A satellite based monitoring scheme for lowland permafrost – potentials and uncertainties

In this study we present an operational permafrost monitoring scheme using a multi-satellite approach in combination with a transient permafrost model. The created forcing dataset and the model results are intensively validated against long term observations at a tundra site in the Lena River Delta...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Langer, Moritz, Westermann, Sebastian, Muster, Sina, Grau, Thomas, Wischnewski, Karoline, Boike, Julia
Format: Conference Object
Language:unknown
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/31182/
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.40021
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Summary:In this study we present an operational permafrost monitoring scheme using a multi-satellite approach in combination with a transient permafrost model. The created forcing dataset and the model results are intensively validated against long term observations at a tundra site in the Lena River Delta in Siberia. The first results show that operational permafrost monitoring with reasonable accuracy is possible based on a joint dataset of multiple remote sensing products. However, severe limitations are caused by uncertainties in the parameterizations of the soil and snow thermal properties. The assimilation of further satellite products such as surface moisture from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) might help to reduce these uncertainties of subsurface parameterizations.