| Title | Implementing remote sensing tools to examine permafrost dynamics and impacts to infrastructure |
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| Author | Kokelj, S V; van der Sluijs, J; Fraser, R H ; Tunnicliffe, J; Lantz, T C; Rudy, A C A; Lamoureux, S F; Rusk, B; Morse, P D |
| Source | 2017 Yellowknife Geoscience Forum, abstract and summary volume; Northwest Territories Geological Survey, Yellowknife Geoscience Forum Abstract and Summary Volume 2017, 2017 p. 40-41  Open Access |
| Links | Online - En ligne (complete volume -
volume complet)
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| Image |  |
| Year | 2017 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20180067 |
| Publisher | Northwest Territories Geological Survey |
| Meeting | 45th Annual Yellowknife Geoscience Forum; Yellowknife, NT; CA; November 14-16, 2017 |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Subjects | environmental geology; surficial geology/geomorphology; geophysics; engineering geology; Nature and Environment; remote sensing; satellite imagery; LANDSAT; permafrost; landslides; slumps; displacement;
flow regimes; slope failures; sediment transport; sediment dispersal; climate; digital terrain modelling; ground temperatures; ground ice; drainage systems; morphology; mapping techniques; Climate change; permafrost thaw; Community infrastructures;
Northern studies; monitoring; Methodology |
| Program | Climate Change
Geoscience Permafrost |
| Released | 2017 01 01 |
| Abstract | Climate-driven thaw is altering permafrost landscapes and increasing the stresses on northern infrastructure and communities. The rapid rates of change have heightened the need for monitoring and
research tools that are cost-effective, flexible, and that can accommodate timely acquisition of imagery at site-specific and regional scales. Emerging remote sensing tools and spatial analysis techniques are advancing site investigations and terrain
mapping studies. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have been implemented to study fine-scale permafrost dynamics and infrastructure impacts. UAS methods were used to assess the volume of materials displaced by thaw slumps, and to quantify earth flow
dynamics and the displacement of road embankments. These studies were accomplished by deriving high-resolution digital terrain models and implementing image correlation techniques from repeat surveys. These results provide new information on modes of
slope failure, geotechnical behaviour of materials, and mechanisms of downslope sediment transfer. Along the Dempster Highway, UAS were used to monitor uplift or settlement associated with the development or degradation of injection ice. The surveys
combined with active layer and ground temperature data and road maintenance records provide information on the processes of ice accumulation and icing development adjacent to northern roads. UAS can also be used to monitor the evolution of
anthropogenic disturbances such as borrow pits. Repeat UAS surveys were conducted to derive digital terrain models of borrow pits for regulatory monitoring and to inform possible mitigations. These monitoring products are shown to effectively track
thaw-related impacts, drainage pathways, downslope sedimentary linkages, ice features and landscape morphology. These process-oriented studies and infrastructure monitoring activities are contextualised by regional-scale terrain mapping using LiDAR
and high-resolution satellite imagery. Terrain mapping is improved through field validation exercises and the development of standard keys for interpreting landscape forms and processes. The increasing availability of high-resolution imagery and
interests in permafrost landscape change are yielding a growing number of spatial datasets, which describe patterns of landscape change, geohazards and permafrost geomorphic characteristics. These fine- to medium-scale mapping products and associated
field investigations can be used to validate coarse-resolution Landsat derived change products which are valuable tools for monitoring landscape change and assessing spatial patterns and downstream effects. Integrating multi-scale remote sensing
approaches has been useful in linking a process-based understanding of thaw-driven impacts with broad-scale permafrost landscape change. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
Climate-driven thaw is altering permafrost landscapes and increasing the stresses on northern infrastructure and communities. The rapid rates of change
increase the need for monitoring and research tools that are cost-effective, flexible, and that can accommodate timely acquisition of imagery at site-specific and regional scales. Emerging remote sensing tools and spatial analysis techniques are
advancing site investigations and terrain mapping studies. An approach, combining analyses of satellite images in combination with new data products from Unmanned Aircraft Systems and field investigations, is being developed collaboratively to
improve processed-based understanding of thaw-driven impacts with broad-scale permafrost-landscape change. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 308271 |
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