Crescent Stream (PS01): C-504 - Permafrost Subsidence Experiment in the Dry Valleys
Project: Permafrost Subsidence Experiment in the Dry Valleys (C-504)
- PI: Dr. Diaz, Dr. Salvatore, Dr. Gooseff
- Project Lead: Erika Schreiber
- Funding Source: NSF/PLR 2224760
Description
The McMurdo Dry Valleys are approximately 100 kilometers from McMurdo Station, across McMurdo Sound. They comprise a series of mostly unglaciated valleys within the Transantarctic Mountains. The ground is mostly covered in loose gravel and a series of meltwater lakes that are persistently frozen aside from moats along their shores that melt each summer. Ephemeral meltwater streams run for part of the summer from numerous glaciers, into the lakes and sound. No vegetation is present aside from algae and lichen in limited quantities. Crescent Stream flows north from the Crescent Glacier in multiple branches for about 4.5 kilometers into Lake Fryxell.
Objective
The study at Crescent Stream seeks to understand the mechanisms and impacts associated with permafrost subsidence and bank collapse of the stream channels. The science team simulated an instance of bank collapse due to permafrost thaw by displacing sediment from a bank slope into the channel. The UAS survey serves to provide high-resolution imagery that was then used to create topographic models of the stream at various times during the study.