Top-of-permafrost ground ice indicated by remotely sensed late-season subsidence
Ground ice is foundational to the integrity of Arctic ecosystems and infrastructure. However, we lack fine-scale ground ice maps across almost the entire Arctic, chiefly because there is no established method for mapping ice-rich permafrost from space. Here, we assess whether remotely sensed late-se...
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Copernicus Publications
2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2041-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2041/2021/tc-15-2041-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d7268d9b4cf44c54b1966962fec1fee7 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:d7268d9b4cf44c54b1966962fec1fee7 2023-05-15T14:55:54+02:00 Top-of-permafrost ground ice indicated by remotely sensed late-season subsidence S. Zwieback F. J. Meyer 2021-04-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2041-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2041/2021/tc-15-2041-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d7268d9b4cf44c54b1966962fec1fee7 en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-15-2041-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2041/2021/tc-15-2041-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d7268d9b4cf44c54b1966962fec1fee7 undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 2041-2055 (2021) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2021 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2041-2021 2023-01-22T19:36:35Z Ground ice is foundational to the integrity of Arctic ecosystems and infrastructure. However, we lack fine-scale ground ice maps across almost the entire Arctic, chiefly because there is no established method for mapping ice-rich permafrost from space. Here, we assess whether remotely sensed late-season subsidence can be used to identify ice-rich permafrost. The idea is that, towards the end of an exceptionally warm summer, the thaw front can penetrate materials that were previously perennially frozen, triggering increased subsidence if they are ice rich. Focusing on northwestern Alaska, we test the idea by comparing the Sentinel-1 Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) late-season subsidence observations to permafrost cores and an independently derived ground ice classification. We find that the late-season subsidence in an exceptionally warm summer was 4–8 cm (5th–95th percentiles) in the ice-rich areas, while it was low in ice-poor areas (−1 to 2 cm; 5th–95th percentiles). The distributions of the late-season subsidence overlapped by 2 %, demonstrating high sensitivity and specificity for identifying top-of-permafrost excess ground ice. The strengths of late-season subsidence include the ease of automation and its applicability to areas that lack conspicuous manifestations of ground ice, as often occurs on hillslopes. One limitation is that it is not sensitive to excess ground ice below the thaw front and thus the total ice content. Late-season subsidence can enhance the automated mapping of permafrost ground ice, complementing existing (predominantly non-automated) approaches based on largely indirect associations with vegetation and periglacial landforms. Thanks to its suitability for mapping ice-rich permafrost, satellite-observed late-season subsidence can make a vital contribution to anticipating terrain instability in the Arctic and sustainably stewarding its ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Ice permafrost The Cryosphere Alaska Unknown Arctic The Sentinel ENVELOPE(73.317,73.317,-52.983,-52.983) The Cryosphere 15 4 2041 2055 |
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English |
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geo envir S. Zwieback F. J. Meyer Top-of-permafrost ground ice indicated by remotely sensed late-season subsidence |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
Ground ice is foundational to the integrity of Arctic ecosystems and infrastructure. However, we lack fine-scale ground ice maps across almost the entire Arctic, chiefly because there is no established method for mapping ice-rich permafrost from space. Here, we assess whether remotely sensed late-season subsidence can be used to identify ice-rich permafrost. The idea is that, towards the end of an exceptionally warm summer, the thaw front can penetrate materials that were previously perennially frozen, triggering increased subsidence if they are ice rich. Focusing on northwestern Alaska, we test the idea by comparing the Sentinel-1 Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) late-season subsidence observations to permafrost cores and an independently derived ground ice classification. We find that the late-season subsidence in an exceptionally warm summer was 4–8 cm (5th–95th percentiles) in the ice-rich areas, while it was low in ice-poor areas (−1 to 2 cm; 5th–95th percentiles). The distributions of the late-season subsidence overlapped by 2 %, demonstrating high sensitivity and specificity for identifying top-of-permafrost excess ground ice. The strengths of late-season subsidence include the ease of automation and its applicability to areas that lack conspicuous manifestations of ground ice, as often occurs on hillslopes. One limitation is that it is not sensitive to excess ground ice below the thaw front and thus the total ice content. Late-season subsidence can enhance the automated mapping of permafrost ground ice, complementing existing (predominantly non-automated) approaches based on largely indirect associations with vegetation and periglacial landforms. Thanks to its suitability for mapping ice-rich permafrost, satellite-observed late-season subsidence can make a vital contribution to anticipating terrain instability in the Arctic and sustainably stewarding its ecosystems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
S. Zwieback F. J. Meyer |
author_facet |
S. Zwieback F. J. Meyer |
author_sort |
S. Zwieback |
title |
Top-of-permafrost ground ice indicated by remotely sensed late-season subsidence |
title_short |
Top-of-permafrost ground ice indicated by remotely sensed late-season subsidence |
title_full |
Top-of-permafrost ground ice indicated by remotely sensed late-season subsidence |
title_fullStr |
Top-of-permafrost ground ice indicated by remotely sensed late-season subsidence |
title_full_unstemmed |
Top-of-permafrost ground ice indicated by remotely sensed late-season subsidence |
title_sort |
top-of-permafrost ground ice indicated by remotely sensed late-season subsidence |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2041-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2041/2021/tc-15-2041-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d7268d9b4cf44c54b1966962fec1fee7 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(73.317,73.317,-52.983,-52.983) |
geographic |
Arctic The Sentinel |
geographic_facet |
Arctic The Sentinel |
genre |
Arctic Ice permafrost The Cryosphere Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Ice permafrost The Cryosphere Alaska |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 2041-2055 (2021) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-15-2041-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/2041/2021/tc-15-2041-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/d7268d9b4cf44c54b1966962fec1fee7 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2041-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
2041 |
op_container_end_page |
2055 |
_version_ |
1766327915187798016 |