Monitoring Ground Surface Deformation of Ice-Wedge Polygon Areas in Saskylakh, NW Yakutia, Using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Google Earth Engine (GEE)

• Published in: Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Wenhui Wang, Huijun Jin, Ze Zhang, Mikhail N. Zhelezniak, Valentin V. Spektor, Raul-David Șerban, Anyuan Li, Vladimir Tumskoy, Xiaoying Jin, Suiqiao Yang, Shengrong Zhang, Xiaoying Li, Mihaela Șerban, Qingbai Wu, Yanan Wen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2023
• Subjects: climate change; ice-wedge polygon (IWP); ground surface deformation (GSD); interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR); Google Earth Engine (GEE); Russian Arctic; Science; Q; Arctic; Saskylakh; Active layer thickness; Climate change; Ice; permafrost; Thermokarst; wedge*; Yakutia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15051335; https://doaj.org/article/badcf45a46da48d6bc5ac146a4faf301

As one of the best indicators of the periglacial environment, ice-wedge polygons (IWPs) are important for arctic landscapes, hydrology, engineering, and ecosystems. Thus, a better understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics and evolution of IWPs is key to evaluating the hydrothermal state and carbon budgets of the arctic permafrost environment. In this paper, the dynamics of ground surface deformation (GSD) in IWP zones (2018–2019) and their influencing factors over the last 20 years in Saskylakh, northwestern Yakutia, Russia were investigated using the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Google Earth Engine (GEE). The results show an annual ground surface deformation rate (AGSDR) in Saskylakh at −49.73 to 45.97 mm/a during the period from 1 June 2018 to 3 May 2019. All the selected GSD regions indicate that the relationship between GSD and land surface temperature (LST) is positive (upheaving) for regions with larger AGSDR, and negative (subsidence) for regions with lower AGSDR. The most drastic deformation was observed at the Aeroport regions with GSDs rates of −37.06 mm/a at tower and 35.45 mm/a at runway. The GSDs are negatively correlated with the LST of most low-centered polygons (LCPs) and high-centered polygons (HCPs). Specifically, the higher the vegetation cover, the higher the LST and the thicker the active layer. An evident permafrost degradation has been observed in Saskylakh as reflected in higher ground temperatures, lusher vegetation, greater active layer thickness, and fluctuant numbers and areal extents of thermokarst lakes and ponds.