• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.47-60
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• 2017

The permafrost active layer plays an important role in permafrost dynamics. Ecological patterns, processes, and water and ice contents in the active layer are spatially and temporally complex depending on landscape heterogeneity and local-scale variations in hydrological processes. Although there has been emerging interest in the application of optical remote sensing techniques to permafrost environments, optical sensors are significantly limited in accessing information on near surface geo-cryological conditions. The primary objective of this study was to investigate capability of L-band SAR data for monitoring spatio-temporal variability of permafrost ecosystems and underlying soil conditions. This study exploits information from different polarimetric SAR observables in relation to permafrost environmental conditions. Experimental results show that each polarimetric radar observable conveys different information on permafrost environments. In the case of the dual-pol mode, the radar observables consist of two backscattering powers and one correlation coefficient between polarimetric channels. Among them, the dual-pol scattering powers are highly sensitive to freeze/thaw transition and can discriminate grasslands or ponds in thermokarst area from other permafrost ecosystems. However, it is difficult to identify the ground conditions with dual-pol observables. Additional backscattering powers and correlation coefficients obtained from quad-pol mode help understanding seasonal variations ofradar scattering and assessing geo-cryological information on soil layers. In particular, co-pol coherences atHV-basis and circular-basis were found to be very usefultools for mapping and monitoring near surface soil properties.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.71-74
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• 2003

Permafrost study in Mongolia officially began in the end of 1950 years. At the first time our senior researchers concentrated on the regional characteristics of permafrost distribution and on the engineering geocryological problems. At present time we concentrate on permafrost mapping using the GIS, on permafrost monitoring based on the temperature measurement in boreholes, on permafrost phenomena monitoring in same permafrost regions and on engineering geocryological problems.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.97-109
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• 2019

Physical conditions play vital role on the mechanical properties of frozen soil, especially for the temperature and moisture content of frozen soil. Subsequently, they influence the subsidence and stress law of permafrost layer. Taking Jiangcang No. 1 Coal Mine as engineering background, combined with laboratory experiment, field measurements and empirical formula to obtain the mechanical parameters of frozen soil, the thick plate mechanical model of permafrost was established to evaluate the safety of permafrost roof. At the same time, $FLAC^{3D}$ was used to study the influence of temperature and moisture content on the deformation and stress law of frozen soil layer. The results show that the failure tensile stress of frozen soil is larger than the maximum tensile stress of permafrost roof occurring in the process of mining. It indicates that the permafrost roof cannot collapse under the conditions of moisture content in the range from 20% to 27% as well as temperature in the range from $-35^{\circ}C$ to $-15^{\circ}C$. Moreover, the maximum subsidence of the upper and lower boundary of the overlying permafrost layer decreases with the increase of moisture content in the range of 15% to 27% or the decrease of temperature in the range of $-35^{\circ}C$ to $-15^{\circ}C$ if the temperature or moisture content keeps consistent with $-25^{\circ}C$ or 20%, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Simulation Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.329-334
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• 2001

Many of past studies using physically based numerical climate models indicate that increases in atmospheric $CO_2$could enhance summer dryness over continental region in middle-high latitudes. However the models used in those studies do not take account of permafrost in high latitudes. We have carried out a set of experiments applying a version of global climate model that can reproduce realistic distribution of the permafrost. From the results, it is indicated that permafrost functions as a large reservoir in hydrologic cycle maintaining dry, hot summer over continents in northern middle-high latitudes, and that the $CO_2$warming would reduce this function by causing climatological thawing of permafrost, which would result in moister and cooler summer, and warmer winter in the same region. The present study indicates that an inclusion of very simple description of soil freezing process can make a large difference in a model simulation.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.249-256
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• 2014

Permafrost is frozen soil below $0^{\circ}C$ for two or more years. Surface of permafrost is called as active layer that seasonally thaws during the summer. Although the thawing of permafrost may deepen the active layer and consequently increase the microbial activity, the microbial community structure in this habitat has not yet been well described. In this study, we presented bacterial and archaeal diversity in the active layer soil from Resolute, Canada using pyrosequencing analysis. The soil sample was collected from the surface of the marsh covered with moss and Carex. A total of 7,796 bacterial reads for 40 phyla and 245 archaeal reads for 4 phyla were collected, reflecting the high diversity of bacteria. Predominant bacterial groups were Proteobacteria (37.7%) and Bacteroidetes (30.0%) in this study. Major groups in Archaea were Euryarchaeota (51.4%) and Thaumarchaeota (46.1%). Both methane producing archaea and consuming bacteria were detected in this study. Although it might be difficult to characterize microbial community with only one sample, it could be used for the basis of assessing the relative importance of the specific groups with a high resolution on the bacterial and archaeal community in this habitat.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.257-267
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• 2021

Constraints on the structure and composition of the active layer are important for understanding permafrost evolution. Soil convection owing to repeated moisture-induced freeze-thaw cycles within the active layer promotes the formation of self-organized patterned ground. Here we present the results of ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys across a selected sorted circle near King Sejong Station, Antarctica, to better delineate the active layer and its relation to the observed patterned ground structure. We acquire GPR data in both bistatic mode (common mid-points) for precise velocity constraints and monostatic mode (common-offset) for subsurface imaging. Reflections are derived from the active layer-permafrost boundary, organic layer-weathered soil boundary within the active layer, and frozen rock-fracture-filled ice boundary within the permafrost. The base of the imaged sorted circle possesses a convex-down shape in the central silty zone, which is typical for the pattern associated with convection-like soil motion within the active layer. The boundary between the central fine-silty domain and coarse-grained stone border is effectively identified in a radar amplitude contour at the assumed active layer depth, and is further examined in the frequency spectra of the near- and far-offset traces. The far-offset traces and the traces from the lower frequency components dominant on the far-offset traces would be associated with rapid absorption of higher frequency radiowave due to the voids in gravel-rich zone. The presented correlation strategies for analyzing very shallow, thin-layered GPR reflection data can potentially be applied to the various types of patterned ground, particularly for acquiring time-lapse imaging, when electric resistivity tomography is incorporated into the analysis.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.225-245
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• 2016

Settlement of foundations in permafrost regions primarily results from three physical and mechanical processes such as thaw consolidation of permafrost layer, creep of warm frozen soils and the additional deformation of seasonal active layer induced by freeze-thaw cycling. This paper firstly establishes theoretical models for the three sources of settlement including a statistical damage model for soils which experience cyclic freeze-thaw, a large strain thaw consolidation theory incorporating a modified Richards' equation and a Drucker-Prager yield criterion, as well as a simple rheological element based creep model for frozen soils. A novel numerical method was proposed for live computation of thaw consolidation, creep and freeze-thaw cycling in corresponding domains which vary with heat budget in frozen ground. It was then numerically implemented in the FISH language on the FLAC platform and verified by freeze-thaw tests on sandy clay. Results indicate that the calculated results agree well with the measured data. Finally a model test carried out on a half embankment in laboratory was modeled.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2016

An active layer distributed on surface of an extreme cold region causes a frost heave by repeating the freezing and thawing according to the seasonal temperature change. Since the height of frost heave is greatly affected by the thickness of active layer, an accurate evaluation of the thickness of active layer is necessary for the safe design and construction of the infrastructure in the extreme cold region. In this study, dynamic cone penetrometer, which is miniaturized in-situ penetration device, is applied for the evaluation of active layer depth distribution. As the application tests, two dynamic cone penetration tests were conducted on the study sites located in Solomon and Alaska. In addition, ground temperature variations were obtained. As the results of the application tests, the depth of interface between the active layer and the permafrost was evaluated from the difference in dynamic cone penetration indexes of the active layer and the permafrost, and a layer was detected around the interface considered as an ice lens layer. Also, the interface depths between the above zero and the below zero temperature determined from the ground temperature variations correspond with the interface depths evaluated from the dynamic cone penetration tests. This study demonstrates that the dynamic cone penetrometer may be a useful tool for the evaluation of the active layer in the extreme cold region.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.429-442
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• 2017

Dry bridges have been widely applied in the Qinghai-Tibet Railway (QTR) to minimize the thermal disturbance of engineering to the permafrost. However, because the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is an area with a high potential occurrence of earthquakes, seismic action can easily destroy the dry bridges. Therefore, a three-dimensional numerical model, with consideration of the soil-pile interactions, is established to investigate the thermal characteristics and their impact on the seismic response of the dry bridge in permafrost region along the QTR. The numerical results indicate that there exist significant differences in the lateral displacement, shear force, and bending moment of the piles in different thermal conditions under seismic action. When the active layer become from unfrozen to frozen state, the maximum displacement of the bridge pile reduces, and the locations of the zero and peak values of the shear force and bending moment also change. It is found that although the higher stiffness of frozen soil confines the lateral displacement of the pile, compared with unfrozen soil, it has an adverse effect on the earthquake energy dissipation capacity.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.413-423
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• 2020

Over the wide area, King Sejong Station and the nearby land are uncovered with snow and ice conditions. Therefore, the active layer on the permafrost has been formed to be much thicker than the other Antarctica region. Electrical resistivity survey of Wenner and dipole-dipole arrays was undertaken at a series of time in the freezing season at the King Sejong Station to delineate subsurface structure and to monitor active layer in permafrost terrain. Time-lapse resistivity structures are well in terms of the vegetation distribution, ground surface temperature, and snow depth. Horizontal high resistivity belt(>1826 Ωm) at very shallow depth is thickening with the lapse of time, probably caused by the freezing of the water in the pore spaces with decrease of ground temperature. Subsurface structures for the area of low snow-cover and vegetated zone area are comprised of 0~0.5 m deep high-resistive gravel-rich soil, 0.5~3 m deep low-resistive active layer, and the underlying permafrost. In contrast, the unvegetated area and high snow-buildup is characterized with high resistivities larger than approximately 2000 Ωm due to freezing of the soil throughout the year. Data interpretation and correlation schemes explored in this paper can be applied to confirm the active layer, which is expected to get thinner in additional survey during the thawing season.