Constraining regional glacier reconstructions using past ice thickness of deglaciating areas – a case study in the European Alps
In order to assess future glacier evolution and meltwater runoff, accurate knowledge on the volume and the ice thickness distribution of glaciers is crucial. However, in situ observations of glacier thickness are sparse in many regions worldwide due to the difficulty of undertaking field surveys. Th...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ca53a49f126b492fbeb2eb4ff5621525 2023-07-02T03:33:51+02:00 Constraining regional glacier reconstructions using past ice thickness of deglaciating areas – a case study in the European Alps C. Sommer J. J. Fürst M. Huss M. H. Braun 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2285-2023 https://doaj.org/article/ca53a49f126b492fbeb2eb4ff5621525 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2285/2023/tc-17-2285-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-2285-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/ca53a49f126b492fbeb2eb4ff5621525 The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 2285-2303 (2023) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2285-2023 2023-06-11T00:35:09Z In order to assess future glacier evolution and meltwater runoff, accurate knowledge on the volume and the ice thickness distribution of glaciers is crucial. However, in situ observations of glacier thickness are sparse in many regions worldwide due to the difficulty of undertaking field surveys. This lack of in situ measurements can be partially overcome by remote-sensing information. Multi-temporal and contemporaneous data on glacier extent and surface elevation provide past information on ice thickness for retreating glaciers in the newly deglacierized regions. However, these observations are concentrated near the glacier snouts, which is disadvantageous because it is known to introduce biases in ice thickness reconstruction approaches. Here, we show a strategy to overcome this generic limitation of so-called retreat thickness observations by applying an empirical relationship between the ice viscosity at locations with in situ observations and observations from digital elevation model (DEM) differencing at the glacier margins. Various datasets from the European Alps are combined to model the ice thickness distribution of Alpine glaciers for two time steps (1970 and 2003) based on the observed thickness in regions uncovered from ice during the study period. Our results show that the average ice thickness would be substantially underestimated ( ∼ 40 %) when relying solely on thickness observations from previously glacierized areas. Thus, a transferable topography-based viscosity scaling is developed to correct the modelled ice thickness distribution. It is shown that the presented approach is able to reproduce region-wide glacier volumes, although larger uncertainties remain at a local scale, and thus might represent a powerful tool for application in regions with sparse observations. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles The Cryosphere 17 6 2285 2303 |
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. Sommer J. J. Fürst M. Huss M. H. Braun Constraining regional glacier reconstructions using past ice thickness of deglaciating areas – a case study in the European Alps |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
In order to assess future glacier evolution and meltwater runoff, accurate knowledge on the volume and the ice thickness distribution of glaciers is crucial. However, in situ observations of glacier thickness are sparse in many regions worldwide due to the difficulty of undertaking field surveys. This lack of in situ measurements can be partially overcome by remote-sensing information. Multi-temporal and contemporaneous data on glacier extent and surface elevation provide past information on ice thickness for retreating glaciers in the newly deglacierized regions. However, these observations are concentrated near the glacier snouts, which is disadvantageous because it is known to introduce biases in ice thickness reconstruction approaches. Here, we show a strategy to overcome this generic limitation of so-called retreat thickness observations by applying an empirical relationship between the ice viscosity at locations with in situ observations and observations from digital elevation model (DEM) differencing at the glacier margins. Various datasets from the European Alps are combined to model the ice thickness distribution of Alpine glaciers for two time steps (1970 and 2003) based on the observed thickness in regions uncovered from ice during the study period. Our results show that the average ice thickness would be substantially underestimated ( ∼ 40 %) when relying solely on thickness observations from previously glacierized areas. Thus, a transferable topography-based viscosity scaling is developed to correct the modelled ice thickness distribution. It is shown that the presented approach is able to reproduce region-wide glacier volumes, although larger uncertainties remain at a local scale, and thus might represent a powerful tool for application in regions with sparse observations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
C. Sommer J. J. Fürst M. Huss M. H. Braun |
author_facet |
C. Sommer J. J. Fürst M. Huss M. H. Braun |
author_sort |
C. Sommer |
title |
Constraining regional glacier reconstructions using past ice thickness of deglaciating areas – a case study in the European Alps |
title_short |
Constraining regional glacier reconstructions using past ice thickness of deglaciating areas – a case study in the European Alps |
title_full |
Constraining regional glacier reconstructions using past ice thickness of deglaciating areas – a case study in the European Alps |
title_fullStr |
Constraining regional glacier reconstructions using past ice thickness of deglaciating areas – a case study in the European Alps |
title_full_unstemmed |
Constraining regional glacier reconstructions using past ice thickness of deglaciating areas – a case study in the European Alps |
title_sort |
constraining regional glacier reconstructions using past ice thickness of deglaciating areas – a case study in the european alps |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2285-2023 https://doaj.org/article/ca53a49f126b492fbeb2eb4ff5621525 |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 2285-2303 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2285/2023/tc-17-2285-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-2285-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/ca53a49f126b492fbeb2eb4ff5621525 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2285-2023 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
2285 |
op_container_end_page |
2303 |
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1770273962543022080 |