Vegetation-permafrost relations within the forest-tundra ecotone near Old Crow, Northern Yukon, Canada

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)



Description :
Old Crow Flats is a glaciolacustrine plain that straddles the forest-tundra ecotone in northern Yukon. Annual mean near-surface permafrost temperatures (Tps) measured on the Flats between 2008 and 2011 in patches of taiga, tall shrubs and low shrubs were correlated with local snow depth. Snow depth was controlled by vegetation height if the snow supply was not limited, for example, where low shrubs and large lakes dominate the landscape. Where taiga patches were more extensive, redistributed snow was trapped at the patch edge. The permafrost temperature field is heterogeneous under patchy vegetation in the forest-tundra ecotone. The data suggest that it is governed by both the snow-holding capacity of local vegetation patches and the spatial configuration of vegetation in the surrounding landscape, which controls snow supply.


Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Permafrost and periglacial processes, issn : 1045-6740, 2014, vol. 25, n°. 2, p. 127-135, nombre de pages : 9, Références bibliographiques : 1 p.

Date :
2014

Editeur :
Pays édition : Royaume-Uni, Chichester, Wiley