摘要：The Arctic permafrost regions make up the largest area component of the cryosphere.
Observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)
mission offer to provide a greater understanding of changes in water mass within
permafrost regions. We investigate a GRACE monthly time series, snow water
equivalent from the special scanning microwave imager (SSM/I), vegetation water
content and soil moisture from the advanced microwave scanning radiometer
for the Earth observation system (AMSR-E) and in situ discharge of the Lena,
Yenisei, Ob', and Mackenzie watersheds. The GRACE water equivalent mass
change responded to mass loading by snow accumulation in winter and mass
unloading by runoff in spring–summer. Comparison of secular trends from GRACE to
runoff suggests groundwater storage increased in the Lena and Yenisei watersheds,
decreased in the Mackenzie watershed, and was unchanged in the Ob' watershed. We
hypothesize that the groundwater storage changes are linked to the development
of closed- and open-talik in the continuous permafrost zone and the decrease of
permafrost lateral extent in the discontinuous permafrost zone of the watersheds.
