Accelerated lowland thermokarst development revealed by UAS photogrammetric surveys in the Stordalen mire, Abisko, Sweden

Thomas, Maxime; Moenaert, Thomas; Radoux, Julien; Delhez, Baptiste; du Bois d'Aische, Eléonore; Villani, Maëlle; Hirst, Catherine; Lundin, Erik; Jonard, François; Lambot, Sébastien; Van Oost, Kristof; Vanacker, Veerle; Siewert, Matthias B.; Mörth, Carl-Magnus; Palace, Michael W.; Varner, Ruth K.; Sullivan, Franklin B.; Herrick, Christina; Opfergelt, Sophie

doi:10.5194/tc-20-5271-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5271-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5271-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

Research article

|

21 Sep 2026

Research article |

| 21 Sep 2026

Accelerated lowland thermokarst development revealed by UAS photogrammetric surveys in the Stordalen mire, Abisko, Sweden

Maxime Thomas, Thomas Moenaert, Julien Radoux, Baptiste Delhez, Eléonore du Bois d'Aische, Maëlle Villani, Catherine Hirst, Erik Lundin, François Jonard, Sébastien Lambot, Kristof Van Oost, Veerle Vanacker, Matthias B. Siewert, Carl-Magnus Mörth, Michael W. Palace, Ruth K. Varner, Franklin B. Sullivan, Christina Herrick, and Sophie Opfergelt

Data sets

Unmanned Aerial Imagery over Stordalen Mire, Northern Sweden, 2014 M. Palace et al. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/SJKV4T

Unmanned Aerial Imagery over Stordalen Mire, Northern Sweden, 2015 M. Palace et al. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/NUXE30

Unmanned Aerial Imagery over Stordalen Mire, Northern Sweden, 2016 M. Palace et al. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/IAXSRD

Unmanned Aerial Imagery over Stordalen Mire, Northern Sweden, 2017 J. DelGreco et al. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/NZWLHE

Unmanned Aerial Imagery over Stordalen Mire, Northern Sweden, 2018 M. Palace et al. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/2JXWVW

UAV - RGB orthomosaic from Stordalen, 2019-08-16 M. B Siewert and Abisko Scientific Research Station https://hdl.handle.net/11676.1/U4o8KrPkEiKw5RsfiCJZeEgX

RGB orthomosaic, digital surface model and slope over Stordalen Mire, Northern Sweden, 2021 M. Thomas et al. https://doi.org/10.14428/DVN/MGNYNN

Unmanned Aerial Imagery over Stordalen Mire, Northern Sweden, 2022 M. Palace et al. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/G9Y8WC

Model code and software

Accelerated lowland thermokarst development revealed by UAS photogrammetric surveys in the Stordalen mire, Abisko, Sweden M. Thomas et al. https://doi.org/10.14428/DVN/SX6TYV

Short summary

This study examines the rate of permafrost degradation, in the form of the transition from intact well-drained palsa to fully thawed and inundated fen at the Stordalen mire, Abisko, Sweden. Across the 14 hectares of the palsa mire, we demonstrate a 10-fold acceleration of the degradation in 2019–2021 compared to previous periods (1970–2014) which might lead to a pool of 12 × 10³ kg of organic carbon exposed annually for the topsoil (23 cm depth).