Monitoring Ground Surface Deformation of Ice-Wedge Polygon Areas in Saskylakh, NW Yakutia, Using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Google Earth Engine (GEE)

Wang, Wenhui; Jin, Huijun; Zhang, Ze; Zhelezniak, Mikhail N.; Spektor, Valentin V.; Șerban, Raul-David; Li, Anyuan; Tumskoy, Vladimir; Jin, Xiaoying; Yang, Suiqiao; Zhang, Shengrong; Li, Xiaoying; Șerban, Mihaela; Wu, Qingbai; Wen, Yanan

doi:10.3390/rs15051335

Open AccessArticle

Monitoring Ground Surface Deformation of Ice-Wedge Polygon Areas in Saskylakh, NW Yakutia, Using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Google Earth Engine (GEE)

by

Wenhui Wang

¹

,

Huijun Jin

^1,2,3,*

,

Ze Zhang

^1,†

,

Mikhail N. Zhelezniak

^4,†,

Valentin V. Spektor

⁴

,

Raul-David Șerban

^2,5

,

Anyuan Li

³,

Vladimir Tumskoy

⁴,

Xiaoying Jin

¹,

Suiqiao Yang

¹,

Shengrong Zhang

¹,

Xiaoying Li

¹,

Mihaela Șerban

⁶,

Qingbai Wu

²

and

Yanan Wen

⁷

¹

School of Civil Engineering, Permafrost Institute, and School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China

²

State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

³

School of Civil Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China

⁴

Melnikov Permafrost Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 677010 Yakutsk, Russia

⁵

Institute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, 39100 Bolzano, Italy

⁶

Applied Geomorphology and Interdisciplinary Research Centre, Department of Geography, West University of Timisoara, 300223 Timișoara, Romania

⁷

College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(5), 1335; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15051335

Submission received: 9 January 2023 / Revised: 14 February 2023 / Accepted: 23 February 2023 / Published: 27 February 2023

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Dynamic Permafrost Regions Ⅱ)

Download

Browse Figures

Review Reports Versions Notes

Abstract

As one of the best indicators of the periglacial environment, ice-wedge polygons (IWPs) are important for arctic landscapes, hydrology, engineering, and ecosystems. Thus, a better understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics and evolution of IWPs is key to evaluating the hydrothermal state and carbon budgets of the arctic permafrost environment. In this paper, the dynamics of ground surface deformation (GSD) in IWP zones (2018–2019) and their influencing factors over the last 20 years in Saskylakh, northwestern Yakutia, Russia were investigated using the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Google Earth Engine (GEE). The results show an annual ground surface deformation rate (AGSDR) in Saskylakh at −49.73 to 45.97 mm/a during the period from 1 June 2018 to 3 May 2019. All the selected GSD regions indicate that the relationship between GSD and land surface temperature (LST) is positive (upheaving) for regions with larger AGSDR, and negative (subsidence) for regions with lower AGSDR. The most drastic deformation was observed at the Aeroport regions with GSDs rates of −37.06 mm/a at tower and 35.45 mm/a at runway. The GSDs are negatively correlated with the LST of most low-centered polygons (LCPs) and high-centered polygons (HCPs). Specifically, the higher the vegetation cover, the higher the LST and the thicker the active layer. An evident permafrost degradation has been observed in Saskylakh as reflected in higher ground temperatures, lusher vegetation, greater active layer thickness, and fluctuant numbers and areal extents of thermokarst lakes and ponds.

Keywords: climate change; ice-wedge polygon (IWP); ground surface deformation (GSD); interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR); Google Earth Engine (GEE); Russian Arctic

Graphical Abstract

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Wang, W.; Jin, H.; Zhang, Z.; Zhelezniak, M.N.; Spektor, V.V.; Șerban, R.-D.; Li, A.; Tumskoy, V.; Jin, X.; Yang, S.; et al. Monitoring Ground Surface Deformation of Ice-Wedge Polygon Areas in Saskylakh, NW Yakutia, Using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Google Earth Engine (GEE). Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 1335. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15051335

AMA Style

Wang W, Jin H, Zhang Z, Zhelezniak MN, Spektor VV, Șerban R-D, Li A, Tumskoy V, Jin X, Yang S, et al. Monitoring Ground Surface Deformation of Ice-Wedge Polygon Areas in Saskylakh, NW Yakutia, Using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Google Earth Engine (GEE). Remote Sensing. 2023; 15(5):1335. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15051335

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wang, Wenhui, Huijun Jin, Ze Zhang, Mikhail N. Zhelezniak, Valentin V. Spektor, Raul-David Șerban, Anyuan Li, Vladimir Tumskoy, Xiaoying Jin, Suiqiao Yang, and et al. 2023. "Monitoring Ground Surface Deformation of Ice-Wedge Polygon Areas in Saskylakh, NW Yakutia, Using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Google Earth Engine (GEE)" Remote Sensing 15, no. 5: 1335. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15051335

APA Style

Wang, W., Jin, H., Zhang, Z., Zhelezniak, M. N., Spektor, V. V., Șerban, R.-D., Li, A., Tumskoy, V., Jin, X., Yang, S., Zhang, S., Li, X., Șerban, M., Wu, Q., & Wen, Y. (2023). Monitoring Ground Surface Deformation of Ice-Wedge Polygon Areas in Saskylakh, NW Yakutia, Using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Google Earth Engine (GEE). Remote Sensing, 15(5), 1335. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15051335

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Menu

Monitoring Ground Surface Deformation of Ice-Wedge Polygon Areas in Saskylakh, NW Yakutia, Using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Google Earth Engine (GEE)

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI