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EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 88, NO. 48, doi:10.1029/2007EO480002, 2007

Causes of Warming and Thawing Permafrost in Alaska

T. E. Osterkamp

Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA


Abstract

There is a perception that climatic warming was the cause of the twentieth-century global warming and thawing of permafrost and associated terrain instability (thermokarst) [>Gore, 2006; Perkins, 2007; Zielinski, 2007; Delisle, 2007]. While pertinent data are sparse, published results do not support this viewpoint [Zhang et al., 2001; Osterkamp, 2007]. This brief report reviews the warming of permafrost in Alaska during the twentieth century and shows that snow cover has played a significant role in it.

Published 27 November 2007.

Index Terms: 0702 Cryosphere: Permafrost (0475); 0706 Cryosphere: Active layer; 0708 Cryosphere: Thermokarst.

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Citation: Osterkamp, T. E. (2007), Causes of Warming and Thawing Permafrost in Alaska, Eos Trans. AGU, 88(48), doi:10.1029/2007EO480002.