Brief communication: Unravelling the composition and microstructure of a permafrost core using X-ray computed tomography

Nitzbon, Jan; Gadylyaev, Damir; Schlüter, Steffen; Köhne, John Maximilian; Grosse, Guido; Boike, Julia

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3507-2022

Articles | Volume 16, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3507-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3507-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 9

Brief communication

|

02 Sep 2022

Brief communication |

| 02 Sep 2022

Brief communication: Unravelling the composition and microstructure of a permafrost core using X-ray computed tomography

Jan Nitzbon, Damir Gadylyaev, Steffen Schlüter, John Maximilian Köhne, Guido Grosse, and Julia Boike

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Final revised paper (published on 02 Sep 2022)
Preprint (discussion started on 19 Apr 2022)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on tc-2022-79', Mikhail Kanevskiy, 14 Jun 2022

Computed tomography of frozen sediments is a relatively new method of permafrost studies. This non-destructive method allows to obtain high-resolution 3D images of frozen soils and estimate volumes of solids, gas, and ice inclusions in permafrost samples. We believe that in the future CT will become a main method of field permafrost studies of frozen soils, and this study makes a significant contribution that may help to improve this method. This manuscript provides unique information on application of CT imaging and image processing methods to quantify properties of the upper permafrost in Yedoma region of northern Yakutia. The authors present a systematic quantitative comparison between the laboratory-measured and the CT-derived composition of permafrost cores, which is extremely important for future development of the CT method. I strongly support publication of this manuscript and recommend to accept it with minor revision. My comments and suggestions are attached.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2022-79-RC1
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Jan Nitzbon, 05 Aug 2022
  
  Dear Mikhail Kanevskiy,
  We thank you for taking the time to thoroughly review our manusricpt and appreciate the overall positive evaluation. We agree with your view that applying CT imaging to study permafrost soils bears great potential for future research and are happy if our study can contribute towards this strand of research.
  We are very thankful for your numerous suggestions to improve the text, and will consider all of them for the revised manuscript. In particular, we appreciated your comments on improving the terminology to refer to different types of excess ice and massive ice contained in the core. Moreover, we will replace the term „sediment phases“ by „sediment types“ which is hopefully less confusing, as the term „phase“ was also criticized by the second reviewer.
  We are confident that our revised manuscript will be significantly improved thanks to your valuable comments and suggestions.
  Kind regards,
  Jan Nitzbon (on behalf of all authors)
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2022-79-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on tc-2022-79', Philip Pika, 18 Jul 2022

This paper presents a thorough analysis and comparison of a permafrost core using both an innovative non-destructive computed tomography scan and a destructive laboratory based sampling method to address the composition of permafrost soils including gas, ice, and solids. The three-dimensional and high resolution CT scanning technique is a great tool for advancing our understanding of the state and history of permafrost soils. This study qualitatively showcases the strengths and weaknesses of CT scans and laboratory based analysis and their combination, and will be a milestone for future studies in this field. However, while I definitely support the publication of this study, I must also ask the authors to address several major points and comments made in the manuscript. Please see the attached document.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2022-79-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Jan Nitzbon, 05 Aug 2022
  
  Dear Philip Pika,
  We thank you for taking the time to review our manuscript and for the overall positive evaluation. We are happy about your appreciation of the importance of our study and are thankful for your further suggestions on how to improve it.
  Regarding your numerous comments on the use of British vs American English, we would like to note that we decided to use British English with Oxford spelling (i.e. -ize instead of -ise) and indicated this during manuscript submission with Copernicus. Otherwise, we thank you for pointing out instances of using AE and will replace these with BE in the revised manuscript text.
  In the attached document, we respond to the major comments which require more explanation or justification.
  We are confident that our revised manuscript will considerably be improved by considering your suggestions and are looking forward to its potential publication in TC.
  Kind regards,
  Jan Nitzbon (on behalf of all co-authors)
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2022-79-AC2

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload

ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (06 Aug 2022) by Jürg Schweizer

AR by Jan Nitzbon on behalf of the Authors (10 Aug 2022) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (12 Aug 2022) by Jürg Schweizer

RR by Philip Pika (15 Aug 2022)

ED: Publish as is (15 Aug 2022) by Jürg Schweizer

AR by Jan Nitzbon on behalf of the Authors (16 Aug 2022) Manuscript

Short summary

The microstructure of permafrost soils contains clues to its formation and its preconditioning to future change. We used X-ray computed tomography (CT) to measure the composition of a permafrost drill core from Siberia. By combining CT with laboratory measurements, we determined the the proportions of pore ice, excess ice, minerals, organic matter, and gas contained in the core at an unprecedented resolution. Our work demonstrates the potential of CT to study permafrost properties and processes.