Emerging geophysical methods for permafrost investigations: recent advances in permafrost detecting, characterizing, and monitoring
Emerging geophysical methods for permafrost investigations: recent advances in permafrost detecting, characterizing, and monitoring
Editor(s): Mohammad Farzamian (INIAV/University of Lisbon, Portugal), Teddi Herring (University of Calgary, Canada), Sebastian Uhlemann (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States), Andreas Hördt (Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany), Christian Hauck (University of Fribourg, Switzerland), Ylva Sjöberg (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), and Adrian Flores Orozco (TU Wien, Austria)

Permafrost is a widespread phenomenon in the cold regions of the globe and is clearly under-represented in global monitoring networks. Studies of permafrost dynamics are typically conducted through boreholes, which are invasive, expensive, and rarely representative at the field level. Geophysical techniques such as electrical, electromagnetic, and seismic methods have demonstrated their potential as useful non-invasive tools for detecting, mapping, and characterizing permafrost with a spatial and temporal resolution which cannot be achieved using only borehole data. Moreover geophysical surveys are flexible and can be easily adapted to different field conditions and investigation targets. Today, electrical methods such as electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) have been established as standard techniques to gain a general understanding of the subsurface structure at permafrost sites. In addition, there is a growing interest in the development of emerging technologies such as induced polarization methods and environmental seismology as well as joint inversion approaches of multiple datasets to gain a better interpretation of geophysical signatures at permafrost sites. Given their high sensitivity to changes in the ice and water content of the subsurface, repeated surveys, as well as continuous monitoring of geophysical properties, have become popular for monitoring permafrost degradation in both polar and mountain permafrost environments. A dedicated action group of the International Permafrost Association (IPA) has recently been formed to advance an international database for electrical survey data on permafrost (Towards an International Database of Geoelectrical Surveys on Permafrost, IDGSP).

This special issue aims for an overview of current challenges and recent advances in detecting, characterizing, and monitoring the geophysical properties of frozen ground, including advances in survey design and monitoring set‐up, processing and inversion of collected time series, laboratory experiments, and quantification of temporal changes in ground ice content. It comprises applied and theoretical contributions based on all relevant geophysical techniques from polar and mountain permafrost environments as well as laboratory investigations.

Review process: all papers of this special issue underwent the regular interactive peer-review process of The Cryosphere handled by members of the editorial board as well as guest editors designated by the TC co-editors-in-chief.

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18 Sep 2024
Employing automated electrical resistivity tomography for detecting short- and long-term changes in permafrost and active-layer dynamics in the maritime Antarctic
Mohammad Farzamian, Teddi Herring, Gonçalo Vieira, Miguel Angel de Pablo, Borhan Yaghoobi Tabar, and Christian Hauck
The Cryosphere, 18, 4197–4213, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4197-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4197-2024, 2024
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16 Jul 2024
Brief communication: On the potential of seismic polarity reversal to identify a thin low-velocity layer above a high-velocity layer in ice-rich rock glaciers
Jacopo Boaga, Mirko Pavoni, Alexander Bast, and Samuel Weber
The Cryosphere, 18, 3231–3236, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3231-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3231-2024, 2024
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05 Jul 2024
Short-term cooling, drying, and deceleration of an ice-rich rock glacier
Alexander Bast, Robert Kenner, and Marcia Phillips
The Cryosphere, 18, 3141–3158, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3141-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3141-2024, 2024
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29 May 2024
Brief communication: Testing a portable Bullard-type temperature lance confirms highly spatially heterogeneous sediment temperatures under shallow bodies of water in the Arctic
Frederieke Miesner, William Lambert Cable, Pier Paul Overduin, and Julia Boike
The Cryosphere, 18, 2603–2611, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2603-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2603-2024, 2024
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27 May 2024
Spectral Induced Polarization survey for the estimation of hydrogeological parameters in an active rock glacier
Clemens Moser, Umberto Morra di Cella, Christian Hauck, and Adrián Flores Orozco
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1444,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1444, 2024
Preprint under review for TC (discussion: final response, 4 comments)
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12 Apr 2024
Mapping subsea permafrost around Tuktoyaktuk Island (NWT, Canada) using electrical resistivity tomography
Ephraim Erkens, Michael Angelopoulos, Jens Tronicke, Scott R. Dallimore, Dustin Whalen, Julia Boike, and Pier Paul Overduin
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1044,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1044, 2024
Preprint under review for TC (discussion: final response, 4 comments)
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04 Apr 2024
Pressurised water flow in fractured permafrost rocks revealed by joint electrical resistivity monitoring and borehole temperature analysis
Maike Offer, Samuel Weber, Michael Krautblatter, Ingo Hartmeyer, and Markus Keuschnig
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-893,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-893, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for TC (discussion: final response, 6 comments)
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15 Feb 2024
High-resolution 4D ERT monitoring of recently deglaciated sediments undergoing freeze-thaw transitions in the High Arctic
Mihai O. Cimpoiasu, Oliver Kuras, Harry Harrison, Paul B. Wilkinson, Philip Meldrum, Jonathan E. Chambers, Dane Liljestrand, Carlos Oroza, Steven K. Schmidt, Pacifica Sommers, Lara Vimercati, Trevor P. Irons, Zhou Lyu, Adam Solon, and James A. Bradley
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-350,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-350, 2024
Preprint under review for TC (discussion: final response, 6 comments)
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