Glacier changes in the Karakoram region mapped by multimission satellite imagery, links to GeoTIFF and ESRI shape file

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Main Authors: Rankl, Melanie, Kienholz, Christian, Braun, Matthias Holger
Format: Dataset Open Access
Language:en
Published: PANGAEA 2014
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author Rankl, Melanie
Kienholz, Christian
Braun, Matthias Holger
author_facet Rankl, Melanie
Kienholz, Christian
Braun, Matthias Holger
collection Datos científicos de ciencias marinas y ambientales
contents Positive glacier-mass balances in the Karakoram region during the last decade have fostered stable and advancing glacier termini positions, while glaciers in the adjacent mountain ranges have been affected by glacier recession and thinning. In addition to fluctuations induced solely by climate, the Karakoram is known for a large number of surge-type glaciers. The present study provides an updated and extended inventory on advancing, stable, retreating, and surge-type glaciers using Landsat imagery from 1976 to 2012. Out of 1219 glaciers the vast majority showed a stable terminus (969) during the observation period. Sixty-five glaciers advanced, 93 glaciers retreated, and 101 surge-type glaciers were identified, of which 10 are new observations. The dimensional and topographic characteristics of each glacier class were calculated and analyzed. Ninety percent of nonsurge-type glaciers are shorter than 10 km, whereas surge-type glaciers are, in general, longer. We report short response times of glaciers in the Karakoram and suggest a shift from negative to balanced/positive mass budgets in the 1980s or 1990s. Additionally, we present glacier surface velocities derived from different SAR (synthetic aperture radar) sensors and different years for a Karakoram-wide coverage. High-resolution SAR data enables the investigation of small and relatively fast-flowing glaciers (e.g., up to 1.8 m/day during an active phase of a surge). The combination of multitemporal optical imagery and SAR-based surface velocities enables an improved, Karakoram-wide glacier inventory and hence, provides relevant new observational information on the current state of glaciers in the Karakoram.
format Dataset Open Access
id pangaea_https___doi_org_10_1594_PANGAEA_873278
institution PANGAEA
language en
publishDate 2014
publisher PANGAEA
record_format pangaea
spellingShingle Glacier changes in the Karakoram region mapped by multimission satellite imagery, links to GeoTIFF and ESRI shape file
Rankl, Melanie
Kienholz, Christian
Braun, Matthias Holger
File content; File format; File name; File size; Karakoram; MULT; Multiple investigations; Uniform resource locator/link to file
Positive glacier-mass balances in the Karakoram region during the last decade have fostered stable and advancing glacier termini positions, while glaciers in the adjacent mountain ranges have been affected by glacier recession and thinning. In addition to fluctuations induced solely by climate, the Karakoram is known for a large number of surge-type glaciers. The present study provides an updated and extended inventory on advancing, stable, retreating, and surge-type glaciers using Landsat imagery from 1976 to 2012. Out of 1219 glaciers the vast majority showed a stable terminus (969) during the observation period. Sixty-five glaciers advanced, 93 glaciers retreated, and 101 surge-type glaciers were identified, of which 10 are new observations. The dimensional and topographic characteristics of each glacier class were calculated and analyzed. Ninety percent of nonsurge-type glaciers are shorter than 10 km, whereas surge-type glaciers are, in general, longer. We report short response times of glaciers in the Karakoram and suggest a shift from negative to balanced/positive mass budgets in the 1980s or 1990s. Additionally, we present glacier surface velocities derived from different SAR (synthetic aperture radar) sensors and different years for a Karakoram-wide coverage. High-resolution SAR data enables the investigation of small and relatively fast-flowing glaciers (e.g., up to 1.8 m/day during an active phase of a surge). The combination of multitemporal optical imagery and SAR-based surface velocities enables an improved, Karakoram-wide glacier inventory and hence, provides relevant new observational information on the current state of glaciers in the Karakoram.
title Glacier changes in the Karakoram region mapped by multimission satellite imagery, links to GeoTIFF and ESRI shape file
topic File content; File format; File name; File size; Karakoram; MULT; Multiple investigations; Uniform resource locator/link to file
url https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.873278