Assessment of Suspended Sediment Budget of the Lena River Delta Based on the Remote Sensing Dataset

Abstract This study evaluates long-term and seasonal changes of sediment budget in Lena delta based on remote sensing dataset. Since 2000 Landsat images have been applying during ice-free period, from June to September. The sediment concentration at the delta topset was compared with sediment concentrations data at the outlets of: the Main, the Olenekskaya, the Tumatskyaya, the Trofimovskaya and the Bykovskaya channels to calculate suspended sediment budget in delta. The sediment concentration was calculated based on the archive Landsat images (more than 30 images). We have estimated influence of air temperature on thermal coastal erosion and the accumulation of sediments in the river Lena’s delta. The increase of the daily average air temperature from 5°С to 14°С plays critical role in the degradation of permafrost and the activation of the processes of thermal erosion and thermal denudation of the right channels coasts and this fact means that these results can help to estimate special aspects of biochemical budget of the delta.