Permafrost Pathways: Connecting Science, People, and Policy for Arctic Justice and Global Climate
Brendan Morris Rogers, Woodwell Climate Research Center, brogers@woodwellclimate.org (Presenter)
Susan M. Natali, Woodwell Climate Research Center, snatali@woodwellclimate.org
John Holdren, Harvard University, john_holdren@hks.harvard.edu
Robin Bronen, Alaska Institute for Justice, robin.bronen@akijp.org
Patricia Cochran, Alaska Native Science Commission, pcochran@aknsc.org
Helene Genet, Institute of Arctic Biology, hgenet@alaska.edu
Elchin Jafarov, Woodwell Climate Research Center, ejafarov@woodwellclimate.org
Jennifer Dawn Watts, Woodwell Climate Research Center, jwatts@woodwellclimate.org
Rachael Treharne, Woodwell Climate Research Center, rtreharne@woodwellclimate.org
Kyle Andreas Arndt, Woodwell Climate Research Center, karndt@woodwellclimate.org
Anna-Maria Virkkala, Woodwell Climate Research Center, avirkkala@woodwellclimate.org
Yili Yang, Woodwell Climate Research Center, yyang@woodwellclimate.org
Melissa Shapiro, Woodwell Climate Research Center, mshapiro@woodwellclimate.org
Brooke Woods, Woodwell Climate Research Center, bwoods@woodwellclimate.org
Greg Fiske, Woodwell Climate Research Center, gfiske@woodwellclimate.org
Trevor Smith, Woodwell Climate Research Center, tsmith@woodwellclimate.org
Stefano Potter, Woodwell Climate Research Center, spotter@woodwellclimate.org
Patrick Murphy, Woodwell Climate Research Center, pmurphy@woodwellclimate.org
Jacqueline Hung, Woodwell Climate Research Center, jhung@woodwellclimate.org
Joshua Rady, Woodwell Climate Research Center, jrady@woodwellclimate.org
Heidi Rodenhizer, Woodwell Climate Research Center, hrodenhizer@woodwellclimate.org
Valeria Briones, Woodwell Climate Research Center, vbriones@woodwellclimate.org
Tiffany Windholz, Woodwell Climate Research Center, twindholz@woodwellclimate.org
Marco Montemayor, Woodwell Climate Research Center, mmontemayor@woodwellclimate.org
Jessica Howard, Woodwell Climate Research Center, jhoward@woodwellclimate.org
The arctic and boreal regions are warming at more than twice the global rate, with temperatures already greater than 2°C above preindustrial levels. Rapid warming is intensifying wildfires and thawing permafrost, both of which are transforming northern ecosystems and creating hazardous conditions that are forcing arctic communities to make difficult and urgent adaptation decisions. These changes can also impact global climate through carbon feedbacks, and thus there is an urgent need to reduce the uncertainties that observational and modeling gaps create in understanding the current and future state of permafrost feedbacks. Despite this need, at present, not even current scientific understanding of future emissions from a warming Arctic is reflected in most climate policy planning.
Here we present our strategy to address these issues through a six-year science and policy project, Permafrost Pathways. Our scientific approach includes coordinating and expanding the network of CO2 and CH4 eddy covariance sites across the permafrost zone, remote sensing of landscape disturbances, and developing a data assimilation ecosystem model to project carbon-climate feedbacks under various policy scenarios. We work in partnership with local leaders and national policymakers to harness these data to support Arctic community adaptation and appropriate climate mitigation policy. We are also working closely with members of the ABoVE community and contribute to ABoVE objectives regarding permafrost thaw, carbon cycling, disturbances, hydrology, modeling, climate feedbacks, knowledge co-production, and mitigation and adaptation solutions.
Associated Project(s):
Poster Location ID: 14
Presentation Type: Poster
Theme: Permafrost and Hydrology