Risks of cryogenic landslide hazards and their impact on ecosystems in cold environments

• Main Author: Lemenkova, Polina
• Other Authors: Ocean University of China (OUC), Finnish Center for International Mobility (CIMO), Finland. Grant reference: TM-10-7124.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: Image processing; Digital image analysis; Satellite image analysis; Satellite image interpretation; Landsat TM and ETM images; Landsat Imagery; Land cover and land use; Landscape Analysis; Land cover and land use changes; GIS & Spatial Analyses; GIS Data Modelling; Cartograhie; geo; envir; Yamal Peninsula; Bovanenkovo; permafrost; Tundra; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7435193.v1; https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.21380.68486; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01972867/file/Lemenkova_IRLA2014_Poster.pdf; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01972867

International audience Research area: The research area is geographically located on the Bovanenkovo region, the northwestern part of Yamal Peninsula, West Siberia, Russia. Yamal Peninsula is a flat homogeneous lowland region with low-lying plains of heights lower than 90m. Such geographic settings create specific local environmental conditions in the region. Thus, Yamal is the worlds largest high-latitude wetland system covering in total 900,000 km² of peatlands, complex system of wetlands, dense lake and river network. Typical for this region are seasonal flooding, active erosion processing, permafrost distribution and intensive local landslides. Dominating vegetation types are typical tundra species: heath, grasses, moss, and lichens), and woody plants (shrubs and willows. the main environmental problems of this region are climate change and active landsliding, which affect on the landscapes and cause changes in vegetation coverage, i.e. land cover types. Research problem: The specific environmental problem of Yamal region is cryogenic landslides. The processes of superficial cryogenic landslides are especially active in tundra. Distribution of the permafrost, which serves as a shear surface for sliding, highly contributes to the landslide formation in this area. Cryogenic landslides developed on the fine-grained, saline marine sediments are common destructive disastrous geomorphological hazards on the Yamal Peninsula covering ca 70% of the area). Methods: The research main method consists in Landsat TM image classification, spatial analysis and thematic mapping, technically performed in ILIWIS GIS software. The choice of Landsat scenes for land cover mapping is explained by their well-known advantages of application in geosciences and cartography, almost 40 year old history of the image record, and free availability. The images have a time span of 23 years: 1988 and 2011, taken in growing season, i.e. summer to early autumn, with clearly visible vegetation coverage.The research workflow.1. Data capture and ...