The Cold Region Critical Zone in Transition: Responses to Climate Warming and Land Use Change

Global climate warming disproportionately affects high-latitude and mountainous terrestrial ecosystems. Warming is accompanied by permafrost thaw, shorter winters, earlier snowmelt, more intense soil freeze-thaw cycles, drier summers, longer fire seasons. These environmental changes in turn impact surface water groundwater flow regimes, quality, greenhouse gas emissions, stability, vegetation cover, (micro)biological communities. also facilitates agricultural expansion, urban growth, natural resource development, adding growing anthropogenic pressures to cold regions’ landscapes, health, biodiversity. Further advances the predictive understanding of how critical zone processes, functions, ecosystem services will continue respond land use require multiscale monitoring technologies coupled with integrated observational modeling tools. We highlight some major challenges, knowledge gaps, opportunities region research, an emphasis on subsurface processes responses both