Quantitative assessment of permafrost degradation using coupled geophysical and thermal monitoring systems
Final Report Abstract
As a general result of this project it could be shown that geophysical monitoring approaches are applicable to the determination of changes in ice and unfrozen water contents at different landforms and on different time scales in mountain permafrost terrain. The ERTM approach proved to be a suitable approach to assess long-term ground ice degradation even on very blocky and therefore challenging surface conditions and contributes valuable additional information to traditional thermal monitoring records. The results from the novel RSTM application confirmed its general applicability to permafrost sites making it a valuable complementary monitoring approach to support the interpretation of ERTM results. Although the effort in data acquisition and processing is much higher than for ERTM, the strength of RSTM compared to ERTM is its capability to unambiguously identify ice loss in the subsurface. Finally, the evaluation of the performance of the 4PM for an application to time-lapse data sets showed a significantly reduced ambiguity of the results if only changes in ice content (in %) instead of absolute fractions are regarded.
Publications
- 2008. A geoelectric monitoring network and resistivitytemperature relationships of different mountain permafrost sites in the Swiss Alps. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Permafrost, Fairbanks, Alaska 1: 699-704
Hilbich, C., Hauck, C., Delaloye, R. & Hoelzle, M.
- 2008. Monitoring mountain permafrost evolution using electrical resistivity tomography: A 7-year study of seasonal, annual, and long-term variations at Schilthorn, Swiss Alps. Journal of Geophysical Research 113: F01S90
Hilbich, C., Hauck, C., Hoelzle, M., Scherler, M., Schudel, L., Völksch, I., Vonder Mühll, D. & Mäusbacher, R.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JF000799) - 2009. Applicability of Electrical Resistivity Tomography Monitoring to Coarse Blocky and Ice-rich Permafrost Landforms. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 20(3): 269-284
Hilbich, C., Marescot, L., Hauck, C., Loke, M.H. & Mäusbacher, R.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.652) - 2009. Geophysical monitoring systems to assess and quantify ground ice evolution in mountain permafrost. PhD thesis, University of Jena, 173 pp.
Hilbich, C.
- 2010. Time-lapse refraction seismic tomography for the detection of ground ice degradation. The Cryosphere 4: 243-259
Hilbich, C.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-4-243-2010) - 2011. Automated time-lapse ERT for improved process analysis and monitoring of frozen ground. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 22(4):306-319
Hilbich, C., Fuss, C. & Hauck, C.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.732)
