Using floristic gradient mapping to assess seasonal thaw depth in interior Alaska

Abstract

It is a critical part of the global climate system, as it stores nearly twice as much carbon as the atmosphere (Vaughan et al., 2013). Permafrost stability is, however, highly affected by climatic change because its conditions and extent are coupled to surface energy and gas fluxes in the form of surface-atmosphere interactions (Vaughan et al., 2013).

Remote sensing for vegetation science: A virtual special issue on its power and challenges

“…The seven papers of this special issue provided themes and examples of patterns in vegetation status and change at very different spatial scales, from extremely detailed to regional spatial scales relying on both unmanned aerial systems (Conti et al, 2021; Malavasi et al, 2021) and ultimately available satellite sensors like Sentinel‐2 (Döpper et al, 2021; Ponce‐Fontenla et al, 2021; Torresani et al, 2021).…”

“…The contributions in this special issue encompass studies from different vegetation types, such as grasslands (Conti et al, 2021; Fassnacht et al, 2022), boreal vegetation (Döpper et al, 2021), mixed alpine conifer forests (Torresani et al, 2021), ultramafic rock outcrops (Ponce‐Fontenla et al, 2021) and coastal dune systems (Malavasi et al, 2021), illustrating the usefulness of remote sensing applied to different ecosystems.…”

“…They found that the variations of brown pigments, carotenoids and chlorophyll content can be considered as the most relevant optical trait indicators for explaining the link between spectral and taxonomic diversity. By using the example of habitats in Alaska, Döpper et al (2021) investigated the emergent topic of using remote sensing for capturing floristic gradients. The authors used ordination techniques to extract the predominant floristic gradient from field‐collected data and extrapolated ordination scores using Sentinel‐2 imagery and a digital elevation model.…”

“…This includes the mapping of plant traits, plant functional types and plant communities with their spatio-temporal variability. The possibility to map vegetation properties as a continuum in space and time pro- The seven papers of this special issue provided themes and examples of patterns in vegetation status and change at very different spatial scales, from extremely detailed to regional spatial scales relying on both unmanned aerial systems (Conti et al, 2021;Malavasi et al, 2021) and ultimately available satellite sensors like Sentinel-2 (Döpper et al, 2021;Ponce-Fontenla et al, 2021;Torresani et al, 2021).…”

Integrating multi-source remote sensing data for mapping boreal forest canopy height and species in interior Alaska in support of radar modeling

“…An important subsurface property, the annual maximum thaw depth to permafrost observed at the end of the summer, is referred to as the active layer thickness (ALT) and is known as a major indication of permafrost degradation (Chen et al 2019). In discontinuous permafrost regions, forest characteristics can be used as indicators of the presence or absence of nearsurface permafrost and its characteristics such as ALT (Viereck 1992, Döpper et al 2021.…”