Enhanced warming of European mountain permafrost in the early 21st century
Mountain permafrost, constituting 30% of the global permafrost area, is sensitive to climate change and strongly impacts mountain ecosystems and communities. This study examines 21st century permafrost warming in European mountains using decadal ground temperature data from sixty-four boreholes in the Alps, Scandinavia, Iceland, Sierra Nevada and Svalbard. During 2013-2022, warming rates at 10 metres depth exceed 1 °C dec<sup>-1</sup> in cases, generally surpassing previous estimates because of accelerated warming and the use of a comprehensive data set. Substantial permafrost warming occurred at cold and ice-poor bedrock sites at high elevations and latitudes, at rates comparable to surface air temperature increase. In contrast, latent heat effects in ice-rich ground near 0 °C reduce warming rates and mask important changes of mountain permafrost substrates. The warming patterns observed are consistent across all sites, depths and time periods. For the coming decades, the propagation of permafrost warming to greater depths is largely predetermined already.
Authors
- Christin Hilbich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7544-0911)
- Claudia Riedl
- Jamie Barnett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8982-0034)
- Mauro Valt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4742-7103)
- Hanne H. Christiansen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6218-3493)
- Martin Hoelzle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3591-4377)
- Marc Oliva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6521-6388)
- Luca Paro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8326-4936)
- Mauro Guglielmin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5966-9572)
- Christian Hauck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4488-6475)
- Philippe Schoeneich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3143-5547)
- Bernd Etzelmüller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5156-3653)
- Reynald Delaloye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2037-2018)
- Paolo Pogliotti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3196-0787)
- Daniel Farinotti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3417-4570)
- Andreas Vieli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2870-5921)
- Marcia Phillips (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9802-0365)
- Florence Magnin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0734-7459)
- Jeannette Noetzli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9188-6318)
- Ketil Isaksen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2356-5330)
- Christophe Lambiel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0930-8178)
- Thomas Gallemann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9407-5910)
Institutions
- Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale del Piemonte (IT)
- University of Insubria (IT)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Norwegian Meteorological Institute (NO)
- University of Fribourg (CH)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- University of Oslo (NO)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Laboratoire Pacte (FR)
- Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos (CH)
- German Environment Agency (DE)
- Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine (FR)
- Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies (US)
- GeoSphere Austria
- Université Savoie Mont Blanc (FR)
- Universitat de Barcelona (ES)
- Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
- University of Lausanne (CH)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-12-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54831-9
- Citations
- 34
- Primary Topic
- Climate change and permafrost
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 12.79
Funders
- Akademie der Naturwissenschaften
- Universitetet i Oslo
- Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca
- Bundesamt für Umwelt