Establishing a baseline dataset of permafrost thaw-induced landslides in Adventdalen, Svalbard

Grant for Fieldwork for Eleanor Hall (undergraduate) in Svalbard, Norway. This research project will survey permafrost landslides in Adventdalen, Svalbard. Permafrost degradation is increasing with Arctic warming, hence mapping, and inventorying potentially hazardous slopes (otherwise supported by ground ice) is of crucial importance for safe habitation in the Arctic. UAVs provide means for widespread mapping of topography at high spatial resolution. Therefore, this study will use UAVs to generate a highly detailed inventory of landslides and potentially unstable slopes. This inventory could be used as a baseline dataset of permafrost related slope hazards in the region. This research aims to (i) establish a baseline dataset for change detection using UAVs to map landslides and thaw-susceptible slopes in Adventdalen, Svalbard; (ii) investigate relationships between landslides and precipitation trends; and (iii) contribute to understanding spatial distributions of permafrost landslides and associated hazard monitoring. These aims will be achieved by completing the following objectives: (i) Use UAV photogrammetry to capture high resolution elevation data on valley slopes around Adventdalen and use these to compare the frequency of landslides on different aspects and substrates. (ii) Map the spatial distribution of landslides and determine statistical relationships between feature occurrence and terrain characteristics. (iii) Quantify the risk of future landslide development to inhabited areas of Adventdalen.