Capacitive Electrical Resistivity: An Alternative Non-Invasive Method for Permafrost Monitoring

Abstract

Summary Currently, permafrost is degraded due to global warming and subsurface geophysics can contribute to characterize this degradation. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is very effective in mapping frozen soils due to the strong resistivity contrast between ice and water. We present an example of 2D and 3D resistivity imaging using a capacitive coupling resistivity (CCR) survey method in Svalbard permafrost. Although little work has been published on the mapping of the active layer of permafrost (i.e. the ground layer which thaws annually) with the CCR method, this case study shows its advantage as non-invasive compared to all other investigating methods.