UDC

551.435.53

Authors

Evgeniy G. Panchenko*, Yuliya V. Stanilovskaya*
*Sergeev Institute of Environmental Geoscience of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russian Federation)

Abstract

The paper presents a technique for remote sensing of polygonal wedge structures based on space survey data within the framework of morphometric analysis, spectral analysis and typification of landscape conditions of polygonal wedge structures. For the first time, we use the quantitative estimation of spectral-morphometric characteristics of polygonal objects relative to their structural features and landscape position. This factor has a significant potential for further development and integration with geobotanical, engineering-geocryological and statistical methods. Parametrization of morphology of polygonal wedge structures is based on the calculation of principal characteristics of polygons as geometric figures, as well as conventional parameters used in the morphological analysis of polygons as forms of cryogenic relief. We compare value samples of morphological parameters by index plots in the taiga zone of the Chara basin with continuous permafrost to analyze the patterns of formation and dynamic state of polygonal structures in different landscape conditions. The authors determine 12 morphometric parameters for four index plots and calculate basic statistical values for each of them (minimum, maximum and mean values, standard deviation). Spectral and morphometric analysis allows us to quantify the diversity of polygonal wedge structures. In the future, this approach can be improved due to the landscape interpretation of the revealed quantitative features.

Keywords

polygonal wedge structure, remote sensing of cryolithozone, cryogenic landscape, morphometric analysis, spatial analysis, Chara basin

References

1. Yoshikawa K. Origin of the Polygons and the Thickness of Vastitas Borealis Formation in Western Utopia Planitia on Mars. Geophys. Res. Lett., 2003, vol. 30, no. 12, pp. 5‒1. 
2. Ulrich M., Grosse G., Strauss J., Schirrmeister L. Quantifying Wedge-Ice Volumes in Yedoma and Thermokarst Basin Deposits. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 2014, vol. 25, iss. 3, pp. 151–161. 
3. Lopatin D.V. O nekotorykh osobennostyakh razvitiya poligonal’nykh form rel’efa v Charskoy kotlovine [On Some Features of Development of Polygonal Relief Forms in the Chara Basin]. Geokriologicheskie usloviya Zabaykal’ya i Pribaykal’ya [Geocryological Conditions of Transbaikalia and the Baikal Region]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1967, pp. 205–212. (In Russ.) 
4. Nekrasov I.A., Golovanova G.V. Osobennosti rasprostraneniya mnogoletnemerzlykh porod v okrestnostyakh Verkhne-Charskogo termal’nogo istochnika [Features of the Permafrost Distribution in the Environs of the Verkhne- Chara Thermal Spring]. Geokriologicheskie usloviya Zabaykal’skogo Severa [Geocryological Conditions of the Trans- Baikal North]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1966, pp. 172–180. (In Russ.) 
5. Romanovskiy N.N. Formirovanie poligonal’no-zhil’nykh struktur [Formation of Polygonal Wedge Structures]. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1977. 216 p. (In Russ.) 
6. Hengl T., Gruber S., Shrestha D.P. Reduction of Errors in Digital Terrain Parameters Used in Soil-Landscape Modelling. Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf., 2004, vol. 5, iss. 2, pp. 97–112. 
7. Reuter H.I., Hengl T., Gessler P., Soille P. Preparation of DEMs for Geomorphometric Analysis. Developments in Soil Science, 2009, vol. 33, pp. 87–120. 
8. Lu D., Moran E., Li G., Hetrick S. Remote Sensing Image Classification. Advances in Environmental Remote Sensing: Sensors, Algorithms and Applications. Ed. by Q. Weng. Boca Raton, USA, CRC Press, 2011. 610 p. 
9. Sergeev D.O., Stanilovskaya Yu.V., Perl’shteyn G.Z., Romanovskiy V.E., Bezdelova A.P., Aleksyutina D.M., Bolotyuk M.M., Khimenkov A.N., Kapralova V.N., Motenko R.G., Maleeva A.N. Fonovyy geokriologicheskiy monitoring v Severnom Zabaykal’e [Background Geocryological Monitoring in Northern Transbaikalia Region]. Kriosfera Zemli [Earth Cryosphere], 2016, vol. XX, no. 3, pp. 24–32. 
10. Florinsky I.V. Combined Analysis of Digital Terrain Models and Remotely Sensed Data in Landscape Investigations. Prog. Phys. Geogr., 1998, vol. 22, iss. 1, pp. 33–60.