Permafrost degradation and ecological changes associated with a warming climate in central Alaska

Abstract

Studies from 1994-1998 on the Tanana Flats in central Alaska reveal that permafrost degradation is widespread and rapid, causing large shifts in ecosystems from birch forests to fens and bogs. Fine-grained soils under the birch forest are ice-rich and thaw settlement typically is 1-2.5 m after the permafrost thaws.