quaternary Science Reviews, 27, 1523-1540, doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.04.007, 2008. 23. Andreev, A.A., Grosse, G., Schirrmeister, L., Kuzmina, S.A., Novenko, E.Yu., Bobrov, A.A., Tarasov, P. E., Kuznetsova, T.V., Krbetschek, M., Meyer, H., and Kunitsky, V.V.: Late Saalian and Eemian palaeoenvironmental history of the Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island (Laptev Sea region, Arctic Siberia), Boreas 33(4), 319-348, doi:10.1080/03009480410001974, 2004. 24. Andreev, A., Grosse, G., Schirrmeister, L., Kuznetsova, T.V., Kuzmina, S.A., Bobrov, A.A., Tarasov, P.E., Novenko, E.Yu., Meyer, H., Derevyagin, A.Yu., Kienast, F., Bryantseva, A., and Kunitsky, V.V.: Weichselian and Holocene palaeoenvironmental history of the Bol’shoy Lyakhovsky Island, New Siberian Archipelago, Arctic Siberia, Boreas 38(1), 72–110, doi: 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2008.00039.x, 2009. 25. Wetterich, S., Rudaya, N., Meyer, H., Opel, T., and Schirrmeister, L.: Last Glacial Maximum records in permafrost of the East Siberian Arctic, Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 3139-3151, doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2011.07.020, 2011. 26. Wetterich, S., Rudaya, N., Andreev, A.A., Opel, T., Schirrmeister, L., Meyer, H., and Tumskoy, V.: Ice Complex formation in arctic East Siberia during the MIS3 Interstadial, Quaternary Science Reviews 84: 39-55, doi:. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.11.009, 2014. 27. Wetterich, S.; Tumskoy:V.E., Rudaya, N., Kuznetsov, V., Maksimov, F., Opel T. , Meyer H., Andreev, A.A., Schirrmeister, L (2016) Ice Complex permafrost of MIS5 age in the Dmitry Laptev Strait coastal region (East Siberian Arctic). Quaternary Science Reviews, 147:298-31, doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.11.016. 28. Wetterich, S., Rudaya, N., Kuznetsov V., Maksimov, F., T. Opel, Meyer, H., Guenther, F., Bobrov, A., Raschke, E., Zimmermann, H., Strauss, J., Fuchs, M.C., Schirrmeister, L. (2019) Recurrent Ice Complex formation in arctic eastern Siberia since about 200 ka. Quaternary Research 92 (2); 530-548, doi.org/10.1017/qua.2019.6. 29. Wetterich, S., Schirrmeister, L., Andreev A. A., Pudenz, M., Plessen, B, Meyer, H., Kunitsky, V. V. (2009). Eemian and Late Glacial/Holocene palaeoenvironmental records from permafrost sequences at the Dmitry Laptev Strait (NE Siberia, Russia), Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 279: 73-95 doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.05.002. 30. 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A globally relevant stock of soil nitrogen in the Yedoma permafrost domain

Nitrogen regulates multiple aspects of the permafrost climate feedback, including plant growth, organic matter decomposition, and the production of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Despite its importance, current estimates of permafrost nitrogen are highly uncertain. Here, we compiled a dataset of >2000 samples to quantify nitrogen stocks in the Yedoma domain, a region with organic-rich permafrost that contains ~25% of all permafrost carbon. We estimate that the Yedoma domain contains 41.2 gigatons of nitrogen down to ~20 metre for the deepest unit, which increases the previous estimate for the entire permafrost zone by ~46%. Approximately 90% of this nitrogen (37 gigatons) is stored in permafrost and therefore currently immobile and frozen. Here, we show that of this amount, ¾ is stored >3 metre depth, but if partially mobilised by thaw, this large nitrogen pool could have continental-scale consequences for soil and aquatic biogeochemistry and global-scale consequences for the permafrost feedback