Home – Home – Jornals – Earth’s Cryosphere 2023 number 2

Thermokarst plains with fluvial erosion include two genetically different types of surface: slightly undulating watersheds and lowered surfaces of khasyreys (drained thermokarst lakes with secondary thermokarst lakes). The research deals with a comparative analysis of statistical distributions of the areas of thermokarst lakes and secondary lakes. Using statistical criteria and remote sensing data for eight key sites in different natural conditions, such as Yamal and Taz peninsulas, the Kolyma Lowland, and the Penzhina River valley, we determined statistically significant differences in the area distributions of thermokarst lakes within different genetic types of the surface. Statistical analysis shows that the areas of thermokarst lakes correspond to an integral-exponential distribution. This allows us to conclude that a dynamic equilibrium is established within each type of the surface in the course of the initiation, growth, and drainage of thermokarst lakes. Though the parameters of thermokarst lakes differ significantly, we find a correlation between the distribution parameters of lake areas within the main surface of thermokarst plains with fluvial erosion and the surface of khasyreys with secondary lakes.