Nitze, Ingmar; Lübker, Tillmann; Pohlabeln, Sina; Grosse, Guido (2025): Pan-Arctic Visualization of Landscape Change (2005-2024), Arctic PASSION Permafrost Service [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.983891

This raster dataset, in Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF format (COG), provides information on land surface changes at the pan-arctic scale. Multispectral Landsat-5 TM, Landsat-7 ETM+, Landsat-8 OLI, and Landsat-9 OLI-2 imagery (cloud-cover less than 70%, months July and August) was used for detecting disturbance trends (associated with abrupt permafrost degradation) between 2005 and 2024. For each satellite image, we calculated the Tasseled Cap multi-spectral index to translate the spectral reflectance signal to the semantic information Brightness, Greenness, and Wetness. In order to characterize change information, we calculated the linear trend of Brightness, Greenness, and Wetness over two decades at the individual pixel level, based on annually aggregated data. The final map product therefore contains information on the direction and magnitude of change for all three Tasseled Cap parameters at 30 m spatial resolution across the pan-arctic permafrost domain. Features detected include coastal erosion, lake drainage, infrastructure expansion, and fires. The general processing methodology was developed by Fraser et al. (2014) and adapted and expanded by Nitze et al. (2016, 2018). Here, we upscaled the processing to the circum-arctic permafrost region and applied it to the recent 20-year period from 2005 through 2024. The service covers the permafrost region up to 81° North: Alaska (USA), Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Mongolia, and China. For Russia and China, regions not containing permafrost were excluded. The data have been processed in Google Earth Engine as part of the research projects ERC PETA-CARB, ESA CCI+ Permafrost, NSF Permafrost Discovery Gateway, and EU Arctic PASSION. The dataset is a contribution to the 'Pan-Arctic Requirements-Driven Permafrost Service' of the Arctic PASSION project (see References). Changes in the Tasseled Cap indices – Brightness, Greenness, and Wetness – are displayed in the image bands red, green, and blue, respectively. Here, coastal erosion (a trend of a land surface transitioning to a water surface) is depicted in dark blue tones, while coastal accretion (a trend of a water surface transitioning to a land surface) is depicted in bright orange colors. Drained lakes are shown in bright yellow or orange colors, depending on the soil conditions and vegetation regrowth. Fire scars are a further common feature, appearing in different colors depending on the time of the fire and the pre-fire land cover. The data can be explored via the Arctic Landscape EXplorer (ALEX; see References) and are available as a public web map service (WMS; see References), both hosted by Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research.

Two Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF files are available: 'TCVIS-2005-2024_mosaic-west_cog-20050101-EPSG3857.tif' (file size: 126 GB) contains data for USA, Canada, Greenland, and Iceland (coverage: 180°W - 0°W, 41°N - 81°N), 'TCVIS-2005-2024_mosaic-east_cog-20050101-EPSG3857.tif' (file size: 180 GB) contains data for Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Mongolia, and China (coverage: 3°E - 180°E, 27°N - 81°N).