DARTS: Multi-year database of AI detected retrogressive thaw slumps (RTS) and active layer detachment slides (ALD) in hotspots of the circum-arctic permafrost region - v1

Nitze, Ingmar; Heidler, Konrad; Nesterova, Nina; Küpper, Jonas; Schütt, Emma; Hölzer, Tobias; Barth, Sophia; Lara, Mark J.; Liljedahl, Anna; Grosse, Guido

This dataset, called DARTS, comprises footprints of retrogressive thaw slump (RTS) and active layer detachments slides (ALD) identified and quantified using an automated deep learning approach in RTS hotspots across the Arctic and Subarctic permafrost regions. We utilized multispectral PlanetScope imagery with a spatial resolution of 3 meters (m), complemented by ArcticDEM (Digital Elevation Models) and derived datasets, including slope, relative elevation, and Landsat-derived change trends.

The dataset covers an area of 1.6 million square-kilometers (km²), with at least one coverage between 2021 and 2023, and provides annual coverage for approximately 900,000 km². In several highly active key sites, such as Banks Island, Peel Plateau, and Novaya Zemlya, we extended the data frequency and temporal coverage to 2018-2023. We mapped a total of more than 43,000 individual RTS and ALD, many of them multiple times. We offer two levels of datasets; Level 1: RTS footprints per image with timestamps; and Level 2: annually aggregated RTS footprints. Essential metadata includes image footprints, dataset coverage, timestamps, and model-specific information.

To enhance reproducibility and further use, the training labels, processing code, and model checkpoints are publicly available. This version, v1, is the first openly accessible release. The dataset will be maintained and continuously updated in both spatial and temporal extent. It can be used for mapping and quantifying RTS, analyzing spatio-temporal patterns of RTS dynamics, or serving as input for landscape dynamics models.

Citation

In order to use these data, you must cite this data set with the following citation:

Ingmar Nitze, Konrad Heidler, Nina Nesterova, Jonas Küpper, Emma Schütt, Tobias Hölzer, Sophia Barth, Mark J Lara, Anna Liljedahl, & Guido Grosse. (2024). DARTS: Multi-year database of AI detected retrogressive thaw slumps (RTS) and active layer detachment slides (ALD) in hotspots of the circum-arctic permafrost region - v1. Arctic Data Center. doi:10.18739/A2RR1PP44.

Contact

Nitze, Ingmar

Metadata Access

DCAT in RDF/XML-Format

DCAT in Turtle-Format

DCAT in JSON-LD-Format

APGC Dataset Metadata in JSON-Format

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Identifier DOI:10.18739/A2RR1PP44
Project(s) NNA Track 1: Collaborative Research: The Permafrost Discovery Gateway: Navigating the new Arctic tundra through Big Data, artificial intelligence, and cyberinfrastructure
Institute AWI Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Source https://doi.org/10.18739/A2RR1PP44
Publication Date 2024-10-18
Version v1
Product AI detected RTS ALD multi-year database
Sensor PlanetScope multi-spectral satellite imagery, ArcticDEM, Landsat, PyTorch, Unet++ architecture with a resnet34 backbone
Files
  1. DARTS Metadata XML
  2. DARTS v1 Features 2018-2023 Level 1 Geopackage
  3. DARTS v1 Features 2018-2023 Level 1 Parquet
  4. DARTS v1 Features 2018-2023 Level 2 Geopackage
  5. DARTS v1 Features 2018-2023 Level 2 Parquet
  6. DARTS v1 Coverages
  7. DARTS v1 Features Layerstyles
Variables [Units]
  1. area_km2: The area of the region footprint / object / image_footprint in km².
  2. years_complete: Observation period (years), with at least one observation annually. Years separated by comma.
  3. coverage_period: Observation period (years), with at least one observation overall. Years separated by comma.
  4. year: The year of contiguous coverage / image acquisition / associated with the feature, indicating when the observations were made / extracted from the date column.
  5. image_id: Identifier of the PlanetScope image / input image image associated with this feature.
  6. collection: PlanetScope DataCollection. Either PSScene or PSOrthotile.
  7. date: The date of image acquisition in YYYY-MM-DD format. / The date associated with the feature, in YYYY-MM-DD format.
  8. month: The month of image acquisition.
  9. datetime: The date of image acquisition in datetime format (UTC)
  10. id: A unique identifier for each feature in the dataset.
  11. id_geohash: A geospatial hash code representing the location of the feature.
  12. area_m2: The area of the feature in square meters.
  13. area_ha: The area of the feature in hectares.
  14. num_observations: The total number of observations recorded for the feature, useful for statistical analysis.
  15. earliest_date: The earliest date of observation associated with the feature, in a string format.
  16. latest_date: The latest date of observation associated with the feature, in a string format.
  17. DARTS_dataset_version: The version of the DARTS dataset.
  18. DARTS_AI_model_version: The version of the RTS AI model used for processing the data.
  19. DARTS_AI_model_threshold: The threshold value used by the RTS AI model.
  20. feature_information: Additional information related to the DARTS dataset and processing.
  21. image_source: The source of the image associated with the feature.
  22. geometry: The geometry column containing spatial data representing the feature's location.
Region Circum-Arctic
Spatial Reference EPSG:4326 WGS 84
Spatial Resolution
Spatial Coverage Latitude 60.00 to 83.00, Longitude -180.00 to 180.00
Temporal Coverage 2018-07-01 to 2023-08-31
Temporal Resolution
Format Geopackage, Apache Parquet, Qt Modeling Language, Styled Layer Descriptor
Is Supplement To

Nitze, I., Heidler, K., Nesterova, N., Küpper, J., Schütt, E., Hölzer, T., Barth, S., Lara, M., Liljedahl, A., & Grosse, G. (2024). DARTS: Multi-year database of AI-detected retrogressive thaw slumps in the circum-arctic permafrost region. https://doi.org/10.31223/X5740Z
Related to

Dataset extent