Spatial analysis in earth sciences is often based on the concept of spatial autocorrelation, expressed by W. Tobler as the first law of geography: “everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things." Here, we show that subsurface soil properties in permafrost tundra terrain exhibit tremendous spatial variability. We describe the subsurface variability of soil organic carbon (SOC) and ground ice content from the centimeter to the landscape scale in three typical tundra terrain types common across the Arctic region. At the soil pedon scale, that is, from centimeters to 1–2 m, variability is caused by cryoturbation and affected by tussocks, hummocks and nonsorted circles. At the terrain scale, from meters to tens of meters, variability is caused by different generations of ice‐wedges. Variability at the landscape scale, that is, ranging hundreds of meters, is associated with geomorphic disturbances and catenary shifts. The co‐occurrence and overlap of different processes and landforms creates a spatial structure unique to permafrost environments. The coefficient of variation of SOC at the pedon scale (21%–73%) exceeds that found at terrain (17%–66%) and even landscape scale (24%–67%). Such high values for spatial variation are otherwise found at regional to continental scale. Clearly, permafrost soils do not conform to Tobler's law, but are among the most variable soils on Earth. This needs to be accounted for in mapping and predictions of the permafrost carbon feedbacks through various ecosystem processes. We conclude that scale deserves special attention in permafrost regions.

中文翻译：

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多年冻土在苔原土壤上引起独特的精细尺度空间变异

地球科学中的空间分析通常基于空间自相关的概念，由W. Tobler表示为地理的第一定律：“所有事物都与其他事物相关，但近处的事物比远处的事物更相关。”在这里，我们展示多年冻土苔原地形的地下土壤特性表现出巨大的空间变异性，我们描述了北极地区常见的三种典型苔原地形类型中，土壤有机碳（SOC）和地冰含量从厘米到景观尺度的地下变异性。土壤单个土体的规模，即从厘米到1-2米，可变性是由cryoturbation引起的，受草丛，小丘和nonsorted圈。在地形规模从几米到几十米，变化是由不同年代的冰楔引起的。景观尺度的可变性，即数百米的范围，与地貌扰动和悬链线移动有关。不同过程和地貌的共生和交叠创造了永久冻土环境特有的空间结构。在pedped尺度上（21％–73％）的SOC变异系数超过了在地形（17％–66％）甚至景观尺度（24％–67％）上的SOC变异系数。否则，会在区域到大陆范围内发现如此高的空间变化值。显然，多年冻土不符合托布勒定律，而是地球上变化最大的土壤之一。在通过各种生态系统过程对多年冻土碳反馈进行制图和预测时，必须考虑到这一点。我们得出结论，在多年冻土地区，水垢值得特别注意。