Thermal impact of soil freezing on the Siberian climate

Soil freezing has several direct and indirect impacts on climate. It directly impacts on high latitude soil temperatures through large storage and release of latent heat at the interseasons, delaying cooling in automn and warming in spring. Freezing also modifies the thermal and hydrological soil properties, leading to waterlogged soil and (seasonal) wetlands in high latitudes. Here we focus on the direct thermal effects of soil freezing by assessing its impact in a GCM simulation of the present-day Siberian climate. In particular, the impact on seasonal variations of the simulated surface temperature is shown. The areal extent of permafrost in the model is compared to observations and the impact of soil freezing in climate change is assessed in a simulation of the Siberian climate by the end of the 21st century.