High-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of a thermokarst depression in Siberian ice-rich permafrost deposits

• Main Authors: Ulrich, Mathias, Günther, Frank, Morgenstern, Anne, Schirrmeister, Lutz
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2011
• Subjects: File size; Uniform resource locator/link to file; Comment; RESPONSE; AWI Arctic Land Expedition; Arctic; Ice; lena delta; permafrost; Thermokarst; Siberia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.759573; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.759573

This data set provides a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of a thermokarst depression (~7 km²) on ice-complex deposits in the Arctic Lena Delta, Siberia. The DEM based on a geodetic field survey and was used for quantitative land surface analyses and detailed description of the thermokarst depression morphology. Detailed morphometrical analyses, volume calculations, and solar radiation modeling were performed and statistically analyzed by Ulrich et al. (2010) to investigate the asymmetrical thermokarst depression development and directed lake migration previously proposed by Morgenstern et al. (2008). Furthermore, the high-resolution DEM in combination with satellite data allowed detailed analyses of spatial and temporal landscape changes due to thermokarst development (Günther, 2009). : A tacheometric field survey was carried out on the German-Russian Expedition Lena 2008 using a ZEISS ELTA C30 tacheometer with an electro-optical distance measurement device. Altogether, 2663 points representing the thermokarst depression were measured and stored in coordinate-point database. The mean accuracy of horizontal and height stationing is better than 10 cm and 5 cm, respectively.For calculating a hydrologically correct DEM within ArcGIS (ESRI) the TOPOGRID algorithm by Hutchinson (1989) was used. A grid cell size of 3 m was chosen for the output DEM to reflect small-scale morphological characteristics. Vertical accuracy of the DEM was tested by comparing height values from the calculated DEM to the original point database. The root mean square error (RMSE) averaged 0.28 cm, indicating high accuracy of the model.Number of original measurement points: 2663; interpolated raster grid size: 3 m; Number of columns: 1061; Number of rows: 1101See further detail for an overview of region.