Potential Areas of Gas Seepage Detected by SAR in Lakes near Fairbanks, Alaska

This dataset includes maps and locations of potential gas seepage in lakes within the immediate and surrounding area around Fairbanks, Alaska, a region underlain by discontinuous permafrost and characterized by thermokarst lake formation. Gas bubbling from lakes in the Fairbanks area is usually rich in methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is difficult to quantify. A new remote sensing method was used for detecting potential gas seepage, defined as areas of suspected perennial ebullition, by using a previously ground-truthed seep that appeared as a high-backscatter perennial feature in winter L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from 2006-2011. Based on threshold values determined by the sigma-naught backscatter of this training seep, 1,690 areas of potential seepage were detected in 459 lakes out of 658 lakes analyzed. Results were validated through a different ground-truthed seep. The data are provided in shapefile format.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated September 22, 2026, 21:36 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 18:25 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id aa272f7a-34d5-4654-a47e-54016129764f
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2394
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-09-14T22:16:03Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher ORNL_DAAC
resource-type Dataset
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source_hash c36af7b646751b35f5eebe3f50c971daf9ed0ae4993f0bc5020c0536a9542dd9
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": -148.287, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 65.1787, "EastBoundingCoordinate": -146.87, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": 64.3313}]]
temporal 2006-12-04/2011-03-17
theme {"Earth Science"}