Geomorphological observations of permafrost and ground-ice degradation on Deception and Livingston Islands, Maritime Antarctica

  1. Gonçalo Vieira
  2. Jerónimo López-Martínez
  3. Enrique Serrano
  4. Miguel Ramos
  5. Stephan Gruber
  6. Christian Hauck
  7. Juan José Blanco
Actas:
Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost. NICOP 2008. Volume 2

Editorial: Institute of Northern Engineering. University of Alaska Fairbanks

ISBN: 978-0-9800179-3-9

Año de publicación: 2008

Páginas: 1839-1843

Congreso: Ninth International Conference on Permafrost

Tipo: Aportación congreso

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Resumen

The Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing one of the fastest increases in mean annual air temperatures (ca. 2.5ºC inthe last 50 years) on Earth. If the observed warming trend continues as indicated by climate models, the regioncould suffer widespread permafrost degradation. This paper presents field observations of geomorphological featureslinked to permafrost and ground-ice degradation at two study areas: northwest Hurd Peninsula (Livingston Island) andDeception Island along the Antarctic Peninsula. These observations include thermokarst features, debris flows, activelayer detachment slides, and rockfalls. The processes observed may be linked not only to an increase in temperature, butalso to increased rainfall, which can trigger debris flows and other processes. On Deception Island some thermokarstfeatures may be related to anomalous geothermal heat flux from volcanic activity.