Articles | Volume 10, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2673-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2673-2016
Research article
 | 
15 Nov 2016
Research article |  | 15 Nov 2016

Presence of rapidly degrading permafrost plateaus in south-central Alaska

Benjamin M. Jones, Carson A. Baughman, Vladimir E. Romanovsky, Andrew D. Parsekian, Esther L. Babcock, Eva Stephani, Miriam C. Jones, Guido Grosse, and Edward E. Berg

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Cited articles

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Beilman, D. W. and Robinson, S. D.: Peatland permafrost thaw and landform type along a climatic gradient, in: Proc. 8th Int. Conf. Permafr., 21–25 July 2003, Zurich, Switzerland, 61–65, 2003.
Beilman, D. W., Vitt, D. H. ,and Halsey, L. A.: Localized Permafrost Peatlands in Western Canada: Definition, Distributions, and Degradation, Arct. Antarct. Alp. Res., 33, 70–77, https://doi.org/10.2307/1552279, 2001.
Berg, E. E. and Anderson, R. S.: Fire history of white and Lutz spruce forests on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, over the last two millennia as determined from soil charcoal, Forest Ecol. Manage., 227, 275–283, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006.02.042, 2006.
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Short summary
We combined field data collection with remote sensing data to document the presence and rapid degradation of permafrost in south-central Alaska during 1950–present. Ground temperature measurements confirmed permafrost presence in the region, but remotely sensed images showed that permafrost plateau extent decreased by 60 % since 1950. Better understanding these vulnerable permafrost deposits is important for predicting future permafrost extent across all permafrost regions that are warming.