A new method for deriving glacier centerlines applied to glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada
This study presents a new method to derive centerlines for the main branches and major tributaries of a set of glaciers, requiring glacier outlines and a digital elevation model (DEM) as input. The method relies on a "cost grid–least-cost route approach" that comprises three main steps. Fi...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:653d9dfd83c94e57be3229955ca0a6ba 2023-05-15T16:20:24+02:00 A new method for deriving glacier centerlines applied to glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada C. Kienholz J. L. Rich A. A. Arendt R. Hock 2014-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-503-2014 https://doaj.org/article/653d9dfd83c94e57be3229955ca0a6ba EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.the-cryosphere.net/8/503/2014/tc-8-503-2014.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-8-503-2014 https://doaj.org/article/653d9dfd83c94e57be3229955ca0a6ba The Cryosphere, Vol 8, Iss 2, Pp 503-519 (2014) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-503-2014 2022-12-31T16:01:33Z This study presents a new method to derive centerlines for the main branches and major tributaries of a set of glaciers, requiring glacier outlines and a digital elevation model (DEM) as input. The method relies on a "cost grid–least-cost route approach" that comprises three main steps. First, termini and heads are identified for every glacier. Second, centerlines are derived by calculating the least-cost route on a previously established cost grid. Third, the centerlines are split into branches and a branch order is allocated. Application to 21 720 glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada (Yukon, British Columbia) yields 41 860 centerlines. The algorithm performs robustly, requiring no manual adjustments for 87.8% of the glaciers. Manual adjustments are required primarily to correct the locations of glacier heads (7.0% corrected) and termini (3.5% corrected). With corrected heads and termini, only 1.4% of the derived centerlines need edits. A comparison of the lengths from a hydrological approach to the lengths from our longest centerlines reveals considerable variation. Although the average length ratio is close to unity, only ~ 50% of the 21 720 glaciers have the two lengths within 10% of each other. A second comparison shows that our centerline lengths between lowest and highest glacier elevations compare well to our longest centerline lengths. For > 70% of the 4350 glaciers with two or more branches, the two lengths are within 5% of each other. Our final product can be used for calculating glacier length, conducting length change analyses, topological analyses, or flowline modeling. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier glaciers The Cryosphere Alaska Yukon Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Yukon Canada British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) The Cryosphere 8 2 503 519 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 C. Kienholz J. L. Rich A. A. Arendt R. Hock A new method for deriving glacier centerlines applied to glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
This study presents a new method to derive centerlines for the main branches and major tributaries of a set of glaciers, requiring glacier outlines and a digital elevation model (DEM) as input. The method relies on a "cost grid–least-cost route approach" that comprises three main steps. First, termini and heads are identified for every glacier. Second, centerlines are derived by calculating the least-cost route on a previously established cost grid. Third, the centerlines are split into branches and a branch order is allocated. Application to 21 720 glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada (Yukon, British Columbia) yields 41 860 centerlines. The algorithm performs robustly, requiring no manual adjustments for 87.8% of the glaciers. Manual adjustments are required primarily to correct the locations of glacier heads (7.0% corrected) and termini (3.5% corrected). With corrected heads and termini, only 1.4% of the derived centerlines need edits. A comparison of the lengths from a hydrological approach to the lengths from our longest centerlines reveals considerable variation. Although the average length ratio is close to unity, only ~ 50% of the 21 720 glaciers have the two lengths within 10% of each other. A second comparison shows that our centerline lengths between lowest and highest glacier elevations compare well to our longest centerline lengths. For > 70% of the 4350 glaciers with two or more branches, the two lengths are within 5% of each other. Our final product can be used for calculating glacier length, conducting length change analyses, topological analyses, or flowline modeling. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. Kienholz J. L. Rich A. A. Arendt R. Hock |
author_facet |
C. Kienholz J. L. Rich A. A. Arendt R. Hock |
author_sort |
C. Kienholz |
title |
A new method for deriving glacier centerlines applied to glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada |
title_short |
A new method for deriving glacier centerlines applied to glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada |
title_full |
A new method for deriving glacier centerlines applied to glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada |
title_fullStr |
A new method for deriving glacier centerlines applied to glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
A new method for deriving glacier centerlines applied to glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada |
title_sort |
new method for deriving glacier centerlines applied to glaciers in alaska and northwest canada |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-503-2014 https://doaj.org/article/653d9dfd83c94e57be3229955ca0a6ba |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
geographic |
Yukon Canada British Columbia |
geographic_facet |
Yukon Canada British Columbia |
genre |
glacier glaciers The Cryosphere Alaska Yukon |
genre_facet |
glacier glaciers The Cryosphere Alaska Yukon |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 8, Iss 2, Pp 503-519 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/8/503/2014/tc-8-503-2014.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-8-503-2014 https://doaj.org/article/653d9dfd83c94e57be3229955ca0a6ba |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-503-2014 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
503 |
op_container_end_page |
519 |
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1766008327360217088 |