From Ice-Wedge Polygons to Pan-Arctic Landscapes: Intensive Mapping of Ice-Wedge Polygons at Extensive Spatial Scales Using Very High-Resolution Remote Sensing Imagery

A multitude of field measurements across the Arctic have documented ice-wedge degradation resulting in low-centered (LC) polygons transforming into high-centered (HC) polygons in less than a decade. The microtopography associated with ice-wedge polygon types governs many aspects of Arctic ecosystem, permafrost, and hydrologic dynamics from local to regional scales owing to the role of polygon type on the flow and storage of water. Despite the availability of sub-meter remote sensing imagery for Arctic research, the spatial distribution of ice-wedge polygons and their successional characteristics at pan-Arctic scale are largely unknown. The geographical extent and the sheer data volumes hamper both manual and semi-automated mapping approaches. Transforming big imagery into 'Arctic science ready' analytics demands for computationally efficient and scalable 'image-to-assessment' pipelines. There are currently no automated methods to map ice-wedge polygonal ecosystems, including polygon type (LC and HC), ice-wedge degradation/stabilization stage, and wedge-ice content that can operate at the pan-Arctic scale. We aim to develop computationally efficient workflows to automatically characterize ice-wedge polygons and address methodological and implementation challenges in deploying large-scale image resources now available for the Arctic from the Polar Geospatial Center. Our combined approach of automated mapping, local field measurements and numerical modeling will allow us to capture the spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of polygonal tundra processes from the individual polygon to pan-Arctic scales. Overall, our research will provide an extensible framework for imagery-enabled intense mapping of ice-wedge polygons and their fate at extensive spatial scales.