A method to estimate surface mass-balance in glacier accumulation areas based on digital elevation models and submergence velocities
Abstract Measuring surface mass-balance in the accumulation areas of glaciers is challenging because of the high spatial variability of snow accumulation and the difficulty of conducting annual field glaciological measurements. Here, we propose a method that can solve both these problems for many lo...
Published in: | Journal of Glaciology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.29 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143023000291 |
id |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/jog.2023.29 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/jog.2023.29 2024-03-03T08:46:05+00:00 A method to estimate surface mass-balance in glacier accumulation areas based on digital elevation models and submergence velocities Jourdain, Bruno Vincent, Christian Réveillet, Marion Rabatel, Antoine Brun, Fanny Six, Delphine Laarman, Olivier Piard, Luc Ginot, Patrick Sanchez, Olivier Berthier, Etienne 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.29 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143023000291 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Journal of Glaciology volume 69, issue 277, page 1403-1418 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 Earth-Surface Processes journal-article 2023 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.29 2024-02-08T08:39:25Z Abstract Measuring surface mass-balance in the accumulation areas of glaciers is challenging because of the high spatial variability of snow accumulation and the difficulty of conducting annual field glaciological measurements. Here, we propose a method that can solve both these problems for many locations. Ground-penetrating radar measurements and firn cores extracted from a site in the French Alps were first used to reconstruct the topography of a buried end-of-summer snow horizon from a past year. Using these data and surface elevation observations from LiDAR and Global Navigation Satellite System instruments, we calculated the submergence velocities over the period between the buried horizon and more recent surface elevation observations. The differences between the changes in surface elevation and the submergence velocities were then used to calculate the annual surface mass-balances with an accuracy of ±0.34 m w.e. Assuming that the submergence velocities remain stable over several years, the surface mass-balance can be reconstructed for subsequent years from the differences in surface elevation alone. As opposed to the glaciological method that requires substantial fieldwork year after year to provide only point observations, this method, once submergence velocities have been calculated, requires only remote-sensing data to provide spatially distributed annual mass-balances in accumulation areas. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Cambridge University Press Journal of Glaciology 69 277 1403 1418 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth-Surface Processes |
spellingShingle |
Earth-Surface Processes Jourdain, Bruno Vincent, Christian Réveillet, Marion Rabatel, Antoine Brun, Fanny Six, Delphine Laarman, Olivier Piard, Luc Ginot, Patrick Sanchez, Olivier Berthier, Etienne A method to estimate surface mass-balance in glacier accumulation areas based on digital elevation models and submergence velocities |
topic_facet |
Earth-Surface Processes |
description |
Abstract Measuring surface mass-balance in the accumulation areas of glaciers is challenging because of the high spatial variability of snow accumulation and the difficulty of conducting annual field glaciological measurements. Here, we propose a method that can solve both these problems for many locations. Ground-penetrating radar measurements and firn cores extracted from a site in the French Alps were first used to reconstruct the topography of a buried end-of-summer snow horizon from a past year. Using these data and surface elevation observations from LiDAR and Global Navigation Satellite System instruments, we calculated the submergence velocities over the period between the buried horizon and more recent surface elevation observations. The differences between the changes in surface elevation and the submergence velocities were then used to calculate the annual surface mass-balances with an accuracy of ±0.34 m w.e. Assuming that the submergence velocities remain stable over several years, the surface mass-balance can be reconstructed for subsequent years from the differences in surface elevation alone. As opposed to the glaciological method that requires substantial fieldwork year after year to provide only point observations, this method, once submergence velocities have been calculated, requires only remote-sensing data to provide spatially distributed annual mass-balances in accumulation areas. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jourdain, Bruno Vincent, Christian Réveillet, Marion Rabatel, Antoine Brun, Fanny Six, Delphine Laarman, Olivier Piard, Luc Ginot, Patrick Sanchez, Olivier Berthier, Etienne |
author_facet |
Jourdain, Bruno Vincent, Christian Réveillet, Marion Rabatel, Antoine Brun, Fanny Six, Delphine Laarman, Olivier Piard, Luc Ginot, Patrick Sanchez, Olivier Berthier, Etienne |
author_sort |
Jourdain, Bruno |
title |
A method to estimate surface mass-balance in glacier accumulation areas based on digital elevation models and submergence velocities |
title_short |
A method to estimate surface mass-balance in glacier accumulation areas based on digital elevation models and submergence velocities |
title_full |
A method to estimate surface mass-balance in glacier accumulation areas based on digital elevation models and submergence velocities |
title_fullStr |
A method to estimate surface mass-balance in glacier accumulation areas based on digital elevation models and submergence velocities |
title_full_unstemmed |
A method to estimate surface mass-balance in glacier accumulation areas based on digital elevation models and submergence velocities |
title_sort |
method to estimate surface mass-balance in glacier accumulation areas based on digital elevation models and submergence velocities |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.29 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143023000291 |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 69, issue 277, page 1403-1418 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.29 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
69 |
container_issue |
277 |
container_start_page |
1403 |
op_container_end_page |
1418 |
_version_ |
1792501962071080960 |