Detecting and Mapping Gas Emission Craters on the Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas, Western Siberia

Geosciences

Tiffany Windholz¹  Vladimir Olenchenko²  Alexey Faguet²  Zhiqiang Yang³  SusanM. Natali⁴  Greg Fiske⁴  Gabriel Duran⁴  Scott Zolkos⁴ 

[1] Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia;US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, Ogden, UT 84401, USA;Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, MA 02540, USA;

关键词: permafrost;    thermokarst;    landscape change;    remote sensing;    ArcticDEM;    Landsat;   

DOI  :  10.3390/geosciences11010021

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Rapid climate warming at northern high latitudes is driving geomorphic changes across the permafrost zone. In the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas in western Siberia, subterranean accumulation of methane beneath or within ice-rich permafrost can create mounds at the land surface. Once over-pressurized by methane, these mounds can explode and eject frozen ground, forming a gas emission crater (GEC). While GECs pose a hazard to human populations and infrastructure, only a small number have been identified in the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas, where the regional distribution and frequency of GECs and other types of land surface change are relatively unconstrained. To understand the distribution of landscape change within 327,000 km² of the Yamal-Gydan region, we developed a semi-automated multivariate change detection algorithm using satellite-derived surface reflectance, elevation, and water extent in the Google Earth Engine cloud computing platform. We found that 5% of the landscape changed from 1984 to 2017. The algorithm detected all seven GECs reported in the scientific literature and three new GEC-like features, and further revealed that retrogressive thaw slumps were more abundant than GECs. Our methodology can be refined to detect and better understand diverse types of land surface change and potentially mitigate risks across the northern permafrost zone.

【 授权许可】

Unknown