Mapping Glacier Forelands Based on UAV BVLOS Operation in Antarctica

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show geomorphological mapping of remote Antarctic locations using images taken by a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) during the Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. We mapped landform assemblages developed in forelands of Ecology Glacier (EGF), Sphinx Glacier (SGF) and Baranowski Glacier (BGF) in Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 128 (ASPA 128) on King George Island (South Shetland Islands) and inferred about glacial dynamics. The orthophoto and digital elevation model allowed for geomorphological mapping of glacial forelands, including (i) glacial depositional landforms, (ii) fluvial and fluvioglacial landforms, (iii) littoral and lacustrine landforms, (iv) bodies of water, and (v) other. The largest area is occupied by ground moraine and glacial lagoons on EGF and BGF. The most profound features of EGF are the large latero-frontal moraine ridges from Little Ice Age and the first half of the 20th century. Large areas of ground moraine, frequently fluted and marked with large recessional moraine ridges, dominate on SGF. A significant percentage of bedrock outcrops and end moraine complexes characterize BGF. The landform assemblages are typical for discontinuous fast ice flow of tidewater glaciers over a deformable bed. It is inferred that ice flow velocity decreased as a result of recession from the sea coast, resulting in a significant decrease in the length of ice cliffs and decrease in calving rate. Image acquisition during the fixed-wing UAV BVLOS operation proved to be a very robust technique in harsh polar conditions of King George Island.

Terrestrial Signature of a Recently-Tidewater Glacier and Adjacent Periglaciation, Windy Glacier (South Shetland Islands, Antarctic)

“…Polar maritime climate of the area is responsible for highly dynamic weather conditions which are demanding for any UAV operations and for photointerpretation of medium-to small-scale landforms or margins of glaciers which can be covered by snow drift. Climatic changes observed since the onset of instrumentalization in this area (MAAT in years 1948-2011 increased by 1.2 • C), results in glacial recession, disappearance of permafrost from coastal areas and inactivation of certain large-scale periglacial landforms (Dąbski et al, 2017(Dąbski et al, , 2020Pudełko et al, 2018). However, since the beginning of the 21st c. regional cooling is observed (Oliva et al, 2016) which is responsible for slowing deglaciation rates or glacial still-stands.…”

“…Ice thickness in the frontal part of the glacier does not exceed 100 m, and ice flow velocity is below 100 m year −1 (Osmanoglu et al, 2013). Dąbski et al (2020) concluded that the neighboring glaciers in ASPA 128 probably experienced discontinuous fast ice flow typical of tidewater glaciers. Recent contact of the Windy Glacier with the lagoon, allowed for more dynamic behavior of the glacier by allowing for calving.…”

“…128 (ASPA 128) which covers the west coast of Admiralty Bay in the vicinity of Arctowski (Figures 1A,B). Glacial recession in ASPA 128 since 1979 was documented by Pudełko et al (2018), and the general geomorphological mapping the forelands of Ecology Glacier, Sphinx Glacier and Baranowski Glacier (main glaciers of ASPA 128) was recently performed by Dąbski et al (2020).…”

“…In years 2014-2016 the MONICA project (A novel approach to monitoring the impact of climate change on Antarctic ecosystems) was realized in the area of Arctowski, which utilized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. The project resulted in three geomorphological studies so far, including: periglaciation of Demay Point (Dąbski et al, 2017), general morphology of Penguin Island (Zmarz et al, 2018) and development of forelands of Ecology, Sphinx and Baranowski glaciers (Dąbski et al, 2020). However, the foreland of near-by Windy Glacier (Figure 1) was omitted, due to its marginal location and relatively small size of the foreland.…”

Modelling of Glacier and Ice Sheet Micro-Topography Based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Data, Antarctica

“…To date, UAV has been employed in various aspects of cryosphere community, e.g., the topographic dataset (Benoit et al, 2019;Ewertowski et al, 2019) and the spatial distribution of ice cliffs and melt ponds on mountain glacier (Kraaijenbrink et al, 2016), supraglacial hydrological system of Greenland glaciers (Jouvet et al, 2018;Chudley et al, 2019), caving glacier monitoring in Greenland (Jouvet et al, 2019;Ryan et al, 2015), sea ice monitoring (Li et al, 2019), modelling of topography and forelands in Antarctica (Dąbski et al, 2020;Bliakharskii et al, 2019;Florinsky et al, 2019b). To date, however, compared with Greenland and High Asia regions, more detailed analysis should be performed for glacier surface micro-topography study in Antarctica that could be conducted by UAV technology.…”