"Massive ground ice in the western Canadian Arctic: Distribution, origin, age and role in past, present and future landscape change."

在过去的几十年里，由于20世纪的气候变化，整个北极的永久冻土温度都在上升。富含冰的冰缘环境，其中永久冻土的上部可能是体积的70%-90%的水，本质上是不稳定的，随着地貌适应气候的变化，可能会经历重大的地貌变化。在这些地区，融化塌陷的发展是富冰永久冻土退化的最显著表现之一。融化衰退已经对陆地和水生生态系统造成了影响，并正在成为当地北极社区的主要关切。预计融化塌陷的数量和规模的增加将产生重大的水文地貌后果。该建议分为一系列相互关联的项目：1)调查融化塌陷的分布、增长和稳定率；2)通过开发新的和扩展的冰中闭塞气体测量技术，确定富冰永久冻土的来源、年龄和宜居性；3)量化融化塌陷对水文地貌的影响--“退化的大块地面冰川沉积体系的出现”。总体而言，这项研究计划将培训11名实地多学科冰缘研究方面的高素质人员。拟议的研究计划的结果将极大地增加我们对加拿大西部北极地区大量地面冰的分布、特征和年龄的了解。这些信息对于：1)确定富冰永久冻土、区域更新世冰川界限和地表地质之间的关系；2)评估富冰永久冻土对上一次北极温度高于当前条件的反应；3)了解热岩溶过程的潜在驱动因素，特别是与融化崩塌的增长和稳定有关的潜在驱动因素；4)评估融化崩塌的水文地貌影响；以及5)预测富冰永久冻土地貌对未来气候变化的响应。

Over the last few decades, permafrost temperatures have increased across the Arctic in response to the 20th century climate change. Ice-rich periglacial environments, where the upper part of permafrost may be 70-90% water by volume, are inherently unstable and may undergo substantial geomorphic modification as landscapes adjust to changing climate. In these regions, the development of thaw slumps is one of the most dramatic manifestations of degradation of ice-rich permafrost. The thaw slumps are already causing impacts on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and are becoming a major concern for local Arctic communities. It is expected that the increasing number and size of thaw slumps will have major hydrogeomorphic consequences. This proposal is divided into a series of interrelated projects: 1) Investigating the distribution, growth and stabilization rates of thaw slumps; 2) Determining origin, age and habitability of ice-rich permafrost by developing new and expanding current techniques for occluded gases measurements in ice; 3) Quantify the impacts of thaw slumps on hydrogeomorphology - the emergence of the "degrading massive ground ice fluvial regime. Overall, this research program will involve the training of 11 highly qualified personnel in field-based multi-disciplinary periglacial studies. The results of the proposed research program will greatly increase our knowledge about the distribution, characteristics and age of massive ground ice in western Arctic Canada. This information is essential for: 1) determining the relation between ice-rich permafrost, regional Pleistocene glacial limits and surface geology; 2) assessing the response of ice-rich permafrost to the last time that the Arctic was warmer than current conditions; 3) understanding the potential drivers of thermokarst processes, in particular in relation to growth and stabilization of thaw slumps; 4) assessing the hydrogeomorphic impacts of thaw slumps in the landscape; and 5) predicting regional hydrogeomorphic responses of ice-rich permafrost landscape to future climate change.