Abstract
Abstract. Widespread thawing of permafrost in the northern Eurasian continent causes severe problems for infrastructure and global climate. We test the potential of Sentinel-1 SAR imagery to enhance detection of permafrost surface changes in the Siberian lowlands of the northern Eurasian continent at the Yamal peninsula site. We used InSAR time-series technique to detect seasonal surface movements related to permafrost active layer changes. The satellite InSAR time-series analysis has detected continuous movements, subsidence in three zones, which have occurred during the time period from 2017 to 2018. Observed subsidence zones show up to 180 mm yr−1 rates of seasonal active layers changes. These seasonal ground displacement patterns align well with lithology and linked to anthropogenic impact on the permafrost surface changes in the area. The results show that Sentinel-1 mission is of great importance for the longer-term monitoring of active layer thickening in permafrost regions. The combined analyses of the obtained InSAR time series with additional field observations may support regular process monitoring as part of a global warming risk assessment.
Highlights
Widespread thawing of permafrost, by present and future climate warming, has potentially huge impacts on natural environments, global climate, and human activities in the Arctic
The feedbacks of permafrost change on climate, such the Arctic carbon feedback and changes in land surface characteristics still require better quantification (Schuur et al, 2015). This is a scientific challenge, which calls for innovative methods to detect and quantify permafrost change over large areas
We focus on an area of recent, early 2014, discovery of crater on the Yamal Peninsula of the Western Siberia in Russia (Kizyakov et al, 2017; Leibman et al, 2014; Olenchenko et al, 2015)
Summary
Widespread thawing of permafrost, by present and future climate warming, has potentially huge impacts on natural environments, global climate, and human activities in the Arctic. Ice-rich permafrost thaw readily due to climate change and human activity causing soil subsidence and have a devastating effect on infrastructure (French, 2017; Hjort et al, 2018; Nauta et al, 2015). This is a scientific challenge, which calls for innovative methods to detect and quantify permafrost change over large areas.
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