Detailed Characterization and Monitoring of a Retrogressive Thaw Slump from Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems and Identifying Associated Influence on Carbon and Nitrogen Export
Ice-rich permafrost landscapes are sensitive to ongoing changes in climate. Permafrost retrogressive thaw slumps (RTSs) represent one of the more abrupt and prolonged disturbances, which occur along Arctic river and lake shorelines. These features impact local travel and infrastructure, and there ar...
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MDPI AG
2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13020171 https://doaj.org/article/11354f6368b94f5fa2ecc077bf772552 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:11354f6368b94f5fa2ecc077bf772552 2024-01-07T09:42:02+01:00 Detailed Characterization and Monitoring of a Retrogressive Thaw Slump from Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems and Identifying Associated Influence on Carbon and Nitrogen Export Kevin W. Turner Michelle D. Pearce Daniel D. Hughes 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13020171 https://doaj.org/article/11354f6368b94f5fa2ecc077bf772552 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/2/171 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs13020171 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/11354f6368b94f5fa2ecc077bf772552 Remote Sensing, Vol 13, Iss 2, p 171 (2021) retrogressive thaw slump permafrost cryosphere disturbance UAV remotely piloted aircraft systems Science Q article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13020171 2023-12-10T01:48:24Z Ice-rich permafrost landscapes are sensitive to ongoing changes in climate. Permafrost retrogressive thaw slumps (RTSs) represent one of the more abrupt and prolonged disturbances, which occur along Arctic river and lake shorelines. These features impact local travel and infrastructure, and there are many questions regarding associated impacts on biogeochemical cycling. Predicting the duration and magnitude of impacts requires that we enhance our knowledge of RTS geomorphological drivers and rates of change. Here we demonstrate the utility of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) for documenting the volumetric change, associated drivers and potential impacts of the largest active RTS along the Old Crow River in Old Crow Flats, Yukon, Canada. RPAS surveys revealed that 29,174 m 3 of sediment was exported during the initial evacuation in June 2016 and an additional 18,845 m 3 continued to be exported until June 2019. More sediment export occurred during the warmer 2017 summer that experienced less cumulative rainfall than summer 2018. However, several rain events during 2017 were of higher intensity than during 2018. Overall mean soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) within sampled thaw slump sediment was 1.36% and 0.11%, respectively. A combination of multispectral, thermal and irradiance (derived from the RPAS digital surface model) data provided detailed classification of thaw slump floor terrain types including raised dry clay lobes, shaded and relatively stable, and low-lying evacuation-prone sediments. Notably, the path of evacuation-prone sediments extended to a series of ice wedges in the northern headwall, where total irradiance was highest. Using thaw slump floor mean SOC and TN values in conjunction with sediment bulk density and thaw slump fill volume, we estimated that 713 t SOC and 58 t TN were exported to the Old Crow River during the three-year study. Findings showcase the utility of high-resolution RPAS datasets for refining our knowledge of thaw slump geomorphology and associated ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Ice Old Crow permafrost wedge* Yukon Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Canada Crow River ENVELOPE(-125.395,-125.395,60.000,60.000) Old Crow Flats ENVELOPE(-139.755,-139.755,68.083,68.083) Old Crow River ENVELOPE(-139.803,-139.803,67.580,67.580) Yukon Remote Sensing 13 2 171 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
retrogressive thaw slump permafrost cryosphere disturbance UAV remotely piloted aircraft systems Science Q |
spellingShingle |
retrogressive thaw slump permafrost cryosphere disturbance UAV remotely piloted aircraft systems Science Q Kevin W. Turner Michelle D. Pearce Daniel D. Hughes Detailed Characterization and Monitoring of a Retrogressive Thaw Slump from Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems and Identifying Associated Influence on Carbon and Nitrogen Export |
topic_facet |
retrogressive thaw slump permafrost cryosphere disturbance UAV remotely piloted aircraft systems Science Q |
description |
Ice-rich permafrost landscapes are sensitive to ongoing changes in climate. Permafrost retrogressive thaw slumps (RTSs) represent one of the more abrupt and prolonged disturbances, which occur along Arctic river and lake shorelines. These features impact local travel and infrastructure, and there are many questions regarding associated impacts on biogeochemical cycling. Predicting the duration and magnitude of impacts requires that we enhance our knowledge of RTS geomorphological drivers and rates of change. Here we demonstrate the utility of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) for documenting the volumetric change, associated drivers and potential impacts of the largest active RTS along the Old Crow River in Old Crow Flats, Yukon, Canada. RPAS surveys revealed that 29,174 m 3 of sediment was exported during the initial evacuation in June 2016 and an additional 18,845 m 3 continued to be exported until June 2019. More sediment export occurred during the warmer 2017 summer that experienced less cumulative rainfall than summer 2018. However, several rain events during 2017 were of higher intensity than during 2018. Overall mean soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) within sampled thaw slump sediment was 1.36% and 0.11%, respectively. A combination of multispectral, thermal and irradiance (derived from the RPAS digital surface model) data provided detailed classification of thaw slump floor terrain types including raised dry clay lobes, shaded and relatively stable, and low-lying evacuation-prone sediments. Notably, the path of evacuation-prone sediments extended to a series of ice wedges in the northern headwall, where total irradiance was highest. Using thaw slump floor mean SOC and TN values in conjunction with sediment bulk density and thaw slump fill volume, we estimated that 713 t SOC and 58 t TN were exported to the Old Crow River during the three-year study. Findings showcase the utility of high-resolution RPAS datasets for refining our knowledge of thaw slump geomorphology and associated ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kevin W. Turner Michelle D. Pearce Daniel D. Hughes |
author_facet |
Kevin W. Turner Michelle D. Pearce Daniel D. Hughes |
author_sort |
Kevin W. Turner |
title |
Detailed Characterization and Monitoring of a Retrogressive Thaw Slump from Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems and Identifying Associated Influence on Carbon and Nitrogen Export |
title_short |
Detailed Characterization and Monitoring of a Retrogressive Thaw Slump from Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems and Identifying Associated Influence on Carbon and Nitrogen Export |
title_full |
Detailed Characterization and Monitoring of a Retrogressive Thaw Slump from Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems and Identifying Associated Influence on Carbon and Nitrogen Export |
title_fullStr |
Detailed Characterization and Monitoring of a Retrogressive Thaw Slump from Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems and Identifying Associated Influence on Carbon and Nitrogen Export |
title_full_unstemmed |
Detailed Characterization and Monitoring of a Retrogressive Thaw Slump from Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems and Identifying Associated Influence on Carbon and Nitrogen Export |
title_sort |
detailed characterization and monitoring of a retrogressive thaw slump from remotely piloted aircraft systems and identifying associated influence on carbon and nitrogen export |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13020171 https://doaj.org/article/11354f6368b94f5fa2ecc077bf772552 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.395,-125.395,60.000,60.000) ENVELOPE(-139.755,-139.755,68.083,68.083) ENVELOPE(-139.803,-139.803,67.580,67.580) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Crow River Old Crow Flats Old Crow River Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Crow River Old Crow Flats Old Crow River Yukon |
genre |
Arctic Ice Old Crow permafrost wedge* Yukon |
genre_facet |
Arctic Ice Old Crow permafrost wedge* Yukon |
op_source |
Remote Sensing, Vol 13, Iss 2, p 171 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/2/171 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs13020171 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/11354f6368b94f5fa2ecc077bf772552 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13020171 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
171 |
_version_ |
1787422887473315840 |