Mapping Surface Features of an Alpine Glacier through Multispectral and Thermal Drone Surveys

Abstract

Glacier surfaces are highly heterogeneous mixtures of ice, snow, light-absorbing impurities and debris material. The spatial and temporal variability of these components affects ice surface characteristics and strongly influences glacier energy and mass balance. Remote sensing offers a unique opportunity to characterize glacier optical and thermal properties, enabling a better understanding of different processes occurring at the glacial surface. In this study, we evaluate the potential of optical and thermal data collected from field and drone platforms to map the abundances of predominant glacier surfaces (i.e., snow, clean ice, melting ice, dark ice, cryoconite, dusty snow and debris cover) on the Zebrù glacier in the Italian Alps. The drone surveys were conducted on the ablation zone of the glacier on 29 and 30 July 2020, corresponding to the middle of the ablation season. We identified very high heterogeneity of surface types dominated by melting ice (30% of the investigated area), dark ice (24%), clean ice (19%) and debris cover (17%). The surface temperature of debris cover was inversely related to debris-cover thickness. This relation is influenced by the petrology of debris cover, suggesting the importance of lithology when considering the role of debris over glaciers. Multispectral and thermal drone surveys can thus provide accurate high-resolution maps of different snow and ice types and their temperature, which are critical elements to better understand the glacier’s energy budget and melt rates.

Cryoconite holes geomorphometry, spatial distribution and radiative impact over the Hells Gate Ice Shelf, East Antarctica

“…In fact, broadband albedo of blue ice estimated out of the three measurements provided a value of 0.60 ± 0.08, in accordance with previous results (Bintanja and van den Broeke, 1995;Bintanja, 1999;Reijmer and others, 2001;Traversa and others, 2021) and CH albedo turned out to be almost halved in respect to blue ice, equal to 0.29 ± 0.07. This result is higher than previous measurements made in other regions for CHs showing albedo <0.20 (Takeuchi and others, 2001;Takeuchi, 2002;Rossini and others, 2023). The reason behind is the presence of the ice of the refrozen lid (with an average thickness calculated over the CHs sampled over HGIS of 8 ± 2 cm) which covers almost the entirety of the present CHs (Fig.…”

Comprehensive Investigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs): An In-Depth Analysis of Avionics Systems

“…Forwardly, building inspection operations [10] and oil and gas infrastructure monitoring [11] can also be leveraged by means of UAVs for the commercial and industrial sectors [12]. For the part of mapping and surveying applications [13], terrains can be efficiently mapped, construction sites can be better monitored [14], and aid in urban planning [15] can be as well granted with high-resolution cameras and Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) sensors embedded in UAVs [16]. The ongoing innovation in UAV technologies, which is mainly based on advances in artificial intelligence [17], communication systems [18], and swarm technology [19], will eventually yield a continuous integration of UAVs into daily lives and industries [20].…”