NASA to Study Arctic Climate Change Ecosystem Impacts with New ABoVE Campaign

First Posted: Sep 01, 2015 09:57 AM EDT
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NASA is gearing up to study the environmental and societal effects of climate change. The space agency has begun a multi-year field campaign to investigate changing climate in Alaska and northwestern Canada, focusing on thawing permafrost, wildfires and changes to wildlife habitats.

The new effort is called the Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). This experiment will bring together on-the-ground research in Alaska and northwestern Canada with data collected by NASA airborne instruments, satellites, and other agency programs. Over the next 10 years, researchers will investigate the climate of the region.

"Boreal forests and tundra are critical for understanding the ecological impacts of Earth's changing climate," said Jack Kaye, associate director for research in NASA's Earth Science Division, in a news release. "These ecosystems hold a third of the carbon stored on land-in trees, shrubs, and the frozen ground of the permafrost. That's a lot of potential greenhouse gases in play. We need to better understand these ecosystems, and how a warming climate will affect forests, wildlife and communities both regionally and globally."

Already, the area to be studied is rapidly changing. AS climate change continues, there's a lot of potential for permafrost degradation. This latest effort will provide an opportunity to study how Arctic ecosystems respond to wildfires on a regional scale.

"Warming air temperatures can thaw permafrost, which acts like unplugging a deep freezer," said Peter Griffith, ABoVE chief support scientist. "The vegetation and carbon previously frozen in the soil starts to rot and decay-like food in an unplugged freezer-releasing methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This increase in greenhouse gases further warms air temperatures, perpetuating the cycle by causing more thawing and more greenhouse gas release."

The new campaign should tell researchers a bit more about the changes occurring. This, in turn, will help scientists better monitor the region.

For more information about the campaign, visit NASA's website.

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