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View larger image

An aerial image of the Toolik Field Station on Alaska’s North Slope, where Dr. Sarah Evans and Appalachian State University undergraduate students will collect samples of thawing permafrost during the summers of 2022, 2023 and 2024. Their research, funded by a National Science Foundation grant, aims to provide insight on how the release of carbon from thawing permafrost is advancing climate change. Evans is an assistant professor in App State’s Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences. Photo by Qifan Yang

Dr. Sarah Evans, App State students to explore how water patterns in melting permafrost affect climate change

Edited by Jessica Stump
Posted Nov. 3, 2021 at 5:04 p.m.

BOONE, N.C. — Small trickles of water traveling through Alaska’s permafrost — subsurface soil that remains frozen throughout the year — carry clues that could unlock a greater understanding of climate change and its advancement.

Appalachian State University’s Dr. Sarah Evans and five undergraduate students will spend the next three summers (2022–24) studying water saturation patterns in thawing permafrost on Alaska’s North Slope, with an aim of understanding how these patterns vary in a changing climate.

Their research is funded by a nearly $690,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awarded to Evans and her colleagues at partner institutions Idaho State University and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Evans, an assistant professor in App State’s Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences (GES), received $280,000 of the total awarded funding.

View larger image

Dr. Sarah Evans, assistant professor in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Appalachian State University, is shown at the Toolik Field Station located on Alaska’s North Slope in 2019. Photo courtesy of Dr. Sarah Evans

View larger image

Dr. Sarah Evans, assistant professor in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Appalachian State University. Photo by Chase Reynolds

According to Evans, this thaw — which releases stored carbon into the Earth’s atmosphere — has major implications for global climate, northern ecosystems and Arctic infrastructure. The thaw has been spurred by climbing Arctic air temperatures, which have increased at twice the rate of the global average, Evans said.

“As permafrost thaws, water begins to flow along new paths underground, mobilizing previously frozen carbon,” Evans explained, adding that the release of this carbon initiates what’s known as a positive feedback cycle — “as carbon is released, air temperatures increase, thawing additional permafrost and releasing more carbon.”

If permafrost soils thaw and dry out, the feedback cycle is accelerated. “Carbon is released three times more readily from permafrost soils that thaw and dry than permafrost soils that thaw and remain saturated, implying that water patterns partially control carbon release,” she said.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) estimates the world’s permafrost stores about 1,400 gigatons of frozen carbon — an amount nearly one and a half times greater than the amount of carbon present in today’s atmosphere. A gigaton is equal to the approximate weight of one hundred thousand school buses.

View larger image

Appalachian State University assistant professor Dr. Sarah Evans holds a piece of ice-rich permafrost, which is thawing due to climate change. Photo courtesy of Dr. Sarah Evans

Using the results from her research, Evans will work with Marta Toran, lecturer and outreach coordinator in the GES department, to create an “H2cOld: Water in the Arctic” traveling outreach activity for rural K–12 students and communities throughout the Southern Appalachians and Idaho — a primarily mountainous state containing a central stretch of the Rocky Mountains.

The collected North Slope permafrost samples will be analyzed by Evans and her App State students during the academic years between fieldwork.

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Grant project collaborators
  • Dr. Sarah Evans, assistant professor in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Appalachian State University.
  • Dr. Clara Chew, research scientist at UCAR (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research).
  • Dr. Ben Crosby, professor and department chair at Idaho State University.
  • Dr. Sarah Godsey, associate professor at Idaho State University.
  • Marta Toran, lecturer and outreach coordinator in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Appalachian State University.
Dr. Sarah Evans makes hydrogeology studies relevant to everyday life
Dr. Sarah Evans makes hydrogeology studies relevant to everyday life
Feb. 14, 2019

Dr. Sarah Evans uses real-world examples to show students how climate change and groundwater flow affect everyday life.

Read the story
Publication of Dr. Evans' Work on Baseflow Mechanisms in Permafrost Regions
Publication of Dr. Evans' Work on Baseflow Mechanisms in Permafrost Regions
Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences
May 8, 2020

Dr. Sarah Evans’ paper on the processes that influence baseflow increase under permafrost in arctic regions of Eurasia, has recently been published in Wiley’s Hydrological Processes. The study, titled “Potential mechanistic causes of increased baseflow across northern Eurasia catchments underlain by permafrost” is co-authored by Brandon Yokeley, Connor Stephens and Benjamin Brewer.

Read the story
App State Fulbrighter Dr. Suzanna Bräuer explores microbes’ impact on climate change
App State Fulbrighter Dr. Suzanna Bräuer explores microbes’ impact on climate change
March 26, 2021

App State’s Dr. Suzanna Bräuer, professor of biology, has been awarded a 2020–21 Fulbright to research how methane-producing microorganisms known as archaea impact global climate change. Her Fulbright assignment takes her to Finland, where she is also teaching graduate courses at the University of Eastern Finland.

Read the story

About the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences

Located in Western North Carolina, Appalachian State University provides the perfect setting to study geological and environmental sciences. The Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences provides students with a solid foundation on which to prepare for graduate school or build successful careers as scientists, consultants and secondary education teachers. The department offers six degree options in geology and two degree options in environmental science. Learn more at https://earth.appstate.edu.

About the College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Appalachian State University is home to 17 academic departments, two centers and one residential college. These units span the humanities and the social, mathematical and natural sciences. CAS aims to develop a distinctive identity built upon our university's strengths, traditions and unique location. The college’s values lie not only in service to the university and local community, but through inspiring, training, educating and sustaining the development of its students as global citizens. More than 6,400 student majors are enrolled in the college. As the college is also largely responsible for implementing App State’s general education curriculum, it is heavily involved in the education of all students at the university, including those pursuing majors in other colleges. Learn more at https://cas.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As the premier public undergraduate institution in the Southeast, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls nearly 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.

Grant project collaborators
  • Dr. Sarah Evans, assistant professor in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Appalachian State University.
  • Dr. Clara Chew, research scientist at UCAR (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research).
  • Dr. Ben Crosby, professor and department chair at Idaho State University.
  • Dr. Sarah Godsey, associate professor at Idaho State University.
  • Marta Toran, lecturer and outreach coordinator in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Appalachian State University.
Dr. Sarah Evans makes hydrogeology studies relevant to everyday life
Dr. Sarah Evans makes hydrogeology studies relevant to everyday life
Feb. 14, 2019

Dr. Sarah Evans uses real-world examples to show students how climate change and groundwater flow affect everyday life.

Read the story
Publication of Dr. Evans' Work on Baseflow Mechanisms in Permafrost Regions
Publication of Dr. Evans' Work on Baseflow Mechanisms in Permafrost Regions
Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences
May 8, 2020

Dr. Sarah Evans’ paper on the processes that influence baseflow increase under permafrost in arctic regions of Eurasia, has recently been published in Wiley’s Hydrological Processes. The study, titled “Potential mechanistic causes of increased baseflow across northern Eurasia catchments underlain by permafrost” is co-authored by Brandon Yokeley, Connor Stephens and Benjamin Brewer.

Read the story
App State Fulbrighter Dr. Suzanna Bräuer explores microbes’ impact on climate change
App State Fulbrighter Dr. Suzanna Bräuer explores microbes’ impact on climate change
March 26, 2021

App State’s Dr. Suzanna Bräuer, professor of biology, has been awarded a 2020–21 Fulbright to research how methane-producing microorganisms known as archaea impact global climate change. Her Fulbright assignment takes her to Finland, where she is also teaching graduate courses at the University of Eastern Finland.

Read the story

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Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

The migration of materials from other sites is still incomplete, so if you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:

  • Additional feature stories may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Podcasts may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Photo galleries and videos published prior to Jan. 1, 2015 may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • A university-wide Google Calendar may be found at Events at Appalachian

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Archives

Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

The migration of materials from other sites is still incomplete, so if you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:

  • Additional feature stories may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Podcasts may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Photo galleries and videos published prior to Jan. 1, 2015 may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • A university-wide Google Calendar may be found at Events at Appalachian
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