Vulnerability and resilience of ice-rich permafrost to thermal erosion gullying in the Arctic Foothills infrastructure corridor, Alaska

Abstract

The Arctic and its permafrost terrains are inherently dynamic, complex, and sensitive environments. Understanding the past and current changes occurring in these systems is key in predicting future variations, including the response of permafrost to climate change and to surface disturbances resulting from natural processes or anthropogenic activities. Here, we focus on advancing our understanding of the drivers controlling terrain vulnerability and resilience to thermal erosion gullying proximal to linear infrastructure in the lowlands of the Arctic Foothills (Alaska). This builds upon our previous work (Stephani et al. 2023) in the infrastructure corridor that includes the Dalton Highway and Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). To identify locations affected by thermal erosion gullying and recognize changes in the ~80-km long corridor section that travels through the Arctic Foothills, we compared time series of high-resolution satellite imagery from 2001 to 2023. When we captured the timing of gullying onset and/or growth, we examined prevailing climatic conditions (Sagwon Station) prior to these terrain changes. We integrated our findings with our field-based data (e.g., drilling) described in Stephani et al. (2023).