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Sina Muster, Kurt Roth, Moritz Langer, Anne Morgenstern, Samuel Ste7ner, Julia Boike
Alfred Wegener Ins?tute & IUP University of Heidelberg
Upscaling Water Body Size Distribu8ons
Water Bodies in the Arc8c
Samoylov Island, Lena Delta, Siberia
• general distinction of ponds vs. lakes: ponds are water bodies with a surface area less than 100x100m
• ponds and small lakes are not inventoried on the pan- arctic scale and not implemented in large-scale models
• eg 40% of the CO
2emissions on Samoylov Island
originates from ponds (Abnizova et al. 2012)
0 25 50 100km
Upscaling From Local Snapshots To Regional Es8mates
High-resolution data sets
• disctinct geological &
geomorphological units
• Kompsat-2 with 4 m resolution
• TerraSAR-X with 3 m resolution
• Aerial imagery with 0.3 m resolution
First Terrace Argar Complex
Ice Complex
regional size distribution
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Lena Delta, Siberia, Russia regional
fraction of
water surface
Muster et al. 2012, Tellus B & Muster et al. 2013, Remote Sensing PANGAEA doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.786926
Landsat underestimates water surface area about 30%
Resolution of 4 m or better necessary to detect ponds Subpixel land/water
fraction is related to the Landsat albedo
Subpixel Frac8on Of Water Surface Area
Landsat ETM+, 30 m
Size Distribu8ons In Different Subregions
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0 2.5 5 10km
0 25 50 100km
• Over 90% of the number of water bodies are smaller than 100x100m
• similar probability density functions (pdf) across region
à Definition of regional pdf with mean, skew, standard variation & uncertainty lakes
ponds
Outlook: Circum-‐Arc8c Inventory
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Probability density functions are
landscape-specific
Moscow Stockholm
RigaRiga OsloOslo
Helsinki Helsinki
Arctic Ci rcle Arctic Ci
rcle
Prime MeridianPrime MeridianInternational Date LineInternational Date Line 0 40W
60W
20W 80W
140W
120W
160W
100W
180W
40E 60E
20E 80E 140E
120E 160E
100E
180E
60N
80N
Moscow Stockholm
OsloOslo
Helsinki Helsinki
Arctic Ci rcle Arctic Ci
rcle
Prime MeridianPrime MeridianInternational Date LineInternational Date Line 0 60W
80W
40W 140W
120W
20W 100W
160W
180W
40E 140E
60E
20E
80E 160E
180E 120E
100E 60N
80N 40N
40N
Land cover
Bare area Arctic Tundra Boreal Forest
Permafrost
continuous (90-100%) discontinuous (50-90%) isolated patches 0-10%)
Treeline
Current permafrost boundary Projected permafrost boundary
Yamal Lena
Delta
Polar Bear Pass Yellowknife
Mackenzie Delta
Barrow Peninsula Yukon
Delta
Seward Peninsula
Kytalik
Moscow Stockholm
RigaRiga OsloOslo
Helsinki Helsinki
Arctic Ci rcle Arctic Ci
rcle
Prime MeridianPrime MeridianInternational Date LineInternational Date Line 0 40W
60W
20W 80W
140W
120W
160W
100W
180W
40E 60E
20E 80E 140E
120E 160E
100E
180E
60N
80N
Moscow Stockholm
OsloOslo
Helsinki Helsinki
Arctic Ci rcle Arctic Ci
rcle
Prime MeridianPrime MeridianInternational Date LineInternational Date Line 0 60W
80W
40W 140W
120W
20W 100W
160W
180W
40E 140E
60E
20E
80E 160E
180E
120E
100E 60N
80N 40N
40N
Land cover
Bare area Arctic Tundra Boreal Forest Ice
Temperate Forest
Permafrost
continuous (90-100%) discontinuous (50-90%) isolated patches 0-10%) sporadic (10-50%)
Treeline
Current permafrost boundary Projected permafrost boundary
Lena Delta Barrow Peninsula Mackenzie Delta
Future requirements
• baseline high-resolution water body map (Tandem-X)
• summer baseline (VIS/NIR/SWIR) product on the scale of Landsat (30 m resolution or better) with pan-arctic coverage in regular intervals (a few years) to monitor long-term changes
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