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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ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/244496 2023-05-15T18:32:13+02:00 Sub-seasonal thaw slump mass wasting is not consistently energy limited at the landscape scale Zwieback, Simon Kokelj, Steven V. Günther, Frank Boike, Julia Grosse, Guido Hajnsek, Irena 2018 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/244496 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000244496 en eng Copernicus info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/tc-12-549-2018 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000425092800001 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/244496 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000244496 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International CC-BY The Cryosphere, 12 (2) info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2018 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/244496 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000244496 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-549-2018 2022-04-25T13:25:45Z 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 km2) 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. ISSN:1994-0416 ISSN:1994-0424 Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere ETH Zürich Research Collection Canada Tuktoyaktuk ENVELOPE(-133.006,-133.006,69.425,69.425) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ETH Zürich Research Collection |
op_collection_id |
ftethz |
language |
English |
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 km2) 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. ISSN:1994-0416 ISSN:1994-0424 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zwieback, Simon Kokelj, Steven V. Günther, Frank Boike, Julia Grosse, Guido Hajnsek, Irena |
spellingShingle |
Zwieback, Simon Kokelj, Steven V. Günther, Frank Boike, Julia Grosse, Guido Hajnsek, Irena Sub-seasonal thaw slump mass wasting is not consistently energy limited at the landscape scale |
author_facet |
Zwieback, Simon Kokelj, Steven V. Günther, Frank Boike, Julia Grosse, Guido Hajnsek, Irena |
author_sort |
Zwieback, Simon |
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 |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/244496 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000244496 |
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, 12 (2) |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/tc-12-549-2018 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000425092800001 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/244496 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000244496 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11850/244496 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000244496 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-549-2018 |
_version_ |
1766216308763918336 |