Surface Water Distribution and Change in Northern Hemisphere Permafrost

press release: The fate of surface water in permafrost regions is highly variable. We examined the presence, distribution and changes of surface water in all permafrost areas of the Northern Hemisphere. Leveraging the cloud-based platform Google Earth Engine and multiple global datasets including the Global Surface Water product, we found surface water covered 6% of all permafrost areas from 1984-2015. Water gain as land to water transitions at 7% was higher than water lost as water to land transitions made up 5%. Our work explores these results in lakes, rivers and small water bodies in relationship to permafrost characteristics.

The Yi-Fu Lecture Series features a wide variety of U.S. and international guest lecturers from all geographic disciplines. Lecturers at these Friday seminars also often speak at brown-bag lunches, one-on-one student sessions, and breakfast meetings with student interest groups as part of their visit. Doctoral students are invited to present their final research. The lecture series was initiated by Dr. Tuan and receives enthusiastic support as a department and campus tradition.

All lectures are presented on Friday at 3:30pm in Science Hall - Rm 180 unless otherwise noted. Alumni, friends and the public are always invited to attend.