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Exploring near-surface ground ice distribution in patterned-ground tundra: correlations with topography, soil and vegetation

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Abstract

Aims

For informed predictions on the sensitivity of Arctic tundra landscape to permafrost thaw, we aimed to investigate the distribution pattern of near-surface ground ice and its influencing factors in Northeast Siberia.

Methods

Near-surface permafrost cores (60 cm) were sampled along small-scale topographic gradients in two drained lakebeds. We investigated which factors (vegetation, hydrological and soil) correlated strongest with ice content and explored its spatial heterogeneity at different scales (1 to 100 m).

Results

The ice content was highest in the depressions of the wet lakebed and lowest at the slopes of the dry lakebed. In the wet lakebed the ice content increased with depth, while in the dry lakebed the vertical distribution depended on topographical position. Spatial variability in ice content was similar at different scales, stressing strong influence of local drivers. 0–60 cm ice content correlated strongest with soil moisture of the overlying unfrozen soil, while 0–20 cm ice content correlated strongest with vegetation characteristics.

Conclusions

Our study implies that vegetation effect on microclimate is strong enough to affect near-surface ice distribution, and that ice-rich tundra may be highly sensitive to thaw once climate warming offsets the protective impact of vegetation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank staff of IBPC, Yakutsk, T. Strukova and S. Ianygin of the Regional Inspection of Nature Protection of Allaikhovsky Region, Chokurdakh, and Lena the cook for logistic support and assistance in the field. Figure 2a was drawn by Kailing Huang, which is greatly appreciated. We acknowledge financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (31700453), Jo Kolk Studiefonds, Darwin Center for Biogeosciences (project 1043), and The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (Vidi-project 864.09.014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China

    Peng Wang

  2. Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands

    Judith de Jager, Ake Nauta & Juul Limpens

  3. Earth and Climate Cluster, Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    Jacobus van Huissteden

  4. Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia

    Maximov C. Trofim

  5. North-Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, Russia

    Maximov C. Trofim

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  1. Peng Wang
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  2. Judith de Jager
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  3. Ake Nauta
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  4. Jacobus van Huissteden
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  5. Maximov C. Trofim
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Correspondence to Peng Wang or Juul Limpens.

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Wang, P., de Jager, J., Nauta, A. et al. Exploring near-surface ground ice distribution in patterned-ground tundra: correlations with topography, soil and vegetation. Plant Soil 444, 251–265 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-04276-7

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