Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region
Tags: soil, vegetation, climate change, frost heave, biogeochemical processes, human disturbance
| Principal Investigator: | Walker, Donald A (4) |
| Licence Number: | 13418 |
| Organization: | University of Alaska Fairbanks |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2006
2005
2004
2003
|
| Issued: | May 28, 2003 |
| Project Team: | V. Romanov |
Objective(s): The goal of this project is to understand the complex linkages between biogeochemical cycles, vegetation, disturbance and climate across the full summer temperature gradient in the Arctic in order to better predict ecosystem responses to changing climate. The focus is on frostboils, which are caused by soil heave in small, regularly spaced, circular highly disturbed patches. The investigators will examine disturbed and undisturbed patches associated with frostboil ecosystems. The process of frostboil formation is currently poorly understood, so full knowledge of the biogeochemical system first requires a better understanding of the process of frost heave itself and how it is modified by interactions with climate and vegetation.
