Expansion of glacial lakes on Nelson and King George Islands, Maritime Antarctica, from 1986 to 2020

This study aims to quantify the areal variation of glacial lakes in the coastal ice-free areas of King George Island (KGI) and Nelson Island (NI) from 1986 to 2020. Glacial lake and glacial area fluctuations are estimated using spaceborne remote sensing data and annual mean near-surface air temperat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geocarto International
Main Authors: Kátia Kellem da Rosa, Manoela Araújo Gonçalves de Oliveira, Carina Petsch, Jeffrey D. Auger, Rosemary Vieira, Jefferson Cardia Simões
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2022
Subjects:
glacier retreat
proglacial environments
paraglacial system
climate variability
Physical geography
GB3-5030
George Islands
Glacial Lake
King George Island
King George Islands
Nelson Island
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1080/10106049.2021.1886342
https://doaj.org/article/0d4308a011fa4f85b029d227848e0073
Description
Summary:This study aims to quantify the areal variation of glacial lakes in the coastal ice-free areas of King George Island (KGI) and Nelson Island (NI) from 1986 to 2020. Glacial lake and glacial area fluctuations are estimated using spaceborne remote sensing data and annual mean near-surface air temperature data from station observations and ERA-Interim reanalysis were analyzed. The area of glacial lakes expanded 732%, from 0.18 km2 in the 1980s to 1.39 km2 in 2020. For the 1988–2000/2003 and 2000/2003–2020 periods, the increase in NI lake area is estimated to be 190% and 86%, respectively. Meanwhile, on KGI, the increase is estimated to be 316% for the 1988–2000/2003 period and 103% for the 2000/2003–2020 period. The majority of lakes and higher lake expansions occurred at the glacier fronts and can be attributed to the melting of glacier fronts and the subsequent glacial retreat in recent decades.

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