Permafrost is warming at a global scale

Abstract

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. Climate change strongly impacts regions in high latitudes and altitudes that store high amounts of carbon in yet frozen ground. Here the authors show that the consequence of these changes is global warming of permafrost at depths greater than 10 m in the Northern Hemisphere, in mountains, and in Antarctica.

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Affiliated Institutions

• George Washington University US
• University of Potsdam DE
• Hokkaido University JP
• Earth Cryosphere Institute RU
• University of Tyumen RU
• Rhodes University ZA
• Universidad de Alcalá ES
• Université Laval CA
• Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources CN
• Institute of Physical-Chemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science RU
• Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences RU
• Norwegian Meteorological Institute
• Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung DE
• Lund University SE
• University of Oslo
• University of Lisbon PT
• Melnikov Permafrost Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science RU
• Stockholm University SE
• Freie Universität Berlin DE
• Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine FR
• Geological Survey of Canada CA
• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin DE
• Sergeev Institute of Environmental Geoscience RU
• Center for Northern Studies CA
• University of Insubria IT
• Technical University of Denmark DK
• Natural Resources Canada CA
• Arctic Portal IS
• University of Fribourg CH
• University of Alaska Fairbanks US
• Universitat de Barcelona ES
• University of Ottawa CA
• University of Lausanne CH

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