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Melting permafrost impacts on Arctic Ecosystems
Permafrost, permanently frozen ground, underlies most of the Arctic, but warming temperatures are thawing the permafrost. Mike Gooseff, assistant professor of civil engineering and Hartz Family Career Development Professor, is part of a large group of scientists studying the effects of thawing permafrost on Arctic ecosystems.
Permafrost melting is creating thermokarsts – areas where the ice-rich subsurface thaws causing the overlying soil to collapse. These collapsed thermokarst areas have significantly increased sediment and nutrient loading to streams, which may have wide-ranging impacts on arctic stream ecosystems.
This research is using a systems approach to address hypotheses about how thermokarsts influence the structure and function of the arctic landscape, focusing on arctic headwater landscapes in the Toolik Lake area on the eastern North Slope and in the western Noatak River basin in Alaska.
For more information, please visit: http://water.engr.psu.edu/gooseff/research.html