Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Glacier Velocity in the Central Karakoram Revealed with 1999–2003 Landsat-7 ETM+ Pan Images
The situation of stable and slightly advancing glaciers in the Karakoram is called the “Karakoram anomaly”. Glacier surface velocity is one of the key parameters of glacier dynamics and mass balance, however, the response of glacier motion to this regional anomaly is not fully understood. Here, we c...
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MDPI AG
2017-10-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/10/1064 |
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| author | Yongling Sun Liming Jiang Lin Liu Yafei Sun Hansheng Wang |
| author_facet | Yongling Sun Liming Jiang Lin Liu Yafei Sun Hansheng Wang |
| author_sort | Yongling Sun |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The situation of stable and slightly advancing glaciers in the Karakoram is called the “Karakoram anomaly”. Glacier surface velocity is one of the key parameters of glacier dynamics and mass balance, however, the response of glacier motion to this regional anomaly is not fully understood. Here, we characterize the spatial-temporal variations in glacier velocity over the Central Karakoram from 1999–2003. The inter-annual glacier velocity fields were retrieved using a cross-correlation-based algorithm applied to four Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) panchromatic image pairs. We find that most of the glaciers on the southern slope flowed faster than those on the northern slope, which might be attributed to the differences in glacier sizes. Furthermore, ice motion observations over four years reveal that most of the glaciers were quasi-stable or experienced small fluctuations of flow velocity during our study period. We identify a new surging event for the South Skamri Glacier in the study period by investigating the glacier frontal changes and the longer-term time series of surface velocities between 1996 and 2006. From the transverse velocity profiles of seven typical glaciers, we infer that basal sliding is the predominant motion mechanism of the middle and upper glaciers, whereas internal deformation dominates closest to the glacier terminus. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:53:15Z |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:53:15Z |
| publishDate | 2017-10-01 |
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| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-14ea3fcc8c2a46ae9ae57da892dc45252022-12-22T04:06:14ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922017-10-01910106410.3390/rs9101064rs9101064Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Glacier Velocity in the Central Karakoram Revealed with 1999–2003 Landsat-7 ETM+ Pan ImagesYongling Sun0Liming Jiang1Lin Liu2Yafei Sun3Hansheng Wang4State Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 340 XuDong Rd, Wuhan 430077, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 340 XuDong Rd, Wuhan 430077, ChinaMOE Key Laboratory of Fundamental Physical Quantities Measurement, Hubei Key Laboratory of Gravitation and Quantum Physics, Institute of Geophysics, School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1037 LuoYu Rd., Wuhan 430074, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 340 XuDong Rd, Wuhan 430077, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 340 XuDong Rd, Wuhan 430077, ChinaThe situation of stable and slightly advancing glaciers in the Karakoram is called the “Karakoram anomaly”. Glacier surface velocity is one of the key parameters of glacier dynamics and mass balance, however, the response of glacier motion to this regional anomaly is not fully understood. Here, we characterize the spatial-temporal variations in glacier velocity over the Central Karakoram from 1999–2003. The inter-annual glacier velocity fields were retrieved using a cross-correlation-based algorithm applied to four Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) panchromatic image pairs. We find that most of the glaciers on the southern slope flowed faster than those on the northern slope, which might be attributed to the differences in glacier sizes. Furthermore, ice motion observations over four years reveal that most of the glaciers were quasi-stable or experienced small fluctuations of flow velocity during our study period. We identify a new surging event for the South Skamri Glacier in the study period by investigating the glacier frontal changes and the longer-term time series of surface velocities between 1996 and 2006. From the transverse velocity profiles of seven typical glaciers, we infer that basal sliding is the predominant motion mechanism of the middle and upper glaciers, whereas internal deformation dominates closest to the glacier terminus.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/10/1064Central Karakoramglacier velocityspatial-temporal variationslocal morphometric effectsmotion mechanismLandsat-7 ETM+ panchromatic image |
| spellingShingle | Yongling Sun Liming Jiang Lin Liu Yafei Sun Hansheng Wang Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Glacier Velocity in the Central Karakoram Revealed with 1999–2003 Landsat-7 ETM+ Pan Images Remote Sensing Central Karakoram glacier velocity spatial-temporal variations local morphometric effects motion mechanism Landsat-7 ETM+ panchromatic image |
| title | Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Glacier Velocity in the Central Karakoram Revealed with 1999–2003 Landsat-7 ETM+ Pan Images |
| title_full | Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Glacier Velocity in the Central Karakoram Revealed with 1999–2003 Landsat-7 ETM+ Pan Images |
| title_fullStr | Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Glacier Velocity in the Central Karakoram Revealed with 1999–2003 Landsat-7 ETM+ Pan Images |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Glacier Velocity in the Central Karakoram Revealed with 1999–2003 Landsat-7 ETM+ Pan Images |
| title_short | Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of Glacier Velocity in the Central Karakoram Revealed with 1999–2003 Landsat-7 ETM+ Pan Images |
| title_sort | spatial temporal characteristics of glacier velocity in the central karakoram revealed with 1999 2003 landsat 7 etm pan images |
| topic | Central Karakoram glacier velocity spatial-temporal variations local morphometric effects motion mechanism Landsat-7 ETM+ panchromatic image |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/10/1064 |
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