How to handle glacier area change in geodetic mass balance
Abstract Innovations in geodesy enable widespread analysis of glacier surface elevation change and geodetic mass balance. However, coincident glacier area data are less widely available, causing inconsistent handling of glacier area change. Here we quantify the bias introduced into meters water equi...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2023
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.86 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143023000862 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/jog.2023.86 2024-03-03T08:36:17+00:00 How to handle glacier area change in geodetic mass balance Florentine, Caitlyn Sass, Louis McNeil, Christopher Baker, Emily O'Neel, Shad U.S. Geological Survey 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.86 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143023000862 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Journal of Glaciology page 1-7 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 Earth-Surface Processes journal-article 2023 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.86 2024-02-08T08:26:47Z Abstract Innovations in geodesy enable widespread analysis of glacier surface elevation change and geodetic mass balance. However, coincident glacier area data are less widely available, causing inconsistent handling of glacier area change. Here we quantify the bias introduced into meters water equivalent (m w.e.) specific geodetic mass balance results when using a fixed, maximum glacier area, and illustrate the bias for five North American glaciers. Sites span latitudes from the northern U.S. Rocky Mountains (48°N) to the Central Alaska Range (63°N) between 1948 and 2021. Results show that fixed (maximum) area treatment subdues the m w.e. mass change signal, underestimating mass balance by up to 19% in our test cases. This bias scales with relative glacier area change and the mass balance magnitude. Thus, the bias for specific geodetic mass balances will be most pronounced across rapidly deglaciating regions. Our analysis underscores the need for temporally resolved glacier area in geodetic mass balance studies. Article in Journal/Newspaper alaska range glacier glaciers Journal of Glaciology Alaska Cambridge University Press Journal of Glaciology 1 7 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth-Surface Processes |
spellingShingle |
Earth-Surface Processes Florentine, Caitlyn Sass, Louis McNeil, Christopher Baker, Emily O'Neel, Shad How to handle glacier area change in geodetic mass balance |
topic_facet |
Earth-Surface Processes |
description |
Abstract Innovations in geodesy enable widespread analysis of glacier surface elevation change and geodetic mass balance. However, coincident glacier area data are less widely available, causing inconsistent handling of glacier area change. Here we quantify the bias introduced into meters water equivalent (m w.e.) specific geodetic mass balance results when using a fixed, maximum glacier area, and illustrate the bias for five North American glaciers. Sites span latitudes from the northern U.S. Rocky Mountains (48°N) to the Central Alaska Range (63°N) between 1948 and 2021. Results show that fixed (maximum) area treatment subdues the m w.e. mass change signal, underestimating mass balance by up to 19% in our test cases. This bias scales with relative glacier area change and the mass balance magnitude. Thus, the bias for specific geodetic mass balances will be most pronounced across rapidly deglaciating regions. Our analysis underscores the need for temporally resolved glacier area in geodetic mass balance studies. |
author2 |
U.S. Geological Survey |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Florentine, Caitlyn Sass, Louis McNeil, Christopher Baker, Emily O'Neel, Shad |
author_facet |
Florentine, Caitlyn Sass, Louis McNeil, Christopher Baker, Emily O'Neel, Shad |
author_sort |
Florentine, Caitlyn |
title |
How to handle glacier area change in geodetic mass balance |
title_short |
How to handle glacier area change in geodetic mass balance |
title_full |
How to handle glacier area change in geodetic mass balance |
title_fullStr |
How to handle glacier area change in geodetic mass balance |
title_full_unstemmed |
How to handle glacier area change in geodetic mass balance |
title_sort |
how to handle glacier area change in geodetic mass balance |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.86 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143023000862 |
genre |
alaska range glacier glaciers Journal of Glaciology Alaska |
genre_facet |
alaska range glacier glaciers Journal of Glaciology Alaska |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology page 1-7 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.86 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
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1 |
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7 |
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1792498507364433920 |