Abstract
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 km2) 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.
Highlights
The development of thermokarst in ice-rich permafrost regions is a natural hazard, causing irreversible geomorphic changes [1]
Small and spatially uniform surface displacement patterns are observed in two Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) pairs before fire
Small and spatially uniform surface displacement patterns are observed in two InSAR pairs in other InSAR pairs (Figure 3c–e), with marked signals of surface displacement inside the fire scar
Summary
The development of thermokarst in ice-rich permafrost regions is a natural hazard, causing irreversible geomorphic changes [1]. Thermokarst is the process by which characteristic landforms result from either the thawing of ice-rich permafrost or the melting of massive ice [2]. The formation of large depressions and lakes or swamps produced by thermokarst processes is observed in discontinuous and continuous permafrost zones, especially in Alaska and Northeastern Siberia. These regions are often underlain by highly ice-rich permafrost, known as Yedoma ice-complex (Yedoma). Yedoma is a unique Quaternary permafrost deposit, consisting of excessive amounts of ground ice (50%–90% in volume) and organic-rich sediments [3]. Permafrost degradation caused by Remote Sens. 2016, 8, 218; doi:10.3390/rs8030218 www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing
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