Lakes are commonly accepted as a sensitive indicator of regional climate change, including the Tibetan Plateau (TP). This study took the Ranwu Lake, located in the southeastern TP, as the research object to investigate the relationship between the lake and regional hydroclimatological regimes. The well-known Budyko framework was utilized to explore the relationship and its causes. The results showed air temperature, evapotranspiration and potential evapotranspiration in the Ranwu Lake Basin generally increased, while precipitation, soil moisture, and glacier area decreased. The Budyko space indicated that the basin experienced an obviously drying phase first, and then a slightly wetting phase. An overall increase in lake area appears inconsistent with the drying phase of the basin climate. The inconsistency is attributable to the significant expansion of proglacial lakes due to glacial melting, possibly driven by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. Our findings should be helpful for understanding the complicated relationships between lakes and climate, and beneficial to water resources management under changing climates, especially in glacier basins.

Differential frost heave between fine (earthy) and coarse (gravelly) domains was monitored over 10 years (2013-2023) on a mountain-top flat ground subjected to both frequent diurnal and deep seasonal freezing. Monitoring objects include, ground heave, soil temperature down to 55 cm, soil moisture, air temperature, rainfall, and snow depth. The two domains, differing only in the presence of uppermost platy gravel about 1 cm in thickness, undergo frequent diurnal frost heave with about 1-cm-thick needle ice formation. Annual frequency and cumulative amount of frost heave are not significantly different between the two, but the fine domain is slightly more active particularly in spring when the near-surface soil at just above 0 degrees C permits rapid frost penetration. Differential heave mainly occurs as a time lag in the start and peak of heaving, on average, by about 1 h preceded at the fine domain, which tends to concentrate stones to the coarse domain. Frost heave activity shows a large interannual variation, primarily depending on the duration of snow-covered days. Frost heave activity also roughly correlates with annual mean air temperature, possibly reflecting a decrease in snowfall days.

We review the progress of research on permafrost and periglacial dynamics over the last two decades and explore future periglacial landscapes in Svalbard, High Arctic. This area has been subjected to rapid air and ground warming at a rate of 0.10.2 degrees C yr-1, as well as simultaneous thawing of the top layer of permafrost at a rate of about 1 cm yr-1 over the last two decades. Periglacial features studied include ice-wedge polygons, mudboils, sorted patterned ground, pingos, solifluction lobes, active-layer detachment slides, and rock glaciers. These landforms are concentrated within narrow alluvial plains and valley-side slopes but separated by geomorphological specifics and ground materials. Decadal-scale monitoring highlights climatic control of the morphology and dynamics of three landforms & horbar;ice-wedge polygons, mudboils, and rock glaciers & horbar;and the impact of long-term warming on their dynamics. Despite the location close to the southern limit of continuous permafrost, multiple cold spells in mid-winter activate thermal contraction cracking, which permits the growth of ice wedges. If such cold spells continue under a warmer climate, ice wedge could still grow below the deepening active layer. In a mudboil-small polygon landscape, seasonal frost heaving (or thaw settlement) of the central mound is coupled with closing (or opening) of the marginal crack. This movement would be maintained under a warmer climate and at a deeper active layer if the active layer is kept very humid. Although the contemporary cold climate is generally unfavorable for the growth of well-developed rock glaciers in Svalbard, slow permafrost creep at a rate of a few centimeters per year produces basal bulging of the valley-side talus slopes. The warming trend in the last decade has led to a steady acceleration of the movement. Further warming in the near future is expected to develop longer valley-side rock glaciers.

Mountain permafrost extends over a vast area throughout the Chilean and Argentinean Andes, making it a key component of these mountain ecosystems. To develop an overview of the current state of knowledge on southern Andean permafrost, it is essential to outline appropriate research strategies in a warmer climate context. Based on a comprehensive review of existing literature, this work identifies eight main research themes on mountain permafrost in the Chilean and Argentinean Andes: paleoenvironmental reconstructions, permafrost-derived landforms inventories, permafrost distribution models, internal structure analysis, hydrogeochemistry, permafrost dynamics, geological hazards, and transitional landscape studies. This extensive review work also highlights key debates concerning the potential of permafrost as a water resource and the factors influencing its distribution. Furthermore, we identified several challenges the scientific community must address to gain a deeper understanding of mountain permafrost dynamics. Among these challenges, we suggest tackling the need to broaden spatial focus, along with the use of emerging technologies and methodologies. Additionally, we emphasize the importance of developing interdisciplinary approaches to effectively identify the impacts of climate change on mountain permafrost. Such efforts are essential for adequately preparing scientists, institutional entities, and society to address future scenarios.

Soil creep is a slow gravitational process. It differs from other catastrophic slope processes such as landslides, snow avalanches, and rockfalls in its dynamics and character. However, it can significantly affect tree growth. Creep movements can be analyzed based on the tree rings. This study analyzed the dynamics and spatiotemporal activity of creep in the Balea glacial valley (Southern Carpathians) under the Transfagarasan highway on an anthropogenic slope, using tree rings to define the spatiotemporal activity of creep and assess its potential driving and triggering factors. The dendrogeomorphological analysis included 54 Norway spruces (Picea abies (L.) Karst). A total of 118 tree-ring series were obtained, and a 35-year chronology was constructed based on the eccentric growth of tree rings and reaction wood, with a mean recurrence interval of 17.4 years. The spatial pattern of the disturbed trees in the event years was tested using Moran's I index. The presence of creep in this area is indicated by the stems of young trees taking on a 'd' shape or a 'pistol-butted' form, as well as the predominant inclination of the stems downslope direction. This inclination is not chaotic, as is typical of forests affected by landslides. The manifestation of creep is influenced by pre-existing factors, such as the substrate consisting of crystalline shale and the blanket of rubble arranged in the direction of the slope, as well as causal factors, such as the slope and precipitation. Precipitation falling within 24 h during June or July and intervals with frosty cycles from November to December and January to March were also contributing factors.

Ny-& Aring;lesund, located in Arctic Svalbard, is one of the most sensitive areas on Earth to global warming. In recent years, accelerated glacier ablation has become remarkable in Ny-& Aring;lesund. Glacial meltwaters discharge a substantial quantity of materials to the ocean, affecting downstream ecosystems and adjacent oceans. In August 2015, various water samples were taken near Ny-& Aring;lesund, including ice marginal meltwater, proglacial meltwater, supraglacial meltwater, englacial meltwater, and groundwater. Trace metals (Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb), major ions, alkalinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, water temperature and electric conductivity were also measured. Major ions were mainly controlled by chemical weathering intensity and reaction types, while trace metals were influenced by both chemical weathering and physicochemical control upon their mobility. Indeed, we found that Br & oslash;ggerbreen was dominated by carbonate weathering via carbonation of carbonate, while Austre Lov & eacute;nbreen and Pedersenbreen were dominated by sulfide oxidation coupled with carbonate dissolution with a doubled silicate weathering. The higher enrichment of trace metals in supraglacial meltwater compared to ice marginal and proglacial meltwater suggested anthropogenic pollution from atmospheric deposition. In ice marginal and proglacial meltwater, principal component analysis indicated that trace metals like Cr, Al, Co, Mn and Cd were correlated to chemical weathering. This implies that under accelerated glacier retreat, glacier-derived chemical components are subjected to future changes in weathering types and intensity.

Schmidt-hammer exposure-age dating (SHD) was applied to similar to 180 medium- to large-scale solifluction features on the northern edge of Juyflye, Jotunheimen (southern Norway) using an electronic Schmidt-hammer (RockSchmidt) and an improved local SHD age-calibration equation. Age estimates from four different types of solifluction landforms were analysed and compared with those from recalibrated estimates from patterned ground previously investigated on Juvflye. Average SHD-age estimates are c. 9.8 and 9.3 ka for the two dominant morphological types of solifluction features ('type A' boulder tongues and 'type B' stone-banked solifluction lobes) and c. 8.6 ka for sorted stripes and circles. Our results indicate that active formation of all investigated types of solifluction features, sorted stripes, and sorted circles ceased in the Early Holocene, prior to the onset of the regional Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) at c. 7.7 ka. Formation of all of these periglacial landforms appears to have commenced shortly after local deglaciation (c. 11.4 ka) in water-saturated till. Alternative origins are rejected, including the possibility of development before the last glaciation, survival beneath cold-based glaciers, and exhumation in the Early Holocene. Cessation of activity is attributed to changing ground conditions affecting active layer processes, particularly reduced soil moisture and pore water pressure. Temporal variations of the altitudinal permafrost limits had little or no impact on the timing of either the Early Holocene climax in activity or subsequent stabilisation. Caution is therefore urged in the utilisation of large-scale solifluction and patterned ground landforms as palaeoclimatic indicators.

Integrated field and laboratory characterisation of geomaterial behaviour is critical to foundation analysis and design for a wide range of offshore and onshore infrastructure. Challenges include the need for high -quality sampling, addressing natural and induced micro -to -macro structures, and applying soil and stress states that represent both in -situ and in-service conditions. This paper draws on the Authors' recent research with stiff glacial till, dense marine sand and low -to -medium density chalk, and focuses particularly on these geomaterials' mechanical behaviour, from small strains to failure, their anisotropy and response to cyclic loading. It considers a range of in -situ techniques as well as highly instrumented monotonic and cyclic stress -path triaxial experiments and hollow cylinder apparatus tests. The outcomes are shown to have important implications for the analysis of large driven piles under monotonic -and -cyclic, axial -and -lateral loading, and the development of practical design methods. Also highlighted are the needs for approaches that integrate field observations, advanced sampling and laboratory testing, numerical and theoretical modelling.

To address data scarcity on long-term glacial discharge and inadequacies in simulating and predicting hydrological processes in the Tien Shan, this study analysed the observed discharge at multiple timescales over 1980s-2017 and projected changes within a representative glacierized high-mountain region: eastern Tien Shan, Central Asia. Hydrological processes were simulated to predict changes under four future scenarios (SSP1, SSP2, SSP3, and SSP5) using a classical hydrological model coupled with a glacier dynamics module. Discharge rates at annual, monthly (June, July, August) and daily timescales were obtained from two hydrological gauges: Urumqi Glacier No.1 hydrological station (UGH) and Zongkong station (ZK). Overall, annual and summer discharge increased significantly ( p < 0.05) at both stations over the study period. Their intra-annual variations mainly resulted from differences in their recharge mechanisms. The simulations show that a tipping point in annual discharge at UGH may occur between 2018 and 2024 under the four SSPs scenarios. Glacial discharge is predicted to cease earlier at ZK than at UGH. This relates to glacier type and size, suggesting basins with heavily developed small glaciers will reach peak discharge sooner, resulting in an earlier freshwater supply challenge. These findings serve as a reference for research into glacial runoff in Central Asia and provide a decision-making basis for planning local water-resource projects.

New soils formed after glacier retreat can provide insights into the rates of soil formation in the context of accelerated warming due to climate change. Recently deglacierized terrains (since the Little Ice Age) are subject to weathering and pedogenesis, and freshly exposed sediments are prone to react readily with the environment. This study aims to determine the impact of parent material and time on soil physical and chemical properties of nine proglacial landscapes distributed in the Tropical Andes and Alps. A total of 188 soil samples were collected along chronosequences of deglacierization and from sites that differed in terms of parent material and classified following three parent material groups: (1) Granodiorite-Tonalite (GT), (2) Gneiss-Shales-Schists (GSS), and (3) Mont-Blanc Granite (MBG). We determined physical and chemical soil properties such as contents of clay, silt, sand, organic carbon, bulk density (BD), pH, extractable cation (exCa, exMg, exK), elemental composition by Xray fluorescence (Al, Si, P, S, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Mo, Hg, Pb) and ICP-MS (Al, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, P, S, Zn), and mineral phase (XRD diffraction analysis). Parent material-controlled particle-size distribution, SOC, pH, available P, exCa, and exMg, whereas time since deglacierization only affected SOC and P, and exMg globally. Most of the significant differences in soil properties between parent material groups occurred within the first 17 years after deglacierization, and then we observed a homogenization between sites. While the higher SOC and P contents observed within the GT Andean sites might be due to the parent material composition leading to faster initial soil formation, we identified potential As, Cu, Mo, and Mn toxicity within those soils. Our study highlights the need to investigate further proglacial soil's buffering capacity and carbon sequestration to globally inform the conservation and management of novel proglacial ecosystems.