Remote Sensing of Permafrost Landscape Change in the Lena Delta Region Using Multispectral Timeseries and Spatially Very High Resolution Change Detection

In this presentation, we summarize our remote sensing activities in the Lena Delta region that focus on understanding and quantifying landscape changes in recent decades. In particular, we will highlight the great value of Landsat- and Sentinel-2 based trend datasets allowing unique insights into delta-wide permafrost and fluvial landscape dynamics since the 2000s in high spatial detail (30m resolution). Process dynamics that can be observed include thermokarst lake expansion and drainage, channel shore erosion and channel migration, and thaw slumping (Figure 1). We also use high-resolution (~0.5 m) optical imagery from commercial sensors (WorldView-1, WorldView-2, and GeoEye) in combination with historical (1960s-1980s) Corona and Hexagon imagery to quantify erosion and thaw slumping dynamics along lake and river shorelines in the Lena Delta and surrounding areas. Focus areas are the Sobo-Sise, Kurungnakh, and Samoylov islands, as well as Bykovsky Peninsula.