Mass Variations in the Siberian Permafrost Region from GRACE

authored by: Holger Steffen, Jürgen Müller, Nadja Peterseim
Abstract: After 7 years in orbit, the GRACE satellite mission now facilitates the detection of smaller secular trends of mass variations as well as long-periodic signals. In this study, we focus on changes of the permafrost regime in Siberia, Russia, using GRACE monthly solutions from the three main analysis centres GFZ, CSR and JPL. The results show that observed positive trends of mass changes are related to large Siberian rivers such as Ob, Lena and Yenisei. Two major trends of about 0.7 μGal/a can be clearly identified. The first concerns the upper Ob River. It includes, depending on the specific GRACE solution centre, the Angara River drainage basin, which is part of the Yenisei River system. The second trend is centred on the upper Lena River north-east of Lake Baikal and is also clearly determined, but with different solution-dependent values. All these significant trends seem to be caused by long-term hydrological changes, especially since no other reasonable geophysical explanation is found yet. Similar features can be found in the trend of the GLDAS hydrology model. Removing the hydrological contribution positive mass changes of about 0.8 μGal/a appear in the Central Siberian Plateau and the Kolyma River drainage basin, which may be related to changes in permafrost. However, further investigations are needed to really understand such mass changes and attribute them to the related physical processes.
Organisation(s): Institute of Geodesy
External Organisation(s): University of Calgary
Type: Conference contribution
Pages: 597-603
No. of pages: 7
Publication date: 26.07.2011
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Computers in Earth Sciences, Geophysics
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20338-1_73 (Access: Unknown)
: Details in the research portal "Research@Leibniz University"

BibTeX

@inproceedings{bc757552ad224ce79264c1d5c6019eff,
title = "Mass Variations in the Siberian Permafrost Region from GRACE",
abstract = "After 7 years in orbit, the GRACE satellite mission now facilitates the detection of smaller secular trends of mass variations as well as long-periodic signals. In this study, we focus on changes of the permafrost regime in Siberia, Russia, using GRACE monthly solutions from the three main analysis centres GFZ, CSR and JPL. The results show that observed positive trends of mass changes are related to large Siberian rivers such as Ob, Lena and Yenisei. Two major trends of about 0.7 μGal/a can be clearly identified. The first concerns the upper Ob River. It includes, depending on the specific GRACE solution centre, the Angara River drainage basin, which is part of the Yenisei River system. The second trend is centred on the upper Lena River north-east of Lake Baikal and is also clearly determined, but with different solution-dependent values. All these significant trends seem to be caused by long-term hydrological changes, especially since no other reasonable geophysical explanation is found yet. Similar features can be found in the trend of the GLDAS hydrology model. Removing the hydrological contribution positive mass changes of about 0.8 μGal/a appear in the Central Siberian Plateau and the Kolyma River drainage basin, which may be related to changes in permafrost. However, further investigations are needed to really understand such mass changes and attribute them to the related physical processes.",
author = "Holger Steffen and J{\"u}rgen M{\"u}ller and Nadja Peterseim",
note = "Funding information: We would like to thank the GRACE science team for overall support, GFZ, CSR, and JPL for providing the GRACE monthly solutions. We would also like to thank Julia Boike (AWI Potsdam), Sean Swenson (University of Colorado) and Wouter van der Wal (TU Delft) for helpful discussions. This research was partly funded by the DFG (research grant MU1141/8-1).; IAG Symposium on Geodesy for Planet Earth, IAG 2009 ; Conference date: 31-08-2009 Through 04-09-2009",
year = "2011",
month = jul,
day = "26",
doi = "10.1007/978-3-642-20338-1_73",
language = "English",
isbn = "9783642203374",
series = "International Association of Geodesy Symposia",
pages = "597--603",
booktitle = "Geodesy for Planet Earth - Proceedings of the 2009 IAG Symposium",
}