Question

Guest

Sry about being a bit late, been out of town, but:
Why is the depth of the thawwed ground important?

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 74 Location: Barrow, AK

Hello, Mitchell! I hope that you have been enjoying your summer holiday!

Measuring the depth of the thawed ground is important for two reasons:
1 - The more ground that thaws each year, the more "room" there is for plants to grow, since they cannot grow in the part that is frozen, obviously. More plants, more CO2 is used from the atmosphere. And
2 - This part is more important right now for carbon flux studies - The deeper the ground thaws the more dead material in the soil that can begin to decompose. Decomposing of dead plant (and some animal, I suppose) material releases more CO2 to the atmosphere. This carbon has been stored in the dead material for a long time and not part of the cycle (like ice packs at the poles are not active parts of the water cycle until they melt). So if the thaw depth increases the amount of carbon being released by the tundra could be increasing.
You can read more about the thaw depth in my two journal posts that cover it:
http://archive.arcus.org/TREC/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=621
&
http://archive.arcus.org/TREC/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=627
Enjoy the rest of you summer!
Mrs. N-O