Cutting-Edge Measurements Drive Arctic Climate Modeling in NGEE Project

To better predict climate-driven threats in the rapidly warming Arctic—where temperatures are rising four times faster than the global average—scientists in the ORNL-led NGEE Arctic project deployed a comprehensive suite of measurement technologies across Alaska’s tundra. From ground-based instruments to aerial surveys and remote sensing, the team captured high-resolution environmental data to model permafrost degradation, land shifts, and erosion. These insights are now shaping next-gen models to forecast geophysical hazards with global implications—and informing future monitoring efforts in permafrost regions worldwide.

Transcript

00:00:00 The Arctic is warming four times  faster than the rest of the world. Rising temperatures are thawing permafrost and triggering shifts in the land surface that ... impact energy infrastructure and the economy. To gain a better understanding of what the future might hold for this region ... scientists have been collecting data on the Alaskan tundra ... as part  of the ORNL-led Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments in the Arctic, or NGEE Arctic, project. This long-term, large-scale study  helped scientists better track, understand, and predict changes in the Arctic. From Alaska’s North Slope near Utqiaġvik ... to tundra sites on the Seward Peninsula near Nome ...    scientists took measurements on the ground ...

00:00:41 from the air ... and via remote sensing. Using a combination of field work and computer modeling,  the team quantified changes across the tundra ... improving models to help predict environmental hazards ... such as permafrost degradation, coastal erosion and subsidence that affect regional and national security. With the next phase of the project ... scientists are taking what they’ve learned in Alaska ... to permafrost ecosystems around the  world.