Towards remote monitoring of sub-seasonal glacier mass balance

Abstract

ABSTRACT. This study presents a method that allows continuous monitoring of mass balance for remote or inaccessible glaciers, based on repeated oblique photography. Hourly to daily pictures from two automatic cameras overlooking two large valley glaciers in the Swiss Alps are available for eight ablation seasons (2004-11) in total. We determine the fraction of snow-covered glacier surface from orthorectified and georeferenced images and combine this information with simple accumulation and melt modelling using meteorological data. By applying this approach, the evolution of glacierwide mass balance throughout the ablation period can be directly calculated, based on terrestrial remote-sensing data. Validation against independent in situ mass-balance observations indicates good agreement. Our methodology has considerable potential for the remote determination of mountain glacier mass balance at high temporal resolution and could be applied using both repeated terrestrial and air-/spaceborne observations.

Re-establishing glacier monitoring in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, Central Asia

“…The annual course of the snow line, and the related snowcovered area fraction, was recently used in combination with a backward modelling approach to determine sub-seasonal mass balance values (Hulth et al, 2013;Huss et al, 2013). The approach by Huss et al (2013) uses transient snow line observations and meteorological information in combination with a mass balance model.…”

“…The approach by Huss et al (2013) uses transient snow line observations and meteorological information in combination with a mass balance model. Remote monitoring for glaciers with limited accessibility is thus possible.…”

Evaluation of a Coupled Snow and Energy Balance Model for Zhadang Glacier, Tibetan Plateau, Using Glaciological Measurements and Time-Lapse Photography

“…For this study, we focused on daily images at 16:00 BT (14:03 local time) during the melting seasons in order to detect the spatial pattern and the mean altitude of the transient snow line. The timing of the images was chosen as a compromise between cloud cover formation in the afternoon and the low incidence angle of the sun in the morning (Farinotti et al, 2010;Huss et al, 2013). In order to orthorectify the sequence of images, nine ground control points (GCP; Fig.…”

“…Thus, the accurate estimation of the snow line's temporal evolution is an important factor for melt modeling, especially for the so-called "summer-accumulation type" (SAT) glaciers. Time-lapse photography has proved to be a valuable method to infer the snow accumulation distribution at glaciers on the Swiss Alps (Farinotti et al, 2010;Huss et al, 2013). For the TP, the time-lapse camera system installed at Zhadang glacier is the first of its kind.…”

A new permanent multi-parameter monitoring network in Central Asian high mountains – from measurements to data bases

“…9). Based on the analysis of these frequent camera pictures in combination with ablation stake readings, glacier mass balance studies can be carried out (e.g., Rabatel et al, 2005Rabatel et al, , 2008Jeanicke et al, 2006;Huss et al, 2012). The installed SPA (Sommer, 2009) delivers information about the accumulated snow and its properties (e.g., water and ice content, snow density, water equivalent).…”