New research led by Professor of Geography and International Affairs Dmitry Streletskiy at the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) shows that frozen ground known as permafrost is sinking at an alarming rate across high-latitude and high-altitude cold regions of the Arctic.
The study, based on diverse data from regions across North America and Eurasia, found that thaw subsidence (TS)—the sinking or settling of frozen ground, also known as permafrost, as it thaws—is widespread and happening at accelerating rates.
The findings have serious climate implications—including potentially devastating damage to ecosystems and infrastructures and severe landscape disruptions. In addition, wildfires and human activities like construction accelerate the process, the study found.
The study’s authors—including CCAS Professor of Geography Nikolay Shiklomanov—indicated that more widespread, systemic monitoring of thaw subsidence is urgently needed to deliver consistent and continuous exchange of data across different permafrost regions.
“TS is a common process in permafrost environments,” the study noted. “However, outside of obvious engineering applications focused on monitoring built and linear infrastructure, such as roads, railroads and pipelines, monitoring of TS remains limited.”
From a review of the existing body of literature, the authors suggested that TS measurements are critical in long-term monitoring of the permafrost dynamics and should be included as part of the standard measurements conducted by international monitoring programs.
“It is evident that permafrost TS will play an increasingly important role under warming climatic conditions,” the authors concluded. “Therefore, improving TS estimates by field studies, remote sensing measurements and improved modeling is critically needed to provide better understanding of permafrost degradation and its consequences.”
The study, “Thawing Permafrost is Subsiding in the Northern Hemisphere - Review and Perspectives” was published in Environmental Research Letters.