TY - JOUR
T1 - Eurasian permafrost instability constrained by reduced sea-ice cover
AU - Vandenberghe, J.
AU - Renssen, H.
AU - Roche, D.M.V.A.P.
AU - Goosse, H.J.M.
AU - Velichko, A.A.
AU - Gorbunov, A.
AU - Levavasseur, G.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - In order to specify potentially causal relationships between climate, permafrost extent and sea-ice cover we apply a twofold research strategy: (1) we cover a large range of climate conditions varying from full glacial to the relatively warm climate projected for the end of the 21st Century, (2) we combine new proxy-based reconstructions of Eurasian permafrost extent during the LGM and climate model simulations. We find that that there is a linear relationship between the winter sea-ice extent in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and the latitude of the southernmost permafrost limit in Eurasia. During the LGM, extensive sea-ice cover caused a zonal permafrost distribution with the southern margin extending W-E and reaching 47°N, contrasting with the present-day NW-SE trending margin (66°-52°N). We infer that under global warming scenarios projected by climate models for the 21st Century the Arctic sea-ice cover decline will cause widespread instability of, mainly discontinuous, permafrost in Eurasian lowlands. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
AB - In order to specify potentially causal relationships between climate, permafrost extent and sea-ice cover we apply a twofold research strategy: (1) we cover a large range of climate conditions varying from full glacial to the relatively warm climate projected for the end of the 21st Century, (2) we combine new proxy-based reconstructions of Eurasian permafrost extent during the LGM and climate model simulations. We find that that there is a linear relationship between the winter sea-ice extent in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and the latitude of the southernmost permafrost limit in Eurasia. During the LGM, extensive sea-ice cover caused a zonal permafrost distribution with the southern margin extending W-E and reaching 47°N, contrasting with the present-day NW-SE trending margin (66°-52°N). We infer that under global warming scenarios projected by climate models for the 21st Century the Arctic sea-ice cover decline will cause widespread instability of, mainly discontinuous, permafrost in Eurasian lowlands. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
U2 - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2011.12.001
DO - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2011.12.001
M3 - Article
SN - 0277-3791
VL - 34
SP - 16
EP - 23
JO - Quaternary Science Reviews
JF - Quaternary Science Reviews
ER -
