Impacts of permafrost degradation on infrastructure

The warming and thawing of ice-rich permafrost pose considerable threat to the integrity of polar and high-altitude infrastructure, in turn jeopardizing sustainable development. In this Review, we explore the extent and costs of observed and predicted infrastructure damage associated with permafrost degradation, and the methods available to mitigate such adverse consequences. Permafrost change imposes various threats to infrastructure, namely through warming, active layer thickening and thaw-related hazards such as thermokarst and mass wasting.These impacts, often linked to anthropogenic warming, are exacerbated through increased human activity. Observed infrastructure damage is substantial, with up to 80% of buildings in some Russian cities and -30% of some road surfaces in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau reporting damage. Under anthropogenic warming, infrastructure damage is projected to continue, with 30-50% of critical circumpolar infrastructure thought to be at high risk by 2050. Accordingly, permafrost degradation-related infrastructure costs could rise to tens of billions of US dollars by the second half of the century. Several mitigation techniques exist to alleviate these impacts, including convection embankments, thermosyphons and piling foundations, with proven success at preserving and cooling permafrost and stabilizing infrastructure. To be effective, however, better understanding is needed on the regions at high risk.Peer reviewe

Warming Changed Soil Respiration Dynamics of Alpine Meadow Ecosystem on the Tibetan Plateau

Alpine meadow system underlain by permafrost on the Tibetan Plateau contains vast soil organic carbon and is sensitive to global warming. However, the dynamics of annual soil respiration (Rs) under long-term warming and the determined factors are still not very clear. Using opentop chambers (OTC), we assessed the effects of two-year experimental warming on the soil CO2 emission and the Q10 value (temperature sensitivity coefficient) under different warming magnitudes. Our study showed that the soil CO2 efflux rate in the warmed plots were 1.22 and 2.32 times higher compared to that of controlled plots. However, the Q10 value decreased by 45.06% and 50.34% respectively as the warming magnitude increased. These results suggested that soil moisture decreasing under global warming would enhance soil CO2 emission and lower the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration rate of the alpine meadow ecosystem in the permafrost region on the Tibetan Plateau. Thus, it is necessary to take into account the combined effect of ground surface warming and soil moisture decrease on the Rs in order to comprehensively evaluate the carbon emissions of the alpine meadow ecosystem, especially in short and medium terms

Permafrost is warming at a global scale

Permafrost warming has the potential to amplify global climate change, because when frozen sediments thaw it unlocks soil organic carbon. Yet to date, no globally consistent assessment of permafrost temperature change has been compiled. Here we use a global data set of permafrost temperature time series from the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost to evaluate temperature change across permafrost regions for the period since the International Polar Year (2007-2009). During the reference decade between 2007 and 2016, ground temperature near the depth of zero annual amplitude in the continuous permafrost zone increased by 0.39 ± 0.15 °C. Over the same period, discontinuous permafrost warmed by 0.20 ± 0.10 °C. Permafrost in mountains warmed by 0.19 ± 0.05 °C and in Antarctica by 0.37 ± 0.10 °C. Globally, permafrost temperature increased by 0.29 ± 0.12 °C. The observed trend follows the Arctic amplification of air temperature increase in the Northern Hemisphere. In the discontinuous zone, however, ground warming occurred due to increased snow thickness while air temperature remained statistically unchanged

Characteristics of Methane Hydrate Formation in Artificial and Natural Media

The formation of methane hydrate in two significantly different media was investigated, using silica gel as an artificial medium and loess as a natural medium. The methane hydrate formation was observed through the depletion of water in the matrix, measured via the matrix potential and the relationship between the matrix potential and the water content was determined using established equations. The velocity of methane hydrate nucleation slowed over the course of the reaction, as it relied on water transfer to the hydrate surfaces with lower Gibbs free energy after nucleation. Significant differences in the reactions in the two types of media arose from differences in the water retention capacity and lithology of media due to the internal surface area and pore size distributions. Compared with methane hydrate formation in silica gel, the reaction in loess was much slower and formed far less methane hydrate. The results of this study will advance the understanding of how the properties of the environment affect the formation of gas hydrates in nature

Simulation of permafrost changes on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, China, over the past three decades

Permafrost is one of the largest elements of the terrestrial cryosphere and is extremely sensitive to climate change. Based on mean annual ground temperature (MAGT) data from 189 boreholes on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP), terrain factors, and climate data from China Meteorological Forcing Dataset, we propose a new mean annual ground air temperature (MAGAT) statistical model between meteorological parameters with subsurface temperatures to simulate permafrost distribution and variation of MAGT on the QTP over the past three decades (1981–2010). Validation of the model with MAGT data from 13 boreholes and permafrost maps of the QTP indicated that the MAGAT model is applicable to simulate the distribution and evolution of permafrost on the QTP. Simulation results show that the spatiotemporal MAGT of permafrost significantly increased by 0.37°C, or 0.25°C/10 yr, and the total area of permafrost decreased by 2.48 × 105 km2 on the QTP over the past three decades. Regionally, the changes of permafrost in the southwestern QTP were greater than other regions of the QTP

Pyrosequencing investigation into the bacterial community in permafrost soils along the China-Russia Crude Oil Pipeline (CRCOP).

The China-Russia Crude Oil Pipeline (CRCOP) goes through 441 km permafrost soils in northeastern China. The bioremediation in case of oil spills is a major concern. So far, little is known about the indigenous bacteria inhabiting in the permafrost soils along the pipeline. A pilot 454 pyrosequencing analysis on the communities from four selected sites which possess high environment risk along the CRCOP is herein presented. The results reveal an immense bacterial diversity than previously anticipated. A total of 14448 OTUs with 84834 reads are identified, which could be assigned into 39 different phyla, and 223 families or 386 genera. Only five phyla sustain a mean OTU abundance more than 5% in all the samples, but they altogether account for 85.08% of total reads. Proteobacteria accounts for 41.65% of the total OTUs or 45% of the reads across all samples, and its proportion generally increases with soil depth, but OTUs numerically decline. Among Proteobacteria, the abundance of Beta-, Alpha-, Delta- and Gamma- subdivisions average to 38.7% (2331 OTUs), 37.5% (2257 OTUs), 10.35% (616 OTUs), and 6.21% (374 OTUs), respectively. Acidobacteria (esp. Acidobacteriaceae), Actinobacteria (esp. Intrasporangiaceae), Bacteroidetes (esp. Sphingobacteria and Flavobacteria) and Chloroflexi (esp. Anaerolineaceae) are also very common, accounting for 8.56% (1237 OTUs), 7.86% (1136 OTUs); 7.35% (1063 OTUs) and 8.27% (1195 OTUs) of total libraries, respectively. The ordination analysis indicates that bacteria communities in the upper active layer cluster together (similar), while bacterial consortia from the lower active layer and permafrost table scatter (less similar). The abundance of Rhodococcus (12 OTUs), Pseudomonas (71 OTUs) and Sphingomonas (87 OTUs) is even less (<0.01%). This effort to profile the background diversity may set the first stage for better evaluating the bacterial dynamics in response to accidental oil spills