Glacier area changes in the Arctic and high latitudes using satellite remote sensing ...

• Main Authors: Ali, Asim, Dunlop, Paul, Coleman, Sonya, Kerr, Dermot, McNabb, Robert W., Noormets, Riko
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2023
• Subjects: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified; Ecology; FOS Biological sciences; Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified; Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified; Information Systems not elsewhere classified; Inorganic Chemistry; FOS Chemical sciences; Arctic; Baffin Island; Greenland; Penny Ice Cap; Qeqertarsuaq; Baffin; Climate change; glacier; glaciers; Ice cap; Novaya Zemlya; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24010352; https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Glacier_area_changes_in_the_Arctic_and_high_latitudes_using_satellite_remote_sensing/24010352

Glaciers have been retreating over the last century as a result of climate change, particularly in the Arctic, causing sea levels to rise, affecting coastal communities and potentially changing global weather and climate patterns. In this study, we mapped 2203 glaciers in Novaya Zemlya (Russian Arctic), Penny Ice Cap (Baffin Island), Disko Island (Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland) and part of Kenai (Alaska), using Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) applied to multispectral Landsat satellite imagery in Google Earth Engine (GEE) to quantify the glacier area changes over three decades. Between 1985–89 and 2019–21, the results show that the overall glacier area loss in Novaya Zemlya is 1319 ± 419 km 2 (5.7% of area), 452 ± 227 km 2 (6.6%) for Penny Ice Cap, 457 ± 168 km 2 (23.6%) in Disko Island and 196 ± 84 km 2 (25.7%) in Kenai. A total of seventy-three glaciers have disappeared completely, including sixty-nine on Disko Island, three in Novaya Zemlya and one in Kenai. ...