During the Arctic Land Expedition Perma-X in West Alaska (2022-07-28 -- 2022-08-21), several LiDAR scans were acquired using a backpack laser scanning system (GreenValley LiBackpack DGC50). The surveys were carried out on the Baldwin Peninsula and on the Seward Peninsula. The goal of the campaign was to quantify permafrost landscape change by mapping various permafrost thaw features such as thaw slumps, gullies, and degraded ice wedge polygons. These features are predominantly less than 1 km2 in size. The 3D point cloud data from the LiDAR backpack were used to generate Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) of the thaw features. The point cloud processing workflow for these DEMs included point cloud georeferencing, filtering, and ground classification. In total, 15 DEMs were derived at different locations during this campaign. In addition to change detection, the accurate field data are suitable for model parameterization and validation from Earth observation data.

The 15 DEMs (.tif) map specific permafrost thaw features (e.g., thaw slumps, gullies, degrading ice wedge polygons). The DEMs were derived from point clouds. The workflow included point cloud georeferencing, filtering, and ground classification. The GreenValley LiAir or the Leica AS10 base station was used for georeferencing. The base stations recorded correction signals for more than 2 hours per site. The coordinate system of the DEMs is NAD83/UTM3N (EPSG: 26903) and the heights are ellipsoidal heights. The spatial resolution is 20 centimeters.The locations of the 15 DEMs are visualized in the file DEMS_location_map.png.The DEMs metadata include site name, date, mapped permafrost thaw feature, location coordinates and base station used. For each DEM, the boundary (xmin,xmax,ymin,ymax) and the centroid (latitude,longitude) are given. The projected coordinates have been reprojected into the geographic coordinate system (WGS84; EPSG:4326). The format of the positions (lat/long) is therefore in decimal degrees. The DEMs were georeferenced using either the LiAir base station or the Leica AS10 base station. The base station used for each file is indicated in the last column of the metadata.