NNA Track 1: Landscape evolution and adapting to change in ice-rich permafrost systems

导航新北极（NNA）是美国国家科学基金会的十大构想之一。NNA项目解决快速变化的北极地区的融合科学挑战。北极研究需要为国家、更大地区和全球的经济、安全和复原力提供信息。NNA支持从地方到国际规模的新研究伙伴关系，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，并整合知识的共同生产。这个奖项部分实现了这一目标。富含冰的永久冻土是指常年冻结两年或两年以上的土地，其中含有大量的水，解冻后会释放出来。这种冰是北极景观中最容易受到气候变暖影响的元素。近50%的北极地区拥有富含冰的永久冻土。例如，阿拉斯加北部海岸4-5米高的陆地上估计有77%的冰。富含冰的永久冻土的融化会影响整个北极生态系统，并使地面变得不稳定。因此，富冰的永久冻土被认为在生态学中具有类似于“基石物种”的作用，如果基石元素被移除或急剧减少，整个系统就会发生根本性的变化。为了更好地了解富冰永久冻土与更大的北极人类生态系统之间的复杂联系，该项目正在探索气候、雪、水、扰动程度和时间的差异如何影响永久冻土景观中地面冰的积累和损失，以及人们及其基础设施如何适应不断变化的富冰永久冻土。目标是了解在局部、区域和环极尺度上富含冰的永久冻土。该项目将重点放在阿拉斯加的Prudhoe Bay油田和Point Lay村，那里的永久冻土温度正在迅速变化，对生态系统、工业基础设施和当地社区都有很大的影响。这两个地区都有与阿拉斯加和北极圈周围的许多其他地区有关的富含冰的永久冻土相关问题的优秀例子，因此这项工作将在其他地方有广泛的应用。提出了三个富冰多年冻土观测站：1)普拉德霍湾油田路边富冰多年冻土观测站；2)远离基础设施的天然富冰冻土观测站；3)在Point Lay建立一个村庄富冰永久冻土观测站。目前正在对地面冰、水文、植被和温室气体通量进行地面观测，并利用遥感测量和监测来自空间的变化。由于严重的热岩溶（与地表融化相关的沉降）造成的基础设施损坏，大部分应对措施是修复和稳定现有结构。迫切需要制定更具战略性的方法来减轻损害并适应变化。阿拉斯加的波因特莱（Point Lay）正经历着北极地区与永久冻土相关的最严重的富冰影响，但得到的研究和机构的关注相对较少。阿拉斯加大学北极生物研究所、北方工程研究所和地球物理研究所的研究人员正在与寒冷气候住房研究中心（CCHRC）、Point Lay社区、地区住房管理局和北坡自治市合作解决这些问题。只要有可能，该团队就会利用当地富含冰的永久冻土的经验，帮助制定与许多面临类似影响的北极村庄相关的住房策略。项目合作伙伴正在与当地居民、政府机构、石油业和阿拉斯加交通与公共设施部合作，制定道路和房屋建设的最佳做法以及相关的教育材料。研究团队将包括一名博士后、一名研究生和两名本科生。研究结果将通过国际北极科学委员会（IASC）的基础设施和气候导致的北极快速转变（RATIC）行动小组和北极联系研究陆地多学科分布式观测站（T-MOSAiC）传达给极地社区和更广泛的公众。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) is one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas. NNA projects address convergence scientific challenges in the rapidly changing Arctic. The Arctic research is needed to inform the economy, security and resilience of the Nation, the larger region and the globe. NNA empowers new research partnerships from local to international scales, diversifies the next generation of Arctic researchers, and integrates the co-production of knowledge. This award fulfills part of that aim.Ice-rich permafrost is ground that is frozen all year round for two or more years and contains particularly large amounts of water that will be released upon thawing. This ice is the element of Arctic landscapes most susceptible to climate warming. Nearly 50% of the Arctic has ice-rich permafrost. For example, the upper 4-5 meters of the land along Alaska's northern coast contains an estimated 77% ice. Thawing of ice-rich permafrost affects entire arctic ecosystems and makes the ground unstable to build upon. Thus, ice-rich permafrost is conceived as having a role similar to that of a 'keystone species' in ecology, whereby if the keystone element is removed or drastically reduced, the entire system is radically changed. To better understand the intricate connections between the ice-rich permafrost and the larger arctic human-ecological system, this project is exploring how differences in climate, snow, water, level of disturbance, and time influence the accumulation and loss of ground ice in permafrost landscapes and how people and their infrastructure can adapt to changing ice-rich permafrost. The goal is to understand ice-rich permafrost at local, regional, and circumpolar scales. The project will focus in the Prudhoe Bay oilfield and the village of Point Lay, Alaska, where permafrost temperatures are changing rapidly and there are large impacts to ecosystems, industrial infrastructure, and local communities. Both areas contain excellent examples of ice-rich permafrost-related problems relevant to many other areas of Alaska and circumpolar Arctic, so the work will have broad applications elsewhere. Three ice-rich permafrost observatories are proposed: 1) a Roadside Ice-rich Permafrost Observatory in the Prudhoe Bay Oilfield; 2) a Natural Ice-rich Permafrost Observatory remote from infrastructure; and 3) a Village Ice-rich Permafrost Observatory at Point Lay. Ground-level observations of ground ice, hydrology, vegetation, and greenhouse-gas fluxes are being conducted and remote sensing is being used to measure and monitor changes from space. Much of the response to infrastructure damage caused by severe thermokarst (thaw-related subsidence of the ground surface) is repair and stabilization of existing structures. There is an immediate need to develop more strategic approaches to mitigate damage and adapt to change. Point Lay, Alaska, is experiencing some of the most severe ice-rich permafrost-related impacts of any place in the Arctic but has received relatively little research and agency attention. Researchers from the University of Alaska's Institute of Arctic Biology, Institute of Northern Engineering, and Geophysical Institute are working together with the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC), the Point Lay community, the Regional Housing Authority, and North Slope Borough to address these issues. Wherever possible the team are using local experience with ice-rich permafrost to help develop housing strategies relevant to many arctic villages facing similar impacts. The project partners are working with local residents, government agencies, the oil industry, and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to develop best practices for road and house construction and related education materials. A post-doctoral student, a graduate student, and two undergraduate students will be part of the research team. The results will be communicated to circumpolar communities and the broader public and through the Rapid Arctic Transitions due to Infrastructure and Climate (RATIC) action group of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the Terrestrial Multidisciplinary distributed Observatories for the Study of Arctic Connections (T-MOSAiC).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.