MONITORING CHANGES IN HIGH-MOUNTAIN AREAS ALONG THE HAINES HIGHWAY USING REPEAT HIGH-RESOLUTION DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS

High-mountain and high-latitude areas are extremely sensitive to a changing climate. In these environments, glacial and periglacial systems respond rapidly to thermal changes, which can lead to slope instability and sudden, unpredicted shifts in hazard zones. Consequently, these systems should be regularly monitored to gauge environmental change and to assess potential hazards to people, infrastructure, and resources. Historically, however, a major impediment to understanding trends in slope stability processes in remote, high-mountain areas in Alaska has been a lack of multi-epoch high-resolution topographic data. Here we describe a remote sensing-based approach (lidar and aerial photogrammetry) for detailed topographic monitoring of changes in low- and high-mountain areas along sections of the Haines Highway, where large debris flows threaten public safety and infrastructure.