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 August 18, 2026, 02:27 (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 f2a9fbc8-7e27-4da6-9790-95e7cc662f57
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 2026-08-10T22:16:02Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher ORNL_DAAC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 27c8e09499bb55ea96ba9f87f090aae81831be640e73f680f52cfb24b5d65e95
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"}