High-latitude ecosystems are characterized by a very high local scale variability caused by various land covers and vegetation types, the distribution of ice-wedges, and processes such as cryoturbation and thermokarst. Climate change-induced thawing of permafrost-affected soils, which are a key component in the global carbon cycle, affects the spatial structure and feedback mechanisms of important soil and ecosystem processes. The understanding of soil, vegetation and hydrological mechanisms and processes leading to high spatial variability of northern high-latitude regions is crucial for estimating environmental changes such as soil organic carbon storage and its dynamics, ecosystem resilience to climate change, and interactions (i.e. fluxes) between the Earth's four spheres. Therefore, it is necessary to find ways to connect soil, vegetation, hydrological and other measurements at multiple scales for a better understanding of the circumpolar region and to create inputs for Earth System Models.
This session invites studies from different disciplines, including soil science, geomorphology, ecology and remote sensing, that focus on high-latitude, permafrost and periglacial ecosystem variability and aim to connect different scales or address related challenges in process understanding, sampling design, mapping and geostatistics. We would like to highlight studies that combine field, remote sensing and modeling efforts and explicitly target the issue of scaling in highly variable high-latitude environments.