Combining airborne lidar and Landsat ETM+ data with photoclinometry to produce a digital elevation model for Langjökull, Iceland

Abstract

Langjökull, Iceland's second largest icecap (~950 km 2), was the subject of an incomplete airborne LiDAR survey in August 2007. This study investigates and evaluates the application of photoclinometry, which employs visible light imagery (here, Landsat ETM+ band 4) to interpolate unmeasured sections of this fragmented data set. A complete digital elevation model (DEM) of Langjökull was produced, and photoclinometry was determined to be a _____________________________ I must also express my gratitude to Trinity College, Cambridge for supporting me throughout my course. This course of study would not have been an option for me otherwise. And finally, thanks to family, friends, and fellow students at SPRI and Trinity College for help settling into life in Cambridge, the opportunity to enjoy and make the most out of this MPhil, and companionship throughout the entire working process. Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own unaided work, except where noted above and in the text. It is no more than 20,000 words in length, excluding acknowledgements, declaration, references, tables, lists, and captions. v

Ice-volume changes, bias estimation of mass-balance measurements and changes in subglacial lakes derived by lidar mapping of the surface of Icelandic glaciers

“…Hatched areas on south and southwest Vatnajökull with an area of ∼2200km2 were surveyed in 2012 and are being processed. Sixty per cent of Langjökull ice cap (coloured yellow) was surveyed by SPRI in 2007 (Pope and others, 2013). An area on Myrdalsjökull that was resurveyed in 2011 is indicated with a rectangle. …”

Modelling variable glacier lapse rates using ERA‐Interim reanalysis climatology: an evaluation at Vestari‐ Hagafellsjökull, Langjökull, Iceland

“…(WGMS, 2009), although the observed ELA is typically somewhat higher, given the prevailing negative balance. Pope (2009) determined a net balance from DEM comparison of − 3.23 m w.e. a −1 for Vestari‐Hagafellsjökull itself for the period 1997–2007, with the annual rate of mass loss increasing during the period.…”

Open Access Data in Polar and Cryospheric Remote Sensing

“…Airborne laser altimetry (e.g., [111][112][113][114]), satellite laser altimetry from ICESat (e.g., [115,116]), satellite radar altimetry (e.g., [116,117]), and data fusions, such as photoclinometry [118], have all been employed to produce DEMs. There are a few notable Antarctic DEMs produced, including an improved Antarctic Peninsula 100-m DEM (http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0516) [119,120], the RAMP DEM (Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project, http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0082) [121], ICESat ice sheet DEMs (http://nsidc.org/data/docs/daac/nsidc0304_0305_glas_dems.gd.html) for Antarctica (http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0304.html) [122] and Greenland (http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0305.html) [123] and a DEM produced at the University of Bristol using ERS-1 radar altimetry and ICESat laser altimetry (http://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0422) [124][125][126].…”