Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014
Knowledge of supra-glacial debris cover and its changes remain incomplete in the Greater Caucasus, in spite of recent glacier studies. Here we present data of supra-glacial debris cover for 659 glaciers across the Greater Caucasus based on Landsat and SPOT images from the years 1986, 2000 and 2014....
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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2020
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Online Access: | https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/publications/7b23a957-789c-485c-9923-968edfdcaeae https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/19481/1/Tiedlidze_2020_Cyrosphere_Supra_glacial_CC.pdf |
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ftunstandrewcris:oai:research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/7b23a957-789c-485c-9923-968edfdcaeae 2024-09-30T14:44:54+00:00 Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 Tielidze, L. G. Bolch, T. Wheate, R. D. Kutuzov, S. S. Lavrentiev, I. I. Zemp, M. 2020-02-13 application/pdf https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/publications/7b23a957-789c-485c-9923-968edfdcaeae https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/19481/1/Tiedlidze_2020_Cyrosphere_Supra_glacial_CC.pdf eng eng https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/publications/7b23a957-789c-485c-9923-968edfdcaeae info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Tielidze , L G , Bolch , T , Wheate , R D , Kutuzov , S S , Lavrentiev , I I & Zemp , M 2020 , ' Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 ' , The Cryosphere , vol. 14 , no. 2 , pp. 585-598 . https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 article 2020 ftunstandrewcris https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 2024-09-04T23:45:35Z Knowledge of supra-glacial debris cover and its changes remain incomplete in the Greater Caucasus, in spite of recent glacier studies. Here we present data of supra-glacial debris cover for 659 glaciers across the Greater Caucasus based on Landsat and SPOT images from the years 1986, 2000 and 2014. We combined semi-automated methods for mapping the clean ice with manual digitization of debris-covered glacier parts and calculated supra-glacial debris-covered area as the residual between these two maps. The accuracy of the results was assessed by using high-resolution Google Earth imagery and GPS data for selected glaciers. From 1986 to 2014, the total glacier area decreased from 691.5±29.0 to 590.0±25.8 km 2 (15.8±4.1 %, or ∼0.52 % yr −1 ), while the clean-ice area reduced from 643.2±25.9 to 511.0±20.9 km 2 (20.1±4.0 %, or ∼0.73 % yr −1 ). In contrast supra-glacial debris cover increased from 7.0±6.4 %, or 48.3±3.1 km 2 , in 1986 to 13.4±6.2 % (∼0.22 % yr −1 ), or 79.0±4.9 km 2 , in 2014. Debris-free glaciers exhibited higher area and length reductions than debris-covered glaciers. The distribution of the supra-glacial debris cover differs between the northern and southern and between the western, central and eastern Greater Caucasus. The observed increase in supra-glacial debris cover is significantly stronger on the northern slopes. Overall, we have observed up-glacier average migration of supra-glacial debris cover from about 3015 to 3130 m a.s.l. (metres above sea level) during the investigated period. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere University of St Andrews: Research Portal The Cryosphere 14 2 585 598 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftunstandrewcris |
language |
English |
description |
Knowledge of supra-glacial debris cover and its changes remain incomplete in the Greater Caucasus, in spite of recent glacier studies. Here we present data of supra-glacial debris cover for 659 glaciers across the Greater Caucasus based on Landsat and SPOT images from the years 1986, 2000 and 2014. We combined semi-automated methods for mapping the clean ice with manual digitization of debris-covered glacier parts and calculated supra-glacial debris-covered area as the residual between these two maps. The accuracy of the results was assessed by using high-resolution Google Earth imagery and GPS data for selected glaciers. From 1986 to 2014, the total glacier area decreased from 691.5±29.0 to 590.0±25.8 km 2 (15.8±4.1 %, or ∼0.52 % yr −1 ), while the clean-ice area reduced from 643.2±25.9 to 511.0±20.9 km 2 (20.1±4.0 %, or ∼0.73 % yr −1 ). In contrast supra-glacial debris cover increased from 7.0±6.4 %, or 48.3±3.1 km 2 , in 1986 to 13.4±6.2 % (∼0.22 % yr −1 ), or 79.0±4.9 km 2 , in 2014. Debris-free glaciers exhibited higher area and length reductions than debris-covered glaciers. The distribution of the supra-glacial debris cover differs between the northern and southern and between the western, central and eastern Greater Caucasus. The observed increase in supra-glacial debris cover is significantly stronger on the northern slopes. Overall, we have observed up-glacier average migration of supra-glacial debris cover from about 3015 to 3130 m a.s.l. (metres above sea level) during the investigated period. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tielidze, L. G. Bolch, T. Wheate, R. D. Kutuzov, S. S. Lavrentiev, I. I. Zemp, M. |
spellingShingle |
Tielidze, L. G. Bolch, T. Wheate, R. D. Kutuzov, S. S. Lavrentiev, I. I. Zemp, M. Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
author_facet |
Tielidze, L. G. Bolch, T. Wheate, R. D. Kutuzov, S. S. Lavrentiev, I. I. Zemp, M. |
author_sort |
Tielidze, L. G. |
title |
Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
title_short |
Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
title_full |
Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
title_fullStr |
Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
title_sort |
supra-glacial debris cover changes in the greater caucasus from 1986 to 2014 |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/publications/7b23a957-789c-485c-9923-968edfdcaeae https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/19481/1/Tiedlidze_2020_Cyrosphere_Supra_glacial_CC.pdf |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
Tielidze , L G , Bolch , T , Wheate , R D , Kutuzov , S S , Lavrentiev , I I & Zemp , M 2020 , ' Supra-glacial debris cover changes in the Greater Caucasus from 1986 to 2014 ' , The Cryosphere , vol. 14 , no. 2 , pp. 585-598 . https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 |
op_relation |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/publications/7b23a957-789c-485c-9923-968edfdcaeae |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-585-2020 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
585 |
op_container_end_page |
598 |
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1811645900894765056 |