DARTS: Multi-year database of AI-detected retrogressive thaw slumps in the circum-arctic permafrost region

作者：Ingmar Nitze, Konrad Heidler, Nina Nesterova, Jonas Küpper, Emma Schütt, Tobias Hölzer, Sophia Barth, Mark J. Lara, Anna Liljedahl, Guido Grosse · 发表于：Scientific Data · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1038/s41597-025-05810-2 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Climate change and permafrost、Cryospheric studies and observations、Geology and Paleoclimatology Research

Abstract Retrogressive Thaw Slumps (RTS) are widespread mass-wasting hillslope failures triggered by thawing permafrost. While regional studies have provided insights into the spatial distribution and dynamics of RTS, a consistent and unbiased quantification and monitoring remains unsolved at pan-arctic scales. We present the Database of AI-detected Arctic RTS footprints (DARTS), comprising ~43,000 individual footprints of active RTS or active areas within larger RTS landforms. DARTS spans ~1.6 million km 2 from 2018–2023, with at least annual coverage from 2021–2023 across a ~900,000 km 2 region. The database is freely available in two processing levels: sub-annual and annually aggregated polygon footprints including spatial and tabular metadata. DARTS uses a highly automated workflow based on deep learning segmentation of PlanetScope multi-spectral satellite imagery (3–5 m resolution) and elevation data. Validation against different regional RTS datasets yielded F1 scores ranging from 0.263 to 0.700, with higher accuracy in areas of intense RTS activity. DARTS provides a valuable resource for systematically mapping, quantifying, and analyzing active hillslope thermokarst distribution and changes over time across the circum-arctic permafrost region.