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www.the-cryosphere-discuss.net/3/383/2009/
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Multi-temporal airborne LIDAR-DEMs for glacier and permafrost mapping and monitoring
1Austrian Academy of Sciences, Commission for Geophysical Research, Vienna, Austria
2Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
3FFG – Austrian Research Promotion Agency / ALR – Aeronautics and Space Agency, Vienna, Austria
Abstract. The proposed method presents a simple and robust way to derive glacier extent by using multi-temporal high-resolution DEMs (digital elevation models) as a main data source. For glaciers that are not debris covered, we perform the glacier boundary delineation by analysing roughness differences between ice and its surroundings. A promising way to distinguish dead ice, debris-covered ice or permafrost from its rocky surroundings is shown by taking elevation changes from DEMs of different dates into consideration. In case data has a high spatial and temporal resolution a good representation of the extent of debris cover and thus the overall ice covered area can be given. We use examples to show how potentially ambiguous areas can be treated decisively by the additional qualitative analysis of aerial photographs. Problems and limitations are discussed in comparison with selected other remote sensing techniques and accuracies are quantified. For glaciers larger than 1 km2 an accuracy of ±1% of the glacier area could be assessed. The errors of smaller glaciers do not exceed ±5% of the glacier area.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 20332 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 4 Comments) Final Revised Paper (TC)
Citation: Abermann, J., Fischer, A., Lambrecht, A., and Geist, T.: Multi-temporal airborne LIDAR-DEMs for glacier and permafrost mapping and monitoring, The Cryosphere Discuss., 3, 383-414, 2009. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager
