Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Shakhova, Natalia
• Semiletov, Igor
• Gustafsson, Orjan
• Sergienko, Valentin
• Lobkovsky, Leopold
• Dudarev, Oleg
• Tumskoy, Vladimir
• Grigoriev, Michael
• Mazurov, Alexey
• Salyuk, Anatoly
• Ananiev, Roman
• Koshurnikov, Andrey
• Kosmach, Denis
• Charkin, Alexander
• Dmitrevsky, Nicolay
• Karnaukh, Victor
• Gunar, Alexey
• Meluzov, Alexander
• Chernykh, Denis

Titel

Current rates and mechanisms of subsea permafrost degradation in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf

Ist Teil von

• Nature communications, 2017-06, Vol.8 (1), p.15872-15872, Article 15872

Ort / Verlag

London: Nature Publishing Group UK

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The rates of subsea permafrost degradation and occurrence of gas-migration pathways are key factors controlling the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) methane (CH 4 ) emissions, yet these factors still require assessment. It is thought that after inundation, permafrost-degradation rates would decrease over time and submerged thaw-lake taliks would freeze; therefore, no CH 4 release would occur for millennia. Here we present results of the first comprehensive scientific re-drilling to show that subsea permafrost in the near-shore zone of the ESAS has a downward movement of the ice-bonded permafrost table of ∼14 cm year −1 over the past 31–32 years. Our data reveal polygonal thermokarst patterns on the seafloor and gas-migration associated with submerged taliks, ice scouring and pockmarks. Knowing the rate and mechanisms of subsea permafrost degradation is a prerequisite to meaningful predictions of near-future CH 4 release in the Arctic. The rate of subsea permafrost degradation is a key factor controlling marine methane emissions in the Arctic. Here, using re-drilled boreholes, the authors show that the ice-bonded permafrost table in the near-shore East Siberian Arctic Shelf has deepened by ∼14 cm per year over the past 31–32 years.