Stockholm university

Research project Permafrost peatlands under climate warming pressure

Peatlands cover vast areas in the permafrost region and store large amounts of soil organic carbon. In a future warmer climate, permafrost thaw will probably lead to a positive climate feedback due to increased emissions of greenhouse gases when more organic matter becomes available for decay.

Monitoring av snödjup i Kevo, norra Finland.
Monitoring av snödjup i Kevo, norra Finland. Foto: T. Juselius.

To better understand these ecosystems and project future potential carbon losses we need to know the current status of the permafrost. According to a recent study on global trends in permafrost temperatures (Biskaborn et al., 2019, Nature Communications) it is obvious that field data is lacking especially from the northern Fennoscandian lowland region. In this project we aim to fill some of these data gaps by monitoring ground temperatures and snow depth in permafrost peatlands along a transect through northern Sweden, Finland and Norway.

Project members

Project managers

Britta Sannel

Universitetslektor

Department of Physical Geography
Britta Sannel

Members

Britta Sannel

Universitetslektor

Department of Physical Geography
Britta Sannel

Atte Korhola

University of Helsinki

Teemu Juselius

University of Helsinki

Minna Väliranta

University of Helsinki