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Abstract
Ice-wedge polygons and drained thaw lake basins cover large portions of the Barrow Peninsula of Alaska. These landforms lead to variations in topography in the relatively flat coastal plain. These variations in topography, while small, lead to large variations in soil moisture, which have a substantial impact on carbon, water, and energy fluxes in these systems. In this study, we hypothesize that the spatial patterns of soil moisture control variations in vegetation production, and hence remotely sensed greenness. We investigate the relationship between soil moisture and a remotely sensed measure of vegetation greenness, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Soil moisture was measured in the summer of 2000 in the fetch of an eddy flux tower (0.5 km2 footprint), and NDVI data were collected using an aerial digital multispectral camera system. Results indicate that the relationship between soil moisture and NDVI was significant in areas dominated by high-centered polygons and troughs, and where the general slope of the terrain promoted the redistribution of soil moisture. However, in areas with little to no relief, the correlation between soil moisture and NDVI was not significant.
