Permafrost Landforms as Indicators of Climate Change in Parks Across the Arctic

By David K. Swanson

Most of the land area in the five National Park Service units in the Arctic Inventory and Monitoring Network (ARCN) is underlain by permafrost. Permafrost is ground so cold that it stays frozen for multiple years. Certain landforms develop when permafrost thaws, and they provide a way to recognize and monitor permafrost thaw by remote sensing.

tree-less hillside partially collapsed into a river
Figure 1. A large retrogressive thaw slump on the Noatak River. The top of the slump is ~ 900' above the river.



At ARCN we are monitoring four types of permafrost landforms as a window into the effect of climate change on our permafrost. These landforms are active-layer detachments, retrogressive thaw slumps, degraded ice-wedge polygons, and thermokarst lakes.

Part of a series of articles titled Alaska Park Science - Volume 12 Issue 2: Climate Change in Alaska's National Parks.

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Last updated: August 11, 2015