Warming-driven erosion and sediment transport in cold regions

Rapid atmospheric warming since the mid-twentieth century has increased temperature-dependent erosion and sediment-transport processes in cold environments, affecting food, energy and water security. In this Review, we summarize landscape changes in cold environments and provide a global inventory of increases in erosion and sediment yield driven by cryosphere degradation. Anthropogenic climate change, deglaciation, and thermokarst disturbances are causing increased sediment mobilization and transport processes in glacierized and periglacierized basins. With continuous cryosphere degradation, sediment transport will continue to increase until reaching a maximum (peak sediment). Thereafter, transport is likely to shift from a temperature-dependent regime toward a rainfall-dependent regime roughly between 2100-2200. The timing of the regime shift would be regulated by changes in meltwater, erosive rainfall and landscape erodibility, and complicated by geomorphic feedbacks and connectivity. Further progress in integrating multisource sediment observations, developing physics-based sediment-transport models, and enhancing interdisciplinary and international scientific collaboration is needed to predict sediment dynamics in a warming world. Anthropogenic warming is causing cryosphere degradation, which is increasing erosion and sediment transport. This Review describes changes in sediment fluxes and explains how peak sediment will be reached as a result of deglaciation and permafrost thaw.

Automated summary

Rapid atmospheric warming in recent decades has accelerated erosion and sediment-transport processes in cold environments, affecting food, energy, and water security. This review summarizes landscape changes and provides a global inventory of increased erosion and sediment yield caused by cryosphere degradation. Human-induced climate change, deglaciation, and thermokarst disturbances are leading to heightened sediment mobilization and transport in glacierized and periglacierized basins. The sediment transport is expected to reach a peak and transition from temperature-dependent to rainfall-dependent regime in the late 21st century or early 22nd century.