| 1. |
- Pfeffer, W. Tad, et al.
(författare)
-
The Randolph Glacier Inventory : a globally complete inventory of glaciers
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Journal of Glaciology. - 0022-1430 .- 1727-5652. ; 60:221, s. 537-552
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) is a globally complete collection of digital outlines of glaciers, excluding the ice sheets, developed to meet the needs of the Fifth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for estimates of past and future mass balance. The RGI was created with limited resources in a short period. Priority was given to completeness of coverage, but a limited, uniform set of attributes is attached to each of the similar to 198 000 glaciers in its latest version, 3.2. Satellite imagery from 1999-2010 provided most of the outlines. Their total extent is estimated as 726 800 +/- 34 000 km(2). The uncertainty, about +/- 5%, is derived from careful single-glacier and basin-scale uncertainty estimates and comparisons with inventories that were not sources for the RGI. The main contributors to uncertainty are probably misinterpretation of seasonal snow cover and debris cover. These errors appear not to be normally distributed, and quantifying them reliably is an unsolved problem. Combined with digital elevation models, the RGI glacier outlines yield hypsometries that can be combined with atmospheric data or model outputs for analysis of the impacts of climatic change on glaciers. The RGI has already proved its value in the generation of significantly improved aggregate estimates of glacier mass changes and total volume, and thus actual and potential contributions to sea-level rise.
|
|
| 2. |
- Kienholz, C., et al.
(författare)
-
A new method for deriving glacier centerlines applied to glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada
- 2014
-
Ingår i: The Cryosphere. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1994-0416 .- 1994-0424. ; 8:2, s. 503-519
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study presents a new method to derive centerlines for the main branches and major tributaries of a set of glaciers, requiring glacier outlines and a digital elevation model (DEM) as input. The method relies on a "cost grid-least-cost route approach" that comprises three main steps. First, termini and heads are identified for every glacier. Second, centerlines are derived by calculating the least-cost route on a previously established cost grid. Third, the centerlines are split into branches and a branch order is allocated. Application to 21 720 glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada (Yukon, British Columbia) yields 41 860 centerlines. The algorithm performs robustly, requiring no manual adjustments for 87.8% of the glaciers. Manual adjustments are required primarily to correct the locations of glacier heads (7.0% corrected) and termini (3.5% corrected). With corrected heads and termini, only 1.4% of the derived centerlines need edits. A comparison of the lengths from a hydrological approach to the lengths from our longest centerlines reveals considerable variation. Although the average length ratio is close to unity, only similar to 50% of the 21 720 glaciers have the two lengths within 10% of each other. A second comparison shows that our centerline lengths between lowest and highest glacier elevations compare well to our longest centerline lengths. For > 70% of the 4350 glaciers with two or more branches, the two lengths are within 5% of each other. Our final product can be used for calculating glacier length, conducting length change analyses, topological analyses, or flowline modeling.
|
|
| 3. |
- Kienholz, C., et al.
(författare)
-
Geodeticmass balance of surge-type Black Rapids Glacier, Alaska, 1980-2001-2010, including role of rockslide deposition and earthquake displacement
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface. - 2169-9003 .- 2169-9011. ; 121:12, s. 2358-2380
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We determine the geodetic mass balance of surge-type Black Rapids Glacier, Alaska, for the time periods 1980-2001 and 2001-2010 by combining modern interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR)-derived digital elevation models (DEMs), DEMs derived from archival aerial imagery, laser altimetry data, and in situ surface elevation measurements. Our analysis accounts for both the large rockslides and terrain displacements caused by the 2002 M7.9 earthquake on the Denali fault, which runs through Black Rapids Glacier. To estimate uncertainties, we apply Monte Carlo simulations. For the earthquake-triggered rockslides we find a volume of 56.62 +/- 2.86 x 10(6) m(3), equivalent to an average debris thickness of 4.44 +/- 0.24 m across the 11.7 km(2) deposit area on the glacier. Terrain displacement due to the earthquake corresponds to an apparent glacier volume change of -53.1 x 106 m(3), which would cause an apparent specific mass balance of -0.19 meter water equivalent (mwe) if not taken into account. The geodetic mass balance of Black Rapids Glacier is -0.48 +/- 0.07 mwe a(-1) for the entire 30 year period, but more negative for the period 2001-2010 (-0.64 +/- 0.11 mwe a(-1)) than the period 1980-2001 (-0.42 +/- 0.11 mwe a(-1)), in agreement with trends indicated by in situ mass balance measurements. Elevation data indicate no net thickening of the surge reservoir between 1980 and 2010, in contrast to what is expected during the quiescent phase. A surge of Black Rapids Glacier in the near future is thus considered unlikely.
|
|
