skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Geophysical estimation of shallow permafrost distribution and properties in an ice-wedge polygon-dominated Arctic tundra region

Journal Article · · Geophysics
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Shallow permafrost distribution and characteristics are important for predicting ecosystem feedbacks to a changing climate over decadal to century timescales because they can drive active layer deepening and land surface deformation, which in turn can significantly affect hydrologic and biogeochemical responses, including greenhouse gas dynamics. As part of the U.S. Department of Energy Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments- Arctic, we have investigated shallow Arctic permafrost characteristics at a site in Barrow, Alaska, with the objective of improving our understanding of the spatial distribution of shallow permafrost, its associated properties, and its links with landscape microtopography. To meet this objective, we have acquired and integrated a variety of information, including electric resistance tomography data, frequency-domain electromagnetic induction data, laboratory core analysis, petrophysical studies, high-resolution digital surface models, and color mosaics inferred from kite-based landscape imaging. The results of our study provide a comprehensive and high-resolution examination of the distribution and nature of shallow permafrost in the Arctic tundra, including the estimation of ice content, porosity, and salinity. Among other results, porosity in the top 2 m varied between 85% (besides ice wedges) and 40%, and was negatively correlated with fluid salinity. Salinity directly influenced ice and unfrozen water content and indirectly influenced the soil organic matter content. A relatively continuous but depth-variable increase in salinity led to a partially unfrozen saline layer (cryopeg) located below the top of the permafrost. The cryopeg environment could lead to year-round microbial production of greenhouse gases. Results also indicated a covariability between topography and permafrost characteristics including icewedge and salinity distribution. In addition to providing insight about the Arctic ecosystem, through integration of lab-based petrophysical results with field data, this study also quantified the key controls on electric resistivity at this Arctic permafrost site, including salinity, porosity, water content, ice content, soil organic matter content, and lithologic properties.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1563927
Journal Information:
Geophysics, Vol. 81, Issue 1; ISSN 0016-8033
Publisher:
Society of Exploration GeophysicistsCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 52 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (77)

The Electrical Resistivity Log as an Aid in Determining Some Reservoir Characteristics journal December 1942
Hydrologic and thermal properties of the active layer in the Alaskan Arctic journal May 1991
Microbiological analysis of cryopegs from the Varandei Peninsula, Barents Sea journal October 2007
Soil Organic Carbon Storage and Distribution in Arctic Tundra, Barrow, Alaska journal January 1999
An Arctic ecosystem : the coastal tundra at Barrow, Alaska book January 1980
Revised equation and table for determining the freezing point depression of H2O-Nacl solutions journal February 1993
Thaw Settlement in Soils of the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska journal August 2007
Frozen ground monitoring using DC resistivity tomography journal January 2002
An empirical equation to calculate soil solution electrical conductivity at 25°C from major ion concentrations journal November 2010
Low temperature dependence of electrical resistivity: Implications for near surface geophysical monitoring journal January 2007
Ground ice in the upper permafrost of the Beaufort Sea coast of Alaska journal January 2013
Electrical Conductivity Imaging of Active Layer and Permafrost in an Arctic Ecosystem, through Advanced Inversion of Electromagnetic Induction Data journal January 2013
Permafrost: changes and impacts book January 2001
Simultaneous 1D inversion of loop–loop electromagnetic data for magnetic susceptibility and electrical conductivity journal November 2003
Modeling sub-sea permafrost in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf: The Laptev Sea region: MODELING SUB-SEA PERMAFROST EVOLUTION journal September 2012
Use of environmental sensors and sensor networks to develop water and salinity budgets for seasonal wetland real-time water quality management journal September 2010
Novel halotolerant bacterium from cryopeg in permafrost: Description of Psychrobacter muriicola sp. nov. journal February 2009
Nature and distribution of frozen saline sediments on the Russian Arctic coast journal January 2002
Thermal and Narrowband Multispectral Remote Sensing for Vegetation Monitoring From an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle journal March 2009
Thermally induced movements in ice-wedge polygons, western arctic coast: a long-term study journal January 2000
Ground water in the permafrost regions of Alaska report January 1970
Strength of frozen saline soils journal April 1995
Biodiversity of cryopegs in permafrost journal June 2005
Spatial distribution of near surface soil moisture and its relationship to microtopography in the Alaskan Arctic coastal plain journal June 2005
Monitoring groundwater-surface water interaction using time-series and time-frequency analysis of transient three-dimensional electrical resistivity changes: ERT GROUNDWATER-SURFACE WATER INTERACTION MONITORING journal July 2012
Water phase transformations in frozen soil under the effect of cryopegs journal December 2011
Effects of unfrozen water on heat and mass transport processes in the active layer and permafrost journal January 2000
High spatial resolution data acquisition for the geosciences: kite aerial photography journal January 2009
Kite Aerial Photography for Low-Cost, Ultra-high Spatial Resolution Multi-Spectral Mapping of Intertidal Landscapes journal September 2013
Internal structure and conditions of permafrost mounds at Umiujaq in Nunavik, Canada, inferred from field investigation and electrical resistivity tomography journal March 2008
Novel psychrophilic anaerobic spore-forming bacterium from the overcooled water brine in permafrost: description Clostridium algoriphilum sp. nov. journal April 2005
Soil properties influencing apparent electrical conductivity: a review journal March 2005
Resilience and vulnerability of permafrost to climate changeThis article is one of a selection of papers from The Dynamics of Change in Alaska’s Boreal Forests: Resilience and Vulnerability in Response to Climate Warming. journal July 2010
Electrical conductivity in shaly sands with geophysical applications journal October 1998
Characterizing soil spatial variability with apparent soil electrical conductivity journal March 2005
Predicting Carbon Storage in Tundra Soils of Arctic Alaska journal January 2003
Methane and carbon dioxide content in eroding permafrost soils along the Beaufort Sea coast, Alaska journal January 2011
Surface hydrology of an arctic ecosystem: Multiscale analysis of a flooding and draining experiment using spectral reflectance journal January 2011
Detection of subsurface permafrost features with ground-penetrating radar, Barrow, Alaska journal January 2001
Estimated stocks of circumpolar permafrost carbon with quantified uncertainty ranges and identified data gaps journal January 2014
Freezing point depression of NaCl-KCl-H 2 O solutions journal February 1988
Time-lapse three-dimensional inversion of complex conductivity data using an active time constrained (ATC) approach: Time-lapse complex conductivity imaging journal August 2011
High spatial resolution three-dimensional mapping of vegetation spectral dynamics using computer vision journal September 2013
The relationship of total dissolved solids measurements to bulk electrical conductivity in an aquifer contaminated with hydrocarbon journal November 2004
Temperature-calibrated imaging of seasonal changes in permafrost rock walls by quantitative electrical resistivity tomography (Zugspitze, German/Austrian Alps): QUANTITATIVE ERT OF PERMAFROST ROCKS journal April 2010
The effects of noise on Occam’s inversion of resistivity tomography data journal March 1996
Effect of physical properties of frozen ground on electrical resistivity logging journal June 1994
Remote Monitoring of Freeze–Thaw Transitions in Arctic Soils Using the Complex Resistivity Method journal January 2013
Coastal region of northern Alaska, guidebook to permafrost and related features report September 2011
A new method of calculating electrical conductivity with applications to natural waters journal January 2012
Freezing point depression of aqueous sodium chloride solutions journal April 1978
Distribution of saline permafrost in the Northwest Territories, Canada journal June 1993
Comparison of geophysical investigations for detection of massive ground ice (pingo ice) journal January 2006
Climate–Carbon Cycle Feedback Analysis: Results from the C 4 MIP Model Intercomparison journal July 2006
Contribution of permafrost soils to the global carbon budget journal February 2013
Quantifying and relating land-surface and subsurface variability in permafrost environments using LiDAR and surface geophysical datasets journal December 2012
Permafrost carbon-climate feedbacks accelerate global warming journal August 2011
Permafrost features as evidence of climatic change journal April 1980
Decadal variations of active-layer thickness in moisture-controlled landscapes, Barrow, Alaska journal January 2010
High stocks of soil organic carbon in the North American Arctic region journal August 2008
Evidence and Implications of Recent Climate Change in Northern Alaska and Other Arctic Regions journal October 2005
Spatial and temporal patterns of active layer thickness at Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) sites in northern Alaska, 1995–2000 journal January 2003
DC Resistivity and Induced Polarization Methods book January 2005
Distribution and activity of ice wedges across the forest-tundra transition, western Arctic Canada: Ice wedges across tree line journal September 2014
Determination of Carbonate and Organic Matter in Calcareous Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks by Loss on Ignition: Comparison With Other Methods journal January 1974
Modeling sub-sea permafrost in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf: the Dmitry Laptev Strait journal January 2010
Geoelectric observations of the degradation of nearshore submarine permafrost at Barrow (Alaskan Beaufort Sea): GEOELECTRIC RESISTIVITY OF SUBSEA PERMAFROST journal April 2012
Temperature-Electrical Conductivity Relation of Water for Environmental Monitoring and Geophysical Data Inversion journal August 2004
Straightforward reconstruction of 3D surfaces and topography with a camera: Accuracy and geoscience application: 3D SURFACES AND TOPOGRAPHY WITH A CAMERA journal August 2012
Lateglacial and Holocene isotopic and environmental history of northern coastal Alaska – Results from a buried ice-wedge system at Barrow journal December 2010
Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region: SOIL ORGANIC CARBON POOLS journal June 2009
Importance of Cryoturbation in Redistributing Organic Carbon in Permafrost-Affected Soils journal January 2007
Ground-Ice Wedges: The Dominant Form of Ground-Ice on the North Coast of Alaska journal October 1915
Distribution of saline permafrost in the Northwest Territories, Canada : Hivon, E G; Sego, D C Can Geotech JV30, N3, June 1993, P506–514 journal April 1994
Predicting Carbon Storage in Tundra Soils of Arctic Alaska journal May 2003
Contribution of permafrost soils to the global carbon budget other January 2013
Characterizing soil spatial variability with apparent soil electrical conductivity journal March 2005

Cited By (10)

Three-Dimensional Electrical Conductivity and Induced Polarization Tomography of a Rock Glacier journal November 2018
Landscape topography structures the soil microbiome in arctic polygonal tundra journal February 2018
Permafrost Degradation and Subsidence Observations during a Controlled Warming Experiment journal July 2018
Glacial seismology journal November 2017
Monitoring changes in unfrozen water content with electrical resistivity surveys in cold continuous permafrost journal August 2018
Quantitative imaging of water, ice and air in permafrost systems through petrophysical joint inversion of seismic refraction and electrical resistivity data journal September 2019
Deep Convolutional Neural Networks for Automated Characterization of Arctic Ice-Wedge Polygons in Very High Spatial Resolution Aerial Imagery journal September 2018
Modeling the spatiotemporal variability in subsurface thermal regimes across a low-relief polygonal tundra landscape journal January 2016
Mapping snow depth within a tundra ecosystem using multiscale observations and Bayesian methods journal January 2017
A distributed temperature profiling method for assessing spatial variability in ground temperatures in a discontinuous permafrost region of Alaska journal January 2019

Similar Records

Spatially Averaged Ice Contents of Ice-Wedge Polygon Cross-Sections to 3-m Depth, July 2013, Utqiagvik, Alaska
Dataset · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2022 · OSTI ID:1563927
+3 more
Coupled land surface–subsurface hydrogeophysical inverse modeling to estimate soil organic carbon content and explore associated hydrological and thermal dynamics in the Arctic tundra
Journal Article · Wed Sep 06 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · The Cryosphere (Online) · OSTI ID:1563927
Modeling the Spatio-Temporal Variability in Subsurface Thermal Regimes Across a Low-Relief Polygonal Tundra Landscape: Modeling Archive
Dataset · Fri Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · OSTI ID:1563927
+4 more

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES