Updated Change Data Released In The Arctic Landscape Explorer (Alex)
The change data provided by the Arctic Landscape EXplorer (ALEX) has been updated. In the latest version of the tool, users can now explore landscape changes between 2005 and 2024. The previous comparison period (2003 to 2022) remains available, enabling easy comparison between the two periods using the ‘fade’ function with the ‘difference’ blend mode.…
Read MoreFirst-Ever Inclusion Of Permafrost Measurement Best Practices In The Wmo Guide To Instruments And Methods Of Observation
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released Volume II of its Guide to Instruments and Methods of Observation (WMO-No. 8): Measurement of Cryospheric Variables. For the first time, the guide features a dedicated chapter on Permafrost! Co-authored by Anna Irgang from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), this milestone represents the culmination of a four-year writing…
Read MoreExpanded Functionalities for the Arctic Landscape EXplorer (ALEX)
Erosion driven by thawing permafrost is a strong force shaping Arctic landscapes. Along some coasts, up to ten meters of land vanish into the ocean each year. For communities living along these fragile shores, the consequences can be dramatic. In 2019, the first group of residents of Niugtaq (Newtok), a settlement in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta,…
Read MoreSharing Alex And Discussing Permafrost In The Canadian North
While visiting the hamlet of Aklavik, a small Arctic community in the Mackenzie Delta, the co-lead of Arctic PASSION’s communications work Josefine Lenz shared the newly launched Arctic Landscape EXplorer (ALEX). During the visit, Josefine was working with local Gwich’in, Métis and Inuvialuit youth of Moose Kerr School in the citizen science project “UndercoverEisAgenten“. Students undertook…
Read MoreSharing Circle representation at the 12th International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP) in Whitehorse, Canada
The APECS/Arctic PASSION Sharing Circle participants have become Ambassadors who have developed their own outreach projects to share their newly gained knowledge and experiences with their communities, institutes or other chosen audiences. Sharing Circle participants Fabian Seemann (Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany) and Louise Mercer (University of Northumbria, UK) presented the outcomes from the Sharing Circle…
Read MoreRegistration Open: Online Seminar Of Arctic Passion Permafrost Service, May 16th At 11:00 Gmt
Welcome to Arctic PASSION’s online seminar and dialogue, “Visualising Permafrost Landscape Change: A new service by the Arctic PASSION project”. In this online seminar, Arctic PASSION is introducing its pan-Arctic requirements-driven Permafrost Service. The Permafrost Service is based on remote sensing analyses, and detection and mapping of permafrost disturbances at high spatial resolution across large…
Read MoreThe Arctic Landscape Explorer (Alex) – An Arctic Passion Permafrost Service
Near the Native Village of Point Lay (Iñupiaq: Kali) on Alaska’s Chukchi coast, a lake drained into the nearby Kokolik River in August 2016. Not an uncommon occurrence, as dozens of lakes in Alaska have disappeared in recent years. However, the lake was used as a freshwater source for the village, forcing the community to…
Read MoreFinally, We Have The Technology To Observe Trends In Permafrost Landscape Change In The Arctic
Introducing ALEX, the Arctic Landscape EXplorer: A new map tool for monitoring pan-Arctic trends of permafrost landscape change Arendal, Norway / Potsdam, Germany – Permafrost (from ‘permanent’ and ‘frost’) is ground that continuously remains at or below 0° C for at least two consecutive years. Around 15% of the land surface in the Northern Hemisphere…
Read MorePermafrost Field Work And Consultations On The Arctic Landscape Explorer (Alex) In Western Alaska
Please enjoy this firsthand account of permafrost fieldwork in Alaska by Tillmann Lübker, a geospatial data scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research’s Department of Permafrost Research. Chunks of slush slide across the bare ice and land on the muddy ground with a dull sound. After traversing a dense willow…
Read MoreIntegrating local environmental observations and remote sensing for researching permafrost landscape changes
The formation and drainage of lakes in the Arctic represent dominant landscape change processes in permafrost regions. Better understanding these processes and documenting drainage events is of importance to climate change research, wildlife and habitat studies, access to subsistence resources, and the wellbeing of northern socioecological systems. During an AWI Perma-X ground expedition in northwestern…
Read More