Sub-seasonal thaw slump mass wasting is not consistently energy limited at the landscape scale

Predicting future thaw slump activity requires a sound understanding of the atmospheric drivers and geomorphic controls on mass wasting across a range of timescales. On sub-seasonal timescales, sparse measurements indicate that mass wasting at active slumps is often limited by the energy available f...

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Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: S. Zwieback, S. V. Kokelj, F. Günther, J. Boike, G. Grosse, I. Hajnsek
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-549-2018
https://doaj.org/article/c3b006a9e3c14528958f8e285bdc25d8
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spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c3b006a9e3c14528958f8e285bdc25d8 2023-05-15T18:32:28+02:00 Sub-seasonal thaw slump mass wasting is not consistently energy limited at the landscape scale S. Zwieback S. V. Kokelj F. Günther J. Boike G. Grosse I. Hajnsek 2018-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-549-2018 https://doaj.org/article/c3b006a9e3c14528958f8e285bdc25d8 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/549/2018/tc-12-549-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-12-549-2018 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/c3b006a9e3c14528958f8e285bdc25d8 The Cryosphere, Vol 12, Pp 549-564 (2018) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-549-2018 2022-12-31T13:23:08Z Predicting future thaw slump activity requires a sound understanding of the atmospheric drivers and geomorphic controls on mass wasting across a range of timescales. On sub-seasonal timescales, sparse measurements indicate that mass wasting at active slumps is often limited by the energy available for melting ground ice, but other factors such as rainfall or the formation of an insulating veneer may also be relevant. To study the sub-seasonal drivers, we derive topographic changes from single-pass radar interferometric data acquired by the TanDEM-X satellites. The estimated elevation changes at 12 m resolution complement the commonly observed planimetric retreat rates by providing information on volume losses. Their high vertical precision (around 30 cm), frequent observations (11 days) and large coverage (5000 km 2 ) allow us to track mass wasting as drivers such as the available energy change during the summer of 2015 in two study regions. We find that thaw slumps in the Tuktoyaktuk coastlands, Canada, are not energy limited in June, as they undergo limited mass wasting (height loss of around 0 cm day −1 ) despite the ample available energy, suggesting the widespread presence of early season insulating snow or debris veneer. Later in summer, height losses generally increase (around 3 cm day −1 ), but they do so in distinct ways. For many slumps, mass wasting tracks the available energy, a temporal pattern that is also observed at coastal yedoma cliffs on the Bykovsky Peninsula, Russia. However, the other two common temporal trajectories are asynchronous with the available energy, as they track strong precipitation events or show a sudden speed-up in late August respectively. The observed temporal patterns are poorly related to slump characteristics like the headwall height. The contrasting temporal behaviour of nearby thaw slumps highlights the importance of complex local and temporally varying controls on mass wasting. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada Tuktoyaktuk ENVELOPE(-133.006,-133.006,69.425,69.425) The Cryosphere 12 2 549 564
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
S. Zwieback
S. V. Kokelj
F. Günther
J. Boike
G. Grosse
I. Hajnsek
Sub-seasonal thaw slump mass wasting is not consistently energy limited at the landscape scale
topic_facet Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Geology
QE1-996.5
description Predicting future thaw slump activity requires a sound understanding of the atmospheric drivers and geomorphic controls on mass wasting across a range of timescales. On sub-seasonal timescales, sparse measurements indicate that mass wasting at active slumps is often limited by the energy available for melting ground ice, but other factors such as rainfall or the formation of an insulating veneer may also be relevant. To study the sub-seasonal drivers, we derive topographic changes from single-pass radar interferometric data acquired by the TanDEM-X satellites. The estimated elevation changes at 12 m resolution complement the commonly observed planimetric retreat rates by providing information on volume losses. Their high vertical precision (around 30 cm), frequent observations (11 days) and large coverage (5000 km 2 ) allow us to track mass wasting as drivers such as the available energy change during the summer of 2015 in two study regions. We find that thaw slumps in the Tuktoyaktuk coastlands, Canada, are not energy limited in June, as they undergo limited mass wasting (height loss of around 0 cm day −1 ) despite the ample available energy, suggesting the widespread presence of early season insulating snow or debris veneer. Later in summer, height losses generally increase (around 3 cm day −1 ), but they do so in distinct ways. For many slumps, mass wasting tracks the available energy, a temporal pattern that is also observed at coastal yedoma cliffs on the Bykovsky Peninsula, Russia. However, the other two common temporal trajectories are asynchronous with the available energy, as they track strong precipitation events or show a sudden speed-up in late August respectively. The observed temporal patterns are poorly related to slump characteristics like the headwall height. The contrasting temporal behaviour of nearby thaw slumps highlights the importance of complex local and temporally varying controls on mass wasting.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author S. Zwieback
S. V. Kokelj
F. Günther
J. Boike
G. Grosse
I. Hajnsek
author_facet S. Zwieback
S. V. Kokelj
F. Günther
J. Boike
G. Grosse
I. Hajnsek
author_sort S. Zwieback
title Sub-seasonal thaw slump mass wasting is not consistently energy limited at the landscape scale
title_short Sub-seasonal thaw slump mass wasting is not consistently energy limited at the landscape scale
title_full Sub-seasonal thaw slump mass wasting is not consistently energy limited at the landscape scale
title_fullStr Sub-seasonal thaw slump mass wasting is not consistently energy limited at the landscape scale
title_full_unstemmed Sub-seasonal thaw slump mass wasting is not consistently energy limited at the landscape scale
title_sort sub-seasonal thaw slump mass wasting is not consistently energy limited at the landscape scale
publisher Copernicus Publications
publishDate 2018
url https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-549-2018
https://doaj.org/article/c3b006a9e3c14528958f8e285bdc25d8
long_lat ENVELOPE(-133.006,-133.006,69.425,69.425)
geographic Canada
Tuktoyaktuk
geographic_facet Canada
Tuktoyaktuk
genre The Cryosphere
genre_facet The Cryosphere
op_source The Cryosphere, Vol 12, Pp 549-564 (2018)
op_relation https://www.the-cryosphere.net/12/549/2018/tc-12-549-2018.pdf
https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416
https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424
doi:10.5194/tc-12-549-2018
1994-0416
1994-0424
https://doaj.org/article/c3b006a9e3c14528958f8e285bdc25d8
op_doi https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-549-2018
container_title The Cryosphere
container_volume 12
container_issue 2
container_start_page 549
op_container_end_page 564
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