C016-03
Estimating permafrost thickness in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta using LIDAR

Tuesday, 8 December 2020: 07:08
Virtual
Kevin M Schaefer1, Richard H Chen2, Gerald V Frost Jr3, Roger J Michaelides4, Mahta Moghaddam5, Andy Parsekian6, Taylor D Sullivan6 and Howard A Zebker7, (1)National Snow and Ice Data Center, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (3)Stockholm University, Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm, Sweden, (4)Stanford University, Geophysics, Stanford, CA, United States, (5)University of Southern California, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (6)University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, United States, (7)Stanford Univ, Stanford, CA, United States
Recorded Presentation
Abstract:
The thickness of the permafrost layer remains difficult to measure, yet is a key parameter on the status of permafrost. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region in southwest Alaska consists of raised peat plateaus separated by sunken thermokarst wetlands in the discontinuous permafrost zone. In situ measurements indicate permafrost occurs under the peat plateaus, causing them to heave up, but not in the sunken wetlands. Because soil expands when frozen, the height of the peat plateaus relative to the surrounding wetlands represents a measure of the thickness of the permafrost layer under the peat. We use LIDAR measurements of surface height from IceSat-2 to measure the height of individual peat plateaus. We then use the frozen soil expansion model from the Remotely Sensed Active Layer Thickness (ReSALT) algorithm to estimate permafrost thickness. We correlate the results with Active Layer Thickness (ALT) and soil moisture measured using L-band and P-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), both satellite and airborne, collected as part of NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). Preliminary results indicate the height of the peat plateaus vary from 2-6 meters above the wetlands, indicating permafrost extends down to depths of 50-150 meters.
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