Small scale spatial variability of bare-ice albedo at Jamtalferner, Austria

Abstract

Abstract. As Alpine glaciers recede, they are quickly becoming snow free in summer and, accordingly, spatial and temporal variations in ice albedo increasingly affect the melt regime. To accurately model future developments, such as deglaciation patterns, it is important to understand the processes governing broadband and spectral albedo at a local scale. However, little in situ data of ice albedo exits. As a contribution to this knowledge gap, we present spectral reflectance data from 325 to 1075 nm collected along several profile lines in the ablation zone of Jamtalferner, Austria. Measurements were timed to closely coincide with a Sentinel 2 and Landsat 8 overpass and are compared to the respective ground reflectance products. The brightest spectra have a maximum reflectance of up to 0.7 and consist of clean, dry ice. In contrast, reflectance does not exceed 0.2 at dark spectra where liquid water and/or fine grained debris are present. Spectra can roughly be grouped into dry ice, wet ice, and dirt/rocks, although transitions between types are fluid. Neither satellite captures the full range of in situ reflectance values. The difference between ground and satellite data is not uniform across satellite bands, between Landsat and Sentinel, and to some extent between ice surface types (underestimation of reflectance for bright surfaces, overestimation for dark surfaces). We wish to highlight the need for further, systematic measurements of in situ spectral albedo, its variability in time and space, and in- depth analysis of time-synchronous satellite data.

Author response to RC2

“…The fibre optic was handheld and used without an optical lens, at a distance of 30cm above the ground. We based our usage of the ASD device on the descriptions in Naegeli et al (2017) and Di Mauro et al (2017), who carried out comparable mea-…”