Mapping Retrogressive Thaw Slumps Using Single-Pass TanDEM-X Observations
Vast areas of the Arctic host ice-rich permafrost, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable to terrain-altering thermokarst in a warming climate. Among the most rapid and dramatic changes are retrogressive thaw slumps. These slumps evolve by a retreat of the slump headwall during the summer months,...
Published in: | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
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Online Access: | https://elib.dlr.de/139401/ https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9110800 |
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ftdlr:oai:elib.dlr.de:139401 2023-05-15T15:11:01+02:00 Mapping Retrogressive Thaw Slumps Using Single-Pass TanDEM-X Observations Bernhard, Philipp Zwieback, Simon Leinss, Silvan Hajnsek, Irena 2020-06-08 https://elib.dlr.de/139401/ https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9110800 unknown IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Bernhard, Philipp und Zwieback, Simon und Leinss, Silvan und Hajnsek, Irena (2020) Mapping Retrogressive Thaw Slumps Using Single-Pass TanDEM-X Observations. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 13, Seiten 3263-3280. IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi:10.1109/JSTARS.2020.3000648 <https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2020.3000648>. ISSN 1939-1404. Radarkonzepte Zeitschriftenbeitrag PeerReviewed 2020 ftdlr https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2020.3000648 2022-07-31T23:13:13Z Vast areas of the Arctic host ice-rich permafrost, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable to terrain-altering thermokarst in a warming climate. Among the most rapid and dramatic changes are retrogressive thaw slumps. These slumps evolve by a retreat of the slump headwall during the summer months, making them detectable by comparing digital elevation models over time using the volumetric change as an indicator. Here, we present and assess a method to detect and monitor thaw slumps using time series of elevation models applied on two contrasting study areas in Northern Canada. Our two-step method is tailored to single-pass InSAR observations from the TanDEM-X satellite pair, which have been acquired since 2011. For each acquisition, we derive a digital elevation model and uncertainty estimates. In the first step, we difference digital elevation models and detect the significant elevation changes using a blob-detection algorithm. In the second step, we classify the detections into those due to thaw slumps and other causes using a simple thresholding method (accuracy: 78%), a random forest classifier (87%), and a support vector machine (86%). When our method is applied to other areas, the classifiers should be trained with data from part of the study area or with data obtained from similar areas in terms of topography, vegetation, and thaw slump characteristics to achieve the best performance. The obtained locations of thaw slumps can be used as a starting point to extract important slump properties, such as the headwall height and the volumetric change, which are currently not available on regional scales. Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper Arctic Ice permafrost Thermokarst German Aerospace Center: elib - DLR electronic library Arctic Canada IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 13 3263 3280 |
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German Aerospace Center: elib - DLR electronic library |
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unknown |
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Radarkonzepte |
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Radarkonzepte Bernhard, Philipp Zwieback, Simon Leinss, Silvan Hajnsek, Irena Mapping Retrogressive Thaw Slumps Using Single-Pass TanDEM-X Observations |
topic_facet |
Radarkonzepte |
description |
Vast areas of the Arctic host ice-rich permafrost, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable to terrain-altering thermokarst in a warming climate. Among the most rapid and dramatic changes are retrogressive thaw slumps. These slumps evolve by a retreat of the slump headwall during the summer months, making them detectable by comparing digital elevation models over time using the volumetric change as an indicator. Here, we present and assess a method to detect and monitor thaw slumps using time series of elevation models applied on two contrasting study areas in Northern Canada. Our two-step method is tailored to single-pass InSAR observations from the TanDEM-X satellite pair, which have been acquired since 2011. For each acquisition, we derive a digital elevation model and uncertainty estimates. In the first step, we difference digital elevation models and detect the significant elevation changes using a blob-detection algorithm. In the second step, we classify the detections into those due to thaw slumps and other causes using a simple thresholding method (accuracy: 78%), a random forest classifier (87%), and a support vector machine (86%). When our method is applied to other areas, the classifiers should be trained with data from part of the study area or with data obtained from similar areas in terms of topography, vegetation, and thaw slump characteristics to achieve the best performance. The obtained locations of thaw slumps can be used as a starting point to extract important slump properties, such as the headwall height and the volumetric change, which are currently not available on regional scales. |
format |
Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bernhard, Philipp Zwieback, Simon Leinss, Silvan Hajnsek, Irena |
author_facet |
Bernhard, Philipp Zwieback, Simon Leinss, Silvan Hajnsek, Irena |
author_sort |
Bernhard, Philipp |
title |
Mapping Retrogressive Thaw Slumps Using Single-Pass TanDEM-X Observations |
title_short |
Mapping Retrogressive Thaw Slumps Using Single-Pass TanDEM-X Observations |
title_full |
Mapping Retrogressive Thaw Slumps Using Single-Pass TanDEM-X Observations |
title_fullStr |
Mapping Retrogressive Thaw Slumps Using Single-Pass TanDEM-X Observations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mapping Retrogressive Thaw Slumps Using Single-Pass TanDEM-X Observations |
title_sort |
mapping retrogressive thaw slumps using single-pass tandem-x observations |
publisher |
IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://elib.dlr.de/139401/ https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9110800 |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Arctic Ice permafrost Thermokarst |
genre_facet |
Arctic Ice permafrost Thermokarst |
op_relation |
Bernhard, Philipp und Zwieback, Simon und Leinss, Silvan und Hajnsek, Irena (2020) Mapping Retrogressive Thaw Slumps Using Single-Pass TanDEM-X Observations. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 13, Seiten 3263-3280. IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi:10.1109/JSTARS.2020.3000648 <https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2020.3000648>. ISSN 1939-1404. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2020.3000648 |
container_title |
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
13 |
container_start_page |
3263 |
op_container_end_page |
3280 |
_version_ |
1766341938977439744 |