InSAR Detection and Field Evidence for Thermokarst after a Tundra Wildfire, Using ALOS-PALSAR
Thermokarst is the process of ground subsidence caused by either the thawing of ice-rich permafrost or the melting of massive ground ice. The consequences of permafrost degradation associated with thermokarst for surface ecology, landscape evolution, and hydrological processes have been of great sci...
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1258631 2023-07-30T04:04:05+02:00 InSAR Detection and Field Evidence for Thermokarst after a Tundra Wildfire, Using ALOS-PALSAR Iwahana, Go Uchida, Masao Liu, Lin Gong, Wenyu Meyer, Franz Guritz, Richard Yamanokuchi, Tsutomu Hinzman, Larry 2023-06-26 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1258631 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1258631 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8030218 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1258631 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1258631 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8030218 doi:10.3390/rs8030218 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 2023 ftosti https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8030218 2023-07-11T09:06:52Z Thermokarst is the process of ground subsidence caused by either the thawing of ice-rich permafrost or the melting of massive ground ice. The consequences of permafrost degradation associated with thermokarst for surface ecology, landscape evolution, and hydrological processes have been of great scientific interest and social concern. Part of a tundra patch affected by wildfire in northern Alaska (27.5 km 2 ) was investigated here, using remote sensing and in situ surveys to quantify and understand permafrost thaw dynamics after surface disturbances. A two-pass differential InSAR technique using L-band ALOS-PALSAR has been shown capable of capturing thermokarst subsidence triggered by a tundra fire at a spatial resolution of tens of meters, with supporting evidence from field data and optical satellite images. We have introduced a calibration procedure, comparing burned and unburned areas for InSAR subsidence signals, to remove the noise due to seasonal surface movement. In the first year after the fire, an average subsidence rate of 6.2 cm/year (vertical) was measured. Subsidence in the burned area continued over the following two years, with decreased rates. The mean rate of subsidence observed in our interferograms (from 24 July 2008 to 14 September 2010) was 3.3 cm/year, a value comparable to that estimated from field surveys at two plots on average (2.2 cm/year) for the six years after the fire. These results suggest that this InSAR-measured ground subsidence is caused by the development of thermokarst, a thawing process supported by surface change observations from high-resolution optical images and in situ ground level surveys. Other/Unknown Material Ice permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Remote Sensing 8 3 218 |
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SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
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ftosti |
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Iwahana, Go Uchida, Masao Liu, Lin Gong, Wenyu Meyer, Franz Guritz, Richard Yamanokuchi, Tsutomu Hinzman, Larry InSAR Detection and Field Evidence for Thermokarst after a Tundra Wildfire, Using ALOS-PALSAR |
topic_facet |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
description |
Thermokarst is the process of ground subsidence caused by either the thawing of ice-rich permafrost or the melting of massive ground ice. The consequences of permafrost degradation associated with thermokarst for surface ecology, landscape evolution, and hydrological processes have been of great scientific interest and social concern. Part of a tundra patch affected by wildfire in northern Alaska (27.5 km 2 ) was investigated here, using remote sensing and in situ surveys to quantify and understand permafrost thaw dynamics after surface disturbances. A two-pass differential InSAR technique using L-band ALOS-PALSAR has been shown capable of capturing thermokarst subsidence triggered by a tundra fire at a spatial resolution of tens of meters, with supporting evidence from field data and optical satellite images. We have introduced a calibration procedure, comparing burned and unburned areas for InSAR subsidence signals, to remove the noise due to seasonal surface movement. In the first year after the fire, an average subsidence rate of 6.2 cm/year (vertical) was measured. Subsidence in the burned area continued over the following two years, with decreased rates. The mean rate of subsidence observed in our interferograms (from 24 July 2008 to 14 September 2010) was 3.3 cm/year, a value comparable to that estimated from field surveys at two plots on average (2.2 cm/year) for the six years after the fire. These results suggest that this InSAR-measured ground subsidence is caused by the development of thermokarst, a thawing process supported by surface change observations from high-resolution optical images and in situ ground level surveys. |
author |
Iwahana, Go Uchida, Masao Liu, Lin Gong, Wenyu Meyer, Franz Guritz, Richard Yamanokuchi, Tsutomu Hinzman, Larry |
author_facet |
Iwahana, Go Uchida, Masao Liu, Lin Gong, Wenyu Meyer, Franz Guritz, Richard Yamanokuchi, Tsutomu Hinzman, Larry |
author_sort |
Iwahana, Go |
title |
InSAR Detection and Field Evidence for Thermokarst after a Tundra Wildfire, Using ALOS-PALSAR |
title_short |
InSAR Detection and Field Evidence for Thermokarst after a Tundra Wildfire, Using ALOS-PALSAR |
title_full |
InSAR Detection and Field Evidence for Thermokarst after a Tundra Wildfire, Using ALOS-PALSAR |
title_fullStr |
InSAR Detection and Field Evidence for Thermokarst after a Tundra Wildfire, Using ALOS-PALSAR |
title_full_unstemmed |
InSAR Detection and Field Evidence for Thermokarst after a Tundra Wildfire, Using ALOS-PALSAR |
title_sort |
insar detection and field evidence for thermokarst after a tundra wildfire, using alos-palsar |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1258631 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1258631 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8030218 |
genre |
Ice permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost Thermokarst Tundra Alaska |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1258631 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1258631 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8030218 doi:10.3390/rs8030218 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8030218 |
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Remote Sensing |
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8 |
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3 |
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218 |
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