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

Metadata Updated: January 21, 2026

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.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date January 12, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 12, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026
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
Datagov Dedupe Retained 20260120204141
Harvest Object Id 79c45155-8f6d-43e6-a49c-00e7c5919456
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
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Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 990b1a66ba537fe7fb3832c197fd5d42f8ec55d3e0951affe4b78e056ff6515e
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -148.297121, 64.711806, -148.297121, 64.921413, -147.817536, 64.921413, -147.817536, 64.711806, -148.297121, 64.711806}

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