Constraining regional glacier reconstructions using past ice thickness of deglaciating areas – a case study in the European Alps
<p>In order to assess future glacier evolution and meltwater runoff, accurate knowledge on the volume and the ice thickness distribution of glaciers is crucial. However, in situ observations of glacier thickness are sparse in many regions worldwide due to the difficulty of undertaking field su...
Main Authors: | , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2023-06-01
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Series: | The Cryosphere |
Online Access: | https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2285/2023/tc-17-2285-2023.pdf |
Summary: | <p>In order to assess future glacier evolution and
meltwater runoff, accurate knowledge on the volume and the ice thickness
distribution of glaciers is crucial. However, in situ observations of
glacier thickness are sparse in many regions worldwide due to the difficulty
of undertaking field surveys. This lack of in situ measurements can be
partially overcome by remote-sensing information. Multi-temporal and
contemporaneous data on glacier extent and surface elevation provide past
information on ice thickness for retreating glaciers in the newly
deglacierized regions. However, these observations are concentrated near the
glacier snouts, which is disadvantageous because it is known to introduce
biases in ice thickness reconstruction approaches. Here, we show a strategy
to overcome this generic limitation of so-called retreat thickness
observations by applying an empirical relationship between the ice viscosity
at locations with in situ observations and observations from digital elevation model (DEM) differencing at the glacier margins. Various datasets from the European
Alps are combined to model the ice thickness distribution of Alpine glaciers
for two time steps (1970 and 2003) based on the observed thickness in regions
uncovered from ice during the study period. Our results show that the
average ice thickness would be substantially underestimated (<span class="inline-formula">∼</span> 40 %) when relying solely on thickness observations from previously
glacierized areas. Thus, a transferable topography-based viscosity scaling
is developed to correct the modelled ice thickness distribution. It is shown
that the presented approach is able to reproduce region-wide glacier
volumes, although larger uncertainties remain at a local scale, and thus might
represent a powerful tool for application in regions with sparse
observations.</p> |
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ISSN: | 1994-0416 1994-0424 |