Publication Date:
2018-04-15
Description:
Arctic tundra landscapes are composed of a complex mosaic of patterned ground features, varying in soil
moisture, vegetation composition, and surface hydrology over small spatial scales (10–100 m). The
importance of microtopography and associated geomorphic landforms in influencing ecosystem structure
and function is well founded, however, spatial data products describing local to regional scale distribution of patterned ground or polygonal tundra geomorphology are largely unavailable. Thus, our understanding of
local impacts on regional scale processes (e.g., carbon dynamics) may be limited. We produced two key
spatiotemporal datasets spanning the Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska (~60,000 km2) to evaluate
climate-geomorphological controls on arctic tundra productivity change, using (1) a novel 30m
classification of polygonal tundra geomorphology and (2) decadal-trends in surface greenness using the
Landsat archive (1999–2014). These datasets can be easily integrated and adapted in an array of local to
regional applications such as (1) upscaling plot-level measurements (e.g., carbon/energy fluxes), (2)
mapping of soils, vegetation, or permafrost, and/or (3) initializing ecosystem biogeochemistry, hydrology,
and/or habitat modeling.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
isiRev
,
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Format:
application/pdf
