How accurate are estimates of glacier ice thickness? Results from ITMIX, the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment
Knowledge of the ice thickness distribution of glaciers and ice caps is an important prerequisite for many glaciological and hydrological investigations. A wealth of approaches has recently been presented for inferring ice thickness from characteristics of the surface. With the Ice Thickness Models...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7b92c212db514fef88bb497f2d0997d7 2023-05-15T18:32:29+02:00 How accurate are estimates of glacier ice thickness? Results from ITMIX, the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment D. Farinotti D. J. Brinkerhoff G. K. C. Clarke J. J. Fürst H. Frey P. Gantayat F. Gillet-Chaulet C. Girard M. Huss P. W. Leclercq A. Linsbauer H. Machguth C. Martin F. Maussion M. Morlighem C. Mosbeux A. Pandit A. Portmann A. Rabatel R. Ramsankaran T. J. Reerink O. Sanchez P. A. Stentoft S. Singh Kumari W. J. J. van Pelt B. Anderson T. Benham D. Binder J. A. Dowdeswell A. Fischer K. Helfricht S. Kutuzov I. Lavrentiev R. McNabb G. H. Gudmundsson H. Li L. M. Andreassen 2017-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-949-2017 https://doaj.org/article/7b92c212db514fef88bb497f2d0997d7 EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/949/2017/tc-11-949-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-11-949-2017 https://doaj.org/article/7b92c212db514fef88bb497f2d0997d7 The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Iss 2, Pp 949-970 (2017) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-949-2017 2022-12-31T03:49:10Z Knowledge of the ice thickness distribution of glaciers and ice caps is an important prerequisite for many glaciological and hydrological investigations. A wealth of approaches has recently been presented for inferring ice thickness from characteristics of the surface. With the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment (ITMIX) we performed the first coordinated assessment quantifying individual model performance. A set of 17 different models showed that individual ice thickness estimates can differ considerably – locally by a spread comparable to the observed thickness. Averaging the results of multiple models, however, significantly improved the results: on average over the 21 considered test cases, comparison against direct ice thickness measurements revealed deviations on the order of 10 ± 24 % of the mean ice thickness (1 σ estimate). Models relying on multiple data sets – such as surface ice velocity fields, surface mass balance, or rates of ice thickness change – showed high sensitivity to input data quality. Together with the requirement of being able to handle large regions in an automated fashion, the capacity of better accounting for uncertainties in the input data will be a key for an improved next generation of ice thickness estimation approaches. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles The Cryosphere 11 2 949 970 |
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 D. Farinotti D. J. Brinkerhoff G. K. C. Clarke J. J. Fürst H. Frey P. Gantayat F. Gillet-Chaulet C. Girard M. Huss P. W. Leclercq A. Linsbauer H. Machguth C. Martin F. Maussion M. Morlighem C. Mosbeux A. Pandit A. Portmann A. Rabatel R. Ramsankaran T. J. Reerink O. Sanchez P. A. Stentoft S. Singh Kumari W. J. J. van Pelt B. Anderson T. Benham D. Binder J. A. Dowdeswell A. Fischer K. Helfricht S. Kutuzov I. Lavrentiev R. McNabb G. H. Gudmundsson H. Li L. M. Andreassen How accurate are estimates of glacier ice thickness? Results from ITMIX, the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Knowledge of the ice thickness distribution of glaciers and ice caps is an important prerequisite for many glaciological and hydrological investigations. A wealth of approaches has recently been presented for inferring ice thickness from characteristics of the surface. With the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment (ITMIX) we performed the first coordinated assessment quantifying individual model performance. A set of 17 different models showed that individual ice thickness estimates can differ considerably – locally by a spread comparable to the observed thickness. Averaging the results of multiple models, however, significantly improved the results: on average over the 21 considered test cases, comparison against direct ice thickness measurements revealed deviations on the order of 10 ± 24 % of the mean ice thickness (1 σ estimate). Models relying on multiple data sets – such as surface ice velocity fields, surface mass balance, or rates of ice thickness change – showed high sensitivity to input data quality. Together with the requirement of being able to handle large regions in an automated fashion, the capacity of better accounting for uncertainties in the input data will be a key for an improved next generation of ice thickness estimation approaches. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
D. Farinotti D. J. Brinkerhoff G. K. C. Clarke J. J. Fürst H. Frey P. Gantayat F. Gillet-Chaulet C. Girard M. Huss P. W. Leclercq A. Linsbauer H. Machguth C. Martin F. Maussion M. Morlighem C. Mosbeux A. Pandit A. Portmann A. Rabatel R. Ramsankaran T. J. Reerink O. Sanchez P. A. Stentoft S. Singh Kumari W. J. J. van Pelt B. Anderson T. Benham D. Binder J. A. Dowdeswell A. Fischer K. Helfricht S. Kutuzov I. Lavrentiev R. McNabb G. H. Gudmundsson H. Li L. M. Andreassen |
author_facet |
D. Farinotti D. J. Brinkerhoff G. K. C. Clarke J. J. Fürst H. Frey P. Gantayat F. Gillet-Chaulet C. Girard M. Huss P. W. Leclercq A. Linsbauer H. Machguth C. Martin F. Maussion M. Morlighem C. Mosbeux A. Pandit A. Portmann A. Rabatel R. Ramsankaran T. J. Reerink O. Sanchez P. A. Stentoft S. Singh Kumari W. J. J. van Pelt B. Anderson T. Benham D. Binder J. A. Dowdeswell A. Fischer K. Helfricht S. Kutuzov I. Lavrentiev R. McNabb G. H. Gudmundsson H. Li L. M. Andreassen |
author_sort |
D. Farinotti |
title |
How accurate are estimates of glacier ice thickness? Results from ITMIX, the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment |
title_short |
How accurate are estimates of glacier ice thickness? Results from ITMIX, the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment |
title_full |
How accurate are estimates of glacier ice thickness? Results from ITMIX, the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment |
title_fullStr |
How accurate are estimates of glacier ice thickness? Results from ITMIX, the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment |
title_full_unstemmed |
How accurate are estimates of glacier ice thickness? Results from ITMIX, the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment |
title_sort |
how accurate are estimates of glacier ice thickness? results from itmix, the ice thickness models intercomparison experiment |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-949-2017 https://doaj.org/article/7b92c212db514fef88bb497f2d0997d7 |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Iss 2, Pp 949-970 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/949/2017/tc-11-949-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-11-949-2017 https://doaj.org/article/7b92c212db514fef88bb497f2d0997d7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-949-2017 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
949 |
op_container_end_page |
970 |
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1766216605744758784 |