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The capillaries of the Arctic tundra

Nature Water volume 2, pages 611–614 (2024)Cite this article

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For millennia, permafrost landscapes have gradually grown the foundation for a capillary hydrologic system. It is now being activated by unusual warmth.

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Fig. 1: Abundance of ice-wedge polygons and the subsequent network of ice wedges.
Fig. 2: A tundra capillary at Prudhoe Bay, Northern Alaska, in July 2019.

Data availability

The data collection of ice-wedge network and ice-wedge polygon coverage is derived from the pan-Arctic map of ice-wedge polygons16, which used Maxar satellite imagery from 2010–2020 for the Bernard River watershed. The ice-wedge network and ice-wedge polygon coverage datasets are available for download at the Arctic Data Center17 and it is available to visually explore in the Permafrost Discovery Gateway.The Bernard River watershed boundary was obtained from ref. 18. Stream order length (except the ice-wedge network) was obtained from ref. 19. The permafrost zones map was obtained from ref. 20.

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Acknowledgements

Funding originated from the National Science Foundation (award nos. 2234117, 2052107, 2051888, 1928237 and 1927723) and Google.org’s Impact Challenge on Climate Innovation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, MA, USA

    Anna K. Liljedahl

  2. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Chandi Witharana & Elias Manos

Authors
  1. Anna K. Liljedahl
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  2. Chandi Witharana
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  3. Elias Manos
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Correspondence to Anna K. Liljedahl.

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Nature Water thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Liljedahl, A.K., Witharana, C. & Manos, E. The capillaries of the Arctic tundra. Nat Water 2, 611–614 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00276-9

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