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Food cellars, otherwise referred to as ice or meat cellars, (lednik in Russian, k’aetyran in Chukchi, siġļuaq in Iñupiaq, and siqlugaq in Yupik) are a natural form of refrigeration in permafrost or seasonally frozen ground used to preserve, age, and ferment foods harvested for subsistence, including marine mammals, birds, fish, and plants. Indigenous peoples throughout the Arctic have constructed cellars in frozen ground for millennia. This paper focuses on cellars in Russian and American coastal and island communities of the Bering Strait, the region otherwise known as Beringia. This area has a unique, culturally rich, and politically dynamic history. Many traditions associated with cellars are threatened in Chukchi communities in Russia because of the impacts of climate change, relocation, dietary changes, and industrial development. However, even with warmer temperatures, cellars still provide a means to age and ferment food stuffs following traditional methods. In cooperation with local stakeholders, we measured internal temperatures of 18 cellars in 13 communities throughout the Bering Strait region and northern Alaska. Though cellars are widely used in permafrost regions, their structure, usage, and maintenance methods differ and exhibit influences of local climates, traditions, and economic activities. Monitoring internal temperatures and recording structural descriptions of cellars is important in the face of climate change to better understand the variety and resilience of living adaptations in different cold regions.

Siberian taiga is subject to intensive logging and natural resource exploitation, which promote the proliferation of informal roads: trails and unsurfaced service roads neither recognized nor maintained by the government. While transportation development can improve connectivity between communities and urban centers, new roads also interfere with Indigenous subsistence activities. This study quantifies Land-Cover and Land-Use Change (LCLUC) in Irkutsk Oblast, northwest of Lake Baikal. Observations from LCLUC are used in spatial autocorrelation analysis with roads to identify and examine major drivers of transformations of social–ecological–technological systems. Spatial analysis results are informed by interviews with local residents and Indigenous Evenki, local development history, and modern industrial and political actors. A comparison of relative changes observed within and outside Evenki-administered lands (obshchina) was also conducted. The results illustrate: (1) the most persistent LCLUC is related to change from coniferous to peatland (over 4% of decadal change); however, during the last decade, extractive and infrastructure development have become the major driver of change leading to conversion of 10% of coniferous forest into barren land; (2) anthropogenic-driven LCLUC in the area outside obshchina lands was three times higher than within during the980s and 1990s and more than 1.5 times higher during the following decades.

Nivation, the suite of weathering and transportation processes attributed to late-lying snowpatches, is linked to the formation of cryoplanation terraces (CTs). CTs resemble giant staircases arrang...

Cryoplanation terraces (CTs) are large (3000–800 000 m2) erosional landforms found in upland periglacial environments. Two hypotheses for the formation of CTs are supported in contemporary literature: (1) CT formation is controlled primarily by geologic structure; and (2) CTs are climatically controlled through nivation, a suite of erosional processes associated with late-lying snowbanks. A persistent question in periglacial geomorphology is whether nivation can produce CT-scale landforms. This paper examines the unusual deglaciation history of “Frost Ridge” on the Cathedral Massif, northwestern British Columbia, to estimate long-term denudation attributable to nivation processes active since the last glacial maximum. Frost Ridge forms one flank of an east–west-oriented glacial valley. During deglaciation, marginal drainage created V-shaped erosional notches on both valley walls. Minimization of solar radiation on the steep north-facing wall (Frost Ridge) allowed snowbanks to accumulate and persist in the marginal drainage features and nivation processes to erode the slope. Today, several large nivation hollows (incipient CTs) are present near the summit of Frost Ridge, while the V-shaped marginal drainage features are preserved at lower elevations and on the opposite, south-facing valley wall. A high-resolution survey using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) allowed volumes of marginal drainage and incipient terrace features to be compared. Based on this volumetric comparison, denudation rates are estimated to range from 4.2 to 125.8 mm/kyr, which are comparable with relatively short-term nivation rates reported from Antarctica and mid-latitude alpine periglacial areas.

Cryoplanation terraces are prominent but enigmatic landforms found in present and past periglacial environments. Geomorphologists have debated for more than a century over processes involved in the formation of these elevated, step-like, bedrock features. Presented here are the first numerical surface exposure ages and scarp retreat rates from cryoplanation terraces in the Yukon-Tanana Upland (YTU) in Alaska, part of unglaciated eastern Beringia, obtained from terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides (TCN) in surface boulders. Ages comprise six 10Be TCN ages from two terrace treads near Eagle Summit and six 36 Cl ages from two treads on Mt. Fairplay. Based on these exposure ages, scarps at both locations were last actively eroding from 49 to 22.4 ka. Both locations exhibit time-transgressive development, particularly near scarp-tread junctions. Boulder exposure ages and distances between sampled boulder locations were used to estimate scarp retreat rates of 0.11 to 0.56 cm/yr. These numerical exposure ages presented here demonstrate that the cryoplanation terraces in the YTU are diachronous surfaces actively eroding during multiple cold intervals. With these results, hypotheses for cryoplanation terrace formation are discussed and evaluated for the YTU, including those based on geologic structure, nivation, and the influence of permafrost.

In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, sand dunes are widespread on the sandy floor of former Glacial Lake Algonquin, and many of the nearby uplands also have thin mantles of loess. Previous work concluded...

Cryoplanation terraces (CTs) are large, staircase-like erosional features found in upland periglacial environments throughout the circum-Arctic region. They are ubiquitous in unglaciated Beringia. This presentation summarizes recent research on these features conducted in interior and western Alaska and northwestern British Columbia. The work falls into several categories:(1) Relative dating: Relative weathering indices (fracture counts, Cailleux roundness and flatness, Krumbein sphericity, rebound, and weathering rind thickness) were measured at a series of sites extending across eastern Beringia. Patterns of these indices indicate that inner treads were more recently exposed than distal locations. A model of time-transgressive CT development through nivation-driven scarp retreat addresses the removal of weathered material from terrace treads down side slopes through piping and gravity-driven mass-wasting processes.(2) Absolute dating: Several 10Be and 36Cl Terrestrial Cosmogonic Nuclide ages reveal that terrace scarps in the Alaskan Yukon-Tanana Upland were last actively eroding during the last glacial maximum (LGM). CT treads exhibit time-transgressive development. Boulder exposure ages and distances between sampled boulder locations were used to estimate rates of scarp retreat. The numerical exposure ages demonstrate that CTs are diachronous surfaces actively eroding during multiple cold intervals.(3) Landscape evolution: The unusual deglaciation history of “Frost Ridge” in northwestern British Columbia facilitates estimation of long-term denudation attributable to nivation processes since the LGM. Snowbanks accumulated and persisted in marginal drainage features on the ridge’s north-facing ridge flank, creating a series of CTs through nivation. Data obtained from an unmanned aerial vehicle were used to estimate the volumes of eroded material. Estimated erosion rates are comparable to short-term nivation rates reported from Antarctica and mid-latitude alpine periglacial areas.(4) Process monitoring: Soil thermal and moisture records, particle-size analysis, apparent thermal diffusivity calculations, and sediment-deposition patterns were used to examine periglacial processes operating on two active CTs. The coarse portions of sorted stripes function as underground channels (pipes) for sediment transportation across CT treads by flowing water. Late-lying snowbank environments are highly dynamic during warm weather, with large amounts of sediment transported over short periods.(5) Geomorphometry: Semi- and fully automated recognition algorithms (CTAR) were applied to high-resolution DEMs to identify the locations of CTs. CTAR achieved an overall accuracy of 90 percent. A strong linear relation exists between the size of CTAR-delimited terraces and those identified in a previous study. Hypsometric analysis was applied over extensive areas of eastern Beringia. Glaciated areas have hypsometric signatures distinctly different than those of cryoplanated terrain, across a spectrum of geographical scale. Results from fluvial morphometric analysis of a sorted-stripe field verifies the origins of such networks and their effectiveness for transporting water and suspended sediment across CT surfaces.(6) Climatic dependencies: Geospatial analysis involving nearly 700 CTs in eastern Beringia demonstrates that their elevation rises from Bering Sea islands to the Alaska-Canada border at rates nearly identical to those of Wisconsinan cirques, indicating close genetic links between the two classes of feature. Cryoplanation terraces can be considered the periglacial equivalent of glacial cirques.

Loess was first studied in Michigan on the Buckley Flats, where outwash, overlain by ≈70 cm of loamy sediment, was originally interpreted as loess mixed with underlying sands. This paper re-evaluates this landscape through a spatial analysis of data from auger samples and soil pits. To better estimate the loamy sediment’s initial textures, we utilized “filtered” laser diffraction data, which remove much of the coarser sand data. Textures of filtered silt data for the loamy sediment are similar to loess. The siltiest soils are found in the low-relief, central part of the Flats. Spatial analyses revealed that many silt fractions are nearly uniformly distributed, suggesting that the loess was not derived from a single source. The previous depositional model for the loamy mantle relied on loessfall followed by pedoturbation, but does not explain (1) the variation in sand contents across the Flats, or (2) the abrupt contact below the loamy mantle. This contact suggests that the outwash was frozen when the sediments above were deposited. Deep gullies at the western margins of the Flats were likely cut as permafrost facilitated runoff. Our new model for the origin of the loamy mantle suggests that the sands on the uplands were generated from eroding gullies and saltated onto the uplands along with loess that fell more widely. Sands saltating to the west of the Flats may have entrained some silts, facilitating loessfall downwind. At most sites, the loamy mantle gets increasingly silty near the surface, suggesting that saltation ended before loess deposition.

Increasing atmospheric temperatures over the last 30 years has prompted land cover change in sensitive Arctic environments and exacerbated change in large urban-industrial centers on permaf...

Cryoplanation terraces are large erosional landforms common in cold, unglaciated mountainous environments. Terrace sequences are composed of alternating slope segments with gently sloping treads and steep rubble-covered risers, and culminate in extensive summit flats. Many unglaciated upland landscapes in eastern Beringia are dominated by these landforms. Indirect evidence indicates that they evolve through locally intensified weathering and mass-movement processes associated with late-lying snowcover. Geospatial analysis involving nearly 700 cryoplanation terraces in eastern Beringia demonstrates that their elevation rises from 175 to 350 masl on Bering Sea islands to median values > 1200 m near the Alaska-Canada border. The regional trends of cryoplanation terrace elevation are nearly identical to those of Wisconsinan cirques on several transects across Alaska. The consistency in the elevation trends of glacial cirques and cryoplanation terraces indicates close genetic links between the two classes of feature, involving topographic position, continentality gradients, and the mass balance of localized snow accumulations. Cryoplanation terraces can be considered the periglacial analogs of glacial cirques, and have greater potential as sources of paleoclimatic information than smaller periglacial features more sensitive to short-term climate variations. Process-oriented studies, age determinations, and high-resolution mapping are needed before the paleoenvironmental potential of these landforms can be realized fully.

Ice cellars are a natural form of refrigeration constructed within permafrost. They are traditionally employed by indigenous Arctic peoples to store harvested wildlife. Recent reports from Alaska i...

In some regions underlain by ice-rich permafrost, a consistent, long-term increase in ALT under changing climatic conditions is not supported by observations. The apparent lack of ALT may be attributed to soil consolidation from thawing of the uppermost ice-rich permafrost and subsidence of the ground surface. Four plots established in 1962 at Barrow, Alaska, were re-instrumented in 2003 and surveyed annually using differential GPS technology, accompanied by active-layer probing. Elevation change from 1962 to 2003 was within the interannual variability of the 2003–15 period, indicating net stability in the area. Over the 2003–15 period, however, all four plots experienced subsidence trends of 0.4–1.0 cm/year, resulting in a net elevation change of 8–15 cm. Warmer winters and increased snow depth during this period decreased the potential for frost heave. Warmer summers resulted in thaw penetration into the ice-rich transient layer and ice wedges, leading to the net subsidence in recent years. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.