Permafrost-related hazard, vulnerability and risk estimates for cultural heritage and modern buildings in Svalbard

With the ongoing climate changes, the Arctic is experiencing large changes, which have the potential to negatively influence natural environments, human settlements, and cultural heritage. The permanently frozen ground (permafrost) and the seasonally thawing and freezing active layer is sensitive to changes in temperature and precipitation patterns. With permafrost degradation and active layer thickening, Arctic cultural heritage and modern buildings can be increasingly affected by permafrost-related hazards. Mitigating these hazards requires implementation of tools at the local to regional scale. This paper presents a spatial dataset of permafrost-related hazards in Svalbard, integrating three geospatial indicators documenting (1) geomorphology-based hazard susceptibility, (2) Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) ground movement, and (3) coastal erosion hazard susceptibility based on the distance to the coastlines. The resulting hazard indicator is combined with vulnerability indicators to provide risk estimates for cultural heritage sites and modern buildings in and around Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund. The dataset includes the products from all steps, from the initial spatial geodata to the hazard/vulnerability indicators and risk estimates.