Ice thickness distribution of all Swiss glaciers based on extended ground-penetrating radar data and glaciological modeling

Grab, Melchior; Mattea, Enrico; Bauder, Andreas; Huss, Matthias; Rabenstein, Lasse; Hodel, Elias; Linsbauer, Andreas; Langhammer, Lisbeth; Schmid, Lino; Church, Gregory; Hellmann, Sebastian; Délèze, Kevin; Schaer, Philipp; Lathion, Patrick; Farinotti, Daniel; Maurer, Hansruedi

doi:10.1017/jog.2021.55

Cited by 46 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…Spatially unaliased 3D GPR data sets (i.e. data sets with a data point spacing smaller than the dominant wavelength of the GPR signals, Sheriff and Geldart, 1995;Grasmueck et al, 2005) are rare in glaciological applications. This is unfortunate because 3D GPR provides subsurface images that can be viewed from arbitrary directions, thus allowing for an unequivocal interpretation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground-penetrating radar imaging reveals glacier's drainage network in 3D

et al. 2021

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Abstract. Hydrological systems of glaciers have a direct impact on the glacier dynamics. Since the 1950s, geophysical studies have provided insights into these hydrological systems. Unfortunately, such studies were predominantly conducted using 2D acquisitions along a few profiles, thus failing to provide spatially unaliased 3D images of englacial and subglacial water pathways. The latter has likely resulted in flawed constraints for the hydrological modelling of glacier drainage networks. Here, we present 3D ground-penetrating radar (GPR) results that provide high-resolution 3D images of an alpine glacier's drainage network. Our results confirm a long-standing englacial hydrology theory stating that englacial conduits flow around glacial overdeepenings rather than directly over the overdeepening. Furthermore, these results also show exciting new opportunities for high-resolution 3D GPR studies of glaciers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground-penetrating radar imaging reveals glacier's drainage network in 3D

et al. 2021

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“…GPR has been proven to be an effective tool for glacier thickness and inner structure mapping [39][40][41][42]. Approximately 21 km of GPR profile lines were recorded on Irenebreen (Figure 2).…”

Section: Gpr Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…198-246), as well as in samples of glacier ice [75,76]; also, this value is obtained in most cases of direct measurements in the field, where glaciers consist of cold ice [24] (pp. [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48].…”

Section: Gpr Data Processing and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

UAV and GPR Data Integration in Glacier Geometry Reconstruction: A Case Study from Irenebreen, Svalbard

et al. 2022

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Although measurements of thickness and internal structure of glaciers are substantial for the understanding of their evolution and response to climate change, detailed data about polythermal glaciers, are scarce. Here, we present the first ground-penetrating radar (GPR) measurement data of Irenebreen, and high-resolution DEM and orthomosaic, obtained from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry. A combination of GPR and UAV data allowed for the reconstruction of the glacier geometry including thermal structure. We compare different methods of GPR signal propagation speed determination and argue that a common midpoint method (CMP) should be used if possible. Our observations reveal that Irenebreen is a polythermal glacier with a basal temperate ice layer, the volume of which volume reaches only 12% of the total glacier volume. We also observe the intense GPR signal scattering in two small zones in the ablation area and suggest that intense water percolation occurs in these places creating local areas of temperate ice. This finding emphasizes the possible formation of localised temperate ice zones in polythermal glaciers due to the coincidence of several factors. Our study demonstrates that a combination of UAV photogrammetry and GPR can be successfully applied and should be used for the high-resolution reconstruction of 3D geometries of small glaciers.

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“…According to their measurements, the glacier is currently losing about 1.5 m of thickness per year. A more recent publication, applied on all Swiss glaciers, proposed a volume for Tsanfleuron and Scex Rouge of respectively 200.02 and 8.12 mio m 3 in 2016 (Grab et al, 2021). However, the uncertainty on the GPR picking used in the particular case of Tsanfleuron is important, especially with thicknesses bigger than 60 m according to a personal communication with one of the author.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ice volume and basal topography estimation using geostatistical methods and GPR measurements : Application on the Tsanfleuron and Scex Rouge glacier, Swiss Alps

Néven

Dall'Alba

Juda

et al. 2021

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Abstract. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is nowadays widely used for determining glacier thickness. However, this method provides thickness data only along the acquisition lines and therefore interpolation has to be made between them. Depending on the interpolation strategy, calculated ice volumes can differ and can lack an accurate error estimation. Furthermore, glacial basal topography is often characterized by complex geomorphological features, which can be hard to reproduce using classical interpolation methods, especially when the conditioning data are sparse or when the morphological features are too complex. This study investigates the applicability of multiple-point statistics (MPS) simulations to interpolate glacier bedrock topography using GPR measurements. In 2018, a dense GPR data set was acquired on the Tsanfleuron Glacier (Switzerland). The results obtained with the direct sampling MPS method are compared against those obtained with kriging and sequential Gaussian simulations (SGS) on both a synthetic data set – with known reference volume and bedrock topography – and the real data underlying the Tsanfleuron glacier. Using the MPS modelled bedrock, the ice volume for the Scex Rouge and Tsanfleuron Glacier is estimated to be 113.9 ± 1.6 Mio m3. The direct sampling approach, unlike the SGS and the kriging, allowed not only an accurate volume estimation but also the generation of a set of realistic bedrock simulations. The complex karstic geomorphological features are reproduced, and can be used to significantly improve for example the precision of under-glacial flow estimation.

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Ice thickness distribution of all Swiss glaciers based on extended ground-penetrating radar data and glaciological modeling

Cited by 46 publications

References 93 publications

Ground-penetrating radar imaging reveals glacier's drainage network in 3D

Ground-penetrating radar imaging reveals glacier's drainage network in 3D

UAV and GPR Data Integration in Glacier Geometry Reconstruction: A Case Study from Irenebreen, Svalbard

Ice volume and basal topography estimation using geostatistical methods and GPR measurements : Application on the Tsanfleuron and Scex Rouge glacier, Swiss Alps

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