Spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of supraglacial ponds in the Langtang Valley of Nepal, 1999–2013
Supraglacial ponds play a key role in absorbing atmospheric energy and directing it to the ice of debris-covered glaciers, but the spatial and temporal distribution of these features is not well documented. We analyse 172 Landsat TM/ETM+ scenes for the period 1999–2013 to identify thawed supraglacia...
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ftleedsuniv:oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:132096 2023-05-15T16:57:38+02:00 Spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of supraglacial ponds in the Langtang Valley of Nepal, 1999–2013 Miles, ES Willis, IC Arnold, NS Steiner, J Pellicotti, F 2017-02 text https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/132096/ https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/132096/7/spatial_seasonal_and_interannual_variability_of_supraglacial_ponds_in_the_langtang_valley_of_nepal_19992013.pdf en eng Cambridge University Press https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/132096/7/spatial_seasonal_and_interannual_variability_of_supraglacial_ponds_in_the_langtang_valley_of_nepal_19992013.pdf Miles, ES orcid.org/0000-0001-5446-8571 , Willis, IC, Arnold, NS et al. (2 more authors) (2017) Spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of supraglacial ponds in the Langtang Valley of Nepal, 1999–2013. Journal of Glaciology, 63 (237). pp. 88-105. ISSN 0022-1430 cc_by_4 CC-BY Article NonPeerReviewed 2017 ftleedsuniv 2023-01-30T22:07:43Z Supraglacial ponds play a key role in absorbing atmospheric energy and directing it to the ice of debris-covered glaciers, but the spatial and temporal distribution of these features is not well documented. We analyse 172 Landsat TM/ETM+ scenes for the period 1999–2013 to identify thawed supraglacial ponds for the debris-covered tongues of five glaciers in the Langtang Valley of Nepal. We apply an advanced atmospheric correction routine (Landcor/6S) and use band ratio and image morphological techniques to identify ponds and validate our results with 2.5 m Cartosat-1 observations. We then characterize the spatial, seasonal and interannual patterns of ponds. We find high variability in pond incidence between glaciers (May–October means of 0.08–1.69% of debris area), with ponds most frequent in zones of low surface gradient and velocity. The ponds show pronounced seasonality, appearing in the pre-monsoon as snow melts, peaking at the monsoon onset at 2% of debris-covered area, then declining in the post-monsoon as ponds drain or freeze. Ponds are highly recurrent and persistent, with 40.5% of pond locations occurring for multiple years. Rather than a trend in pond cover over the study period, we find high interannual variability for each glacier after controlling for seasonality. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology White Rose Research Online (Universities of Leeds, Sheffield & York) |
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Open Polar |
collection |
White Rose Research Online (Universities of Leeds, Sheffield & York) |
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ftleedsuniv |
language |
English |
description |
Supraglacial ponds play a key role in absorbing atmospheric energy and directing it to the ice of debris-covered glaciers, but the spatial and temporal distribution of these features is not well documented. We analyse 172 Landsat TM/ETM+ scenes for the period 1999–2013 to identify thawed supraglacial ponds for the debris-covered tongues of five glaciers in the Langtang Valley of Nepal. We apply an advanced atmospheric correction routine (Landcor/6S) and use band ratio and image morphological techniques to identify ponds and validate our results with 2.5 m Cartosat-1 observations. We then characterize the spatial, seasonal and interannual patterns of ponds. We find high variability in pond incidence between glaciers (May–October means of 0.08–1.69% of debris area), with ponds most frequent in zones of low surface gradient and velocity. The ponds show pronounced seasonality, appearing in the pre-monsoon as snow melts, peaking at the monsoon onset at 2% of debris-covered area, then declining in the post-monsoon as ponds drain or freeze. Ponds are highly recurrent and persistent, with 40.5% of pond locations occurring for multiple years. Rather than a trend in pond cover over the study period, we find high interannual variability for each glacier after controlling for seasonality. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Miles, ES Willis, IC Arnold, NS Steiner, J Pellicotti, F |
spellingShingle |
Miles, ES Willis, IC Arnold, NS Steiner, J Pellicotti, F Spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of supraglacial ponds in the Langtang Valley of Nepal, 1999–2013 |
author_facet |
Miles, ES Willis, IC Arnold, NS Steiner, J Pellicotti, F |
author_sort |
Miles, ES |
title |
Spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of supraglacial ponds in the Langtang Valley of Nepal, 1999–2013 |
title_short |
Spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of supraglacial ponds in the Langtang Valley of Nepal, 1999–2013 |
title_full |
Spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of supraglacial ponds in the Langtang Valley of Nepal, 1999–2013 |
title_fullStr |
Spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of supraglacial ponds in the Langtang Valley of Nepal, 1999–2013 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of supraglacial ponds in the Langtang Valley of Nepal, 1999–2013 |
title_sort |
spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of supraglacial ponds in the langtang valley of nepal, 1999–2013 |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/132096/ https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/132096/7/spatial_seasonal_and_interannual_variability_of_supraglacial_ponds_in_the_langtang_valley_of_nepal_19992013.pdf |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_relation |
https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/132096/7/spatial_seasonal_and_interannual_variability_of_supraglacial_ponds_in_the_langtang_valley_of_nepal_19992013.pdf Miles, ES orcid.org/0000-0001-5446-8571 , Willis, IC, Arnold, NS et al. (2 more authors) (2017) Spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of supraglacial ponds in the Langtang Valley of Nepal, 1999–2013. Journal of Glaciology, 63 (237). pp. 88-105. ISSN 0022-1430 |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
_version_ |
1766049199509471232 |