Murton (2025) Permafrost and climate change

Identification

• Journal: Elsevier eBooks
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-29
• Authors: Julian B. Murton
• DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-443-32838-1.00013-8

Research Groups

• Department of Geography, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom

Short Summary

This chapter provides a comprehensive review of permafrost characteristics, observed trends in its conditions due to climate change, and the resulting impacts on both natural and built environments. It synthesizes current scientific understanding to highlight permafrost degradation as a critical indicator and consequence of global warming.

Objective

• To review and synthesize the characteristics of permafrost, observed trends in its conditions under a changing climate, and the resulting impacts on natural and built environments.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global permafrost regions.
• Temporal Scale: Primarily focuses on recent observed trends (multi-decadal to century scale) and historical context of permafrost.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not applicable (review paper, synthesizes existing literature that may use various models).
• Data sources: Synthesizes data and findings from a wide range of published scientific literature, including observational studies, reanalysis products, and modeling outputs.

Main Results

• Permafrost is defined as ground remaining at or below 0 °C for at least two consecutive years, characterized by specific thermal and physical properties, and varying spatial distribution and thickness.
• Recent observations indicate widespread permafrost warming, increasing active-layer thickness, and overall degradation across permafrost regions globally.
• These changes lead to significant impacts on built environments, including infrastructure instability, and on natural environments, affecting hydrology, ecosystems, and the global carbon cycle.

Contributions

• Provides a comprehensive and updated synthesis of the current understanding of permafrost characteristics, observed climate change impacts, and their consequences.
• Highlights the critical importance of permafrost degradation as an indicator of climate change and its far-reaching implications for both human society and natural systems.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Murton2025Permafrost,
  author = {Murton, Julian B.},
  title = {Permafrost and climate change},
  journal = {Elsevier eBooks},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1016/b978-0-443-32838-1.00013-8},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-443-32838-1.00013-8}
}