Drained Lake Basin classification based on Landsat-8 imagery, North Slope, Alaska 2014 -2019

• Main Authors: Bergstedt, Helena, Jones, Benjamin, Hinkel, Kenneth, Farquharson, Louise, Gaglioti, Benjamin, Parsekian, Andrew, Kanevskiy, Mikhail, Ohara, Noriaki, Rangel, Rodrigo, Grosse, Guido, Nitze, Ingmar
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NSF Arctic Data Center 2021
• Subjects: Drained Lake Basin; DLB; Landsat; Alaska; North Slope; Arctic; Alaska North Slope; north slope; permafrost
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a2k35mf71; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A2K35MF71

This data set contains a classification of the North Slope, Alaska for drained lake basins (DLBs) based on Landsat-8 imagery of the years 2014-2019 and Arctic Digital Elevation Model (ArcticDEM) data. Drained lake basins (DLBs) are often the most common landforms in lowland permafrost regions in the Arctic (50% to 75% of the landscape). However, detailed assessments of DLB distribution and abundance are limited. This data set is based on a novel and scalable remote sensing-based approach to identify DLBs in lowland permafrost regions, using the North Slope of Alaska as a case study. The data set was validated against several prior sub-regional scale datasets and manually classified points. The study area covers greater than 71,000 square kilometers (km2), including a greater than 39,000 km2 area not previously covered in existing DLB data sets. Within the data set, three classes are present: DLB/ambiguous/noDLB. Areas classified as ambiguous could not be classified as DLB or noDLB with sufficient certainty. Users may decide on a case by case basis if they wish to use the conservative estimate of DLB area, therefore omitting areas classified as ambiguous, or to use all three classes.