’Storflaket’, 68°20’48”N, 18°58’16”E

Video, 10:39 min, loop, 2019, Small Projects, Tromsø.

We are located on Storflaket, about 7 km from Abisko Scientific Research Station, in northernmost Sweden, north of the Arctic Circle. An increased snow depth has already been observed, and here on Storflaket it is predicted what will be of decisive importance for the future for many geophysical and biological processes as well as human activities. The future characteristics of sub-arctic landscapes where permafrost is particularly vulnerable will depend on complex interactions between snow cover, vegetation and permafrost. In the film, a group of students accompany the researcher Ellen Dorrepaal on an excursion, where she talks about how an increased snow cover traps the heat in the mire, which in turn accelerates the process of melting the permafrost. Using an iron rod, students test the active layer (the upper layer of soil that thaws annually) and notice large differences in the areas where the snow fence has accumulated more snow. In recent years, the duration of the snow cover has decreased in many areas of the Arctic, a trend that is expected to continue. But while the duration of the snow cover decreases, its thickness increases (due to increased precipitation). Because snow has been identified as the single most important mesoscale variable controlling biological systems in Arctic ecosystems, its changes have a major impact on the sub-arctic climate. Permafrost is defined as a condition where the temperature in the soil does not reach above zero degrees for at least two years in a row. On top of the permafrost there is an active layer that thaws in spring and summer and freezes again during the winter. The melting of permafrost has major consequences. Among other things, it stores large amounts of carbon, twice as much as what we have in the atmosphere, which is released when it melts. This amount of carbon is expected to play a more important role in the feedback to the climate than previously calculated.