Using Ground Penetrating Radar for Permafrost Monitoring from 2015–2017 at CALM Sites in the Pechora River Delta

Maria Sudakova,Andrei Tsarev,Marat Sadurtdinov,Andrei Skvortsov,Galina Malkova,Vladimir Romanovsky,Nadezda Molokitina

doi:10.3390/rs13163271

Abstract

This paper describes the results of ground penetrating radar (GPR) research combined with geocryological data collected from the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) testing sites in Kashin and Kumzha in August 2015, 2016, and 2017. The study area was located on the Pechora River delta. Both sites were composed of sandy ground and the permafrost depth at the different sites ranged from 20 cm to 8–9 m. The combination of optimum offset and multifold GPR methods showed promising results in these investigations of sandy permafrost geological profiles. According to direct and indirect observations after the abnormally warm conditions in 2016, the thickness and water content of the active layer in 2017 almost returned to the values in 2015 in the Kashin area. In contrast, the lowering of the permafrost table continued at Kumzha, and lenses of thin frozen rocks that were observed in the thawed layer in August of 2015 and 2017 were absent in 2016. According to recent geocryological and geophysical observations, increasing permafrost degradation might be occurring in the Pechora River delta due to the instability of the thermal state of the permafrost.

Highlights

The problem of global climate change has caused much concern worldwide
This paper considers the application of the ground penetrating radar (GPR) technique combined with geocryological data collected from the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) sites in 2015, 2016, and 2017 on the island of Kashin
The top of the permafrost ranges from depths of 30 cm to 8–9 m, and the reflections were visible according to the GPR data collected with a 300 MHz antenna

Summary

Introduction

The problem of global climate change has caused much concern worldwide. It is not trivial to estimate and predict the influence of climate change on the planet, and the combination of climatology, glaciology, oceanography, geomorphology, and geocryology knowledge is necessary to address this issue. Permafrost is a complicated multicomponent system that is ambiguously reactive to climate change [1]. The possibility of understanding the processes in permafrost areas and assessing the effects of a changing atmosphere on them may be accomplished by long-term monitoring. The upper part of the near surface, known as the active layer, is the most sensitive to climate change and human impacts [2]. The active layer thickness (ALT) and average temperature range in permafrost regions have been the subjects of geocryological monitoring and research in the context of geocryological forecasting [3,4]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion