Retrogressive Thaw Slump Inventory for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Permafrost Region

The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau permafrost region contains an inventory of retrogressive thaw slumps (RTSs) based on field investigations and manual interpretation of Gaofen-1 and Gaofen-2 satellite imagery. RTSs were visually detected based on criteria like recently exposed sediments and distinct headwalls, then assigned unique numbers and classified by initiation type. The dataset was created by authors from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Use Cases

• Mapping permafrost degradation features based on visual detection criteria like exposed sediments and headwalls.
• Analyzing the spatial relationship between thaw slump initiation and environmental factors like proximity to rivers or lakes.
• Training or validating machine learning models for automated RTS detection using the manual interpretation as ground truth.
• Studying the distribution of geohazards in high-altitude permafrost regions based on the gridded inventory.

Strengths

• Data is based on a multi-method approach combining field investigations and manual interpretation of high-resolution Gaofen-1 and Gaofen-2 imagery.
• A rigorous quality control process was used where detections were sketched by one author and examined by at least two other experienced authors.
• The inventory includes classification of RTSs by initiation type, such as next to a river or by lake erosion.

Limitations

• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Collection Method

Combination of field investigations and manual interpretation of satellite images (Gaofen-1 and Gaofen-2).

Geography

Permafrost region of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP).