Erosion rates of the Sobo-Sise yedoma permafrost cliff in the Lena River Delta derived from remote sensing imagery

• Main Authors: Nitze, Ingmar, Fuchs, Matthias, Strauss, Jens, Günther, Frank, Wetterich, Sebastian, Kizyakov, Alexander, Fritz, Michael, Opel, Thomas, Grigoriev, Mikhail N, Maksimov, Georgii T, Laboor, Sebastian, Grosse, Guido
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2020
• Subjects: cliff erosion; digital shoreline analysis system; erosion rates; Lena Delta; permafrost; remote sensing; river delta; Time series; Carbon in Permafrost / Kohlenstoff im Permafrost KoPF; Changing Arctic Carbon cycle in the cOastal Ocean Near-shore CACOON; NUNATARYUK, Permafrost thaw and the changing Arctic coast, science for socioeconomic adaptation NUNATARYUK; Permafrost Research AWI_Perma; Rapid Permafrost Thaw in a Warming Arctic and Impacts on the Soil Organic Carbon Pool PETA-CARB; Arctic; Fuchs; Peta; Ice; lena delta; lena river; wedge*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.918507; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.918507

Permafrost thaw and ice wedge degradation lead to drastic landscape changes in the permafrost region. With this data set we investigated the cliff retreat of the Sobo-Sise Cliff (SSC), a high ice-bearing yedoma cliff in the Lena River Delta. The 1,660 m long cliff SSC extends from 72°32'34 N / 128°15'59 E to 72°32'06 N / 128°18'21 E and is located on the Sardakhskaya channel, which is one of the main Lena river branches in the Lena River Delta. Erosion rates for the SSC were determined based on satellite images from different sensors (Corona, Hexagon, Landsat, Planet cube-sat) for the period 1965-2018. Cliff front lines were manually digitized and erosion rates were calculated with the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) tool (Himmelstoos et al. 2018). The study Fuchs et al. (2020) (doi:10.3389/feart.2020.00336) shows that the up to 27.7 m high SSC erodes in average 15.7 m yr-1 (2015-2018). During the entire observed time period from 1965-2018, the SSC retreated in average 484 m (ranging from 322 - 680 m).This data set compilation consist of three GIS shapefiles with a corresponding metadata file and a table of the mean annual erosion rates of the yedoma SSC for the time periods 1965-1975, 1975-2000, 2000-2005, 2005-2010, 2010-2015, and 2015-2018, as well as the absolute cliff retreat rates over the entire period 1965-2018, which are derived from remote sensing imagery analyzed with the DSAS tool. In addition, the cliff front lines for each investigated time step are provided as well as the separation between yedoma and alas deposits for each time step.Related trend data for this region, based on Landsat trend analysis are available at: doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.884136 (Nitze, 2018).