In northern high latitudes, rapid warming is set to amplify carbon-climate feedbacks by enhancing permafrost thaw and biogeochemical transformation of large amounts of soil organic carbon. However, between 30 % and 80 % of permafrost soil organic carbon is considered to be stabilized by geochemical interactions with the soil mineral pool and thus less susceptible to be emitted as greenhouse gases. Quantification of the nature of and controls on mineral-organic carbon interactions is needed to better constrain permafrost-carbon-climate feed-backs, particularly in ice-rich environments resulting in rapid thaw and development of thermokarst landforms. On sloping terrain, mass wasting features called retrogressive thaw slumps are amongst the most dynamic forms of thermokarst. These multi-decadal disturbances grow due to ablation of an ice-rich headwall, and their enlargement due to warming of the Arctic is mobilizing vast stores of previously frozen materials. Here, we investigate headwall profiles of seven retrogressive thaw slumps and sediments displaced from these mass wasting features from the Peel Plateau, western Canadian Arctic. The disturbances varied in their headwall height (2 to 25 m) and affected land surface area ( 30 ha). We present total and water extractable mineral element concentrations, mineralogy, and mineral-organic carbon interactions in the headwall layers (active layer, permafrost materials above an early Holocene thaw unconformity, and Pleistocene-aged permafrost tills) and in displaced material (suspended sediments in runoff and material accumulated on the debris tongue). Our data show that the main mechanism of organic carbon stabilization through mineral-organic carbon interactions within the headwall is the complexation with metals (mainly iron), which stabilizes 30 +/- 15 % of the total organic carbon pool with higher concentrations in near-surface layers compared to deep permafrost. In the displaced material, this proportion drops to 18 +/- 5 %. In addition, we estimate that up to 12 +/- 5 % of the total organic carbon is stabilized by associations to poorly crystalline iron oxides, with no significant difference be-tween near-surface layers, deep permafrost and displaced material. Our findings suggest that the organic carbon interacting with the sediment mineral pool in slump headwalls is preserved in the material mobilized by slumping and displaced as debris. Overall, up to 32 +/- 6 % of the total organic carbon displaced by retrogressive thaw slumps is stabilized by organo-mineral interactions in this region. This indicates that organo-mineral in-teractions play a significant role in the preservation of organic carbon in the material displaced from retro-gressive thaw slumps over years to decades after their development resulting in decadal to centennial scale sequestration of this retrogressive thaw slump-mobilized organic carbon interacting with the soil mineral pool.

Landslides induced by freeze-thaw processes on grasslands are one of the major geohazards, and their scale and frequency are increasing as the global warms. Freeze-thaw induced landslides degrade surface vegetation and soil properties, reduce biodiversity, intensify landscape fragmentation, and lead to losses in economy, human and animal lives. Despite substantial progress in research on landslides, there has been little study focused on how ground freeze-thaw events affect landslides. By critically analyzing previous studies, this paper proposes a conceptual framework for the forms and types, development, dominant factors, monitoring techniques, and impact mechanisms of freeze-thaw induced landslides. Landslides are controlled by soil characteristics and topographic slope, which are major intrinsic determinants. Increased rainfall, rising temperatures, and thickening active layer due to climate change are all direct drivers of freeze-thaw induced landslides. Vegetation conditions, animal behavior interference, and wind erosion all affect the occurrence and development process of landslides by modifying vegetation cover, soil physical and chemical properties, and structure. Currently, landslide monitoring techniques have evolved rapidly with improved efficiency and accuracy, but with only few applications for freeze-thaw induced landslides. There are a variety of prediction models for landslides, but few consider freeze-thaw effects and lack field validation. The new perspective on the occurring types and dominant factors enhances theoretical understanding of the formation mechanisms, which helps further monitor and analysis of freeze-thaw induced landslides. Future studies should concentrate on the coupling mechanism of multiple factors and the development of an accurate prediction system, which will greatly benefit the understanding and early detection of freeze-thaw induced landslides.

Retrogressive thaw slumps (RTSs) are among the most dynamic landforms resulting from the thawing of ice-rich permafrost. However, RTS distribution and evolution are poorly quantified because most of them occur in remote and inaccessible areas. In this study, we propose a method that integrates deep learning, change detection, and medial axis transform, aiming to automatically quantify the RTS development on multi-temporal images in the Beiluhe region on the Tibetan Plateau from 2017 to 2019. The images are taken by the Planet CubeSat constellation with high spatial and temporal resolution. The experiments show that automatic delineation based on deep learning can produce similar results to manual delineation, providing the potential of using these results to quantify the changes of RTS boundaries in different years. Our method reveals that among manuallydelineated 342 RTSs in the Beiluhe region, 83% and 76% of them expanded from 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019, respectively. For the expansion from 2017 to 2018, the average and maximum expanding areas are 0.20 ha and 1.47 ha, while the average and maximum retreat distances are 21.3 m and 91 m, respectively. For 2018 to 2019 the average and maximum expansion areas and retreat distances are 0.22 ha, 2.53 ha, 25.0 m, and 212 m, respectively. The results show that the method can quantify RTS development automatically on multi-temporal images but may miss some small and subtle RTSs. Moreover, this study provides the very first quantitative report on RTS development on the Tibetan Plateau, which helps to advance the understanding of permafrost degradation.

Purpose Thaw slumps are widely distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) due to global warming and engineering constructions. However, an understanding of the effect of thaw slumps on the 3-D soil macropore networks is lacking. In this study, we aimed to quantify the responses of soil macropore structure to thaw slumps in QTP. Materials and methods Three stages were selected according to the intensities of thaw slumping, including the original grassland, collapsing areas, and collapsed areas. Nine undisturbed soil cores (0-30-cm deep) were collected in total with 3 replicates sampled at each stage, and they were scanned by X-ray computed tomography (CT). Results and discussion The results showed that collapsing areas had higher macroporosity, branch density, and node density than the original grassland and collapsed areas. The macropore networks in the collapsing areas had the highest connectivity among the three thaw slump stages. Macropores with volume > 10 mm(3) accounted for more than 50% of the total macropore volume in the original grassland, collapsing areas, and collapsed areas. We speculate that compared with the other two stages, the soil macropore structure in the collapsing areas is more conducive to water infiltration and lateral migration. The connectivity of macropore networks in the collapsed areas was the lowest among the three stages, which may result in water infiltration difficulties after thaw slumps. Conclusions Thaw slumps affected the soil macropore structure remarkably. The effects of thaw slumps on soil macropore network characteristics were more significantly than on the macropore size distribution.

Our study highlights the usefulness of very high resolution (VHR) images to detect various types of disturbances over permafrost areas using three example regions in different permafrost zones. The study focuses on detecting subtle changes in land cover classes, thermokarst water bodies, river dynamics, retrogressive thaw slumps (RTS) and infrastructure in the Yamal Peninsula, Urengoy and Pechora regions. Very high-resolution optical imagery (sub-meter) derived from WorldView, QuickBird and GeoEye in conjunction with declassified Corona images were involved in the analyses. The comparison of very high-resolution images acquired in 2003/2004 and 2016/2017 indicates a pronounced increase in the extent of tundra and a slight increase of land covered by water. The number of water bodies increased in all three regions, especially in discontinuous permafrost, where 14.86% of new lakes and ponds were initiated between 2003 and 2017. The analysis of the evolution of two river channels in Yamal and Urengoy indicates the dominance of erosion during the last two decades. An increase of both rivers' lengths and a significant widening of the river channels were also observed. The number and total surface of RTS in the Yamal Peninsula strongly increased between 2004 and 2016. A mean annual headwall retreat rate of 1.86 m/year was calculated. Extensive networks of infrastructure occurred in the Yamal Peninsula in the last two decades, stimulating the initiation of new thermokarst features. The significant warming and seasonal variations of the hydrologic cycle, in particular, increased snow water equivalent acted in favor of deepening of the active layer; thus, an increasing number of thermokarst lake formations.

Permafrost regions at high latitudes and altitudes store about half of the Earth's soil organic carbon (SOC). These areas are also some of the most intensely affected by anthropogenic climate change. The Tibetan Plateau or Third Pole (TP) contains most of the world's alpine permafrost, yet there remains substantial uncertainty about the role of this region in regulating the overall permafrost climate feedback. Here, we review the thermal and biogeochemical status of permafrost on the TP, with a particular focus on SOC stocks and vulnerability in the face of climate warming. SOC storage in permafrost-affected regions of the TP is estimated to be 19.0 +/- 6.6 Pg to a depth of 2 m. The distribution of this SOC on the TP is strongly associated with active layer thickness, soil moisture, soil texture, topographic position, and thickness of weathered parent material. The mean temperature sensitivity coefficient (Q(10)) of SOC decomposition is 9.2 +/- 7.1 across different soil depths and under different land-cover types, suggesting that carbon on the TP is very vulnerable to climate change. While the TP ecosystem currently is a net carbon sink, climate change will likely increase ecosystem respiration and may weaken or reverse the sink function of this region in the future. Although the TP has less ground ice than high latitude permafrost regions, the rugged topography makes it vulnerable to widespread permafrost collapse and thermoerosion (thermokarst), which accelerates carbon losses. To reduce uncertainty about SOC quantities and sensitivity to warming, future studies are needed that explain variation in Q(10) (e.g. based on SOC source or depositional position) and quantify the role of nutrient availability in regulating SOC dynamics and ecosystem recovery following disturbance. Additionally, as for the high latitude permafrost region, soil moisture and thermokarst formation remain major challenges to predicting the permafrost climate feedback on the TP. We present a conceptual model for of greenhouse gas release from the TP and outline the empirical observations and modeling approaches needed to test it.

Patterns of coastal erosion in the Arctic differ dramatically from those coasts in more temperate environments. Thick sea ice and shore-fast ice limit wave-based erosional processes to a brief open water season, however despite this, permafrost coasts containing massive ice, ice wedges and ice-bonded sediments tend to experience high rates of erosion. These high rates of erosion reflect the combined thermal-mechanical processes of thawing permafrost, melting ground ice, and wave action. Climate change in the Arctic is expected to result in increased rates of coastal erosion due to warming permafrost, increasing active layer depths and thermokarst, rising sea levels, reduction in sea ice extent and duration, and increasing storm impacts. With the most ice-rich permafrost in the Canadian Arctic, the southern Beaufort Sea coast between the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula and the Alaskan border is subject to high rates of erosion and retrogressive thaw slump activity. Under many climate change scenarios this area is also predicted to experience the greatest warming in the Canadian Arctic. This paper presents results of a remote sensing study on the long-term patterns of coastal erosion and retrogressive thaw slump activity for Herschel Island in the northern Yukon Territory. Using orthorectified airphotos from 1952 and 1970 and an Ikonos image from 2000 corrected with control points collected by kinematic differential global positioning system and processed using softcopy photogrammetric tools, mean coastal retreat rates of 0.61 m/yr and 0.45 m/yr were calculated for the periods 1952-1970 and 1970-2000, respectively. The highest coastal retreat rates are on north-west facing shorelines which correspond to the main direction of storm-related wave attack. During the period 1970-2000 coastal retreat rates for south to south-east facing shorelines displayed a distinct increase even though these are the most sheltered orientations. However, south to south-east facing shorelines correspond to the orientations where the highest densities of retrogressive thaw slumps are observed. Differences in rates of headwall retreat of retrogressive thaw slumps and coastal erosion results in the formation of larger thermokarst scars and the development of polycyclic thaw slumps on south to south-east exposures. The number and the total area of retrogressive thaw slumps increased by 125% and 160%, respectively, between 1952 and 2000. As well, the proportion of active retrogressive thaw slumps increased dramatically. Polycyclic retrogressive thaw slumps appear to develop in a periodic fashion, related to retrogressive thaw slump stage and maximum inland extent. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.