Mapping the Main Characteristics of Permafrost on the Basis of a Permafrost-Landscape Map of Yakutia Using GIS

• Published in: Land
• Main Authors: Alyona A. Shestakova, Alexander N. Fedorov, Yaroslav I. Torgovkin, Pavel Y. Konstantinov, Nikolay F. Vasyliev, Svetlana V. Kalinicheva, Vera V. Samsonova, Tetsuya Hiyama, Yoshihiro Iijima, Hotaek Park, Go Iwahana, Alexey N. Gorokhov
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2021
• Subjects: permafrost landscape; ground temperature; active layer thickness; ice content; cryogenic processes; digital map; GIS model; Sakha; Active layer thickness; Ice; permafrost; Republic of Sakha; Thermokarst; Yakutia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/land10050462

The purpose of this article was to compile four separate digital thematic maps of temperature and ice content of permafrost, the active layer thickness, and cryogenic processes in Yakutia as a basis for assessing changes to modern climate changes and anthropogenic disturbances. In this work, materials on permafrost were used, serving as the basis for compiling a permafrost landscape map of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The maps were compiled using ArcGIS software, which supports attribute table mapping. The ground temperature and active layer thickness maps reflected landscape zonality and regional differences. Peculiarities of genetic types of Quaternary deposits and climatic conditions reflected the ice content of surface sediments and cryogenic process distribution maps. One of the most common is ground temperatures from −2.1 to −4.0 °C, which were found to occupy about 37.4% of the territory of Yakutia. More than half of the region was found to be occupied by permafrost landscapes with a limited thickness of the active layer up to 1.1 m. Ice-rich permafrost (more than 0.4 in ice content) was found to be typical for about 40% of the territory. Thermokarst is the most hazardous process that occurs in half of Yakutia.