Investigation of Soil and Vegetation Characteristics in Discontinuous Permafrost Landscapes Near Fairbanks, Alaska
Alaska contains large areas of discontinuous permafrost, yet few studies examine the impact of microtopography on ground conditions and permafrost stability. This report uses vegetation and soil measurements to identify statistically significant differences to potentially classify permafrost ground-...
Main Authors: | , , |
---|---|
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2015
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA623196 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA623196 |
id |
ftdtic:ADA623196 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdtic:ADA623196 2023-05-15T15:55:49+02:00 Investigation of Soil and Vegetation Characteristics in Discontinuous Permafrost Landscapes Near Fairbanks, Alaska Berkowitz, Jacob F Hiemstra, Christopher A Douglas, Thomas A ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER VICKSBURG MS ENVIRONMENTAL LAB 2015-08 text/html http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA623196 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA623196 en eng http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA623196 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. DTIC Biology Geology Geochemistry and Mineralogy Snow Ice and Permafrost *PERMAFROST *SOILS *VEGETATION ALASKA ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES DEPTH FIELD TESTS GEOPHYSICS GROUND LEVEL ICE LAYERS MEASUREMENT MOISTURE NUTRIENTS OPTICAL RADAR REFLECTANCE STABILITY TOPOGRAPHY ACTIVE-LAYER DEPTH DISCONTINUOUS PERMAFROST GROUND-ICE FEATURES INTERIOR ALASKA MICROTOPOGRAPHY PERMAFROST STABILITY SOIL NUTRIENTS CF(CREAMERS FIELD) FL(FARMERS LOOP) PT(PERMAFROST TUNNEL) Text 2015 ftdtic 2016-02-24T19:06:40Z Alaska contains large areas of discontinuous permafrost, yet few studies examine the impact of microtopography on ground conditions and permafrost stability. This report uses vegetation and soil measurements to identify statistically significant differences to potentially classify permafrost ground-state conditions. The study identified significant relationships between soil parameters and vegetative community structure, including thicker peat layers in high microtopographic positions, greater active-layer thaw depths in high microtopographic positions, increased redox potentials in elevated microtopographic positions, and decreased soil moisture in higher topographic locations. Additionally, soil carbon and nitrogen concentrations increased in low microtopographic positions. These results suggest that soil and vegetation conditions may provide useful proxy measures in identifying permafrost and ground-ice features when incorporated into an integrated approach that combines belowground geophysics with aboveground remotely sensed terrain characteristics. Additional research is needed to combine soil and vegetation characteristics with suborbital and satellite-based remotely sensed measurements, such as airborne LiDAR, spectral reflectance, and high-resolution ground-level subsidence measurements. The original document contains color images. Prepared in collaboration with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), Alaska Projects Office, Fort Wainwright, AK. Text Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Ice permafrost Alaska Defense Technical Information Center: DTIC Technical Reports database Fairbanks |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Defense Technical Information Center: DTIC Technical Reports database |
op_collection_id |
ftdtic |
language |
English |
topic |
Biology Geology Geochemistry and Mineralogy Snow Ice and Permafrost *PERMAFROST *SOILS *VEGETATION ALASKA ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES DEPTH FIELD TESTS GEOPHYSICS GROUND LEVEL ICE LAYERS MEASUREMENT MOISTURE NUTRIENTS OPTICAL RADAR REFLECTANCE STABILITY TOPOGRAPHY ACTIVE-LAYER DEPTH DISCONTINUOUS PERMAFROST GROUND-ICE FEATURES INTERIOR ALASKA MICROTOPOGRAPHY PERMAFROST STABILITY SOIL NUTRIENTS CF(CREAMERS FIELD) FL(FARMERS LOOP) PT(PERMAFROST TUNNEL) |
spellingShingle |
Biology Geology Geochemistry and Mineralogy Snow Ice and Permafrost *PERMAFROST *SOILS *VEGETATION ALASKA ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES DEPTH FIELD TESTS GEOPHYSICS GROUND LEVEL ICE LAYERS MEASUREMENT MOISTURE NUTRIENTS OPTICAL RADAR REFLECTANCE STABILITY TOPOGRAPHY ACTIVE-LAYER DEPTH DISCONTINUOUS PERMAFROST GROUND-ICE FEATURES INTERIOR ALASKA MICROTOPOGRAPHY PERMAFROST STABILITY SOIL NUTRIENTS CF(CREAMERS FIELD) FL(FARMERS LOOP) PT(PERMAFROST TUNNEL) Berkowitz, Jacob F Hiemstra, Christopher A Douglas, Thomas A Investigation of Soil and Vegetation Characteristics in Discontinuous Permafrost Landscapes Near Fairbanks, Alaska |
topic_facet |
Biology Geology Geochemistry and Mineralogy Snow Ice and Permafrost *PERMAFROST *SOILS *VEGETATION ALASKA ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES DEPTH FIELD TESTS GEOPHYSICS GROUND LEVEL ICE LAYERS MEASUREMENT MOISTURE NUTRIENTS OPTICAL RADAR REFLECTANCE STABILITY TOPOGRAPHY ACTIVE-LAYER DEPTH DISCONTINUOUS PERMAFROST GROUND-ICE FEATURES INTERIOR ALASKA MICROTOPOGRAPHY PERMAFROST STABILITY SOIL NUTRIENTS CF(CREAMERS FIELD) FL(FARMERS LOOP) PT(PERMAFROST TUNNEL) |
description |
Alaska contains large areas of discontinuous permafrost, yet few studies examine the impact of microtopography on ground conditions and permafrost stability. This report uses vegetation and soil measurements to identify statistically significant differences to potentially classify permafrost ground-state conditions. The study identified significant relationships between soil parameters and vegetative community structure, including thicker peat layers in high microtopographic positions, greater active-layer thaw depths in high microtopographic positions, increased redox potentials in elevated microtopographic positions, and decreased soil moisture in higher topographic locations. Additionally, soil carbon and nitrogen concentrations increased in low microtopographic positions. These results suggest that soil and vegetation conditions may provide useful proxy measures in identifying permafrost and ground-ice features when incorporated into an integrated approach that combines belowground geophysics with aboveground remotely sensed terrain characteristics. Additional research is needed to combine soil and vegetation characteristics with suborbital and satellite-based remotely sensed measurements, such as airborne LiDAR, spectral reflectance, and high-resolution ground-level subsidence measurements. The original document contains color images. Prepared in collaboration with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), Alaska Projects Office, Fort Wainwright, AK. |
author2 |
ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER VICKSBURG MS ENVIRONMENTAL LAB |
format |
Text |
author |
Berkowitz, Jacob F Hiemstra, Christopher A Douglas, Thomas A |
author_facet |
Berkowitz, Jacob F Hiemstra, Christopher A Douglas, Thomas A |
author_sort |
Berkowitz, Jacob F |
title |
Investigation of Soil and Vegetation Characteristics in Discontinuous Permafrost Landscapes Near Fairbanks, Alaska |
title_short |
Investigation of Soil and Vegetation Characteristics in Discontinuous Permafrost Landscapes Near Fairbanks, Alaska |
title_full |
Investigation of Soil and Vegetation Characteristics in Discontinuous Permafrost Landscapes Near Fairbanks, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Investigation of Soil and Vegetation Characteristics in Discontinuous Permafrost Landscapes Near Fairbanks, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Investigation of Soil and Vegetation Characteristics in Discontinuous Permafrost Landscapes Near Fairbanks, Alaska |
title_sort |
investigation of soil and vegetation characteristics in discontinuous permafrost landscapes near fairbanks, alaska |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA623196 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA623196 |
geographic |
Fairbanks |
geographic_facet |
Fairbanks |
genre |
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Ice permafrost Alaska |
genre_facet |
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Ice permafrost Alaska |
op_source |
DTIC |
op_relation |
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA623196 |
op_rights |
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. |
_version_ |
1766391311050473472 |