Canada

Remote Sensing

From near surface temperatures measured by sensors onboard satellites, at a regular and repeated time, it has been decided to produce near surface temperature, freezing and thawing indices maps and permafrost distribution boundaries in Arctic and Subarctic regions. The mapped area is the Quebec-Labrador territory. Land Surface Temperatures (LST) retrieved from the MODIS sensor on Aqua and Terra satellites were compared as well as possible with soil and air temperatures of several stations over continuous permafrost within different tundra landscapes, in the North Slope of Alaska and Northern Quebec and Labrador (chapter 1). Correlations values (R²) established between near surface air temperatures (Tair) on all ground stations and LST from the MODIS sensor are above 0.80. This proves that LST data have a high potential to be used as regional complement of temperatures from meteorological stations. As the Terra and Aqua swath is 2300 km wide, each overpass (twice a day for both satellites), makes it possible to map vast areas at low cost. However, Arctic areas are often cloudy which results in discontinuous satellite data. The number of non-cloudy days is large enough to necessitate the calculation of a temporal interpolation between days and for each pixel. Then, in chapter 2, a mathematic model produces excellent correlations between LSTs and Tair, mean annual near surface temperatures and freezing index; correlations with thawing indices are barely satisfactory. From these correlations between pixels and ground stations, data maps are drawn. An analysis of mean annual near surface temperature, freezing and thawing indices maps shows similarities in areas where data are well known and provides some new understanding of the surface climate of Quebec-Labrador. In chapter 3, usual indices such as isotherms, which are of used to define permafrost boundaries on regional scales, are applied on this territory. Here, again, the southern limit of continuous permafrost as drawn is comparable to other existing maps. Surface thermal conditions conducive to permafrost recently migrated northward. Our model therefore offers advanced capabilities for permafrost mapping and monitoring.