Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area
Tags: physical sciences, active layer, permafrost, remote sensing, snow water equivalence
| Principal Investigator: | Rabus, Bernhard (2) |
| Licence Number: | 17092 |
| Organization: | Simon Fraser University |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2023
2022
|
| Issued: | Jul 20, 2022 |
| Project Team: | Allison Plourde |
Objective(s): To determine the accuracy of existing physical models of the InSAR dry snow signal and if the snow signature can be removed to enable accurate measurement of heave from winter refreezing in the active layer.
Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.5270. The objective of this research is to determine the accuracy of existing physical models of the InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) dry snow signal; and, if the snow signature can be removed to enable accurate measurement of heave from winter refreezing in the active layer. There are currently three research sites installed in 2018 and 2019 with the aim of installing an additional 3 sites. Instrumentation includes two ground-based sensors: one tilt logger permafrost motion sensor and one snow height sonic ranger. There are also two corner reflectors (CR) at each research locations. One CR is deeply anchored into the permafrost to serve as a stable reference and the second CR is fixed to a soil surface raft and is slightly elevated to sit above the snow layer. Measurements of snow depth change as well as displacement of the surface due to active layer freezeback will be used to establish their contribution to the InSAR based displacement measurements. The research will be shared within the PermafrostNetwork along with open communication between SARLab and NWT stakeholders at the Aurora Research Institute and Northwest Territories Geological Survey. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from July 20, 2022 August 31, 2022.
