Spatiotemporal dynamics of wetted soils across a polar desert landscape
Abstract
Liquid water is scarce across the landscape of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica, a 3800 km2 ice-free region, and is chiefly associated with soils that are adjacent to streams and lakes (i.e. wetted margins) during the annual thaw season. However, isolated wetted soils have been observed at locations distal from water bodies. The source of water for the isolated patches of wet soil is potentially generated by a combination of infiltration from melting snowpacks, melting of pore ice at the ice table, and melting of buried segregation ice formed during winter freezing. In this paper, high resolution remote sensing data gathered several times per summer in the MDV region were used to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of wet soils. The spatial consistency with which the wet soils occurred was assessed for the 2009–10 to 2011–12 summers. The remote sensing analyses reveal that cumulative area and number of wet soil patches varies among summers. The 2010–11 summer provided the most wetted soil area (10.21 km2) and 2009–10 covered the least (5.38 km2). Finally, these data suggest that wet soils are a significant component of the MDV cold desert land system and may become more prevalent as regional climatemore »
- Authors:
-
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Computer Science and Mathematics Division. Climate Change Science Inst.; Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1286739
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Antarctic Science
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 27; Journal Issue: 02; Journal ID: ISSN 0954-1020
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 58 GEOSCIENCES; McMurdo Dry Valleys; remote sensing; snow; soil moisture; streams; water tracks
Citation Formats
Langford, Zachary L., Gooseff, Michael N., and Lampkin, Derrick J. Spatiotemporal dynamics of wetted soils across a polar desert landscape. United States: N. p., 2014.
Web. doi:10.1017/S0954102014000601.
Langford, Zachary L., Gooseff, Michael N., & Lampkin, Derrick J. Spatiotemporal dynamics of wetted soils across a polar desert landscape. United States. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102014000601
Langford, Zachary L., Gooseff, Michael N., and Lampkin, Derrick J. Thu .
"Spatiotemporal dynamics of wetted soils across a polar desert landscape". United States. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102014000601. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1286739.
@article{osti_1286739,
title = {Spatiotemporal dynamics of wetted soils across a polar desert landscape},
author = {Langford, Zachary L. and Gooseff, Michael N. and Lampkin, Derrick J.},
abstractNote = {Liquid water is scarce across the landscape of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), Antarctica, a 3800 km2 ice-free region, and is chiefly associated with soils that are adjacent to streams and lakes (i.e. wetted margins) during the annual thaw season. However, isolated wetted soils have been observed at locations distal from water bodies. The source of water for the isolated patches of wet soil is potentially generated by a combination of infiltration from melting snowpacks, melting of pore ice at the ice table, and melting of buried segregation ice formed during winter freezing. In this paper, high resolution remote sensing data gathered several times per summer in the MDV region were used to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of wet soils. The spatial consistency with which the wet soils occurred was assessed for the 2009–10 to 2011–12 summers. The remote sensing analyses reveal that cumulative area and number of wet soil patches varies among summers. The 2010–11 summer provided the most wetted soil area (10.21 km2) and 2009–10 covered the least (5.38 km2). Finally, these data suggest that wet soils are a significant component of the MDV cold desert land system and may become more prevalent as regional climate changes.},
doi = {10.1017/S0954102014000601},
journal = {Antarctic Science},
number = 02,
volume = 27,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 30 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Thu Oct 30 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}
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Works referencing / citing this record:
Water tracks intensify surface energy and mass exchange in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys
journal, January 2019
- Linhardt, Tobias; Levy, Joseph S.; Thomas, Christoph K.
- The Cryosphere, Vol. 13, Issue 8
Soil Moisture Controls the Thermal Habitat of Active Layer Soils in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
journal, January 2018
- Wlostowski, A. N.; Gooseff, M. N.; Adams, B. J.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Vol. 123, Issue 1
Water tracks intensify surface energy and mass exchange in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys
text, January 2019
- Linhardt, Tobias; Levy, Joseph S.; Thomas, Christoph
- University of Bayreuth