INVESTIGATING MASS LOSS AND CHANGING ICE DYNAMICS OF ARCTIC ICE CAPS USING REMOTE SENSING
184 pages Glacier thinning and retreat have accelerated globally in the last century and are the largest contributor to rising sea levels. For the Arctic region, observations and modeling results have shown that extensive warming is taking place. However, the recent glacier dynamics (mass balance an...
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| Other Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2020
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1813/103445 http://dissertations.umi.com/cornellgrad:12397 https://doi.org/10.7298/qcf9-f163 |
| Summary: | 184 pages Glacier thinning and retreat have accelerated globally in the last century and are the largest contributor to rising sea levels. For the Arctic region, observations and modeling results have shown that extensive warming is taking place. However, the recent glacier dynamics (mass balance and ice discharge) in many Arctic regions have not been well studied due to the remote nature of these glaciers. This thesis uses multiple types of satellite data to quantify the mass balance and ice discharge for three Arctic regions showing dramatic glacier change in recent decades possibly due to Arctic warming. The objective is to resolve the mass budget and velocity pattern on a per glacier basis and understand the mechanisms driving recent changes. To facilitate the entire workflow, our research team has developed the Cryosphere and Remote Sensing Toolkit (CARST) software, and I am the lead author. CARST provides useful python and bash scripts that use satellite imagery, particularly SAR and optical images, to monitor changes of glaciers and ice caps through time. The first study area is Franz Josef Land (FJL), Russia, which is currently subjected to a rapidly-warming climate in the Arctic. I combine surface elevation data derived from different sources and times, including the WorldView satellite series and the ArcticDEM data set (2011–2015), SPOT-5 (2007), CryoSat-2 (2011–2015), and a digitized cartographic map (1953). I calculate elevation change rate (dh/dt) in two different periods, and the results show a two-fold rate of ice loss over the past 60 years, from -2.18 ± 0.72 Gt/yr (1953–2011/2015 average) to -4.43 ± 0.78 Gt/yr (2011–2015). Despite being spatially variable, a trend of increased thinning from NE towards SW is discovered, suggesting a link to the local gradient in temperature and precipitation. Ice loss is mostly focused on marine-terminating glaciers probably due to the interaction between glaciers and warming ocean water. These retreating glaciers generated a new island in 2016 and more islands ... |
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