Pre-ABoVE: Remotely Sensed Active Layer Thickness, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, 1992-2000

Active layer thickness (ALT) is a critical parameter for monitoring the status of permafrost that is typically measured at specific locations using probing, in situ temperature sensors, or other ground-based observations. The thickness of the active layer is the average annual thaw depth, in permafrost areas, due to solar heating of the surface. This data set includes the mean Remotely Sensed Active Layer Thickness (ReSALT) over years 1992 to 2000 for an area near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The data were produced by an Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique that measures seasonal surface subsidence and infers ALT. ReSALT estimates were validated by comparison with ground-based ALT measurements at multiple sites. These results indicate remote sensing techniques based on InSAR could be an effective way to measure and monitor ALT over large areas on the Arctic coastal plain.

These data provide gridded (100-m) estimates of active layer thickness (cm; ALT), seasonal subsidence (cm) and subsidence trend (mm/yr), as well as calculated uncertainty in each of these parameters. This data set was developed in support of NASA's Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) field campaign.

The data are presented in one netCDF (*.nc) file.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated August 24, 2026, 23:32 (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 cefa91df-cc30-41b1-883e-ac4ab8e97b26
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1267
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-08-17T22:16:02Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher ORNL_DAAC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 773d724fd5ef3e98c14af2951a6deb4a95ea78b19e11ccd7e96e1546b26d2f28
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": -149.5, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 70.45, "EastBoundingCoordinate": -146.99, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": 69.95}]]
temporal 1992-01-01/2000-12-31
theme {"Earth Science"}