Recent shallowing of the thaw depth at Crater Lake, Deception Island, Antarctica (2006–2014)

Abstract

The Western Antarctic Peninsula region is one of the hot spots of climate change and one of the most ecologically sensitive regions of Antarctica, where permafrost is near its climatic limits. The research was conducted in Deception Island, an active stratovolcano in the South Shetlands archipelago off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The climate is polar oceanic, with high precipitation and mean annual air temperatures (MAAT) close to −3°C. The soils are composed by ashes and pyroclasts with high porosity and high water content, with ice-rich permafrost at −0.8°C at the depth of zero annual amplitude, with an active layer of about 30cm. Results from thaw depth, ground temperature and snow cover monitoring at the Crater Lake CALM-S site over the period 2006 to 2014 are analyzed. Thaw depth (TD) was measured by mechanical probing once per year in the end of January or early February in a 100×100m with a 10m spacing grid. The results show a trend for decreasing thaw depth from ci. 36cm in 2006 to 23cm in 2014, while MAAT, as well as ground temperatures at the base of the active layer, remained stable. However, the duration of the snow cover at the CALM-S site, measured through the Snow Pack Factor (SF) showed an increase from 2006 to 2014, especially with longer lasting snow cover in the spring and early summer. The negative correlation between SF and the thaw depth supports the significance of the influence of the increasing snow cover in thaw depth, even with no trend in the MAAT. The lack of observed ground cooling in the base of the active layer is probably linked to the high ice/water content at the transient layer. The pyroclastic soils of Deception Island, with high porosity, are key to the shallow active layer depths, when compared to other sites in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). These findings support the lack of linearity between atmospheric warming and permafrost warming and induce an extra complexity to the understanding of the effects of climate change in the ice-free areas of the WAP, especially in scenarios with increased precipitation as snow fall.