Investigating Changes in Retrogressive Thaw Slumps in the Richardson Mountains (Northwest Territories, Canada) based on Tasseled Cap Trend Analysis of Landsat Image Stacks

This thesis applies a novel method of change detection, the Landsat Image Stack Trend Analysis method to the monitoring of retrogressive thaw slumps in the Richardson Mountains, NWT. This method represents a significant improvement upon previous methods of thaw slump monitoring, which utilized air p...

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Main Author: Brooker, Alexander
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10393/30679
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record_format openpolar
spelling ftcanadathes:oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OOU.#10393/30679 2023-05-15T17:46:42+02:00 Investigating Changes in Retrogressive Thaw Slumps in the Richardson Mountains (Northwest Territories, Canada) based on Tasseled Cap Trend Analysis of Landsat Image Stacks Brooker, Alexander 2014-03-06T15:30:32Z http://hdl.handle.net/10393/30679 en eng http://hdl.handle.net/10393/30679 Permafrost Landsat Remote Sensing Retrogressive thaw slumps Tasseled Cap Richardson Mountains Peel Plateau Thèse / Thesis 2014 ftcanadathes 2014-06-14T23:47:59Z This thesis applies a novel method of change detection, the Landsat Image Stack Trend Analysis method to the monitoring of retrogressive thaw slumps in the Richardson Mountains, NWT. This method represents a significant improvement upon previous methods of thaw slump monitoring, which utilized air photos and high-resolution satellite imagery. This method applies Tasseled Cap brightness, wetness and greenness indices to Landsat TM/ETM images acquired between 1985 and 2011 and analyzes the temporal change of each pixel for the different indices values. This method is useful in retrogressive thaw slump monitoring in two ways. First, by creating a map showing the linear change over time from 1985 to 2011, retrogressive thaw slumps can be easily identified, as they are more dynamic than the surrounding tundra. In total, 251 thaw slumps were identified within an area of roughly 18 000km2. Second, thaw slump activity, from initiation, growth and stabilization can be studied by plotting the annual vegetation index pixel values of adjacent pixels in a thaw slump. This method allows for the efficient extraction of annual thaw slump headwall retreat rates, provided the availability of cloud-free imagery. The retreat rates of 16 slumps were extracted, which were found to have an average annual retreat rate of 11.8 m yr-1. Thesis Northwest Territories permafrost Tundra Theses Canada/Thèses Canada (Library and Archives Canada) Canada Northwest Territories Richardson Mountains ENVELOPE(-136.171,-136.171,67.000,67.000)
institution Open Polar
collection Theses Canada/Thèses Canada (Library and Archives Canada)
op_collection_id ftcanadathes
language English
topic Permafrost
Landsat
Remote Sensing
Retrogressive thaw slumps
Tasseled Cap
Richardson Mountains
Peel Plateau
spellingShingle Permafrost
Landsat
Remote Sensing
Retrogressive thaw slumps
Tasseled Cap
Richardson Mountains
Peel Plateau
Brooker, Alexander
Investigating Changes in Retrogressive Thaw Slumps in the Richardson Mountains (Northwest Territories, Canada) based on Tasseled Cap Trend Analysis of Landsat Image Stacks
topic_facet Permafrost
Landsat
Remote Sensing
Retrogressive thaw slumps
Tasseled Cap
Richardson Mountains
Peel Plateau
description This thesis applies a novel method of change detection, the Landsat Image Stack Trend Analysis method to the monitoring of retrogressive thaw slumps in the Richardson Mountains, NWT. This method represents a significant improvement upon previous methods of thaw slump monitoring, which utilized air photos and high-resolution satellite imagery. This method applies Tasseled Cap brightness, wetness and greenness indices to Landsat TM/ETM images acquired between 1985 and 2011 and analyzes the temporal change of each pixel for the different indices values. This method is useful in retrogressive thaw slump monitoring in two ways. First, by creating a map showing the linear change over time from 1985 to 2011, retrogressive thaw slumps can be easily identified, as they are more dynamic than the surrounding tundra. In total, 251 thaw slumps were identified within an area of roughly 18 000km2. Second, thaw slump activity, from initiation, growth and stabilization can be studied by plotting the annual vegetation index pixel values of adjacent pixels in a thaw slump. This method allows for the efficient extraction of annual thaw slump headwall retreat rates, provided the availability of cloud-free imagery. The retreat rates of 16 slumps were extracted, which were found to have an average annual retreat rate of 11.8 m yr-1.
format Thesis
author Brooker, Alexander
author_facet Brooker, Alexander
author_sort Brooker, Alexander
title Investigating Changes in Retrogressive Thaw Slumps in the Richardson Mountains (Northwest Territories, Canada) based on Tasseled Cap Trend Analysis of Landsat Image Stacks
title_short Investigating Changes in Retrogressive Thaw Slumps in the Richardson Mountains (Northwest Territories, Canada) based on Tasseled Cap Trend Analysis of Landsat Image Stacks
title_full Investigating Changes in Retrogressive Thaw Slumps in the Richardson Mountains (Northwest Territories, Canada) based on Tasseled Cap Trend Analysis of Landsat Image Stacks
title_fullStr Investigating Changes in Retrogressive Thaw Slumps in the Richardson Mountains (Northwest Territories, Canada) based on Tasseled Cap Trend Analysis of Landsat Image Stacks
title_full_unstemmed Investigating Changes in Retrogressive Thaw Slumps in the Richardson Mountains (Northwest Territories, Canada) based on Tasseled Cap Trend Analysis of Landsat Image Stacks
title_sort investigating changes in retrogressive thaw slumps in the richardson mountains (northwest territories, canada) based on tasseled cap trend analysis of landsat image stacks
publishDate 2014
url http://hdl.handle.net/10393/30679
long_lat ENVELOPE(-136.171,-136.171,67.000,67.000)
geographic Canada
Northwest Territories
Richardson Mountains
geographic_facet Canada
Northwest Territories
Richardson Mountains
genre Northwest Territories
permafrost
Tundra
genre_facet Northwest Territories
permafrost
Tundra
op_relation http://hdl.handle.net/10393/30679
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