Glacier area changes in the Arctic and high latitudes using satellite remote sensing

• Published in: Journal of Maps
• Main Authors: Asim Ali, Paul Dunlop, Sonya Coleman, Dermot Kerr, Robert W. McNabb, Riko Noormets
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2023
• Subjects: Landsat; glaciers; OBIA; Google Earth Engine; Maps; G3180-9980; Arctic; Baffin Island; Greenland; Penny Ice Cap; Qeqertarsuaq; Baffin; Climate change; glacier; Ice cap; Novaya Zemlya; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2023.2247416; https://doaj.org/article/ca0f1019dac84c66bc98a504a16846ca

ABSTRACTGlaciers have been retreating over the last century as a result of climate change, particularly in the Arctic, causing sea levels to rise, affecting coastal communities and potentially changing global weather and climate patterns. In this study, we mapped 2203 glaciers in Novaya Zemlya (Russian Arctic), Penny Ice Cap (Baffin Island), Disko Island (Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland) and part of Kenai (Alaska), using Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) applied to multispectral Landsat satellite imagery in Google Earth Engine (GEE) to quantify the glacier area changes over three decades. Between 1985–89 and 2019–21, the results show that the overall glacier area loss in Novaya Zemlya is 1319 ± 419 km2 (5.7% of area), 452 ± 227 km2 (6.6%) for Penny Ice Cap, 457 ± 168 km2 (23.6%) in Disko Island and 196 ± 84 km2 (25.7%) in Kenai. A total of seventy-three glaciers have disappeared completely, including sixty-nine on Disko Island, three in Novaya Zemlya and one in Kenai.