Articles | Volume 11, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1-2017
Research article
 | 
02 Jan 2017
Research article |  | 02 Jan 2017

Strong degradation of palsas and peat plateaus in northern Norway during the last 60 years

Amund F. Borge, Sebastian Westermann, Ingvild Solheim, and Bernd Etzelmüller

Related authors

Modelling the evolution of permafrost temperatures and active layer thickness in King George Island, Antarctica, since 1950
Joana Pedro Baptista, Goncalo Brito Guapo Teles Vieira, Hyoungseok Lee, António Manuel de Carvalho Soares Correia, and Sebastian Westermann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-150,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-150, 2025
Short summary
Water chemistry and greenhouse gas concentrations in waterbodies of a thawing permafrost peatland complex in northern Norway
Jacqueline Kay Knutson, François Clayer, Peter Dörsch, Sebastian Westermann, and Heleen A. de Wit
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-184,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-184, 2025
Short summary
Slow-moving rock glaciers in marginal periglacial environment of Southern Carpathians
Alexandru Onaca, Flavius Sirbu, Valentin Poncos, Christin Hilbich, Tazio Strozzi, Petru Urdea, Răzvan Popescu, Oana Berzescu, Bernd Etzelmüller, Alfred Vespremeanu-Stroe, Mirela Vasile, Delia Teleagă, Dan Birtaș, Iosif Lopătiță, Simon Filhol, Alexandru Hegyi, and Florina Ardelean
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3262,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3262, 2025
Short summary
InSAR sensitivity to active layer ground ice content in Adventdalen, Svalbard
Lotte Wendt, Line Rouyet, Hanne H. Christiansen, Tom Rune Lauknes, and Sebastian Westermann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2972,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2972, 2024
Short summary
Impact of livestock activity on near-surface ground temperatures in central Mongolian grasslands
Robin Benjamin Zweigel, Avirmed Dashtseren, Khurelbaatar Temuujin, Anarmaa Sharkhuu, Clare Webster, Hanna Lee, and Sebastian Westermann
Biogeosciences, 21, 5059–5077, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5059-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5059-2024, 2024
Short summary

Related subject area

Frozen Ground
High-resolution 4D electrical resistivity tomography and below-ground point sensor monitoring of High Arctic deglaciated sediments capture zero-curtain effects, freeze–thaw transitions, and mid-winter thawing
Mihai O. Cimpoiasu, Oliver Kuras, Harry Harrison, Paul B. Wilkinson, Philip Meldrum, Jonathan E. Chambers, Dane Liljestrand, Carlos Oroza, Steven K. Schmidt, Pacifica Sommers, Lara Vimercati, Trevor P. Irons, Zhou Lyu, Adam Solon, and James A. Bradley
The Cryosphere, 19, 401–421, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-401-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-401-2025, 2025
Short summary
Spectral induced polarization survey for the estimation of hydrogeological parameters in an active rock glacier
Clemens Moser, Umberto Morra di Cella, Christian Hauck, and Adrián Flores Orozco
The Cryosphere, 19, 143–171, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-143-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-143-2025, 2025
Short summary
Quantifying permafrost ground ice contents in the Tien Shan and Pamir (Central Asia): A Petrophysical Joint Inversion approach using the Geometric Mean model
Tamara Mathys, Muslim Azimshoev, Zhoodarbeshim Bektursunov, Christian Hauck, Christin Hilbich, Murataly Duishonakunov, Abdulhamid Kayumov, Nikolay Kassatkin, Vassily Kapitsa, Leo C. P. Martin, Coline Mollaret, Hofiz Navruzshoev, Eric Pohl, Tomas Saks, Intizor Silmonov, Timur Musaev, Ryskul Usubaliev, and Martin Hoelzle
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2795,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2795, 2024
Short summary
Thermal State of Permafrost in the Central Andes (27° S–34° S)
Cassandra E.M. Koenig, Christin Hilbich, Christian Hauck, Lukas U. Arenson, and Pablo Wainstein
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2244,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2244, 2024
Short summary
Effect of surficial geology mapping scale on modelled ground ice in Canadian Shield terrain
H. Brendan O'Neill, Stephen A. Wolfe, Caroline Duchesne, and Ryan J. H. Parker
The Cryosphere, 18, 2979–2990, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2979-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2979-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Aalto, J. and Luoto, M.: Integrating climate and local factors for geomorphological distribution models, Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 39, 1729–1740, 2014.
Aalto, J., Venäläinen, A., Heikkinen, R. K., and Luoto, M.: Potential for extreme loss in high-latitude Earth surface processes due to climate change, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 3914–3924, 2014.
Åkerman, H. J. and Johansson, M.: Thawing permafrost and thicker active layers in sub-arctic Sweden, Permafrost Periglac., 19, 279–292, https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.626, 2008.
Aune, B.: Temperaturnormaler. Normalperiode 1961–1990, DNMI KLIMA Report 02/93, Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET), Oslo, Norway, 63 pp., 1993.
Barcan, V. S.: Stability of palsa at the southern margin of its distribution on the Kola Peninsula, Polar Science, 4, 489–495, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polar.2010.07.002, 2010.
Download
Short summary
Palsas and peat plateaus are permafrost landforms in subarctic mires which constitute sensitive ecosystems with strong significance for vegetation, wildlife, hydrology and carbon cycle. We have systematically mapped the occurrence of palsas and peat plateaus in northern Norway by interpretation of aerial images from the 1950s until today. The results show that about half of the area of palsas and peat plateaus has disappeared due to lateral erosion and melting of ground ice in the last 50 years.
Share