Fire can be a significant driver of permafrost change in boreal landscapes, altering the availability of soil carbon and nutrients that have important implications for future climate and ecological succession. However, not all landscapes are equally susceptible to fire-induced change. As fire frequency is expected to increase in the high latitudes, methods to understand the vulnerability and resilience of different landscapes to permafrost degradation are needed. Geophysical and other field observations reveal details of both near-surface (less than 1 m) and deeper (greater than 1 m) impacts of fire on permafrost along 14 transects that span burned-unburned boundaries in different landscape settings within interior Alaska. Downhole nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data are used to quantify in situ unfrozen water content in shallow auger holes.

Geophysical measurements were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at five sites in Interior Alaska in September 2021 for the purposes of imaging permafrost structure and quantifying variations in subsurface moisture content in relation to thaw features. Borehole nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data were collected at two sites in order to determine liquid water content at depth in shallow boreholes. NMR data were collected in a 2.25 m-deep borehole at the North Star golf course adjacent to one of the ERT profiles, and in another two 1.625 m-deep boreholes adjacent to Big Trail Lake where previous NMR measurements were made in 2019 and 2020.

Geophysical measurements and related field data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at the Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX) site in Interior Alaska from 2018 to 2020 to characterize subsurface thermal and hydrologic conditions along a permafrost thaw gradient. The APEX site is managed by the Bonanza Creek LTER (Long Term Ecological Research). Nine instrument sites were established in April 2018, seven of which were given a borehole approximately 2.3 meters (m) deep for repeat nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logging to quantify unfrozen water content and soil properties in the near surface. NMR data were collected from each borehole a total of ten times between April 2018 and October 2020, at a nominal vertical interval of 12.5 centimeters (cm) from 0-2 m depth. The raw spin-echo decay data, T2 decay data, and inverted models of unfrozen water content and pore-size distributions are provided in comma-separated files (*csv). The original binary (*lvm) files are also provided within the compressed zip folder.

Fire can be a significant driver of permafrost change in boreal landscapes, altering the availability of soil carbon and nutrients that have important implications for future climate and ecological succession. However, not all landscapes are equally susceptible to fire-induced change. As fire frequency is expected to increase in the high latitudes, methods to understand the vulnerability and resilience of different landscapes to permafrost degradation are needed. Geophysical and other field observations reveal details of both near-surface (less than 1 m) and deeper (greater than 1 m) impacts of fire on permafrost along 14 transects that span burned-unburned boundaries in different landscape settings within interior Alaska. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) data collected along the 14 transect were used to map the spatial distribution of permafrost across burned-unburned boundaries.

Borehole nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at Big Trail Lake, a thermokarst lake outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, to quantify unfrozen water content and soil properties at select sites in and around the lake edge. In September 2019, NMR data were collected within two 2.3 m deep boreholes adjacent to the East and North perpendicular electrical resistivity survey lines. Manual permafrost-probe measurements of thaw depths were also collected. These two boreholes were logged a second time in late March 2020. Additional one-time NMR measurements of liquid water content were collected in September 2019 within the lakebed sediments (0-25 cm depth) in approximately 2.5 m lateral increments moving away from the shorelines in the East and North, between 0 and 12 m from shore. These NMR transects roughly coincided with the perpendicular electrical resistivity lines.

This release contains Active Layer Thickness (ALT) and Organic Layer Thickness (OLT) measurements measured along transects in Alaska, 2015. Site condition information in terms of wildfire burns is also included.

Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), downhole nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and manual permafrost-probe measurements were used to quantify permafrost characteristics along transects within several catchments in interior Alaska in late summer 2016 and 2017. Geophysical sites were chosen to coincide with additional soil, hydrologic, and geochemical measurements adjacent to various low-order streams and tributaries in a mix of burned and unburned watersheds in both silty and rocky environments. Data were collected in support of the Striegl-01 NASA ABoVE project, "Vulnerability of inland waters and the aquatic carbon cycle to changing permafrost and climate across boreal northwestern North America." Additional geophysical measurements were conducted at the Bonanza Creek LTER and at a thermokarst bog site. ERT transects were 100 - 200 m in length, and produce models of electrical resistivity structure to depths of 10 - 15 m that indicate the distribution of frozen ground with high spatial resolution. Manual permafrost-probe measurements were made periodically along ERT transects to validate the depth to the top of permafrost. Downhole NMR measurements were made at select locations near the ERT transects to quantify in situ unfrozen water content and to help constrain interpretations of electrical resistivity models.

Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), downhole nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and manual permafrost-probe measurements were used to quantify permafrost characteristics along transects within several catchments in interior Alaska in late summer 2016 and 2017. Geophysical sites were chosen to coincide with additional soil, hydrologic, and geochemical measurements adjacent to various low-order streams and tributaries in a mix of burned and unburned watersheds in both silty and rocky environments. Data were collected in support of the Striegl-01 NASA ABoVE project, "Vulnerability of inland waters and the aquatic carbon cycle to changing permafrost and climate across boreal northwestern North America." Additional geophysical measurements were conducted at the Bonanza Creek LTER and at a thermokarst bog site. ERT transects were 100 - 200 m in length, and produce models of electrical resistivity structure to depths of 10 - 15 m that indicate the distribution of frozen ground with high spatial resolution. Manual permafrost-probe measurements were made periodically along ERT transects to validate the depth to the top of permafrost. Downhole NMR measurements were made at select locations near the ERT transects to quantify in situ unfrozen water content and to help constrain interpretations of electrical resistivity models.