Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014
Knowledge of supra-glacial debris cover and its changes remain incomplete in the Greater Caucasus, in spite of recent glacier studies. Here we present data of supra-glacial debris cover for 659 glaciers across the Greater Caucasus based on Landsat and SPOT images from the years 1986, 2000 and 2014....
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5f961d6e7c20464e9cf82e62000b2b0c 2023-05-15T18:32:25+02:00 Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 L. G. Tielidze T. Bolch R. D. Wheate S. S. Kutuzov I. I. Lavrentiev M. Zemp 2020-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 https://doaj.org/article/5f961d6e7c20464e9cf82e62000b2b0c EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/585/2020/tc-14-585-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/5f961d6e7c20464e9cf82e62000b2b0c The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 585-598 (2020) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 2022-12-31T02:16:41Z Knowledge of supra-glacial debris cover and its changes remain incomplete in the Greater Caucasus, in spite of recent glacier studies. Here we present data of supra-glacial debris cover for 659 glaciers across the Greater Caucasus based on Landsat and SPOT images from the years 1986, 2000 and 2014. We combined semi-automated methods for mapping the clean ice with manual digitization of debris-covered glacier parts and calculated supra-glacial debris-covered area as the residual between these two maps. The accuracy of the results was assessed by using high-resolution Google Earth imagery and GPS data for selected glaciers. From 1986 to 2014, the total glacier area decreased from 691.5±29.0 to 590.0±25.8 km 2 ( 15.8±4.1 %, or ∼0.52 % yr −1 ), while the clean-ice area reduced from 643.2±25.9 to 511.0±20.9 km 2 ( 20.1±4.0 %, or ∼0.73 % yr −1 ). In contrast supra-glacial debris cover increased from 7.0±6.4 %, or 48.3±3.1 km 2 , in 1986 to 13.4±6.2 % ( ∼0.22 % yr −1 ), or 79.0±4.9 km 2 , in 2014. Debris-free glaciers exhibited higher area and length reductions than debris-covered glaciers. The distribution of the supra-glacial debris cover differs between the northern and southern and between the western, central and eastern Greater Caucasus. The observed increase in supra-glacial debris cover is significantly stronger on the northern slopes. Overall, we have observed up-glacier average migration of supra-glacial debris cover from about 3015 to 3130 m a.s.l. (metres above sea level) during the investigated period. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles The Cryosphere 14 2 585 598 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
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Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 L. G. Tielidze T. Bolch R. D. Wheate S. S. Kutuzov I. I. Lavrentiev M. Zemp Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Knowledge of supra-glacial debris cover and its changes remain incomplete in the Greater Caucasus, in spite of recent glacier studies. Here we present data of supra-glacial debris cover for 659 glaciers across the Greater Caucasus based on Landsat and SPOT images from the years 1986, 2000 and 2014. We combined semi-automated methods for mapping the clean ice with manual digitization of debris-covered glacier parts and calculated supra-glacial debris-covered area as the residual between these two maps. The accuracy of the results was assessed by using high-resolution Google Earth imagery and GPS data for selected glaciers. From 1986 to 2014, the total glacier area decreased from 691.5±29.0 to 590.0±25.8 km 2 ( 15.8±4.1 %, or ∼0.52 % yr −1 ), while the clean-ice area reduced from 643.2±25.9 to 511.0±20.9 km 2 ( 20.1±4.0 %, or ∼0.73 % yr −1 ). In contrast supra-glacial debris cover increased from 7.0±6.4 %, or 48.3±3.1 km 2 , in 1986 to 13.4±6.2 % ( ∼0.22 % yr −1 ), or 79.0±4.9 km 2 , in 2014. Debris-free glaciers exhibited higher area and length reductions than debris-covered glaciers. The distribution of the supra-glacial debris cover differs between the northern and southern and between the western, central and eastern Greater Caucasus. The observed increase in supra-glacial debris cover is significantly stronger on the northern slopes. Overall, we have observed up-glacier average migration of supra-glacial debris cover from about 3015 to 3130 m a.s.l. (metres above sea level) during the investigated period. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
L. G. Tielidze T. Bolch R. D. Wheate S. S. Kutuzov I. I. Lavrentiev M. Zemp |
author_facet |
L. G. Tielidze T. Bolch R. D. Wheate S. S. Kutuzov I. I. Lavrentiev M. Zemp |
author_sort |
L. G. Tielidze |
title |
Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
title_short |
Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
title_full |
Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
title_fullStr |
Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
title_sort |
supra-glacial debris cover changes in the greater caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 https://doaj.org/article/5f961d6e7c20464e9cf82e62000b2b0c |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 14, Pp 585-598 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.the-cryosphere.net/14/585/2020/tc-14-585-2020.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/5f961d6e7c20464e9cf82e62000b2b0c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
585 |
op_container_end_page |
598 |
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