Circum-Arctic Map of the Yedoma Permafrost Domain


Contact
Jens.Strauss [ at ] awi.de

Abstract

Ice-rich permafrost in the circum-Arctic and sub-Arctic (hereafter pan-Arctic), such as late Pleistocene Yedoma, are especially prone to degradation due to climate change or human activity. When Yedoma deposits thaw, large amounts of frozen organic matter and biogeochemically relevant elements return into current biogeochemical cycles. This mobilization of elements has local and global implications: increased thaw in thermokarst or thermal erosion settings enhances greenhouse gas fluxes from permafrost regions. In addition, this ice-rich ground is of special concern for infrastructure stability as the terrain surface settles along with thawing. Finally, understanding the distribution of the Yedoma domain area provides a window into the Pleistocene past and allows reconstruction of Ice Age environmental conditions and past mammoth-steppe landscapes. Therefore, a detailed assessment of the current pan-Arctic Yedoma coverage is of importance to estimate its potential contribution to permafrost-climate feedbacks, assess infrastructure vulnerabilities, and understand past environmental and permafrost dynamics. Building on previous mapping efforts, the objective of this paper is to compile the first digital pan-Arctic Yedoma map and spatial database of Yedoma coverage. Therefore, we 1) synthesized, analyzed, and digitized geological and stratigraphical maps allowing identification of Yedoma occurrence at all available scales, and 2) compiled field data and expert knowledge for creating Yedoma map confidence classes. We used GIS-techniques to vectorize maps and harmonize site information based on expert knowledge. We included a range of attributes for Yedoma areas based on lithological and stratigraphic information from the source maps and assigned three different confidence levels of the presence of Yedoma (confirmed, likely, or uncertain). Using a spatial buffer of 20 km around mapped Yedoma occurrences, we derived an extent of the Yedoma domain. Our result is a vector-based map of the current pan-Arctic Yedoma domain that covers approximately 2,587,000 km2, whereas Yedoma deposits are found within 480,000 km2 of this region. We estimate that 35% of the total Yedoma area today is located in the tundra zone, and 65% in the taiga zone. With this Yedoma mapping, we outlined the substantial spatial extent of late Pleistocene Yedoma deposits and created a unique pan-Arctic dataset including confidence estimates.



Item Type
Article
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Primary Division
Programs
Primary Topic
Helmholtz Cross Cutting Activity (2021-2027)
N/A
Publication Status
Published
Eprint ID
54823
DOI 10.3389/feart.2021.758360

Cite as
Strauss, J. , Laboor, S. , Schirrmeister, L. , Fedorov, A. N. , Fortier, D. , Froese, D. , Fuchs, M. , Günther, F. , Grigoriev, M. N. , Harden, J. , Hugelius, G. , Jongejans, L. L. , Kanevskiy, M. , Kholodov, A. , Kunitsky, V. V. , Kraev, G. , Lozhkin, A. V. , Rivkina, E. , Shur, Y. , Siegert, C. , Spektor, V. V. , Streletskaya, I. D. , Ulrich, M. , Vartanyan, S. , Veremeeva, A. A. , Walter Anthony, K. M. , Wetterich, S. , Zimov, N. and Grosse, G. (2021): Circum-Arctic Map of the Yedoma Permafrost Domain , Frontiers in Earth Science, 9 . doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.758360


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Citation

Geographical region

Research Platforms

Campaigns
Arctic Land Expeditions > AK-Land_2012_Itkillik
Arctic Land Expeditions > AK-Land_2016_NWAlaska
Arctic Land Expeditions > RU-Land_2008_Kolyma
Arctic Land Expeditions > RU-Land_2010_Lena_BuorKhaya
Arctic Land Expeditions > RU-Land_2011_Khatanga
Arctic Land Expeditions > RU-Land_2013_Pokhodsk
Arctic Land Expeditions > RU-Land_2014_Lena
Arctic Land Expeditions > RU-Land_2015_CentralYakutia_Yukechi

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info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/338335


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