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Permafrost Loss Dramatically Changes Yukon River Chemistry and Hydrology ... Global Implications
https://www.usgs.gov/news/permafrost-loss-dramatically-changes-yukon-river-chemistry-and-hydrology-potential-global[font face=Serif][font size=5]Permafrost Loss Dramatically Changes Yukon River Chemistry and Hydrology with Potential Global Implications[/font]
Release Date: November 30, 2016
[font size=4]New USGS-led research shows that permafrost loss due to a rapidly warming Alaska is leading to significant changes in the freshwater chemistry and hydrology of Alaska’s Yukon River Basin with potential global climate implications. Such permafrost degradation is already fundamentally transforming the way that high-latitude, Northern Hemisphere ecosystems function.[/font]
[font size=3]ANCHORAGE— Permafrost loss due to a rapidly warming Alaska is leading to significant changes in the freshwater chemistry and hydrology of Alaska’s Yukon River Basin with potential global climate implications.
This is the first time a Yukon River study has been able to use long-term continuous water chemistry data to document hydrological changes over such an enormous geographic area and long time span.
The results of the study have global climate change implications because of the cascading effects of such dramatic chemical changes on freshwater, oceanic and high-latitude ecosystems, the carbon cycle and the rural communities that depend on fish and wildlife in Alaska’s iconic Yukon River Basin. The study was led by researcher Ryan Toohey of the Department of the Interior’s Alaska Climate Science Center and published in Geophysical Research Letters.
…
“As the climate gets warmer,” said Toohey, “the thawing permafrost not only enables the release of more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, but our study shows that it also allows much more mineral-laden and nutrient-rich water to be transported to rivers, groundwater and eventually the Arctic Ocean. Changes to the chemistry of the Arctic Ocean could lead to changes in currents and weather patterns worldwide.”
…[/font][/font]
Release Date: November 30, 2016
[font size=4]New USGS-led research shows that permafrost loss due to a rapidly warming Alaska is leading to significant changes in the freshwater chemistry and hydrology of Alaska’s Yukon River Basin with potential global climate implications. Such permafrost degradation is already fundamentally transforming the way that high-latitude, Northern Hemisphere ecosystems function.[/font]
[font size=3]ANCHORAGE— Permafrost loss due to a rapidly warming Alaska is leading to significant changes in the freshwater chemistry and hydrology of Alaska’s Yukon River Basin with potential global climate implications.
This is the first time a Yukon River study has been able to use long-term continuous water chemistry data to document hydrological changes over such an enormous geographic area and long time span.
The results of the study have global climate change implications because of the cascading effects of such dramatic chemical changes on freshwater, oceanic and high-latitude ecosystems, the carbon cycle and the rural communities that depend on fish and wildlife in Alaska’s iconic Yukon River Basin. The study was led by researcher Ryan Toohey of the Department of the Interior’s Alaska Climate Science Center and published in Geophysical Research Letters.
…
“As the climate gets warmer,” said Toohey, “the thawing permafrost not only enables the release of more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, but our study shows that it also allows much more mineral-laden and nutrient-rich water to be transported to rivers, groundwater and eventually the Arctic Ocean. Changes to the chemistry of the Arctic Ocean could lead to changes in currents and weather patterns worldwide.”
…[/font][/font]