Reconstructing the mass balance of Brewster Glacier, New Zealand, using MODIS-derived glacier-wide albedo
In New Zealand, direct measurements of mass balance are sparse due to the inaccessibility of glaciers in the Southern Alps and the logistical difficulties associated with maintaining a mass balance record. In order to explore the benefit of remotely sensed imaging to monitor mass balance in the Sout...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Copernicus Publications
2016
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ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00011304 2023-05-15T18:32:32+02:00 Reconstructing the mass balance of Brewster Glacier, New Zealand, using MODIS-derived glacier-wide albedo Sirguey, Pascal Still, Holly Cullen, Nicolas J. Dumont, Marie Arnaud, Yves Conway, Jonathan P. 2016-10 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2465-2016 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00011304 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00011261/tc-10-2465-2016.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/10/2465/2016/tc-10-2465-2016.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2465-2016 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00011304 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00011261/tc-10-2465-2016.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/10/2465/2016/tc-10-2465-2016.pdf uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2016 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2465-2016 2022-02-08T22:56:34Z In New Zealand, direct measurements of mass balance are sparse due to the inaccessibility of glaciers in the Southern Alps and the logistical difficulties associated with maintaining a mass balance record. In order to explore the benefit of remotely sensed imaging to monitor mass balance in the Southern Alps, this research assesses the relationship between measurements of glacier surface albedo derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and mass balance observations using the glaciological method on Brewster Glacier over the 2005–2013 period. We confirm that minimum glacier-wide albedo is a reliable predictor for annual mass balance in this maritime environment (R2 = 0.93). Furthermore, we show that regular monitoring of glacier-wide albedo enables a new metric of winter accumulation to be derived, namely the cumulative winter albedo, which is found to correlate strongly with winter mass balance (R2 = 0.88), thus enabling the reconstruction of separate winter and summer mass balance records. This allows the mass balance record for Brewster Glacier to be extended back to the start of MODIS observations in 2000 and to confirm that the annual balance of Brewster Glacier is largely controlled by summer balance (R2 = 92 %). An application of the extended record is proposed whereby the relationship between mass balance and the photographic record of the end-of-summer snowline altitude is assessed. This allowed the annual balance record of Brewster Glacier to be reconstructed over the period 1977–2013, thus providing the longest record of mass balance for a glacier in New Zealand. Over the 37-year period, our results show that Brewster Glacier gained a significant mass of up to 14.5 ± 2.7 m w.e. by 2007. This gain was offset by a marked shift toward negative balances after 2008, yielding a loss of 5.1 ± 1.2 m w.e., or 35 % of the gain accumulated over the previous 30 years. The good correspondence between mass balance of Brewster Glacier and the phase of the Pacific (Inter-)Decadal Oscillation (PDO/IPO), associated with the fast terminus retreat observed between 1978 and 1998, strongly suggests that the observed mass gain of Brewster Glacier since 1977 is only offsetting a longer sequence of dominantly negative balances. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA Brewster ENVELOPE(169.383,169.383,-72.950,-72.950) New Zealand Pacific The Cryosphere 10 5 2465 2484 |
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Open Polar |
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Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA |
op_collection_id |
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English |
topic |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
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article Verlagsveröffentlichung Sirguey, Pascal Still, Holly Cullen, Nicolas J. Dumont, Marie Arnaud, Yves Conway, Jonathan P. Reconstructing the mass balance of Brewster Glacier, New Zealand, using MODIS-derived glacier-wide albedo |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
In New Zealand, direct measurements of mass balance are sparse due to the inaccessibility of glaciers in the Southern Alps and the logistical difficulties associated with maintaining a mass balance record. In order to explore the benefit of remotely sensed imaging to monitor mass balance in the Southern Alps, this research assesses the relationship between measurements of glacier surface albedo derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and mass balance observations using the glaciological method on Brewster Glacier over the 2005–2013 period. We confirm that minimum glacier-wide albedo is a reliable predictor for annual mass balance in this maritime environment (R2 = 0.93). Furthermore, we show that regular monitoring of glacier-wide albedo enables a new metric of winter accumulation to be derived, namely the cumulative winter albedo, which is found to correlate strongly with winter mass balance (R2 = 0.88), thus enabling the reconstruction of separate winter and summer mass balance records. This allows the mass balance record for Brewster Glacier to be extended back to the start of MODIS observations in 2000 and to confirm that the annual balance of Brewster Glacier is largely controlled by summer balance (R2 = 92 %). An application of the extended record is proposed whereby the relationship between mass balance and the photographic record of the end-of-summer snowline altitude is assessed. This allowed the annual balance record of Brewster Glacier to be reconstructed over the period 1977–2013, thus providing the longest record of mass balance for a glacier in New Zealand. Over the 37-year period, our results show that Brewster Glacier gained a significant mass of up to 14.5 ± 2.7 m w.e. by 2007. This gain was offset by a marked shift toward negative balances after 2008, yielding a loss of 5.1 ± 1.2 m w.e., or 35 % of the gain accumulated over the previous 30 years. The good correspondence between mass balance of Brewster Glacier and the phase of the Pacific (Inter-)Decadal Oscillation (PDO/IPO), associated with the fast terminus retreat observed between 1978 and 1998, strongly suggests that the observed mass gain of Brewster Glacier since 1977 is only offsetting a longer sequence of dominantly negative balances. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sirguey, Pascal Still, Holly Cullen, Nicolas J. Dumont, Marie Arnaud, Yves Conway, Jonathan P. |
author_facet |
Sirguey, Pascal Still, Holly Cullen, Nicolas J. Dumont, Marie Arnaud, Yves Conway, Jonathan P. |
author_sort |
Sirguey, Pascal |
title |
Reconstructing the mass balance of Brewster Glacier, New Zealand, using MODIS-derived glacier-wide albedo |
title_short |
Reconstructing the mass balance of Brewster Glacier, New Zealand, using MODIS-derived glacier-wide albedo |
title_full |
Reconstructing the mass balance of Brewster Glacier, New Zealand, using MODIS-derived glacier-wide albedo |
title_fullStr |
Reconstructing the mass balance of Brewster Glacier, New Zealand, using MODIS-derived glacier-wide albedo |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reconstructing the mass balance of Brewster Glacier, New Zealand, using MODIS-derived glacier-wide albedo |
title_sort |
reconstructing the mass balance of brewster glacier, new zealand, using modis-derived glacier-wide albedo |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2465-2016 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00011304 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00011261/tc-10-2465-2016.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/10/2465/2016/tc-10-2465-2016.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(169.383,169.383,-72.950,-72.950) |
geographic |
Brewster New Zealand Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Brewster New Zealand Pacific |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_relation |
The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2465-2016 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00011304 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00011261/tc-10-2465-2016.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/10/2465/2016/tc-10-2465-2016.pdf |
op_rights |
uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2465-2016 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
2465 |
op_container_end_page |
2484 |
_version_ |
1766216645714378752 |