Interferometric SAR Observation of Permafrost Status in the Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by ALOS, ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1 between 2007 and 2021
With global warming, permafrost is undergoing degradation, which may cause thawing subsidence, collapse, and emission of greenhouse gases preserved in previously frozen permafrost, change the local hydrology and ecology system, and threaten infrastructure and indigenous communities. The Qinghai-Tibe...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2072-4292/14/8/1870/ 2023-08-20T04:07:07+02:00 Interferometric SAR Observation of Permafrost Status in the Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by ALOS, ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1 between 2007 and 2021 Lichuan Zou Chao Wang Yixian Tang Bo Zhang Hong Zhang Longkai Dong agris 2022-04-13 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14081870 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Satellite Missions for Earth and Planetary Exploration https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs14081870 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Remote Sensing; Volume 14; Issue 8; Pages: 1870 permafrost InSAR Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ALOS ALOS-2 Sentinel-1 thermal melting collapse Text 2022 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14081870 2023-08-01T04:44:59Z With global warming, permafrost is undergoing degradation, which may cause thawing subsidence, collapse, and emission of greenhouse gases preserved in previously frozen permafrost, change the local hydrology and ecology system, and threaten infrastructure and indigenous communities. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is the world’s largest permafrost region in the middle and low latitudes. Permafrost status monitoring in the QTP is of great significance to global change and local economic development. In this study, we used 66 scenes of ALOS data (2007–2009), 73 scenes of ALOS-2 data (2015–2020) and 284 scenes of Sentinel-1 data (2017–2021) to evaluate the spatial and temporal permafrost deformation over the 83,000 km2 in the northern QTP, passing through the Tuotuohe, Beiluhe, Wudaoliang and Xidatan regions. We use the SBAS-InSAR method and present a coherence weighted least squares estimator without any hypothetical model to calculate long-term deformation velocity (LTDV) and maximum seasonal deformation (MSD) without any prior knowledge. Analysis of the ALOS results shows that the LTDV ranged from −20 to +20 mm/year during 2007–2009. For the ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1 results, the LTDV ranged from −30 to 30 mm/year during 2015–2021. Further study shows that the expansion areas of permafrost subsidence are concentrated on braided stream plains and thermokarst lakes. In these areas, due to glacial erosion, surface runoff and river alluvium, the contents of water and ground ice are sufficient, which could accelerate permafrost subsidence. In addition, by analyzing LTDV and MSD for the different periods, we found that the L-band ALOS-2 is more sensitive to the thermal collapse of permafrost than the C-band sensor and the detected collapse areas (LTDV < −10 mm/year) are consistent with the GF-1/2 thermal collapse dataset. This research indicates that the InSAR technique could be crucial for monitoring the evolution of permafrost and freeze-thaw disasters. Text Ice permafrost Thermokarst MDPI Open Access Publishing Remote Sensing 14 8 1870 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
permafrost InSAR Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ALOS ALOS-2 Sentinel-1 thermal melting collapse |
spellingShingle |
permafrost InSAR Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ALOS ALOS-2 Sentinel-1 thermal melting collapse Lichuan Zou Chao Wang Yixian Tang Bo Zhang Hong Zhang Longkai Dong Interferometric SAR Observation of Permafrost Status in the Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by ALOS, ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1 between 2007 and 2021 |
topic_facet |
permafrost InSAR Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ALOS ALOS-2 Sentinel-1 thermal melting collapse |
description |
With global warming, permafrost is undergoing degradation, which may cause thawing subsidence, collapse, and emission of greenhouse gases preserved in previously frozen permafrost, change the local hydrology and ecology system, and threaten infrastructure and indigenous communities. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is the world’s largest permafrost region in the middle and low latitudes. Permafrost status monitoring in the QTP is of great significance to global change and local economic development. In this study, we used 66 scenes of ALOS data (2007–2009), 73 scenes of ALOS-2 data (2015–2020) and 284 scenes of Sentinel-1 data (2017–2021) to evaluate the spatial and temporal permafrost deformation over the 83,000 km2 in the northern QTP, passing through the Tuotuohe, Beiluhe, Wudaoliang and Xidatan regions. We use the SBAS-InSAR method and present a coherence weighted least squares estimator without any hypothetical model to calculate long-term deformation velocity (LTDV) and maximum seasonal deformation (MSD) without any prior knowledge. Analysis of the ALOS results shows that the LTDV ranged from −20 to +20 mm/year during 2007–2009. For the ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1 results, the LTDV ranged from −30 to 30 mm/year during 2015–2021. Further study shows that the expansion areas of permafrost subsidence are concentrated on braided stream plains and thermokarst lakes. In these areas, due to glacial erosion, surface runoff and river alluvium, the contents of water and ground ice are sufficient, which could accelerate permafrost subsidence. In addition, by analyzing LTDV and MSD for the different periods, we found that the L-band ALOS-2 is more sensitive to the thermal collapse of permafrost than the C-band sensor and the detected collapse areas (LTDV < −10 mm/year) are consistent with the GF-1/2 thermal collapse dataset. This research indicates that the InSAR technique could be crucial for monitoring the evolution of permafrost and freeze-thaw disasters. |
format |
Text |
author |
Lichuan Zou Chao Wang Yixian Tang Bo Zhang Hong Zhang Longkai Dong |
author_facet |
Lichuan Zou Chao Wang Yixian Tang Bo Zhang Hong Zhang Longkai Dong |
author_sort |
Lichuan Zou |
title |
Interferometric SAR Observation of Permafrost Status in the Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by ALOS, ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1 between 2007 and 2021 |
title_short |
Interferometric SAR Observation of Permafrost Status in the Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by ALOS, ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1 between 2007 and 2021 |
title_full |
Interferometric SAR Observation of Permafrost Status in the Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by ALOS, ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1 between 2007 and 2021 |
title_fullStr |
Interferometric SAR Observation of Permafrost Status in the Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by ALOS, ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1 between 2007 and 2021 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interferometric SAR Observation of Permafrost Status in the Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by ALOS, ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1 between 2007 and 2021 |
title_sort |
interferometric sar observation of permafrost status in the northern qinghai-tibet plateau by alos, alos-2 and sentinel-1 between 2007 and 2021 |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14081870 |
op_coverage |
agris |
genre |
Ice permafrost Thermokarst |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost Thermokarst |
op_source |
Remote Sensing; Volume 14; Issue 8; Pages: 1870 |
op_relation |
Satellite Missions for Earth and Planetary Exploration https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs14081870 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14081870 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1870 |
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1774718567149731840 |