Ward Jones MONet Request
EMSL Project ID
60942
Abstract
Climate warming is benefitting high latitude agriculture by increasing air temperatures and the growing season length. However, permafrost (perennially frozen ground) thaw is accelerating and causing cascading effects to ecosystems and communities. Cultivating on permafrost-affected soils with high ground-ice content can lead to field abandonment as melting ground ice causes the land surface to collapse, also known as subsidence. Permafrost Grown is a transdisciplinary project co-producing with Alaskan farmers to understand the interactions between agricultural practices and permafrost. We are focusing on current in-the-ground farming, as well as assessing the legacy effects of cultivated fields that were abandoned due to permafrost thaw and the socioeconomic trade-offs of cultivating on permafrost-affected soils.
Our project methods include sensor networks, characterizing permafrost conditions using geophysics and borehole sampling, agricultural experiments and cultivar testing, surveys, interviews, economic risk modelling, and unmanned arial vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing to monitor plant health throughout the growing season as well as to monitor ground surface subsidence and snow depth. Our project goals include creating decision-making tools for farmers, including best-practice guides and management strategy resources for cultivating on permafrost-affected soils to support sustainable agriculture in high-altitude regions.
For the MONet program we propose to collect three to five samples within the active layer (thawed layer above permafrost) at five farms, four in Fairbanks and one in Two Rivers, Alaska, to address the following research questions:
(1) How do active layer soil properties change with varying land clearing histories (1950s to 2021), cultivation activities and underlying permafrost soil conditions?
(2) How does subsidence change soil properties that limit further farming practices?
(3) How do permafrost management strategies change soil properties?
All sites will have a sample collected within forested areas adjacent to farming activities. We will also collect six samples dedicated to cultivation types chosen to represent historically important Alaskan products: potato crop (replicated at two farms), peonies (two different ages at one farm), and brome hay (replicated at two farms). Three samples related to land clearing, one that was cleared in 2001 but never cultivated and the forest is regrowing, two for an area cleared in 2021, one sample will be collected in an area that is subsiding and the other in a non-subsiding area. Three samples collected in areas abandoned due to subsidence and four samples related to subsidence management, two in areas that subsided and were subsequently graded and infilled with soil and the other experimentally testing an asparagus crop (established in 2022) planted in an area that was always cultivated (previously potatoes) and extending the row in an area that was previously abandoned due to subsidence.
Participating in the MONet program will provide new data for our project that complements current and planned data collection. Abandoning whole or parts of fields is one of the most common problems related to permafrost thaw facing farmers participating in the Permafrost Grown Project. We are particularly interested in using the MONet data to help us understand how subsidence causes cultivation abandonment and begin to evaluate management strategies.
Project Details
Project type
MONet
Start Date
2023-07-27
End Date
N/A
Status
Active
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members