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Alaska permafrost characterization: Electrical Resistivity Tomography Data & Models from 2019

Metadata Updated: November 26, 2025

Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) measurements were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at two sites in Interior Alaska in September 2019 for the purposes of imaging permafrost structure and quantifying variations in subsurface moisture content in relation to thaw features. First, ERT data were collected at Big Trail Lake, a thermokarst lake outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, to quantify permafrost characteristics beneath the lake and across its shorelines. Three 222 m ERT survey lines were collected perpendicular to the North, East, and South shorelines, and two 110 m lines were collected parallel to the southeast and northeast shorelines. Models of electrical resistivity produced from these data revealed the distribution of frozen and thawed soil to depths of 10-40 m below the surface. Second, an ERT survey was conducted at Bonanza Creek LTER (Long Term Ecological Research), approximately 30 km southwest of Fairbanks, Alaska. This survey was a repeat of a previous ERT survey done in the same exact location in late August 2016, those data and models can be found here. The new survey line was 125 m in length and spanned the transition between burned and unburned forest. Models of electrical resistivity for this site imaged the structure of frozen and thawed soils to depths of 10-15 m. At both sites, manual permafrost-probe measurements of thaw depths were collected at set intervals along each ERT transect and used for comparison to the resistivity models.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 26, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 26, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-5f5a5d9382cefd9f20866163
Data Last Modified 2020-11-16T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id cf6d9fde-fd0a-4127-92cf-2550fac11680
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 98188482c7c3521a3b003fe8074233bd900b79ba94662562c4c6e8a3e2e8ee5f
Source Schema Version 1.1

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