Mapping tide-water glacier dynatnics in East Greenland using Landsat data

• Main Author: John L. Dwyer
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dyna; Fron; Greenland; East Greenland; glacier
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.430.895; http://www.igsoc.org/journal/41/139/igs_journal_vol41_issue139_pg584-595.pdf

ABSTRACT. Landsat multispeetral scanner and them atic ma ppe r images were co-registered for th e K a ngerdlugssuaq Fjord region in E ast Greenl and a nd were used to ma p glacier drainage-basin areas, ch a nges in the positions of tide-water glacier termini and to es tima te surface \'elocities of th e larger tide-water glaciers. Statistics \I'ere compiled to d ocument dista nce a nd area cha nges to glacier te rmini. The methodologies cb'eloped in this study arc broadl y a pplicabl e to th e inves ti gati on of tid e-wa ter glaciers in o ther areas. The number of images avail a ble for consec utive years and th e accuracy with which images are co-registered are key fa ctors th a t inDuence the degree to ""'hi ch region a l glacier dyna mics can be characte rized using rem otely se nsed data. Three domain s of g lacier state were interpreted: n et increase in terminus area in th e so uthern part of the studv area, net loss of terminus area for glaciers in upper K a ngerdl ugss uaq Fjord and a sligh t loss of glacier terminus area no rthward from R ybe rg Fjord. Local increases in the conce ntrations of drifting ice be rgs in the GOI'ds coincide with the observcd ex tension of glacier termini positions. Ice-surface velocity es timates \\'ere deriyed for seve ral g laciers using a uto mated image cross-correla ti on techniqucs. The \'Clocity determined for K angerdlugssuaq Gletscher is a pprox im a tely 5.0 km a I and th a t for K ong Christia n TV Gletscher is 0.9 km a- I. The continuous presence of icebergs a nd brash ice in front o f " th ese glacie rs indica tes su sta ined rates of ice-fron t calving.