Seasonal thaw settlement at drained thermokarst lake basins, Arctic Alaska

Abstract. Drained thermokarst lake basins (DTLBs) are ubiquitous landforms on arctic tundra lowlands, but their present-day dynamic states are seldom investigated. Here we report results based on high-resolution Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) measurements using space-borne data for a study area located near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska where we focus on the seasonal thaw settlement within DTLBs, averaged between 2006 and 2010. The majority (14) of the 18 DTLBs in the study area analyzed exhibited seasonal thaw settlement of 3–4 cm. However, four of the DTLBs analyzed exceeded 4 cm of thaw settlement, with one basin experiencing up to 12 cm. Combining the InSAR observations with the in situ active layer thickness measured using ground penetrating radar and mechanical probing, we calculated thaw strain, an index of thaw settlement strength along a transect across the basin that underwent large thaw settlement. We found thaw strains of 10–35% at the basin center, suggesting the seasonal melting of ground ice as a possible mechanism for the large settlement. These findings emphasize the dynamic nature of permafrost landforms, demonstrate the capability of the InSAR technique to remotely monitor surface deformation of individual DTLBs, and illustrate the combination of ground-based and remote sensing observations to estimate thaw strain. Our study highlights the need for better description of the spatial heterogeneity of landscape-scale processes for regional assessment of surface dynamics on arctic coastal lowlands.

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Seasonal thaw settlement at drained thermokarst lake basins, Arctic Alaska

The Cryosphere ◽

10.5194/tc-8-815-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 815-826 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

L. Liu ◽

K. Schaefer ◽

A. Gusmeroli ◽

G. Grosse ◽

B. M. Jones ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Surface Deformation ◽

Active Layer Thickness ◽

Surface Dynamics ◽

Thermokarst Lake ◽

The North ◽

Arctic Alaska ◽

North Slope Of Alaska ◽

Thaw Settlement ◽

Ground Penetrating ◽

Lake Basins

Abstract. Drained thermokarst lake basins (DTLBs) are ubiquitous landforms on Arctic tundra lowland. Their dynamic states are seldom investigated, despite their importance for landscape stability, hydrology, nutrient fluxes, and carbon cycling. Here we report results based on high-resolution Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) measurements using space-borne data for a study area located on the North Slope of Alaska near Prudhoe Bay, where we focus on the seasonal thaw settlement within DTLBs, averaged between 2006 and 2010. The majority (14) of the 18 DTLBs in the study area exhibited seasonal thaw settlement of 3–4 cm. However, four of the DTLBs examined exceeded 4 cm of thaw settlement, with one basin experiencing up to 12 cm. Combining the InSAR observations with the in situ active layer thickness measured using ground penetrating radar and mechanical probing, we calculated thaw strain, an index of thaw settlement strength along a transect across the basin that underwent large thaw settlement. We found thaw strains of 10–35% at the basin center, suggesting the seasonal melting of ground ice as a possible mechanism for the large settlement. These findings emphasize the dynamic nature of permafrost landforms, demonstrate the capability of the InSAR technique to remotely monitor surface deformation of individual DTLBs, and illustrate the combination of ground-based and remote sensing observations to estimate thaw strain. Our study highlights the need for better description of the spatial heterogeneity of landscape-scale processes for regional assessment of surface dynamics on Arctic coastal lowlands.

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Accumulation of Excess Ground Ice in an Age Sequence of Drained Thermokarst Lake Basins, Arctic Alaska

Permafrost and Periglacial Processes ◽

10.1002/ppp.1745 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 231-236 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

J. G. Bockheim ◽

K. M. Hinkel

Keyword(s):

Ground Ice ◽

Thermokarst Lake ◽

Arctic Alaska ◽

Age Sequence ◽

Lake Basins

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Mapping snow depth within a tundra ecosystem using multiscale observations and Bayesian methods

The Cryosphere ◽

10.5194/tc-11-857-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 857-875 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Haruko M. Wainwright ◽

Anna K. Liljedahl ◽

Baptiste Dafflon ◽

Craig Ulrich ◽

John E. Peterson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Precision ◽

Snow Depth ◽

Spatial Sampling ◽

Arctic Alaska ◽

Winter Snow ◽

Digital Elevation ◽

Tundra Ecosystem ◽

Ice Wedge ◽

Ground Penetrating

Abstract. This paper compares and integrates different strategies to characterize the variability of end-of-winter snow depth and its relationship to topography in ice-wedge polygon tundra of Arctic Alaska. Snow depth was measured using in situ snow depth probes and estimated using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys and the photogrammetric detection and ranging (phodar) technique with an unmanned aerial system (UAS). We found that GPR data provided high-precision estimates of snow depth (RMSE  =  2.9 cm), with a spatial sampling of 10 cm along transects. Phodar-based approaches provided snow depth estimates in a less laborious manner compared to GPR and probing, while yielding a high precision (RMSE  =  6.0 cm) and a fine spatial sampling (4 cm × 4 cm). We then investigated the spatial variability of snow depth and its correlation to micro- and macrotopography using the snow-free lidar digital elevation map (DEM) and the wavelet approach. We found that the end-of-winter snow depth was highly variable over short (several meter) distances, and the variability was correlated with microtopography. Microtopographic lows (i.e., troughs and centers of low-centered polygons) were filled in with snow, which resulted in a smooth and even snow surface following macrotopography. We developed and implemented a Bayesian approach to integrate the snow-free lidar DEM and multiscale measurements (probe and GPR) as well as the topographic correlation for estimating snow depth over the landscape. Our approach led to high-precision estimates of snow depth (RMSE  =  6.0 cm), at 0.5 m resolution and over the lidar domain (750 m × 700 m).

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An Automatic Processing Framework for In Situ Determination of Ecohydrological Root Water Content by Ground-Penetrating Radar

IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing ◽

10.1109/tgrs.2021.3065066 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Xinbo Liu ◽

Li Guo ◽

Xihong Cui ◽

John R. Butnor ◽

Elizabeth W. Boyer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Content ◽

Ground Penetrating Radar ◽

Automatic Processing ◽

Ground Penetrating ◽

Processing Framework

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Combined in-situ and Persistent Scatterers Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar (PSInSAR) monitoring of land surface deformation in urban environments - case study: tunnelling works in Bucharest (Romania)

International Journal of Remote Sensing ◽

10.1080/01431161.2020.1857876 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 42 (7) ◽

pp. 2641-2662

Author(s):

Mohamed Amine Boukhemacha ◽

Delia Teleaga ◽

Manole-Stelian Serbulea ◽

Valentin Poncos ◽

Irina Serpescu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Synthetic Aperture Radar ◽

Land Surface ◽

Surface Deformation ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Synthetic Aperture ◽

Persistent Scatterers ◽

Aperture Radar

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In Situ Video-STM Study of Adlayer Structure and Surface Dynamics at the Ionic Liquid/Au (111) Interface

The Journal of Physical Chemistry C ◽

10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b11590 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 120 (29) ◽

pp. 15765-15771 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Rui Wen ◽

Björn Rahn ◽

Olaf. M. Magnussen

Keyword(s):

Ionic Liquid ◽

Surface Dynamics

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Identifying Spatial and Temporal Variations in Concrete Bridges with Ground Penetrating Radar Attributes

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13091846 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 1846

Author(s):

Vivek Kumar ◽

Isabel M. Morris ◽

Santiago A. Lopez ◽

Branko Glisic

Keyword(s):

Compressive Strength ◽

Ground Penetrating Radar ◽

Material Properties ◽

Temporal Variations ◽

Concrete Bridges ◽

Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽

Reflected Waves ◽

Ground Penetrating ◽

Over Time

Estimating variations in material properties over space and time is essential for the purposes of structural health monitoring (SHM), mandated inspection, and insurance of civil infrastructure. Properties such as compressive strength evolve over time and are reflective of the overall condition of the aging infrastructure. Concrete structures pose an additional challenge due to the inherent spatial variability of material properties over large length scales. In recent years, nondestructive approaches such as rebound hammer and ultrasonic velocity have been used to determine the in situ material properties of concrete with a focus on the compressive strength. However, these methods require personnel expertise, careful data collection, and high investment. This paper presents a novel approach using ground penetrating radar (GPR) to estimate the variability of in situ material properties over time and space for assessment of concrete bridges. The results show that attributes (or features) of the GPR data such as raw average amplitudes can be used to identify differences in compressive strength across the deck of a concrete bridge. Attributes such as instantaneous amplitudes and intensity of reflected waves are useful in predicting the material properties such as compressive strength, porosity, and density. For compressive strength, one alternative approach of the Maturity Index (MI) was used to estimate the present values and compare with GPR estimated values. The results show that GPR attributes could be successfully used for identifying spatial and temporal variation of concrete properties. Finally, discussions are presented regarding their suitability and limitations for field applications.

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