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 October 20, 2026, 10:41 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 18:25 (UTC)
Identifier 10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2394
Modified 2026-10-15T20:12:07Z
Theme {"Earth Science"}
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 363d78fc-e362-40d5-838e-b98f4761f476
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
programCode {026:000}
publisher ORNL_DAAC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 67473fc4cd9577259e009f3f43619fb7631dc1408a6b53251bdf6a2504e62c2b
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