Publications

Si, JZ; Zhang, SC; Niu, YF; Zhang, YD; Fan, QY; Chen, Y (2024). The surface deformation of permafrost and active layer thickness in the upper reaches of the Black River basin, revealed by InSAR observations and independent component analysis. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, 951, 175667.

Abstract
The Heihe River Basin, located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, is part of the permafrost belt of the Qilian Mountains. Recent observations indicate ongoing permafrost degradation region. This study utilizes data from 255 observations provided by Sentinel-1 satellites, MODIS Land Temperature, SMAP-L4 soil moisture data, GNSS measurements, and in situ measurement. We Variational Bayesian independent Component Analysis (VB-ICA) in multi-temporal Interferometric Aperture Radar (MT-InSAR) processing to investigate the spatial-temporal characteristics of surface deformation and permafrost active layer thickness (ALT) variations. The analysis demonstrates strong agreement borehole data and offers improvements over traditional methodologies. The maximum value of ALT is found to be 5.7 m. VB-ICA effectively delineates seasonal deformations related to the freeze-thaw cycles, peak seasonal deformation amplitude of 60 mm. Moreover, the seasonal permafrost's lower boundary elevation of 3700 m, revealing that permafrost is experiencing widespread degradation and associated erosion in the high elevation region of The Heihe River Basin. The paper also explores the efficacy point selection and baseline network establishment for employing the InSAR method in monitoring deformations. The study underscores the InSAR method's adaptability and its importance for interpreting permafrost deformation and related parameters.

DOI:
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175667

ISSN:
0048-9697