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

航行新北极(NNA)是NSF的十大想法之一。NNA项目解决了快速变化的北极地区汇聚的科学挑战。北极研究需要为国家、更大区域和全球的经济、安全和韧性提供信息。NNA增强了新的研究伙伴关系，从地方到国际范围，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，并整合了共同生产的知识。这一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更长时间的土地，其中含有特别大量的水，在融化时会释放出来。这些冰是北极景观中最容易受到气候变暖影响的元素。北极近50%的地区拥有富含冰的永久冻土层。例如，阿拉斯加北部海岸上方4-5米的陆地估计含有77%的冰。富含冰的永久冻土的融化影响到整个北极生态系统，并使地面不稳定，无法在其上进行建设。因此，富含冰块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，因此，如果基石元素被移除或急剧减少，整个系统就会发生根本变化。为了更好地了解富含冰的永久冻土和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、干扰程度和时间的差异如何影响永久冻土地貌中地面冰的积累和损失，以及人类和他们的基础设施如何适应富含冰的永久冻土的变化。目标是了解当地、区域和绕极尺度的富含冰的永久冻土。该项目将集中在普拉德霍湾油田和阿拉斯加州的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造成了巨大影响。这两个地区都包含了与阿拉斯加和北极环极许多其他地区相关的富冰永久冻土相关问题的极好例子，因此这项工作将在其他地方得到广泛应用。建议设立三个多冰多年冻土观测站：1)普拉德霍湾油田路边多冰多年冻土观测站；2)远离基础设施的天然多冰多年冻土观测站；以及3)Point Lay村多冰永久冻土观测站。正在进行地面冰、水文学、植被和温室气体通量的地面观测，并利用遥感测量和监测太空中的变化。对严重高温岩溶(地面融化引起的下沉)造成的基础设施破坏的大部分应对措施是修复和加固现有结构。目前迫切需要制定更具战略性的办法，以减轻损害并适应变化。阿拉斯加州的波特雷正在经历北极任何地方中与富含冰层有关的最严重的影响，但得到的研究和机构关注相对较少。来自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行政区合作解决这些问题。只要有可能，研究小组正在利用当地在富冰永久冻土方面的经验，帮助制定与许多面临类似影响的北极村庄相关的住房战略。项目合作伙伴正在与当地居民、政府机构、石油行业和阿拉斯加交通和公共设施部合作，制定道路和房屋建设的最佳实践以及相关的教育材料。一名博士后、一名研究生和两名本科生将成为研究团队的成员。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过渡(RAIC)行动小组和研究北极连接的陆地多学科分布式天文台(T-MOSAIC)传达给环极地社区和更广泛的公众。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.