Assessing Permafrost Degradation and Land Cover Changes (1986-2009) using Remote Sensing Data over Umiujaq, Sub-Arctic Québec
Recent land cover changes in the Umiujaq region of northern Québec, Canada, have been quantified in order to estimate changes in the extent of discontinuous permafrost that strongly affect the forest-tundra ecotone. Changes in the areas covered by different vegetation types, thermokarst lakes, and d...
Published in: | Permafrost and Periglacial Processes |
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2015
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Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37690/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37690/1/Beck_et_al-2015-Permafrost_and_Periglacial_Processes.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1839 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45298 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45298.d001 |
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:37690 2023-05-15T13:03:20+02:00 Assessing Permafrost Degradation and Land Cover Changes (1986-2009) using Remote Sensing Data over Umiujaq, Sub-Arctic Québec Beck, Inga Ludwig, Ralf Bernier, Monique Lévesque, Esther Boike, Julia 2015 application/pdf https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37690/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37690/1/Beck_et_al-2015-Permafrost_and_Periglacial_Processes.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1839 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45298 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45298.d001 unknown https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37690/1/Beck_et_al-2015-Permafrost_and_Periglacial_Processes.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45298.d001 Beck, I. , Ludwig, R. , Bernier, M. , Lévesque, E. and Boike, J. orcid:0000-0002-5875-2112 (2015) Assessing Permafrost Degradation and Land Cover Changes (1986-2009) using Remote Sensing Data over Umiujaq, Sub-Arctic Québec , Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, n/a-n/a . doi:10.1002/ppp.1839 <https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1839> , hdl:10013/epic.45298 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess EPIC3Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, pp. n/a-n/a, ISSN: 10456740 Article isiRev info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2015 ftawi https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1839 2021-12-24T15:40:23Z Recent land cover changes in the Umiujaq region of northern Québec, Canada, have been quantified in order to estimate changes in the extent of discontinuous permafrost that strongly affect the forest-tundra ecotone. Changes in the areas covered by different vegetation types, thermokarst lakes, and degradation of lithalsas, have been investigated over an area of 60 km², extending from widespread discontinuous permafrost in the north to areas of scattered permafrost in the south, and from Hudson Bay in the west to the Lac Guillaume-Delisle graben 10 km further east. We used high resolution remote-sensing images (QuickBird 2004, GeoEye 2009) and four Landsat scenes (1986, 1990, 2001, 2008) as well as ground based data (vegetation, active layer thickness (ALT), snow parameters) collected between 2009 and 2011. Two change detection methods applied to estimate the land cover changes between 1986 and 2009 showed an overall increase in vegetation extent between 1986 and 2009, and a 21% increase in tall vegetation (spruce and tall shrubs) between 2004 and 2009 at the expense of low vegetation (lichens, prostrate shrubs, herbaceous vegetation). Thermokarst lakes and lithalsas in 10 sub-areas were mapped manually from satellite imagery. The area covered by water decreased by 24% between 2004 and 2009, often due to vegetation colonizing the margins of lakes, and ninety three of the observed lakes disappeared completely over that period. The area covered by lithalsas declined by 6%. Our results demonstrate the viability of using high resolution satellite imagery to detect changes in the land surface that can serve as indicators of permafrost degradation in the sub-Arctic. Article in Journal/Newspaper Active layer thickness Arctic Arctic Hudson Bay permafrost Permafrost and Periglacial Processes Thermokarst Tundra Umiujaq Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Arctic Canada Guillaume ENVELOPE(70.150,70.150,-49.350,-49.350) Hudson Hudson Bay Lac Guillaume-Delisle ENVELOPE(-76.294,-76.294,56.249,56.249) Umiujaq ENVELOPE(-76.549,-76.549,56.553,56.553) Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 26 2 129 141 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
op_collection_id |
ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
Recent land cover changes in the Umiujaq region of northern Québec, Canada, have been quantified in order to estimate changes in the extent of discontinuous permafrost that strongly affect the forest-tundra ecotone. Changes in the areas covered by different vegetation types, thermokarst lakes, and degradation of lithalsas, have been investigated over an area of 60 km², extending from widespread discontinuous permafrost in the north to areas of scattered permafrost in the south, and from Hudson Bay in the west to the Lac Guillaume-Delisle graben 10 km further east. We used high resolution remote-sensing images (QuickBird 2004, GeoEye 2009) and four Landsat scenes (1986, 1990, 2001, 2008) as well as ground based data (vegetation, active layer thickness (ALT), snow parameters) collected between 2009 and 2011. Two change detection methods applied to estimate the land cover changes between 1986 and 2009 showed an overall increase in vegetation extent between 1986 and 2009, and a 21% increase in tall vegetation (spruce and tall shrubs) between 2004 and 2009 at the expense of low vegetation (lichens, prostrate shrubs, herbaceous vegetation). Thermokarst lakes and lithalsas in 10 sub-areas were mapped manually from satellite imagery. The area covered by water decreased by 24% between 2004 and 2009, often due to vegetation colonizing the margins of lakes, and ninety three of the observed lakes disappeared completely over that period. The area covered by lithalsas declined by 6%. Our results demonstrate the viability of using high resolution satellite imagery to detect changes in the land surface that can serve as indicators of permafrost degradation in the sub-Arctic. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Beck, Inga Ludwig, Ralf Bernier, Monique Lévesque, Esther Boike, Julia |
spellingShingle |
Beck, Inga Ludwig, Ralf Bernier, Monique Lévesque, Esther Boike, Julia Assessing Permafrost Degradation and Land Cover Changes (1986-2009) using Remote Sensing Data over Umiujaq, Sub-Arctic Québec |
author_facet |
Beck, Inga Ludwig, Ralf Bernier, Monique Lévesque, Esther Boike, Julia |
author_sort |
Beck, Inga |
title |
Assessing Permafrost Degradation and Land Cover Changes (1986-2009) using Remote Sensing Data over Umiujaq, Sub-Arctic Québec |
title_short |
Assessing Permafrost Degradation and Land Cover Changes (1986-2009) using Remote Sensing Data over Umiujaq, Sub-Arctic Québec |
title_full |
Assessing Permafrost Degradation and Land Cover Changes (1986-2009) using Remote Sensing Data over Umiujaq, Sub-Arctic Québec |
title_fullStr |
Assessing Permafrost Degradation and Land Cover Changes (1986-2009) using Remote Sensing Data over Umiujaq, Sub-Arctic Québec |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessing Permafrost Degradation and Land Cover Changes (1986-2009) using Remote Sensing Data over Umiujaq, Sub-Arctic Québec |
title_sort |
assessing permafrost degradation and land cover changes (1986-2009) using remote sensing data over umiujaq, sub-arctic québec |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37690/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37690/1/Beck_et_al-2015-Permafrost_and_Periglacial_Processes.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1839 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45298 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45298.d001 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(70.150,70.150,-49.350,-49.350) ENVELOPE(-76.294,-76.294,56.249,56.249) ENVELOPE(-76.549,-76.549,56.553,56.553) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Guillaume Hudson Hudson Bay Lac Guillaume-Delisle Umiujaq |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Guillaume Hudson Hudson Bay Lac Guillaume-Delisle Umiujaq |
genre |
Active layer thickness Arctic Arctic Hudson Bay permafrost Permafrost and Periglacial Processes Thermokarst Tundra Umiujaq |
genre_facet |
Active layer thickness Arctic Arctic Hudson Bay permafrost Permafrost and Periglacial Processes Thermokarst Tundra Umiujaq |
op_source |
EPIC3Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, pp. n/a-n/a, ISSN: 10456740 |
op_relation |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37690/1/Beck_et_al-2015-Permafrost_and_Periglacial_Processes.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45298.d001 Beck, I. , Ludwig, R. , Bernier, M. , Lévesque, E. and Boike, J. orcid:0000-0002-5875-2112 (2015) Assessing Permafrost Degradation and Land Cover Changes (1986-2009) using Remote Sensing Data over Umiujaq, Sub-Arctic Québec , Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, n/a-n/a . doi:10.1002/ppp.1839 <https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1839> , hdl:10013/epic.45298 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1839 |
container_title |
Permafrost and Periglacial Processes |
container_volume |
26 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
129 |
op_container_end_page |
141 |
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