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Brian Ebel is a Research Hydrologist with the Water Cycle Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey. He earned his Ph.D. in Hydrogeology at Stanford University and holds a bachelor’s degree in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis. Brian’s research interests include the hydrologic impacts of landscape disturbances, landslide initiation, cold-regions hydrology, and surface-water/groundwater interactions.

Abstract: Fire and Ice: The Power of Water in Controlling Permafrost Thaw in Interior Alaska

Permafrost in arctic regions responds to gradual “press” disturbances, such as shifting climate, and more punctuated “pulse” disturbances, such as wildfire. Degradation of deep (> 1 m) permafrost potentially has wide-ranging consequences including ecological shifts, infrastructure damage, changing flow paths and residence times of surface water and groundwater, and alterations of carbon and mercury fluxes in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. There is increasing recognition of the power of water in controlling permafrost dynamics through saturation-dependent thermal properties that affect conductive heat transfer and advective heat transport via groundwater flow. This presentation will discuss USGS and academic partner investigations in boreal forest regions of Alaska, as part of the NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). This work utilizes field sampling of mineral soils and surface waters, surface water measurements, coupled heat transfer and fluid flow modeling using USGS SUTRA-Ice, remote sensing analyses, and ground-based and airborne geophysical methods. This presentation will discuss results that shed light on the role of subsurface water on the condition and dynamics of permafrost and the implications for fluid and solute fluxes.