Three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not
In the Karakoram, dozens of glacier surges occurred in the past 2 decades, making the region a global hotspot. Detailed analyses of dense time series from optical and radar satellite images revealed a wide range of surge behaviour in this region: from slow advances longer than a decade at low flow v...
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2022
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ftunivzuerich:oai:www.zora.uzh.ch:231112 2024-10-13T14:11:06+00:00 Three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not Paul, Frank Piermattei, Livia Treichler, Désirée Gilbert, Lin Girod, Luc Kääb, Andreas Libert, Ludivine Nagler, Thomas Strozzi, Tazio Wuite, Jan 2022-06-24 application/pdf https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/231112/ https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/231112/1/ZORA_tc_16_2505_2022.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/231112/1/ZORA_tc_16_2505_2022.pdf doi:10.5167/uzh-231112 doi:10.5194/tc-16-2505-2022 urn:issn:1994-0416 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Paul, Frank; Piermattei, Livia; Treichler, Désirée; Gilbert, Lin; Girod, Luc; Kääb, Andreas; Libert, Ludivine; Nagler, Thomas; Strozzi, Tazio; Wuite, Jan (2022). Three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not. The Cryosphere, 16(6):2505-2526. Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology Journal Article PeerReviewed info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2022 ftunivzuerich https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-23111210.5194/tc-16-2505-2022 2024-10-02T15:06:31Z In the Karakoram, dozens of glacier surges occurred in the past 2 decades, making the region a global hotspot. Detailed analyses of dense time series from optical and radar satellite images revealed a wide range of surge behaviour in this region: from slow advances longer than a decade at low flow velocities to short, pulse-like advances over 1 or 2 years with high velocities. In this study, we present an analysis of three currently surging glaciers in the central Karakoram: North and South Chongtar Glaciers and an unnamed glacier referred to as NN9. All three glaciers flow towards the same small region but differ strongly in surge behaviour. A full suite of satellites (e.g. Landsat, Sentinel-1 and 2, Planet, TerraSAR-X, ICESat-2) and digital elevation models (DEMs) from different sources (e.g. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, SRTM; Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre, SPOT; High Mountain Asia DEM, HMA DEM) are used to (a) obtain comprehensive information about the evolution of the surges from 2000 to 2021 and (b) to compare and evaluate capabilities and limitations of the different satellite sensors for monitoring surges of relatively small glaciers in steep terrain. A strongly contrasting evolution of advance rates and flow velocities is found, though the elevation change pattern is more similar. For example, South Chongtar Glacier had short-lived advance rates above 10 km yr−1, velocities up to 30 m d−1, and surface elevations increasing by 170 m. In contrast, the neighbouring and 3-times-smaller North Chongtar Glacier had a slow and near-linear increase in advance rates (up to 500 m yr−1), flow velocities below 1 m d−1 and elevation increases up to 100 m. The even smaller glacier NN9 changed from a slow advance to a full surge within a year, reaching advance rates higher than 1 km yr−1. It seems that, despite a similar climatic setting, different surge mechanisms are at play, and a transition from one mechanism to another can occur during a single surge. The sensor inter-comparison revealed a high ... Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere University of Zurich (UZH): ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Zurich (UZH): ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivzuerich |
language |
English |
topic |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology |
spellingShingle |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology Paul, Frank Piermattei, Livia Treichler, Désirée Gilbert, Lin Girod, Luc Kääb, Andreas Libert, Ludivine Nagler, Thomas Strozzi, Tazio Wuite, Jan Three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not |
topic_facet |
Institute of Geography 910 Geography & travel Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology |
description |
In the Karakoram, dozens of glacier surges occurred in the past 2 decades, making the region a global hotspot. Detailed analyses of dense time series from optical and radar satellite images revealed a wide range of surge behaviour in this region: from slow advances longer than a decade at low flow velocities to short, pulse-like advances over 1 or 2 years with high velocities. In this study, we present an analysis of three currently surging glaciers in the central Karakoram: North and South Chongtar Glaciers and an unnamed glacier referred to as NN9. All three glaciers flow towards the same small region but differ strongly in surge behaviour. A full suite of satellites (e.g. Landsat, Sentinel-1 and 2, Planet, TerraSAR-X, ICESat-2) and digital elevation models (DEMs) from different sources (e.g. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, SRTM; Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre, SPOT; High Mountain Asia DEM, HMA DEM) are used to (a) obtain comprehensive information about the evolution of the surges from 2000 to 2021 and (b) to compare and evaluate capabilities and limitations of the different satellite sensors for monitoring surges of relatively small glaciers in steep terrain. A strongly contrasting evolution of advance rates and flow velocities is found, though the elevation change pattern is more similar. For example, South Chongtar Glacier had short-lived advance rates above 10 km yr−1, velocities up to 30 m d−1, and surface elevations increasing by 170 m. In contrast, the neighbouring and 3-times-smaller North Chongtar Glacier had a slow and near-linear increase in advance rates (up to 500 m yr−1), flow velocities below 1 m d−1 and elevation increases up to 100 m. The even smaller glacier NN9 changed from a slow advance to a full surge within a year, reaching advance rates higher than 1 km yr−1. It seems that, despite a similar climatic setting, different surge mechanisms are at play, and a transition from one mechanism to another can occur during a single surge. The sensor inter-comparison revealed a high ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Paul, Frank Piermattei, Livia Treichler, Désirée Gilbert, Lin Girod, Luc Kääb, Andreas Libert, Ludivine Nagler, Thomas Strozzi, Tazio Wuite, Jan |
author_facet |
Paul, Frank Piermattei, Livia Treichler, Désirée Gilbert, Lin Girod, Luc Kääb, Andreas Libert, Ludivine Nagler, Thomas Strozzi, Tazio Wuite, Jan |
author_sort |
Paul, Frank |
title |
Three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not |
title_short |
Three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not |
title_full |
Three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not |
title_fullStr |
Three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not |
title_full_unstemmed |
Three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not |
title_sort |
three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/231112/ https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/231112/1/ZORA_tc_16_2505_2022.pdf |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
Paul, Frank; Piermattei, Livia; Treichler, Désirée; Gilbert, Lin; Girod, Luc; Kääb, Andreas; Libert, Ludivine; Nagler, Thomas; Strozzi, Tazio; Wuite, Jan (2022). Three different glacier surges at a spot: what satellites observe and what not. The Cryosphere, 16(6):2505-2526. |
op_relation |
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/231112/1/ZORA_tc_16_2505_2022.pdf doi:10.5167/uzh-231112 doi:10.5194/tc-16-2505-2022 urn:issn:1994-0416 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-23111210.5194/tc-16-2505-2022 |
_version_ |
1812818727990722560 |