Baseline data for monitoring geomorphological effects of glacier lake outburst flood: a very-high-resolution image and GIS datasets of the distal part of the Zackenberg River, northeast Greenland

• Published in: Earth System Science Data
• Main Authors: Tomczyk, Aleksandra M., Ewertowski, Marek W.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Arctic; Glacial Lake; Greenland; glacier; permafrost; Zackenberg
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5293-2021; https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/13/5293/2021/

The polar regions experience widespread transformations, such that efficient methods are needed to monitor and understand Arctic landscape changes in response to climate warming and low-frequency, high-magnitude hydrological and geomorphological events. One example of such events, capable of causing serious landscape changes, is glacier lake outburst floods. On 6 August 2017, a flood event related to glacial lake outburst affected the Zackenberg River (NE Greenland). Here, we provided a very-high-resolution dataset representing unique time series of data captured immediately before (5 August 2017), during (6 August 2017), and after (8 August 2017) the flood. Our dataset covers a 2.1 km long distal section of the Zackenberg River. The available files comprise (1) unprocessed images captured using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4495282 , Tomczyk and Ewertowski, 2021a) and (2) results of structure-from-motion (SfM) processing (orthomosaics, digital elevation models, and hillshade models in a raster format), uncertainty assessments (precision maps), and effects of geomorphological mapping in vector formats ( https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4498296 , Tomczyk and Ewertowski, 2021b). Potential applications of the presented dataset include (1) assessment and quantification of landscape changes as an immediate result of a glacier lake outburst flood; (2) long-term monitoring of high-Arctic river valley development (in conjunction with other datasets); (3) establishing a baseline for quantification of geomorphological impacts of future glacier lake outburst floods; (4) assessment of geohazards related to bank erosion and debris flow development (hazards for research station infrastructure – station buildings and bridge); (5) monitoring of permafrost degradation; and (6) modelling flood impacts on river ecosystem, transport capacity, and channel stability.