We found that both the area of ice-bound ebullition-bubble clusters and the bubbling rates that generated the clusters were correlated with L-band single-polarized (HH) SAR (R2=0.70, p=0.002, n=10) and with the ‘‘roughness’’ component of a Pauli decomposition of L-band quad-polarized SAR (R2=0.77, p=0.001, n=10).  Results of this study indicate that analysis of L-band SAR backscatter […]

We used high-resolution (9—11’¯cm) snow-free aerial images of an interior Alaskan thermokarst lake acquired 2 and 4 days following freeze-up in 2011 and 2012, respectively, to detect and characterize methane ebullition seeps and to estimate whole-lake ebullition.

Methane emissions from thermokarst areas of lakes that have expanded over the past 60‘‰years were directly proportional to the mass of soil carbon inputs to the lakes from the erosion of thawing permafrost. Based on this evidence of landscape-scale permafrost carbon feedback, we estimate that 0.2 to 2.5‘‰Pg permafrost carbon was released as methane and […]