The first 10 m resolution thermokarst lake and pond dataset for the Lena Basin in the 2020 thawing season

Abstract

Climate warming rates in the Arctic are far greater than the global average, exerting stronger impacts on permafrost degradation and thermokarst landform development. Thermokarst lakes and ponds (TLPs), which are widely distributed in the Lena Basin in the Russian Arctic, play a vital role in altering local ecosystem. However, the detailed distribution of TLPs in the Lena Basin still remains poorly known. In this study, we built the first 10 m resolution TLP dataset for the Lena Basin in the 2020 thawing season by utilizing 4902 Sentinel-2 images. A robust mapping workflow was developed and implemented in the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The accuracy assessment demonstrates a satisfactory accuracy (93.63%), and our results exhibit a better consistency with real TLPs than global water body products. A total of 380,477 TLPs (~0.53% of the total surface area of the Lena Basin) were identified, showing an uneven distribution in the five sub-basins. The TLPs were found to be mainly located within plain areas, with an active layer thickness in the range of 80–100 cm. The higher ground ice content and mean annual ground temperature were favorable for TLP development. This dataset will be valuable for investigating the complex interaction between TLPs and permafrost. It will also serve as a baseline product for better incorporating thermokarst processes into permafrost-climate models.

Keywords

• Thermokarst lakes and ponds
• Lena Basin
• permafrost
• GEE
• Sentinel-2