04/08/2026
Permafrost around the world is thawing, and this troubling trend is starting to catch the world’s attention. In Alaska, the “active layer” of permafrost has been deepening in recent decades due to the warming climate, and this change is causing proportionally more groundwater—and problematic dissolved organic carbon (DOC)—to be delivered into Arctic rivers.
In a first-of-its-kind study, a team of researchers led by geoscientist Michael Rawlins—extension associate professor in the UMass Amherst Dept. of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences and the associate director of the Climate System Research Center at UMass Amherst—has used a region in Alaska (the size of Wisconsin) to show in fine-grained detail what happens when Arctic permafrost thaws.
“How much DOC finds its way to the ocean via rivers and streams is a part of the carbon cycle we don’t know much about,” says Rawlins. “We desperately need more of these land-to-ocean connection studies if we’re to fully grapple with the problem of global warming and the effects it will have on coastal ecosystems.”
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