Earth’s Cryosphere, 2017, Vol. XXI, No. 6, p. 30-38

ACTIVE LAYER THICKNESS DYNAMICS IN THE TUNDRA PERMAFROST-AFFECTED SOILS: A CALM SITE STUDY, THE EUROPEAN NORTH OF RUSSIA

D.A. Kaverin, A.V. Pastukhov, A.B. Novakovskiy

Institute of Biology, Komi Science Centre,
28, Communisticheskaya str., Syktyvkar, 167982, Russia; dkav@mail.ru

The paper presents the results of long-term active layer monitoring (over 17 years) of mineral permafrost-affected soils on the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) site in the north of European Russia (the Vorkuta area). These allowed to study the influences of climatic parameters (air temperature, precipitation) on the interannual variability of the active layer thickness and to determine the degree of the landscape factors (topography, peat layer thickness, the height of moss and shrub substories, snow depth, soil moisture) effect on spatial differentiation of the active layer thickness at local level. The tundra soils temperature regime dynamics has been characterized in relation to the long-term variability of the active layer thickness.

Tundra soils, active layer thickness, climatic parameters, landscape factors