Future trajectories of peatland permafrost under climate and ecosystem
change in northeastern Canada
Abstract
Peatland permafrost ecosystems include culturally and ecologically
important habitat for plants and wildlife. Widespread degradation of
palsas and peat plateaus suggests vulnerability of these landforms to
climate warming, but ecosystem changes, including landscape greening due
to shrub expansion and related changes in snow distribution, are also
expected to impact permafrost persistence. In this study, the Northern
Ecosystem Soil Temperature model is used to simulate future ground
temperature trajectories for nine peatland permafrost landforms along
the Labrador Sea coastline. Ground temperatures are modeled for each
site from 2024 to 2100 under six scenarios, which account for
differences in future land cover, snow, and climate warming (RCP4.5).
All scenarios incorporating a change in ecosystem characteristics or
climate result in total loss of permafrost at all sites by 2100, with
some sites experiencing loss of permafrost by 2036. Although permafrost
thaw occurs at all sites under most scenarios, the study sites exhibit
wide variations in thaw rates due to differences in latitude,
geomorphological characteristics, and initial permafrost thicknesses.
While most sites experience active layer thickening, four of the nine
sites also see the development of supra-permafrost taliks, but this
occurs almost exclusively in the four scenarios that incorporate
ecosystem change. The development of taliks under these scenarios and
the earlier loss of permafrost suggest that peatland permafrost in
coastal Labrador may be more sensitive to ecosystem change than climate
warming alone. These results provide important insights into the future
evolution and climate sensitivity of permafrost peatlands in the
discontinuous permafrost zone.