Active layer thickness as a function of soil water content

Clayton, Leah K; Schaefer, Kevin; Battaglia, Michael J; Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura; Chen, Jingyi; Chen, Richard H; Chen, Albert; Bakian-Dogaheh, Kazem; Grelik, Sarah; Jafarov, Elchin; Liu, Lin; Michaelides, Roger John; Moghaddam, Mahta; Parsekian, Andrew D; Rocha, Adrian V; Schaefer, Sean R; Sullivan, Taylor; Tabatabaeenejad, Alireza; Wang, Kang; Wilson, Cathy J; Zebker, Howard A; Zhang, Tingjun; Zhao, Yuhuan

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c

i

Active layer thickness as a function of soil water content

2021
By Clayton, Leah K ; Schaefer, Kevin ; Battaglia, Michael J ; ...

Details

Journal Title:

Environmental Research Letters
Personal Author:

Clayton, Leah K ; Schaefer, Kevin ; Battaglia, Michael J ; Bourgeau-Chavez, Laura ; Chen, Jingyi ; Chen, Richard H ; Chen, Albert ; Bakian-Dogaheh, Kazem ; Grelik, Sarah ; Jafarov, Elchin ; Liu, Lin ; Michaelides, Roger John ; Moghaddam, Mahta ; Parsekian, Andrew D ; Rocha, Adrian V ; Schaefer, Sean R ; Sullivan, Taylor ; Tabatabaeenejad, Alireza ; Wang, Kang ; Wilson, Cathy J ; Zebker, Howard A ; Zhang, Tingjun ; Zhao, Yuhuan
NOAA Program & Office:

NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) ; NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information) ; CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
Description:

Active layer thickness (ALT) is a critical metric for monitoring permafrost. How soil moisture influences ALT depends on two competing hypotheses: (a) increased soil moisture increases the latent heat of fusion for thaw, resulting in shallower active layers, and (b) increased soil moisture increases soil thermal conductivity, resulting in deeper active layers. To investigate their relative influence on thaw depth, we analyzed the Field Measurements of Soil Moisture and Active Layer Thickness (SMALT) in Alaska and Canada dataset, consisting of thousands of measurements of thaw depth and soil moisture collected at dozens of sites across Alaska and Canada as part of NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). As bulk volumetric water content (VWC) integrated over the entire active layer increases, ALT decreases, supporting the latent heat hypothesis. However, as VWC in the top 12 cm of soil increases, ALT increases, supporting the thermal conductivity hypothesis. Regional temperature variations determine the baseline thaw depth while precipitation may influence the sensitivity of ALT to changes in VWC. Soil latent heat dominates over thermal conductivity in determining ALT, and the effect of bulk VWC on ALT appears consistent across sites.
Keywords:

General Environmental Science Public Health, Environmental And Occupational Health Renewable Energy, Sustainability And The Environment Public Health, Environmental And Occupational Health Renewable Energy, Sustainability And The Environment Public Health, Environmental And Occupational Health Renewable Energy, Sustainability And The Environment
Source:

Environmental Research Letters, 16(5), 055028
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c
ISSN:

1748-9326
Format:

PDF
Publisher:

IOP Publishing
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA09OAR4310063
License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

Library
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:7111dbe46ffecad5f4cbcca573e7345fa5c7fc7dba12547bea847818db64e439
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/52877/noaa_52877_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 1.09 MB ]

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