Patterns and rates of soil movement and shallow failures across several small watersheds on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska

Rowland, J. C.; Vecchio, Joanmarie Del; Glade, Rachel C.; Fratkin, Mulu; Lathrop, E.; Zwieback, Simon

doi:10.5194/esurf-2022-43

Cited by 4 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…The binned drainage areas of highest displacement derived from InSAR overlap with the drainage areas of the UAV‐mapped tundra disturbances at the Teller 47 site (Del Vecchio et al., 2023), although in general hillslopes are less steep than the mapped failures at the Teller 47 site.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Drainage areas consistent with water tracks in the planform view of the landscape (Figure 3) are highlighted. Slope‐area information shown from Teller 47 hillslope failures (red “ x ” markers) (Del Vecchio et al., 2023) and manually mapped channel heads (black square markers). (b) Median long‐wavelength curvatures for each drainage area bin demonstrate transition between convex (negative curvatures) and concave (positive curvatures) landscape positions versus displacement.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We compared satellite‐derived measures of surface displacement to topographic metrics to show that certain slope‐area regimes underwent more topographic change than others, and we compared our findings in this study to previous field observations of discrete slope failures (Del Vecchio et al., 2023). We find that the water track regime underwent more topographic change from 2014 to 2017 than the hillslope or fluvial regimes in the same landscape, but these landscape positions are likely not experiencing the discrete slope failures observed in steeper landscape positions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… Site locations on the Seward Peninsula, western Alaska. (a) A regional slopeshade map showing the location of the Teller 47 watershed site (Del Vecchio et al., 2023) as well as the nearby hillslopes used in the current analyses. The glaciated Kigluaik Mountains are to the southeast of the study area.…”

Section: Site Description and Prior Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In temperate climates, soil diffusivity has limited dependence on mean annual temperature (MAT) (Hurst et al., 2013; Perron, 2017); however, field and experimental data indicate higher soil transport rates in permafrost landscapes that are further amplified by warming (Del Vecchio et al., 2023; Harris et al., 1997; Matsuoka, 2001). During cold periods, significant shear may occur at the base of the active layer where liquid water persists in the pore space at ground temperatures slightly below 0°C (Lewkowicz & Clarke, 1998; Shur et al., 2005), with instantaneous shear rates up to one order of magnitude higher than shear measured in temperate soils (Carson & Kirkby, 1972).…”

Section: Background: Hillslope‐channel Interactions In Permafrost Lan...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hillslope‐Channel Transitions and the Role of Water Tracks in a Changing Permafrost Landscape

Del Vecchio,

Zwieback,

Rowland

et al. 2023

JGR Earth Surface

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The Arctic is experiencing rapid climate change, and the effect on hydrologic processes and resulting geomorphic changes to hillslopes and channels is unclear because we lack quantitative models and theory for rapid changes resulting from thawing permafrost. The presence of permafrost modulates water flow and the stability of soil‐mantled slopes, implying there should be a signature of permafrost processes, including warming‐driven disturbance, in channel network extent. To inform understanding of hillslope‐channel dynamics under changing climates, we examined soil‐mantled hillslopes within a ∼300 km2 area of the Seward Peninsula, western Alaska, where discontinuous permafrost is particularly susceptible to thaw and rapid landscape change. In this study we pair high‐resolution topographic and satellite data to multi‐annual observations of InSAR‐derived surface displacement over a five‐year period to quantify spatial variations in topographic change across an upland landscape. We find that neither basin slope nor the presence of knickzones controls the magnitude of recent surface displacements within the study basin, as may be expected under conceptual models of temperate hillslope evolution. Rather, the highest displacement magnitudes tended to occur at the broad hillslope‐channel transition zone. In this study area this zone is occupied by water tracks which are zero‐order ecogeomorphic features that concentrate surface and subsurface flow paths. Our results suggest that water tracks, which appear to occupy hillslope positions between saturation and incision thresholds, are vulnerable to warming‐induced subsidence and incision. We hypothesize that gullying within water tracks to outpace infilling by hillslope processes, resulting in growth of the channel network under future warming.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Site Description and Prior Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Background: Hillslope‐channel Interactions In Permafrost Lan...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Hillslope‐Channel Transitions and the Role of Water Tracks in a Changing Permafrost Landscape

Del Vecchio,

Zwieback,

Rowland

et al. 2023

JGR Earth Surface

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High‐Resolution Maps of Near‐Surface Permafrost for Three Watersheds on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska Derived From Machine Learning

Thaler,

Uhleman,

Rowland

et al. 2023

Earth and Space Science

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Permafrost soils are a critical component of the global carbon cycle and are locally important because they regulate the hydrologic flux from uplands to rivers. Furthermore, degradation of permafrost soils causes land surface subsidence, damaging infrastructure that is crucial for local communities. Regional and hemispherical maps of permafrost are too coarse to resolve distributions at a scale relevant to assessments of infrastructure stability or to illuminate geomorphic impacts of permafrost thaw. Here we train machine learning models to generate meter‐scale maps of near‐surface permafrost for three watersheds in the discontinuous permafrost region. The models were trained using ground truth determinations of near‐surface permafrost presence from measurements of soil temperature and electrical resistivity. We trained three classifiers: extremely randomized trees (ERTr), support vector machines (SVM), and an artificial neural network (ANN). Model uncertainty was determined using k‐fold cross validation, and the modeled extents of near‐surface permafrost were compared to the observed extents at each site. At‐a‐site near‐surface permafrost distributions predicted by the ERTr produced the highest accuracy (70%–90%). However, the transferability of the ERTr to the sites outside of the training data set was poor, with accuracies ranging from 50% to 77%. The SVM and ANN models had lower accuracies for at‐a‐site prediction (70%–83%), yet they had greater accuracy when transferred to the non‐training site (62%–78%). These models demonstrate the potential for integrating high‐resolution spatial data and machine learning models to develop maps of near‐surface permafrost extent at resolutions fine enough to assess infrastructure vulnerability and landscape morphology influenced by permafrost thaw.

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Estimating Permafrost Distribution Using Co‐Located Temperature and Electrical Resistivity Measurements

Uhlemann,

Shirley,

Wielandt

et al. 2023

Geophysical Research Letters

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Assessing the lateral and vertical extent of permafrost is critical to understanding the fate of Arctic ecosystems under climate change. Yet, direct measurements of permafrost distribution and temperature are often limited to a small number of borehole locations. Here, we assess the use of co‐located shallow temperature and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) measurements to estimate at high‐resolution the distribution of permafrost in three watersheds underlain by discontinuous permafrost. Synthetic modeling shows that co‐located temperature and ERT measurements allow for supervised classification schemes that provide 60% higher accuracy compared to unsupervised methods. Linking resistivity and size of the identified permafrost bodies to surface observations, we show that tall vegetation (>0.5 m) and gentle slopes (<15°) are related to warmer and smaller permafrost bodies, and a more frequent occurrence of taliks.

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Patterns and rates of soil movement and shallow failures across several small watersheds on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska

Cited by 4 publications

References 46 publications

Hillslope‐Channel Transitions and the Role of Water Tracks in a Changing Permafrost Landscape

Hillslope‐Channel Transitions and the Role of Water Tracks in a Changing Permafrost Landscape

High‐Resolution Maps of Near‐Surface Permafrost for Three Watersheds on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska Derived From Machine Learning

Estimating Permafrost Distribution Using Co‐Located Temperature and Electrical Resistivity Measurements

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