Methods and materials

• Main Authors: Ziaja, Wiesław, Dudek, Justyna, Węgrzyn, Michał, Lisowska, Maja, Olech, Maria, Osyczka, Piotr
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2016
• Subjects: landscape mapping; phytosociological mapping; remote sensingand GIS methods; topographic maps; aerial photographs; satellite data; IPY
• Online Access: http://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/handle/item/19414; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26574-2_2

Landscapefield mapping at a scale of 1:25,000 was the basic method ofsurveying the study area in the 1980s. Also the extent of the glaciers and theirmarginal zones as well as the sea coastline was mapped. The interpretation of aerialphotographs, including the infrared ones, as well as the analysis of satellite datawere combined with the results offield investigations. The following datasets wereused in the manual delineation of the extent of each glacier in the chosen years:(1) three sheets of a topographic map 1:25,000, edited by the Polish Academy ofSciences in 1987, (2) a topographic map sheet at a scale of 1:100,000, edited by theNorwegian Polar Institute in 2007, (3) ASTER data with 15-m spatial resolutionprovided by NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS), and distributed by the LandProcesses Distributed Active Archive Center (LPDAAC), and (4) SPOT 5Orthophoto with 5-m spatial resolution, acquired on September 1st, 2008, providedby the IPY SPIRIT project. The maps were scanned and georeferenced to a com-mon datum and projection. Changes in glacier surface elevation were estimatedusing digital elevation models. In the early 1980s, extensive vegetation researchwas carried out, using the Braun-Blanquet phytosociological method and a detailedvegetation map at a 1:25,000 scale was constructed. To evaluate the speed anddirection of possible vegetation changes in the area, the aforementioned researchwas repeated in 2008. In both studies data were supported by photographs of themain vegetation types and their changes.