Identifying and mapping very small (<0.5 km2) mountain glaciers on coarse to high-resolution imagery
© The Author(s) 2019 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Sm...
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://eprint.ncl.ac.uk/fulltext.aspx?url=260856/0EA74059-ED34-41D4-A606-613B56B63A32.pdf&pub_id=260856 |
id |
ftunivnewcastle:oai:eprint.ncl.ac.uk:260856 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivnewcastle:oai:eprint.ncl.ac.uk:260856 2023-05-15T16:57:09+02:00 Identifying and mapping very small (<0.5 km2) mountain glaciers on coarse to high-resolution imagery Leigh JR Stokes CR Carr RJ Evans IS Andreassen LM Evans DJA 2019 application/pdf https://eprint.ncl.ac.uk/fulltext.aspx?url=260856/0EA74059-ED34-41D4-A606-613B56B63A32.pdf&pub_id=260856 unknown Cambridge University Press Journal of Glaciology, 2019 Article 2019 ftunivnewcastle 2020-06-11T23:49:02Z © The Author(s) 2019 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Small mountain glaciers are an important part of the cryosphere and tend to respond rapidly to climate warming. Historically, mapping very small glaciers (generally considered to be <0.5 km2) using satellite imagery has often been subjective due to the difficulty in differentiating them from perennial snowpatches. For this reason, most scientists implement minimum size-Thresholds (typically 0.01-0.05 km2). Here, we compare the ability of different remote-sensing approaches to identify and map very small glaciers on imagery of varying spatial resolutions (30-0.25 m) and investigate how operator subjectivity influences the results. Based on this analysis, we support the use of a minimum size-Threshold of 0.01 km2 for imagery with coarse to medium spatial resolution (30-10 m). However, when mapping on high-resolution imagery (<1 m) with minimal seasonal snow cover, glaciers <0.05 km2 and even <0.01 km2 are readily identifiable and using a minimum threshold may be inappropriate. For these cases, we develop a set of criteria to enable the identification of very small glaciers and classify them as certain, probable or possible. This should facilitate a more consistent approach to identifying and mapping very small glaciers on high-resolution imagery, helping to produce more comprehensive and accurate glacier inventories. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Newcastle University Library ePrints Service |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Newcastle University Library ePrints Service |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnewcastle |
language |
unknown |
description |
© The Author(s) 2019 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Small mountain glaciers are an important part of the cryosphere and tend to respond rapidly to climate warming. Historically, mapping very small glaciers (generally considered to be <0.5 km2) using satellite imagery has often been subjective due to the difficulty in differentiating them from perennial snowpatches. For this reason, most scientists implement minimum size-Thresholds (typically 0.01-0.05 km2). Here, we compare the ability of different remote-sensing approaches to identify and map very small glaciers on imagery of varying spatial resolutions (30-0.25 m) and investigate how operator subjectivity influences the results. Based on this analysis, we support the use of a minimum size-Threshold of 0.01 km2 for imagery with coarse to medium spatial resolution (30-10 m). However, when mapping on high-resolution imagery (<1 m) with minimal seasonal snow cover, glaciers <0.05 km2 and even <0.01 km2 are readily identifiable and using a minimum threshold may be inappropriate. For these cases, we develop a set of criteria to enable the identification of very small glaciers and classify them as certain, probable or possible. This should facilitate a more consistent approach to identifying and mapping very small glaciers on high-resolution imagery, helping to produce more comprehensive and accurate glacier inventories. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Leigh JR Stokes CR Carr RJ Evans IS Andreassen LM Evans DJA |
spellingShingle |
Leigh JR Stokes CR Carr RJ Evans IS Andreassen LM Evans DJA Identifying and mapping very small (<0.5 km2) mountain glaciers on coarse to high-resolution imagery |
author_facet |
Leigh JR Stokes CR Carr RJ Evans IS Andreassen LM Evans DJA |
author_sort |
Leigh JR |
title |
Identifying and mapping very small (<0.5 km2) mountain glaciers on coarse to high-resolution imagery |
title_short |
Identifying and mapping very small (<0.5 km2) mountain glaciers on coarse to high-resolution imagery |
title_full |
Identifying and mapping very small (<0.5 km2) mountain glaciers on coarse to high-resolution imagery |
title_fullStr |
Identifying and mapping very small (<0.5 km2) mountain glaciers on coarse to high-resolution imagery |
title_full_unstemmed |
Identifying and mapping very small (<0.5 km2) mountain glaciers on coarse to high-resolution imagery |
title_sort |
identifying and mapping very small (<0.5 km2) mountain glaciers on coarse to high-resolution imagery |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://eprint.ncl.ac.uk/fulltext.aspx?url=260856/0EA74059-ED34-41D4-A606-613B56B63A32.pdf&pub_id=260856 |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology, 2019 |
_version_ |
1766048428851200000 |