Tracking seasonal evolution of surface water extent in the Yukon Flats, Alaska and the Canadian Shield

Sarah Cooley, Brown University, sarah_cooley@brown.edu (Presenter)
Laurence Smith, UCLA, lsmith@geog.ucla.edu
Lincoln H Pitcher, UCLA, lincolnpitcher@g.ucla.edu
Tamlin Pavelsky, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, pavelsky@unc.edu
Simon Topp, University of North Carolina, sntopp@live.unc.edu

Quantifying spatial and temporal variability in surface water storage at high latitudes is critical for assessing environmental sensitivity to climate change. Traditionally the tradeoff between high spatial and high temporal resolution space-borne optical imagery has limited the ability to track fine-scale changes in surface water extent. However, the recent launch of hundreds of earth-imaging CubeSats by commercial satellite companies such as Planet opens up new possibilities for monitoring surface water from space. In this study we present a comparison of seasonal evolution of surface water extent in two study areas with differing geologic, hydrologic and permafrost regimes, namely, the Yukon Flats in Central Alaska and the Canadian Shield north of Yellowknife, NWT. Using near-daily 3m Planet CubeSat imagery, we track individual lake surface area from break-up to freeze-up during summer 2017 and quantify the spatial and temporal variability in inundation extent. We find that the magnitude and timing of surface water recession varies significantly by watershed. In the Yukon Flats, lakes are more stable over the summer season in continuous permafrost and less stable in discontinuous permafrost. The results of this analysis demonstrate the value of CubeSat imagery for dynamic surface water research particularly at high latitudes and illuminate fine-scale drivers of cold regions surface water extent.

Associated Project(s): 

• Smith-L-01

Poster Location ID: 83

Session Assigned: Permafrost and Hydrology