The first complete inventory of the local glaciers and ice caps on Greenland
Glacier inventories provide essential baseline information for the determination of water resources, glacier-specific changes in area and volume, climate change impacts as well as past, potential and future contribution of glaciers to sea-level rise. Although Greenland is heavily glacierised and thu...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:b2c6d7c8411c4b81b3da1262b3551408 2023-05-15T16:21:09+02:00 The first complete inventory of the local glaciers and ice caps on Greenland P. Rastner T. Bolch N. Mölg H. Machguth R. Le Bris F. Paul 2012-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1483-2012 https://doaj.org/article/b2c6d7c8411c4b81b3da1262b3551408 EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.the-cryosphere.net/6/1483/2012/tc-6-1483-2012.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-6-1483-2012 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/b2c6d7c8411c4b81b3da1262b3551408 The Cryosphere, Vol 6, Iss 6, Pp 1483-1495 (2012) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1483-2012 2022-12-31T12:29:10Z Glacier inventories provide essential baseline information for the determination of water resources, glacier-specific changes in area and volume, climate change impacts as well as past, potential and future contribution of glaciers to sea-level rise. Although Greenland is heavily glacierised and thus highly relevant for all of the above points, a complete inventory of its glaciers was not available so far. Here we present the results and details of a new and complete inventory that has been compiled from more than 70 Landsat scenes (mostly acquired between 1999 and 2002) using semi-automated glacier mapping techniques. A digital elevation model (DEM) was used to derive drainage divides from watershed analysis and topographic attributes for each glacier entity. To serve the needs of different user communities, we assigned to each glacier one of three connectivity levels with the ice sheet (CL0, CL1, CL2; i.e. no, weak, and strong connection) to clearly, but still flexibly, distinguish the local glaciers and ice caps (GIC) from the ice sheet and its outlet glaciers. In total, we mapped ~ 20 300 glaciers larger than 0.05 km 2 (of which ~ 900 are marine terminating), covering an area of 130 076 ± 4032 km 2 , or 89 720 ± 2781 km 2 without the CL2 GIC. The latter value is about 50% higher than the mean value of more recent previous estimates. Glaciers smaller than 0.5 km 2 contribute only 1.5% to the total area but more than 50% (11 000) to the total number. In contrast, the 25 largest GIC (> 500 km 2 ) contribute 28% to the total area, but only 0.1% to the total number. The mean elevation of the GIC is 1700 m in the eastern sector and around 1000 m otherwise. The median elevation increases with distance from the coast, but has only a weak dependence on mean glacier aspect. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland The Cryosphere 6 6 1483 1495 |
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 P. Rastner T. Bolch N. Mölg H. Machguth R. Le Bris F. Paul The first complete inventory of the local glaciers and ice caps on Greenland |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
Glacier inventories provide essential baseline information for the determination of water resources, glacier-specific changes in area and volume, climate change impacts as well as past, potential and future contribution of glaciers to sea-level rise. Although Greenland is heavily glacierised and thus highly relevant for all of the above points, a complete inventory of its glaciers was not available so far. Here we present the results and details of a new and complete inventory that has been compiled from more than 70 Landsat scenes (mostly acquired between 1999 and 2002) using semi-automated glacier mapping techniques. A digital elevation model (DEM) was used to derive drainage divides from watershed analysis and topographic attributes for each glacier entity. To serve the needs of different user communities, we assigned to each glacier one of three connectivity levels with the ice sheet (CL0, CL1, CL2; i.e. no, weak, and strong connection) to clearly, but still flexibly, distinguish the local glaciers and ice caps (GIC) from the ice sheet and its outlet glaciers. In total, we mapped ~ 20 300 glaciers larger than 0.05 km 2 (of which ~ 900 are marine terminating), covering an area of 130 076 ± 4032 km 2 , or 89 720 ± 2781 km 2 without the CL2 GIC. The latter value is about 50% higher than the mean value of more recent previous estimates. Glaciers smaller than 0.5 km 2 contribute only 1.5% to the total area but more than 50% (11 000) to the total number. In contrast, the 25 largest GIC (> 500 km 2 ) contribute 28% to the total area, but only 0.1% to the total number. The mean elevation of the GIC is 1700 m in the eastern sector and around 1000 m otherwise. The median elevation increases with distance from the coast, but has only a weak dependence on mean glacier aspect. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
P. Rastner T. Bolch N. Mölg H. Machguth R. Le Bris F. Paul |
author_facet |
P. Rastner T. Bolch N. Mölg H. Machguth R. Le Bris F. Paul |
author_sort |
P. Rastner |
title |
The first complete inventory of the local glaciers and ice caps on Greenland |
title_short |
The first complete inventory of the local glaciers and ice caps on Greenland |
title_full |
The first complete inventory of the local glaciers and ice caps on Greenland |
title_fullStr |
The first complete inventory of the local glaciers and ice caps on Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
The first complete inventory of the local glaciers and ice caps on Greenland |
title_sort |
first complete inventory of the local glaciers and ice caps on greenland |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1483-2012 https://doaj.org/article/b2c6d7c8411c4b81b3da1262b3551408 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 6, Iss 6, Pp 1483-1495 (2012) |
op_relation |
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/6/1483/2012/tc-6-1483-2012.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-6-1483-2012 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/b2c6d7c8411c4b81b3da1262b3551408 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-6-1483-2012 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1483 |
op_container_end_page |
1495 |
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1766009163192729600 |