Electrical Resistivity Tomography Observations; Alaska, 2015 final

Fire can be a significant driver of permafrost change in boreal landscapes, altering the availability of soil carbon and nutrients that have important implications for future climate and ecological succession. However, not all landscapes are equally susceptible to fire-induced change. As fire frequency is expected to increase in the high latitudes, methods to understand the vulnerability and resilience of different landscapes to permafrost degradation are needed. Geophysical and other field observations reveal details of both near-surface (less than 1 m) and deeper (greater than 1 m) impacts of fire on permafrost along 14 transects that span burned-unburned boundaries in different landscape settings within interior Alaska. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) data collected along the 14 transect were used to map the spatial distribution of permafrost across burned-unburned boundaries.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
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datagov_dedupe_retained 20220721183729
identifier USGS:58347504e4b0070c0abfb370
metadata_type geospatial
modified 20200929
old-spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-150.5549116, 64.39650766], [-150.5549116, 68.642135], [ -148.2969566, 68.642135], [ -148.2969566, 64.39650766], [-150.5549116, 64.39650766]]]}
publisher U.S. Geological Survey
publisher_hierarchy Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
resource-type Dataset
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theme {geospatial}
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • active-layer-thickness
  • alaska
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • borehole-nuclear-magnetic-resonance
  • chatanika
  • city-of-fairbanks
  • ckan
  • coldfoot
  • disturbance
  • environment
  • fire
  • fire-damage
  • fires
  • geo
  • geology-geophysics-and-geochemistry-science-center
  • geoscientificinformation
  • geoss
  • gggsc
  • mineral-resources-program
  • mrp
  • national
  • north-america
  • organic-layer-thickness
  • permafrost
  • resistivity
  • resistivity-profiling
  • soil-moisture
  • soils
  • toolik-lake
  • united-states
  • usgs-58347504e4b0070c0abfb370
  • vegetation
isopen False
license_id notspecified
license_title License not specified
maintainer Burke Minsley
maintainer_email bminsley@usgs.gov
metadata_created 2025-11-22T15:43:31.118756
metadata_modified 2025-11-22T15:43:31.118761
notes Fire can be a significant driver of permafrost change in boreal landscapes, altering the availability of soil carbon and nutrients that have important implications for future climate and ecological succession. However, not all landscapes are equally susceptible to fire-induced change. As fire frequency is expected to increase in the high latitudes, methods to understand the vulnerability and resilience of different landscapes to permafrost degradation are needed. Geophysical and other field observations reveal details of both near-surface (less than 1 m) and deeper (greater than 1 m) impacts of fire on permafrost along 14 transects that span burned-unburned boundaries in different landscape settings within interior Alaska. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) data collected along the 14 transect were used to map the spatial distribution of permafrost across burned-unburned boundaries.
num_resources 2
num_tags 33
title Electrical Resistivity Tomography Observations; Alaska, 2015 final