Video1_What Can Thermal Imagery Tell Us About Glacier Melt Below Rock Debris?.MP4

• Main Author: Sam Herreid
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Solid Earth Sciences; Climate Science; Atmospheric Sciences not elsewhere classified; Exploration Geochemistry; Inorganic Geochemistry; Isotope Geochemistry; Organic Geochemistry; Geochemistry not elsewhere classified; Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology; Ore Deposit Petrology; Palaeontology (incl. Palynology); Structural Geology; Tectonics; Volcanology; Geology not elsewhere classified; Seismology and Seismic Exploration; Glaciology; Hydrogeology; Natural Hazards; Quaternary Environments; Earth Sciences not elsewhere classified; Evolutionary Impacts of Climate Change; thermal infrared; glacier melt modeling; ASTER thermal infrared; debris covered glaciers; cryosphere; mountain glaciers; thermal image processing; Østrem; glacier; glaciers; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.681059.s002; https://figshare.com/articles/media/Video1_What_Can_Thermal_Imagery_Tell_Us_About_Glacier_Melt_Below_Rock_Debris_MP4/16532592

Rock debris on the surface of a glacier can dramatically reduce the local melt rate, where the primary factor governing melt reduction is debris layer thickness. Relating surface temperature to debris thickness is a recurring approach in the literature, yet demonstrations of reproducibility have been limited. Here, I present the results of a field experiment conducted on the Canwell Glacier, Alaska, United States to constrain how thermal data can be used in glaciology. These datasets include, 1) a measured sub-daily “Østrem curve” time-series; 2) a time-series of high resolution thermal images capturing several segments of different debris thicknesses including the measurements from 1); 3) a thermal profile through a 38 cm debris cover; and 4) two Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) satellite thermal images acquired within 2 and 3 min of a field-based thermal camera image. I show that, while clear sky conditions are when space-borne thermal sensors can image a glacier, this is an unfavorable time, limiting the likelihood that different thicknesses of debris will have a unique thermal signature. I then propose an empirical approach to estimate debris thickness and compare it to two recently published methods. I demonstrate that instantaneous calibration is essential in the previously published methods, where model parameters calibrated only 1 h prior to a repeat thermal image return diminished debris thickness estimates, while the method proposed here remains robust through time and does not appear to require re-calibration. I then propose a method that uses a time-series of surface temperature at one location and debris thickness to estimate bare-ice and sub-debris melt. Results show comparable cumulative melt estimates to a recently published method that requires an explicit/external estimate of bare ice melt. Finally, I show that sub-pixel corrections to ASTER thermal imagery can enable a close resemblance to high resolution, field-based thermal imagery. These results offer a ...