In 2007, the Anaktuvuk River fire burned more than 1000 km2of arctic tundra in northern Alaska, ~ 50% of which occurred in an area with ice-rich syngenetic permafrost (Yedoma). By 2014, widespread degradation of ice wedges was apparent in the Yedoma region. In a 50 km2area, thaw subsidence was detected across 15% of the land area in repeat airborne LiDAR data acquired in 2009 and 2014. Updating observations with a 2021 airborne LiDAR dataset show that additional thaw subsidence was detected in < 1% of the study area, indicating stabilization of the thaw-affected permafrost terrain. Ground temperature measurements between 2010 and 2015 indicated that the number of near-surface soil thawing-degree-days at the burn site were 3 × greater than at an unburned control site, but by 2022 the number was reduced to 1.3 × greater. Mean annual ground temperature of the near-surface permafrost increased by 0.33 °C/yr in the burn site up to 7-years post-fire, but then cooled by 0.15 °C/yr in the subsequent eight years, while temperatures at the control site remained relatively stable. Permafrost cores collected from ice-wedge troughs (n = 41) and polygon centers (n = 8) revealed the presence of a thaw unconformity, that in most cases was overlain by a recovered permafrost layer that averaged 14.2 cm and 18.3 cm, respectively. Taken together, our observations highlight that the initial degradation of ice-rich permafrost following the Anaktuvuk River tundra fire has been followed by a period of thaw cessation, permafrost aggradation, and terrain stabilization.
Multi-temporal elevation data, ground temperature time-series, and permafrost borehole logs document the recovery of permafrost at the Anaktuvuk River tundra fire, 2009 to 2023
### Access
Photos of ~50 permaforst boreholes and associated cores can be accessed and downloaded from the 'AR\_Fire\_Core_Photos' directory via: [https://arcticdata.io/data/10.18739/A2251FM9P/](https://arcticdata.io/data/10.18739/A2251FM9P/)
### Overview
The Anaktuvuk River tundra fire burned more than 1,000 square kilometers of permafrost-affected arctic tundra in northern Alaska in 2007. The fire is the largest historical recorded tundra fire on the North Slope of Alaska. Fifty percent of the burn area is underlain by Yedoma permafrost that is characterized by extremely high ground-ice content of organic-rich, silty buried soils and the occurrence of large, syngenetic polygonal ice wedges. Given the high ground-ice content of this terrain, Yedoma is thought to be among the most vulnerable to fire-induced thermokarst in the Arctic. With this dataset, we update observations on near-surface permafrost in the Anaktuvuk River tundra fire burn area from 2009 to 2023 using repeat airborne LiDAR-derived elevation data, ground temperature measurements, and cryostratigraphic studies.
We have provided all of the data that has gone into an analysis and resulting paper that has been submitted for peer review at the journal Scientific Reports. The datasets include:
- 1 m spatial resolution airborne LiDAR-derived digital terrain models from the summers of 2009, 2014, and 2021.
- The area in which thaw subsidence was detected in the multi-temporal LiDAR data using the Geomorphic Change Detection software.
- A terrain unit map developed for the 50 square kilometer study area.
- Ground temperature time series measurements for a logger located in the burned area and a logger located in an unburned area. The ground temperature data consist of daily mean measurements at a depth of 0.15 m (active layer) and 1.00 m (permafrost) from July 2009 to August 2023.
- Photos ~50 permafrost boreholes and the associated cores collected there.
- A borehole log and notes pdf also accompanies our studies on the cryostratigraphy of permafrost post-fire and our observations on the recovery of permafrost.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1929170
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10492170
- Publisher / Repository:
- NSF Arctic Data Center
- Date Published:
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- ["arctic","permafrost","thermokarst","tundra fire"]
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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