Quantifying ice cliff evolution with multi-temporal point clouds on the debris-covered Khumbu Glacier, Nepal
ABSTRACT Measurements of glacier ice cliff evolution are sparse, but where they do exist, they indicate that such areas of exposed ice contribute a disproportionate amount of melt to the glacier ablation budget. We used Structure from Motion photogrammetry with Multi-View Stereo to derive 3-D point...
Published in: | Journal of Glaciology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2017
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.47 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143017000478 |
id |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/jog.2017.47 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/jog.2017.47 2024-06-23T07:54:15+00:00 Quantifying ice cliff evolution with multi-temporal point clouds on the debris-covered Khumbu Glacier, Nepal WATSON, C. SCOTT QUINCEY, DUNCAN J. SMITH, MARK W. CARRIVICK, JONATHAN L. ROWAN, ANN V. JAMES, MIKE R. 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.47 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143017000478 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Journal of Glaciology volume 63, issue 241, page 823-837 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 journal-article 2017 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.47 2024-06-12T04:04:39Z ABSTRACT Measurements of glacier ice cliff evolution are sparse, but where they do exist, they indicate that such areas of exposed ice contribute a disproportionate amount of melt to the glacier ablation budget. We used Structure from Motion photogrammetry with Multi-View Stereo to derive 3-D point clouds for nine ice cliffs on Khumbu Glacier, Nepal (in November 2015, May 2016 and October 2016). By differencing these clouds, we could quantify the magnitude, seasonality and spatial variability of ice cliff retreat. Mean retreat rates of 0.30–1.49 cm d −1 were observed during the winter interval (November 2015–May 2016) and 0.74–5.18 cm d −1 were observed during the summer (May 2016–October 2016). Four ice cliffs, which all featured supraglacial ponds, persisted over the full study period. In contrast, ice cliffs without a pond or with a steep back-slope degraded over the same period. The rate of thermo-erosional undercutting was over double that of subaerial retreat. Overall, 3-D topographic differencing allowed an improved process-based understanding of cliff evolution and cliff-pond coupling, which will become increasingly important for monitoring and modelling the evolution of thinning debris-covered glaciers. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Cambridge University Press Journal of Glaciology 63 241 823 837 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT Measurements of glacier ice cliff evolution are sparse, but where they do exist, they indicate that such areas of exposed ice contribute a disproportionate amount of melt to the glacier ablation budget. We used Structure from Motion photogrammetry with Multi-View Stereo to derive 3-D point clouds for nine ice cliffs on Khumbu Glacier, Nepal (in November 2015, May 2016 and October 2016). By differencing these clouds, we could quantify the magnitude, seasonality and spatial variability of ice cliff retreat. Mean retreat rates of 0.30–1.49 cm d −1 were observed during the winter interval (November 2015–May 2016) and 0.74–5.18 cm d −1 were observed during the summer (May 2016–October 2016). Four ice cliffs, which all featured supraglacial ponds, persisted over the full study period. In contrast, ice cliffs without a pond or with a steep back-slope degraded over the same period. The rate of thermo-erosional undercutting was over double that of subaerial retreat. Overall, 3-D topographic differencing allowed an improved process-based understanding of cliff evolution and cliff-pond coupling, which will become increasingly important for monitoring and modelling the evolution of thinning debris-covered glaciers. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
WATSON, C. SCOTT QUINCEY, DUNCAN J. SMITH, MARK W. CARRIVICK, JONATHAN L. ROWAN, ANN V. JAMES, MIKE R. |
spellingShingle |
WATSON, C. SCOTT QUINCEY, DUNCAN J. SMITH, MARK W. CARRIVICK, JONATHAN L. ROWAN, ANN V. JAMES, MIKE R. Quantifying ice cliff evolution with multi-temporal point clouds on the debris-covered Khumbu Glacier, Nepal |
author_facet |
WATSON, C. SCOTT QUINCEY, DUNCAN J. SMITH, MARK W. CARRIVICK, JONATHAN L. ROWAN, ANN V. JAMES, MIKE R. |
author_sort |
WATSON, C. SCOTT |
title |
Quantifying ice cliff evolution with multi-temporal point clouds on the debris-covered Khumbu Glacier, Nepal |
title_short |
Quantifying ice cliff evolution with multi-temporal point clouds on the debris-covered Khumbu Glacier, Nepal |
title_full |
Quantifying ice cliff evolution with multi-temporal point clouds on the debris-covered Khumbu Glacier, Nepal |
title_fullStr |
Quantifying ice cliff evolution with multi-temporal point clouds on the debris-covered Khumbu Glacier, Nepal |
title_full_unstemmed |
Quantifying ice cliff evolution with multi-temporal point clouds on the debris-covered Khumbu Glacier, Nepal |
title_sort |
quantifying ice cliff evolution with multi-temporal point clouds on the debris-covered khumbu glacier, nepal |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.47 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143017000478 |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 63, issue 241, page 823-837 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.47 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
63 |
container_issue |
241 |
container_start_page |
823 |
op_container_end_page |
837 |
_version_ |
1802646363628896256 |