Detailed quantification and interpretation of glacier elevation and mass changes in the Southern Andes and South Georgia

• Main Author: Farías, David
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: ddc:559; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/frontdoor/index/index/docId/19609; https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:29-opus4-196092; https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/files/19609/Diss_Farias.pdf

Glaciers on Earth along other components of the cryosphere are important for the climate system. However, it is widely known that the vast majority of glaciers are retreating and thinning since the early part of the 20th century. Additionally, future projections have highlighted that at the end of the 21st century, glaciers are going to lose a considerable part of their remaining mass. These glacier changes have several implications for physical, biological and human systems, affecting the water availability for downstream communities and contribute to sea level rise. Unlike other regions, where glaciers are less relevant for the overall hydrology, glaciers in South America constitute a critical resource since minimum flow levels in headwaters of the Andean mountains are usually sustained by ice melt, especially during late summer and droughts, when the contribution from the seasonal snow cover is depleted. In the last decades, the number of studies has increased considerable, however, in the Southern Andes and the surrounding sub-Antarctic islands glaciers still are less studied in comparison with their counterparts in the Northern Hemisphere. The few studies on glacier mass balance in this region suggest a risk of water scarcity for many Andean cities which freshwater supply depends on glacial meltwater. Additionally, glaciers on sub-Antarctic islands have not been completely assessed and their contribution to the sea level rise has been roughly estimated. Hence, the monitoring of glaciers is critical to provide baseline information for regional climate change adaptation policies and facilitate potential hazard assessments. Close and long-range remote sensing techniques offer the potential for repeated measurements of glacier variables (e.g. glacier mass balance, area changes). In the last decades, the number of sensors and methods has increased considerably, allowing time series analysis as well as new and more precise measurements of glacier changes. The main goal of this thesis is to investigate and provide ...