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Mapping vertical profile of discontinuous permafrost with ground penetrating radar at Nalaikh depression, Mongolia

Environmental Geology volume 56, pages 1577–1583 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has become an important geophysical tool which can provide a wealth of interpretive information about the vertical profile of discontinuous permafrost. A GPR investigation was conducted in October 2006 at the Nalaikh site at the southern boundary of the Siberian discontinuous permafrost region in Mongolia. GPR data were collected along four 100-m-long profiles to identify the location of the permafrost body, which included an in situ drilling borehole and analysis of temperature observations and soil water content measurements from boreholes. The GPR interpretation results indicated that the thickness of discontinuous permafrost at the study site was only 1.9–3.0 m and the permafrost is vulnerable to climate change. The soil temperature and soil water content data demonstrate the precision of GPR image interpretation. This case demonstrated that GPR is well suited for mapping the internal structure of discontinuous permafrost with relatively low soil water content.

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Acknowledgments

The study conducted in this paper is funded by “the Project of Establishment of Early Observation Network for the Impacts of Global Warming”. We also would like to thank Dr. Ochirbat Batkhishig, Dr. Ya. Jambaljav, and all other staff from Institute of Geography, Mongolian Academy of Sciences for their invaluable logistic support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Asia Water Environment Section, Asian Environmental Research Group, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, 305-8506, Japan

    Tonghua Wu & Qinxue Wang

  2. Cryosphere Research Station on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 730000, Lanzhou, China

    Tonghua Wu

  3. Faculty of Environmental Information, Keio University, 5522 Endo, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, 252-8520, Japan

    Masataka Watanabe

  4. Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 730000, Lanzhou, China

    Ji Chen

  5. Institute of Geography, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, 210620, Mongolia

    Dorjgotov Battogtokh

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  1. Tonghua Wu
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  2. Qinxue Wang
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  3. Masataka Watanabe
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  4. Ji Chen
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  5. Dorjgotov Battogtokh
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Correspondence to Qinxue Wang.

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Wu, T., Wang, Q., Watanabe, M. et al. Mapping vertical profile of discontinuous permafrost with ground penetrating radar at Nalaikh depression, Mongolia. Environ Geol 56, 1577–1583 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1255-7

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