Glacial Succession tackled from Space: A valuable tool for analysing glacial chronologies?

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Main Authors: Fischer, Andrea, Fickert, Thomas, Schwaizer, Gabriele, Patzelt, Gernot, Groß, Günther
Format: Dataset Open Access
Language:en
Published: PANGAEA 2019
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author Fischer, Andrea
Fickert, Thomas
Schwaizer, Gabriele
Patzelt, Gernot
Groß, Günther
author_facet Fischer, Andrea
Fickert, Thomas
Schwaizer, Gabriele
Patzelt, Gernot
Groß, Günther
collection Datos científicos de ciencias marinas y ambientales
contents Monitoring of plant succession in glacier forelands so far has been restricted to field sampling. In this study, in situ vegetation sampling along a chronosequence between Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum extent and the recent glacier terminus at Jamtalferner/Silvretta (ferner is a Tyrolian toponym for glacier) is compared to time series of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) calculated from 13 Landsat scenes (1985-2016). The glacier terminus positions at 16 dates between the LIA maximum and 2015 were analysed from historical maps, orthophotos and LiDAR images and used for site age determination. We sampled plots of different time since deglaciation, from very recent to approx. 150 years: after 100 years, roughly 80% of the ground is covered by plants and ground cover did not increase essentially thereafter. Species number increases from 10-20 species on young sites to 40-50 species after 100 years. The NDVI increases for all plots between 1985 and 2016, from a mean of 0.11 for 1985-1991 to 0.2 in 2009 and 0.27 in 2016. For the plots deglaciated between 1 and about 150 years, the NDVI increases with the time of exposure. As the increase in ground cover is clearly reproduced by the NDVI (R² ground cover/NDVI 0.84) - even for sparsely vegetated areas -, we see a high potential of satellite-borne NDVI to perform regional characterizations of glacier forelands for hydrological, ecological and hazard management related applications. This data collection comprises the galcier outlines, NDVIs and chronosequencing locations with diversity and ground cover data.
format Dataset Open Access
id pangaea_https___doi_org_10_1594_PANGAEA_902545
institution PANGAEA
language en
publishDate 2019
publisher PANGAEA
record_format pangaea
spellingShingle Glacial Succession tackled from Space: A valuable tool for analysing glacial chronologies?
Fischer, Andrea
Fickert, Thomas
Schwaizer, Gabriele
Patzelt, Gernot
Groß, Günther
chronosequencing; Climate change; GLAC; Glacier outlines; Glaciers_austria; Jamtalferner; JTF; Sampling/measurements on glacier; Silvretta; Silvretta, Eastern Alps, Austria
Monitoring of plant succession in glacier forelands so far has been restricted to field sampling. In this study, in situ vegetation sampling along a chronosequence between Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum extent and the recent glacier terminus at Jamtalferner/Silvretta (ferner is a Tyrolian toponym for glacier) is compared to time series of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) calculated from 13 Landsat scenes (1985-2016). The glacier terminus positions at 16 dates between the LIA maximum and 2015 were analysed from historical maps, orthophotos and LiDAR images and used for site age determination. We sampled plots of different time since deglaciation, from very recent to approx. 150 years: after 100 years, roughly 80% of the ground is covered by plants and ground cover did not increase essentially thereafter. Species number increases from 10-20 species on young sites to 40-50 species after 100 years. The NDVI increases for all plots between 1985 and 2016, from a mean of 0.11 for 1985-1991 to 0.2 in 2009 and 0.27 in 2016. For the plots deglaciated between 1 and about 150 years, the NDVI increases with the time of exposure. As the increase in ground cover is clearly reproduced by the NDVI (R² ground cover/NDVI 0.84) - even for sparsely vegetated areas -, we see a high potential of satellite-borne NDVI to perform regional characterizations of glacier forelands for hydrological, ecological and hazard management related applications. This data collection comprises the galcier outlines, NDVIs and chronosequencing locations with diversity and ground cover data.
title Glacial Succession tackled from Space: A valuable tool for analysing glacial chronologies?
topic chronosequencing; Climate change; GLAC; Glacier outlines; Glaciers_austria; Jamtalferner; JTF; Sampling/measurements on glacier; Silvretta; Silvretta, Eastern Alps, Austria
url https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.902545