Assessment of LiDAR and Spectral Techniques for High-Resolution Mapping of Sporadic Permafrost on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

Western Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) spans nearly 67,200 km2 and is among the largest and most productive coastal wetland ecosystems in the pan-Arctic. Permafrost currently forms extensive elevated plateaus on abandoned floodplain deposits of the outer delta, but is vulnerable to disturbance...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote Sensing
Main Authors: Matthew A. Whitley, Gerald V. Frost, M. Torre Jorgenson, Matthew J. Macander, Chris V. Maio, Samantha G. Winder
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018
Subjects:
LiDAR
permafrost mapping
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
Alaska
tundra
Science
Q
Arctic
Yukon
Kuskokwim
permafrost
Tundra
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10020258
https://doaj.org/article/251914f1c44d49c3ac39ad9fe5e9386d
Description
Summary:Western Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) spans nearly 67,200 km2 and is among the largest and most productive coastal wetland ecosystems in the pan-Arctic. Permafrost currently forms extensive elevated plateaus on abandoned floodplain deposits of the outer delta, but is vulnerable to disturbance from rising air temperatures, inland storm surges, and salt-kill of vegetation. As pan-Arctic air and ground temperatures rise, accurate baseline maps of permafrost extent are critical for a variety of applications including long-term monitoring, understanding the scale and pace of permafrost degradation processes, and estimating resultant greenhouse gas dynamics. This study assesses novel, high-resolution techniques to map permafrost distribution using LiDAR and IKONOS imagery, in tandem with field-based parameterization and validation. With LiDAR, use of a simple elevation threshold provided a permafrost map with 94.9% overall accuracy; this approach was possible due to the extremely flat coastal plain of the YKD. The addition of high spatial-resolution IKONOS satellite data yielded similar results, but did not increase model performance. The methods and the results of this study enhance high-resolution permafrost mapping efforts in tundra regions in general and deltaic landscapes in particular, and provide a baseline for remote monitoring of permafrost distribution on the YKD.

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