Integrated terrain unit mapping on the Beaufort Coastal Plain, North Slope, Alaska, USA
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Integrated terrain unit mapping on the Beaufort Coastal Plain, North Slope, Alaska, USA Aaron F. Wells . Gerald V. Frost . Matthew J. Macander . M. Torre Jorgenson . Joanna E. Roth . Wendy A. Davis . Erik R. Pullman
Received: 10 June 2020 / Accepted: 6 November 2020 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Context Integrated Terrain Unit (ITU) mapping is a technique used to develop maps depicting specific ecosystem services and landscape sensitivity measures useful for land-use planning and sampling designs for spatially stratified studies. Objectives Here we describe ITU classifications, mapping techniques, and geospatial products developed from 1992 to 2018 for arctic tundra in northern Alaska in areas of ongoing oil production and exploration. Methods We used data from 1779 field plots to classify and map geomorphology, surface form, vegetation, and disturbance history. We then derived map products for ecotypes, wildlife habitats, and U.S. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01154-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. A. F. Wells (&) W. A. Davis ABR, Inc., P.O. Box 240268, Anchorage, AK 99524, USA e-mail: [email protected] G. V. Frost M. J. Macander M. T. Jorgenson J. E. Roth E. R. Pullman ABR, Inc., P.O. Box 80410, Fairbanks, AK 99708, USA
National Wetland Inventory (NWI) wetlands by aggregating functionally similar ITU combinations. We evaluated the extent to which ground conditions may have changed in older portions of the ITU mapping using a map of Landsat-observed trends in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for 1985–2012. Results The cumulative result of 26 years of study is a 3532.4 km2 area of ITU mapping. The ITU code combinations were aggregated into 66 map ecotypes, 34 wildlife habitats, and 18 wetland classes. Most of the mapping area (65.4%) experienced no significant trend in vegetation greenness. Nearly all of the remaining area (34.6%) exhibited an increase in greenness. Conclusions The ITU mapping provides a baseline for monitoring future change against a backdrop of climate change and ongoing industrial activity. The map products serve as proxies for important subsurface characteristics in permafrost landscapes, and have facilitated seminal studies of landscape development and change in arctic Alaska. Keywords Arctic tundra Alaska Ecosystem mapping Wildlife habitat Wetlands Permafrost
M. T. Jorgenson Alaska Ecoscience, 2332 Cordes Way, Fairbanks, AK 99709, USA
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Landscape Ecol
Introduction Ecosystem mapping is an essential multidisciplinary tool used in a variety of applications including landscape monitoring, land-use assessment, modeling, and spatially stratified study design. Standardized systems for classifying and mapping ecosystems across spatial scales have been developed for the United States (ECOMAP 1993), Canada (Environment Yukon 2016), and Europe (Maes et al. 2013). These syste
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