Thomas A Douglas
Biographic Data
| ID | 5910855 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas A Douglas |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas A |
| FAMILY NAME | Douglas |
| SIGNATURE | DOUGLAS T A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1314-1905 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Permafrost vulnerability to climate change
Permafrost regions are undergoing profound changes under a warming climate, with significant implications for Earth system feedback, ecosystems, and infrastructure. This editorial synthesizes findings from 35 interdisciplinary studies featured in this focus issue, which collectively advance our understanding of permafrost degradation dynamics and their cascading impacts. The contributions span a wide range of spatial scales from site-level proces…
Is consent to psychological interventions less important than consent to bodily interventions
It is standardly accepted that medical interventions can be permissibly administered to a patient who has decision-making capacity only when she has given her valid consent to the intervention. However, this requirement for valid medical consent is much less frequently discussed in relation to psychological interventions (‘PIs’) than it is in relation to bodily interventions (‘BIs’). Moreover, legal and professional consent requirements in respec…
A local meteoric water line for interior Alaska constrains paleoclimate from 40 000 year old relict permafrost
Anthropogenic climate warming is degrading permafrost across interior Alaska. Information from past warming events provides long-term perspectives for future trajectories; however, late Quaternary seasonal temperatures are poorly constrained. We have established a stable water isotope meteoric water line for interior Alaska and measured stable water isotope values from 126 permafrost cores representing different ice types deposited over the past …
Quantification of active layer depth at multiple scales in Interior Alaska permafrost
Much of Interior Alaska is underlain by permafrost that has been thawing at an unprecedented rate. Top-down expansion of the seasonally thawed ‘active layer’ and development of thermokarst features are increasing across the landscape. This can be attributed primarily due to a warming climate and disturbances like wildfires which have accelerated summer season permafrost thaw. Quantification of active-layer thickness (ALT) is critical to understan…
Combining a climate-permafrost model with fine resolution remote sensor products to quantify active-layer thickness at local scales
Quantification of active-layer thickness (ALT) over seasonally frozen terrains is critical to understand the impacts of climate warming on permafrost ecosystems in cold regions. Current large-scale process-based models cannot characterize the heterogeneous response of local landscapes to homogeneous climatic forcing. Here we linked a climate-permafrost model with a machine learning solution to indirectly quantify soil conditions reflected in the …
Minding Rights
The rise of neurotechnologies, especially in combination with artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods for brain data analytics, has given rise to concerns around the protection of mental privacy, mental integrity and cognitive liberty – often framed as “neurorights” in ethical, legal, and policy discussions. Several states are now looking at including neurorights into their constitutional legal frameworks, and international institutions and or…
Seasonal variation in near-surface seasonally thawed active layer and permafrost soil microbial communities
Understanding how soil microbes respond to permafrost thaw is critical to predicting the implications of climate change for soil processes. However, our knowledge of microbial responses to warming is mainly based on laboratory thaw experiments, and field sampling in warmer months when sites are more accessible. In this study, we sampled a depth profile through seasonally thawed active layer and permafrost in the Imnavait Creek Watershed, Alaska, …
Rethinking the Right to Freedom of Thought
In recent years, there has been increased academic interest in the human right to freedom of thought (RFoT). Scholars from various disciplines are currently debating the content and scope of this right. In his annual thematic report of 2021, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief paid explicit and comprehensive attention to the RFoT, encouraging further clarification of the content and scope of the right. This pape…
Drivers of historical and projected changes in diverse boreal ecosystems
Alaska has diverse boreal ecosystems across heterogeneous landscapes driven by a wide range of biological and geomorphic processes associated with disturbance and successional patterns under a changing climate. To assess historical patterns and rates of change, we quantified the areal extent of ecotypes and the biophysical factors driving change through photo-interpretation of 2200 points on a time-series (∼1949, ∼1978, ∼2007, ∼2017) of geo-recti…
Linking repeat lidar with Landsat products for large scale quantification of fire-induced permafrost thaw settlement in interior Alaska
The permafrost–fire–climate system has been a hotspot in research for decades under a warming climate scenario. Surface vegetation plays a dominant role in protecting permafrost from summer warmth, thus, any alteration of vegetation structure, particularly following severe wildfires, can cause dramatic top–down thaw. A challenge in understanding this is to quantify fire-induced thaw settlement at large scales (>1000 km 2 ). In this study, we expl…
Alaskan palaeosols in modern times
The Holocene Epoch (11,700 years ago to the present) marks the development of the present-day boreal ecosystems in interior Alaska. The composition and genetics of soil microbes have the potential to alter how nutrient cycling and vegetation respond to warming and cooling events, but very little is known about how boreal soils have varied over time. Here, we use DNA sequencing on both modern soils and well-preserved paleosols developed during sev…
Machine learning analyses of remote sensing measurements establish strong relationships between vegetation and snow depth in the boreal forest of Interior Alaska
The seasonal snowpack plays a critical role in Arctic and boreal hydrologic and ecologic processes. Though snow depth can be markedly different from one season to another there are strong repeated relationships between ecotype and snowpack depth. In the diverse vegetative cover of the boreal forest of Interior Alaska, a warming climate has shortened the winter season. Alterations to the seasonal snowpack, which plays a critical role in regulating…
Thawing permafrost
As the Arctic warms at twice the global rate, radiative feedbacks from clouds will lead to compounding impacts on the surface energy budget that affect both regional and global weather, and climate. In a future warmer world, the Arctic is projected to become cloudier. However, the formation and evolution of Arctic clouds remain highly uncertain in part due to a limited understanding of current and future sources of ice nucleating particles (INPs)…
Shallow soils are warmer under trees and tall shrubs across Arctic and Boreal ecosystems
Soils are warming as air temperatures rise across the Arctic and Boreal region concurrent with the expansion of tall-statured shrubs and trees in the tundra. Changes in vegetation structure and function are expected to alter soil thermal regimes, thereby modifying climate feedbacks related to permafrost thaw and carbon cycling. However, current understanding of vegetation impacts on soil temperature is limited to local or regional scales and lack…
Fostering multidisciplinary research on interactions between chemistry, biology, and physics within the coupled cryosphere-atmosphere system
The cryosphere, which comprises a large portion of Earth’s surface, is rapidly changing as a consequence of global climate change. Ice, snow, and frozen ground in the polar and alpine regions of the planet are known to directly impact atmospheric composition, which for example is observed in the large influence of ice and snow on polar boundary layer chemistry. Atmospheric inputs to the cryosphere, including aerosols, nutrients, and contaminants,…
Watershed slope as a predictor of fluvial dissolved organic matter and nitrate concentrations across geographical space and catchment size in the Arctic
Understanding linkages between river chemistry and biological production in arctic coastal waters requires improved estimates of riverine nutrient export. Here we present the results of a synthesis effort focusing on relationships between watershed slope and seasonal concentrations of river-borne dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), and nitrate ( ${{{\rm{NO}}}_{3}}^{-}$ ) around the pan-Arctic. Strong negative relatio…
Missing pieces to modeling the Arctic-Boreal puzzle
NASA has launched the decade-long Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). While the initial phases focus on field and airborne data collection, early integration with modeling activities is important to benefit future modeling syntheses. We compiled feedback from ecosystem modeling teams on key data needs, which encompass carbon biogeochemistry, vegetation, permafrost, hydrology, and disturbance dynamics. A suite of variables was identifi…
Sources and sinks of carbon in boreal ecosystems of interior Alaska
Boreal ecosystems store large quantities of carbon but are increasingly vulnerable to carbon loss due to disturbance and climate warming. The boreal region in Alaska and Canada, largely underlain by discontinuous permafrost, presents a challenging landscape for itemizing carbon sources and sinks in soil and vegetation. The roles of fire, forest succession, and the presence (or absence) of permafrost on carbon cycle, vegetation, and hydrologic pro…
Quantifying landscape change in an arctic coastal lowland using repeat airborne LiDAR
Increases in air, permafrost, and sea surface temperature, loss of sea ice, the potential for increased wave energy, and higher river discharge may all be interacting to escalate erosion of arctic coastal lowland landscapes. Here we use airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data acquired in 2006 and 2010 to detect landscape change in a 100 km ^2 study area on the Beaufort Sea coastal plain of northern Alaska. We detected statistically sign…
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Quantifying landscape change in an arctic coastal lowland using repeat airborne LiDAR
Increases in air, permafrost, and sea surface temperature, loss of sea ice, the potential for increased wave energy, and higher river discharge may all be interacting to escalate erosion of arctic coastal lowland landscapes. Here we use airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data acquired in 2006 and 2010 to detect landscape change in a 100 km ^2 study area on the Beaufort Sea coastal plain of northern Alaska. We detected statistically sign…
Sources and sinks of carbon in boreal ecosystems of interior Alaska
Boreal ecosystems store large quantities of carbon but are increasingly vulnerable to carbon loss due to disturbance and climate warming. The boreal region in Alaska and Canada, largely underlain by discontinuous permafrost, presents a challenging landscape for itemizing carbon sources and sinks in soil and vegetation. The roles of fire, forest succession, and the presence (or absence) of permafrost on carbon cycle, vegetation, and hydrologic pro…
Missing pieces to modeling the Arctic-Boreal puzzle
NASA has launched the decade-long Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). While the initial phases focus on field and airborne data collection, early integration with modeling activities is important to benefit future modeling syntheses. We compiled feedback from ecosystem modeling teams on key data needs, which encompass carbon biogeochemistry, vegetation, permafrost, hydrology, and disturbance dynamics. A suite of variables was identifi…
Watershed slope as a predictor of fluvial dissolved organic matter and nitrate concentrations across geographical space and catchment size in the Arctic
Understanding linkages between river chemistry and biological production in arctic coastal waters requires improved estimates of riverine nutrient export. Here we present the results of a synthesis effort focusing on relationships between watershed slope and seasonal concentrations of river-borne dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), and nitrate ( ${{{\rm{NO}}}_{3}}^{-}$ ) around the pan-Arctic. Strong negative relatio…
Fostering multidisciplinary research on interactions between chemistry, biology, and physics within the coupled cryosphere-atmosphere system
The cryosphere, which comprises a large portion of Earth’s surface, is rapidly changing as a consequence of global climate change. Ice, snow, and frozen ground in the polar and alpine regions of the planet are known to directly impact atmospheric composition, which for example is observed in the large influence of ice and snow on polar boundary layer chemistry. Atmospheric inputs to the cryosphere, including aerosols, nutrients, and contaminants,…
Thawing permafrost
As the Arctic warms at twice the global rate, radiative feedbacks from clouds will lead to compounding impacts on the surface energy budget that affect both regional and global weather, and climate. In a future warmer world, the Arctic is projected to become cloudier. However, the formation and evolution of Arctic clouds remain highly uncertain in part due to a limited understanding of current and future sources of ice nucleating particles (INPs)…
Shallow soils are warmer under trees and tall shrubs across Arctic and Boreal ecosystems
Soils are warming as air temperatures rise across the Arctic and Boreal region concurrent with the expansion of tall-statured shrubs and trees in the tundra. Changes in vegetation structure and function are expected to alter soil thermal regimes, thereby modifying climate feedbacks related to permafrost thaw and carbon cycling. However, current understanding of vegetation impacts on soil temperature is limited to local or regional scales and lack…
Machine learning analyses of remote sensing measurements establish strong relationships between vegetation and snow depth in the boreal forest of Interior Alaska
The seasonal snowpack plays a critical role in Arctic and boreal hydrologic and ecologic processes. Though snow depth can be markedly different from one season to another there are strong repeated relationships between ecotype and snowpack depth. In the diverse vegetative cover of the boreal forest of Interior Alaska, a warming climate has shortened the winter season. Alterations to the seasonal snowpack, which plays a critical role in regulating…
Rethinking the Right to Freedom of Thought
In recent years, there has been increased academic interest in the human right to freedom of thought (RFoT). Scholars from various disciplines are currently debating the content and scope of this right. In his annual thematic report of 2021, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief paid explicit and comprehensive attention to the RFoT, encouraging further clarification of the content and scope of the right. This pape…
Drivers of historical and projected changes in diverse boreal ecosystems
Alaska has diverse boreal ecosystems across heterogeneous landscapes driven by a wide range of biological and geomorphic processes associated with disturbance and successional patterns under a changing climate. To assess historical patterns and rates of change, we quantified the areal extent of ecotypes and the biophysical factors driving change through photo-interpretation of 2200 points on a time-series (∼1949, ∼1978, ∼2007, ∼2017) of geo-recti…
Linking repeat lidar with Landsat products for large scale quantification of fire-induced permafrost thaw settlement in interior Alaska
The permafrost–fire–climate system has been a hotspot in research for decades under a warming climate scenario. Surface vegetation plays a dominant role in protecting permafrost from summer warmth, thus, any alteration of vegetation structure, particularly following severe wildfires, can cause dramatic top–down thaw. A challenge in understanding this is to quantify fire-induced thaw settlement at large scales (>1000 km 2 ). In this study, we expl…
Alaskan palaeosols in modern times
The Holocene Epoch (11,700 years ago to the present) marks the development of the present-day boreal ecosystems in interior Alaska. The composition and genetics of soil microbes have the potential to alter how nutrient cycling and vegetation respond to warming and cooling events, but very little is known about how boreal soils have varied over time. Here, we use DNA sequencing on both modern soils and well-preserved paleosols developed during sev…
Minding Rights
The rise of neurotechnologies, especially in combination with artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods for brain data analytics, has given rise to concerns around the protection of mental privacy, mental integrity and cognitive liberty – often framed as “neurorights” in ethical, legal, and policy discussions. Several states are now looking at including neurorights into their constitutional legal frameworks, and international institutions and or…
Seasonal variation in near-surface seasonally thawed active layer and permafrost soil microbial communities
Understanding how soil microbes respond to permafrost thaw is critical to predicting the implications of climate change for soil processes. However, our knowledge of microbial responses to warming is mainly based on laboratory thaw experiments, and field sampling in warmer months when sites are more accessible. In this study, we sampled a depth profile through seasonally thawed active layer and permafrost in the Imnavait Creek Watershed, Alaska, …
A local meteoric water line for interior Alaska constrains paleoclimate from 40 000 year old relict permafrost
Anthropogenic climate warming is degrading permafrost across interior Alaska. Information from past warming events provides long-term perspectives for future trajectories; however, late Quaternary seasonal temperatures are poorly constrained. We have established a stable water isotope meteoric water line for interior Alaska and measured stable water isotope values from 126 permafrost cores representing different ice types deposited over the past …
Quantification of active layer depth at multiple scales in Interior Alaska permafrost
Much of Interior Alaska is underlain by permafrost that has been thawing at an unprecedented rate. Top-down expansion of the seasonally thawed ‘active layer’ and development of thermokarst features are increasing across the landscape. This can be attributed primarily due to a warming climate and disturbances like wildfires which have accelerated summer season permafrost thaw. Quantification of active-layer thickness (ALT) is critical to understan…
Combining a climate-permafrost model with fine resolution remote sensor products to quantify active-layer thickness at local scales
Quantification of active-layer thickness (ALT) over seasonally frozen terrains is critical to understand the impacts of climate warming on permafrost ecosystems in cold regions. Current large-scale process-based models cannot characterize the heterogeneous response of local landscapes to homogeneous climatic forcing. Here we linked a climate-permafrost model with a machine learning solution to indirectly quantify soil conditions reflected in the …
Permafrost vulnerability to climate change
Permafrost regions are undergoing profound changes under a warming climate, with significant implications for Earth system feedback, ecosystems, and infrastructure. This editorial synthesizes findings from 35 interdisciplinary studies featured in this focus issue, which collectively advance our understanding of permafrost degradation dynamics and their cascading impacts. The contributions span a wide range of spatial scales from site-level proces…
Is consent to psychological interventions less important than consent to bodily interventions
It is standardly accepted that medical interventions can be permissibly administered to a patient who has decision-making capacity only when she has given her valid consent to the intervention. However, this requirement for valid medical consent is much less frequently discussed in relation to psychological interventions (‘PIs’) than it is in relation to bodily interventions (‘BIs’). Moreover, legal and professional consent requirements in respec…
Climate change and permafrost (13 works) · Environmental Science (13 works) · Geography (13 works) · Geology (13 works) · Cryospheric studies and observations (12 works) · Permafrost (12 works) · Ecology (10 works) · Physical geography (10 works) · Climate change (8 works) · Oceanography (8 works)