INVESTIGATING THE OCCURRENCE OF CRYOGENIC DEFORMATIONS IN THE SOUTH OF THE VITIM PLATEAU USING RADAR INTERFEROMETRY
G.D. CHIMITDORZHIEVA1, YU.B. TSYBENOV1, T.N. CHIMITDORZHIEV2, A.V. DMITRIEV2, E.O. CHIMITDORZHIEVA1, E.YU. MIL’KHEEV1
1Institute of General and Experimental Biology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 670047, Ulan-Ude, ul. Sakhyanovoi, 6, Russia
galdorj@gmail.com
2Institute of Physical Material Science, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 670047, Ulan-Ude, ul. Sakhyanovoi, 6, Russia
tchimit@gmail.com
Keywords: радиолокационная дифференциальная интерферометрия, криоморфозы, бугры пучения, грануло метрический состав и влажность почв, radar differential interferometry, cryogenic deformations, heaving hillocks, granulometric composition and soil moisture
Abstract
An analysis was made of the ALOS PALSAR radar images (L-band with a wavelength of 23.6 cm) and images from the TanDEM-X bistatic system for the Eravninskaya depression in the south of the Vitim Plateau. A processing of the images provided an interferogram with the expected distribution areas of cryogenic soil deformations. In ground-based geomorphological surveys, they are identified as local heaving and lowering regions. The image of the frost mounds has a complex structure, and thermokarst lakes are distinguished by characteristic rounded, oval-elongated shapes. In the Eravninskaya depression, frost mounds most often occur in piedmont aprons and flat watersheds. The mounds reach several tens of meters in width and their height above the surface is 1.5-2 m. Thermokarst manifests itself in local collapse-subsidence forms which are often filled with water. They emerge mainly in the depression bottoms as well as on broad planate watersheds. Ground-based verification of the surface deformation areas confirmed a good resolution of radar interferometry in assessing the intensity and in mapping of the areas of cryogenic processes, in particular the zones of heaving and thermokarst depressions.
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