Elevation change of Fedchenko Glacier, Pamir Mountains, from GNSS field measurements and TanDEM-X elevation models, with a focus on the upper glacier

Lambrecht, Astrid; Mayer, Christoph; Wendt, Anja; Floricioiu, Dana; Völksen, Christof

doi:10.1017/jog.2018.52

Cited by 38 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Some geodetic mass-balance studies have therefore applied multi-meter corrections to account for radar penetration (e.g. Melkonian and others, 2014; Round and others, 2017; Lambrecht and others, 2018). However, over wet glacier surfaces radar penetration is limited to a few centimeters below the surface (Mätzler and Schanda, 1984).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glacier mass and area changes on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, 1986–2016

et al. 2020

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Glacier mass loss in Alaska has implications for global sea level rise, fresh water input into the Gulf of Alaska and terrestrial fresh water resources. We map all glaciers (>4000 km2) on the Kenai Peninsula, south central Alaska, for the years 1986, 1995, 2005 and 2016, using satellite images. Changes in surface elevation and volume are determined by differencing a digital elevation model (DEM) derived from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer stereo images in 2005 from the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar DEM of 2014. The glacier area shrunk by 543 ± 123 km2 (12 ± 3%) between 1986 and 2016. The region-wide mass-balance rate between 2005 and 2014 was −0.94 ± 0.12 m w.e. a−1 (−3.84 ± 0.50 Gt a−1), which is almost twice as negative than found for earlier periods in previous studies indicating an acceleration in glacier mass loss in this region. Area-averaged mass changes were most negative for lake-terminating glaciers (−1.37 ± 0.13 m w.e. a−1), followed by land-terminating glaciers (−1.02 ± 0.13 m w.e. a−1) and tidewater glaciers (−0.45 ± 0.14 m w.e. a−1). Unambiguous attribution of the observed acceleration in mass loss over the last decades is hampered by the scarcity of observational data, especially at high elevation, and by large interannual variability.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glacier mass and area changes on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, 1986–2016

et al. 2020

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“…However, since additional X-band radar penetration was not considered, the penetration depth of the C-band radar we obtained was likely underestimated when calculating the elevation difference between TOPO DEM or TSX/TDX DEM and SRTM C-band DEM. Several studies have reported that the average penetration depth of the X-band radar could reach 2-4 m or less under dry-snow conditions over the accumulation region of glaciers in the Karakoram [25] and Western Pamir [61] mountain ranges. However, the precipitation in our study region is much less than that in the Karakoram and Western Pamir, especially during winter, and the thickness and extent of the dry snow might be much less than in the Karakoram and Western Pamir.…”

Section: Uncertaintiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glacier Variations at Xinqingfeng and Malan Ice Caps in the Inner Tibetan Plateau Since 1970

et al. 2020

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The inner Tibetan Plateau is a glacierized region where glaciers show heterogeneous change. The Xinqingfeng and Malan ice caps are located in this region, and a transition zone exists with shifting influences between the westerlies and Indian summer monsoon. However, there is a lack of detailed information regarding glacier area and mass changes in this region before 2000. In the present study, we describe an integrated view of the glacier area and its mass changes for Mt. Xinqingfeng and Mt. Malan as derived from topographic maps, Landsat, ASTER, SRTM DEM, and TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X from 1970 to 2012 and from 1970 to 2018, respectively. Our results show that the glaciers experienced a slight shrinkage in area by 0.09 ± 0.03% a−1 from 1970 to 2018 with a median mass loss rate of 0.22 ± 0.17 m w.e. a−1 and 0.29 ± 0.17 m w.e. a−1 between 1999 and 2012 at Mt. Xinqingfeng and Mt. Malan, respectively. The glaciers of Mt. Malan had a total mass loss of 0.19 ± 0.14 m w.e. a−1 during the period 1970–1999. A minimum of seven glaciers at Mt. Xinqingfeng and Mt. Malan showed heterogeneous variations with either surging or advancing during the observation period. Among them, the West Monuomaha Glacier, Monuomaha Glacier, and Zu Glacier were identified as surging glaciers, and the others may also be surging glaciers, although more evidence is required. These glaciers showed a long active period and low velocities. Therefore, we suggested that thermal controls are important for surge initiation and recession.

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“…The application of TanDEM-X data introduces a bias caused by the penetration of the radar signal into snow. However, the magnitude of this effect depends strongly on snow and firn conditions and, hence, can vary considerably (Lambrecht et al, 2018).…”

Section: Uncertainties and Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevation Changes of West-Central Greenland Glaciers From 1985 to 2012 From Remote Sensing

2020

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Greenlandic glaciers distinct from the ice sheet make up 12% of the global glacierized area and store about 10% of the global glacier ice volume (Farinotti et al., 2019). However, knowledge about recent climate change-induced volume changes of these 19,000 individual glaciers is limited. The small number of available glaciological and geodetic mass-balance observations have a limited spatial coverage, and the representativeness of these measurements for the region is largely unknown, factors which make a regional assessment of mass balance challenging. Here we use two recently released digital elevation models (DEMs) to assess glacier-wide elevation changes of 1,526 glaciers covering 3,785 km 2 in west-central Greenland: The historical AeroDEM representing the surface in 1985 and a TanDEM-X composite representing 2010-2014. The results show that on average glacier surfaces lowered by about 14.0 ± 4.6 m from 1985 until 2012 or 0.5 ± 0.2 m yr −1 , which is equivalent to a sample mass loss of ∼45.1 ± 14.9 Gt in total or 1.7 ± 0.6 Gt yr −1 . Challenges arise from the nature of the DEMs, such as large areas of data voids, fuzzy acquisition dates, and potential radar penetration. We compared several different interpolation methods to assess the best method to fill data voids and constrain unknown survey dates and the associated uncertainties with each method. The potential radar penetration is considered negligible for this assessment in view of the overall glacier changes, the length of the observation period, and the overall uncertainties. A comparison with earlier studies indicates that for glacier change assessments based on ICESat, data selection and averaging methodology strongly influences the results from these spatially limited measurements. This study promotes improved assessments of the contribution of glaciers to sea-level rise and encourages to extend geodetic glacier mass balances to all glaciers on Greenland.

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Elevation change of Fedchenko Glacier, Pamir Mountains, from GNSS field measurements and TanDEM-X elevation models, with a focus on the upper glacier

Cited by 38 publications

References 31 publications

Glacier mass and area changes on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, 1986–2016

Glacier mass and area changes on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, 1986–2016

Glacier Variations at Xinqingfeng and Malan Ice Caps in the Inner Tibetan Plateau Since 1970

Elevation Changes of West-Central Greenland Glaciers From 1985 to 2012 From Remote Sensing

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