Constraining 135 years of mass balance with historic structure-from-motion photogrammetry on Storglaciaren, Sweden

• Geodetic volume estimates of Storglaciaren in Sweden suggest a 28% loss in total ice mass between 1910 and 2015. Terrestrial photographs from 1910 of Tarfala valley, where Storglaciaren is situated, allow for an accurate reconstruction of the glacier's surface using Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry, which we used for past volume and mass estimations. The glacier's yearly mass balance gradient and net mass balance was also estimated back to 1880 using weather data from Karesuando, 170 km north-east of Storglaciaren, through neural network regression. These combined reconstructions provide a continuous mass change series between the end of the Little Ice Age and 1946, when field data become available. The resultant reconstruction suggests a state close to equilibrium between 1880 and the 1910s, followed by drastic melt until the 1970s, constituting 76% of the 1910-2015 ice loss. More favourable conditions subsequently stabilized the mass balance until the late 1990s, after which Storglaciaren started losing mass again. The 1910 reconstruction allows for a more accurate mass change series than previous estimates, and the methodology can be used on other glaciers where early photographic material exists.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

structure-from-motion

mass balance reconstruction

climate change

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)