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A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2024) | Viewed by 14348

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Dr. Andrey Abramov

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Guest Editor

Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Interests: climate change; physical geography; remote sensing; geochemistry environment; quaternary geology; sedimentology; climate variability; climate science; geography

Dr. Stefano Ponti

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Guest Editor

UNINSUBRIA-Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy
Interests: spatial analysis; geomorphological mapping; vegetation mapping; geostatistical analysis; spatial statistics; geo-processing; photogrammetry; satellite image processing; thermal analysis; physical geography

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Remote sensing has been used for decades but has only recently become a routine technique for topographic products and detecting changes of the cold regions in a changing climate. Modern platforms and software allow researchers to carry out a fast and cost-effective mapping of the ground characteristics, both on the surface and underground, with the corresponding spatial and temporal resolution, even in remote areas.

The aims of this Issue are to showcase the recent advances in remote sensing applications, share lifehacks and peculiarities when dealing with the cryosphere, present examples from different regions and understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of the processes related to cold landscapes in a changing climate.

Possible topics are:

Monitoring surface processes and topographic changes;
Relations between snow, glaciers and permafrost;
Spatial-temporal dynamics of snow, glaciers and permafrost;
Modeling of cryosphere;
Cryosphere and climate change;
Mapping of cryosphere-related landscape features and changes;
Rock glacier dynamics;
Cold regions infrastructure monitoring through remote sensing;
Equipment and software for photogrammetry, electrical resistivity, tomography, radar, lidar, and multi-spectral sensors.

Dr. Andrey Abramov
Dr. Stefano Ponti
Guest Editors

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Keywords

SAR
ice
UAV
DEM
orthophoto
glacier
permafrost
active layer
snow cover
subsidence
ablation
moraine
cryosphere

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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25 pages, 18712 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Distribution and Variation in Debris Cover and Flow Velocities of Glaciers during 1989–2022 in Tomur Peak Region, Tianshan Mountains

by Weiyong Zhou, Min Xu and Haidong Han

Remote Sens. 2024, 16(14), 2587; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16142587 - 15 Jul 2024

Viewed by 970

Abstract

In this study, we utilized a feature optimization method combining texture and topographical factors with the random forest (RF) approach to identify changes in the extent of the debris cover around the Tianshan Tomur Peak between 1989 and 2022. Based on Sentinel-1 image data, we extracted glacier flow velocities using an offset tracking method and conducted a long-term analysis of flow velocities in combination with existing datasets. The debris identification results for 2022 showed that the debris-covered area in the study region was 409.2 km², constituting 22.8% of the total glacier area. Over 34 years, the area of debris cover expanded by 69.4 km², reflecting a growth rate of 20.0%. Analysis revealed that glaciers in the Tomur Peak area have been decelerating at an overall rate of −4.0% per decade, with the complexity of the glacier bed environment and the instability of the glacier’s internal structure contributing to significant seasonal and interannual variability in the movement speeds of individual glaciers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Cryosphere and Related Processes)

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20 pages, 6968 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Long-Duration Glacier Change Analysis for the Urumqi River Valley, a Representative Region of Central Asia

by Lin Wang, Shujing Yang, Kangning Chen, Shuangshuang Liu, Xiang Jin and Yida Xie

Remote Sens. 2024, 16(9), 1489; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16091489 - 23 Apr 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 879

Abstract

The increasing global warming trend has resulted in the mass loss of most glaciers. The Urumqi Vally, located in the dry and cold zone of China, and its widely dispersed glaciers are significant to the regional ecological environment, oasis economic development, and industrial and agricultural production. This is representative of glaciers in Middle Asia and represents one of the world’s longest observed time series of glaciers, beginning in 1959. The Urumqi Headwater Glacier No. 1 (UHG-1) has a dominant presence in the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS). This paper supplies a comprehensive analysis of past studies and future modeling of glacier changes in the Urumqi Valley. It has received insufficient attention in the past, and the mass balance of UHG-1 was used to verify that the geodetic results and the OGGM model simulation results are convincing. The main conclusions are: The area of 48.68 ± 4.59 km² delineated by 150 glaciers in 1958 decreased to 21.61 ± 0.27 km² delineated by 108 glaciers in 2022, with a reduction of 0.47 ± 0.04 km²·a⁻¹ (0.96% a⁻¹ in 1958–2022). The glacier mass balance by geodesy is −0.69 ± 0.11 m w.e.a⁻¹ in 2000–2022, which is just deviating from the measured result (−0.66 m w.e.a⁻¹), but the geodetic result in this paper can be enough to reflect the glacier changes (−0.65 ± 0.11 m w.e.a⁻¹) of the URB in 2000–2022. The future loss rate of area and volume will undergo a rapid and then decelerating process, with the fastest and slowest inflection points occurring around 2035 and 2070, respectively. High temperatures and large precipitation in summer accelerate glacier loss, and the corresponding lag period of glacier change to climate is about 2–3 years. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Cryosphere and Related Processes)

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19 pages, 7568 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Contrasting Changes of Debris-Free Glacier and Debris-Covered Glacier in Southeastern Tibetan Plateau

by Chuanxi Zhao, Zhen He, Shengyu Kang, Tianzhao Zhang, Yongjie Wang, Teng Li, Yifei He and Wei Yang

Remote Sens. 2024, 16(5), 918; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16050918 - 5 Mar 2024

Viewed by 1238

Abstract

Debris-free and debris-covered glaciers are both extensively present in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. High-precision and rigorous comparative observational studies on different types of glaciers help us to accurately understand the overall state of water resource variability and the underlying mechanisms. In this study, we used multi-temporal simultaneous UAV surveys to systematically explore the surface elevation change, surface velocity, and surface mass balance of two representative glaciers. Our findings indicate that the thinning rate in the debris-free Parlung No. 4 glacier UAV survey area was consistently higher than that in the debris-covered 24K glacier in 2020–2021 (−1.16 ± 0.03 cm/d vs. −0.36 ± 0.02 cm/d) and 2021–2022 (−0.69 ± 0.03 cm/d vs. −0.26 ± 0.03 cm/d). Moreover, the surface velocity of the Parlung No. 4 glacier was also consistently higher than that of the 24K glacier across the survey period, suggesting a more dynamic glacial state. The surface mass balance of the Parlung No. 4 glacier (2020–2021: −1.82 ± 0.09 cm/d; 2021–2022: −1.30 ± 0.09 cm/d) likewise outpaced that of the 24K glacier (2020–2021: −0.81 ± 0.07 cm/d; 2021–2022: −0.70 ± 0.07 cm/d) throughout the observation period, which indicates that the debris cover slowed the glacier’s melting. Additionally, we extracted the melt contribution of the ice cliff area in the 24K glacier and found that the melt ratio of this ‘hotspot’ area ranged from 10.4% to 11.6% from 2020 to 2022. This comparative analysis of two representative glaciers provides evidence to support the critical role of debris cover in controlling surface elevation changes, glacier dynamics, and surface mass balance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Cryosphere and Related Processes)

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16 pages, 3983 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Monitoring of Supraglacial Lake Distribution and Full-Year Changes Using Multisource Time-Series Satellite Imagery

by Dongyu Zhu, Chunxia Zhou, Yikai Zhu, Tao Wang and Ce Zhang

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(24), 5726; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15245726 - 14 Dec 2023

Viewed by 1346

Abstract

Change of supraglacial lakes (SGLs) is an important hydrological activity on the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS), and storage and drainage of SGLs occur throughout the year. However, current studies tend to split SGL changes into melt/non-melt seasons, ignoring the effect of buried lakes in the exploration of drainage, and the existing threshold-based approach to SGL extraction in a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is influenced by the choice of the study area mask. In this study, a new method (Otsu–Canny–Otsu (OCO)), which accesses the features of SGLs on optical and SAR images objectively, is proposed for full-year SGL extraction with Google Earth Engine (GEE). The SGLs on the Petermann Glacier were monitored well by OCO throughout 2021, including buried lakes and more detailed rapid drainage events. Some SGLs’ extent varied minimally in a year (area varying by 10–25%) while some had very rapid drainage (a rapid drainage event from July 26 to 30). The SGL extraction results were influenced by factors such as the mode of polarization, the surface environment, and the depth of the lake. The OCO method can provide a more comprehensive analysis for SGL changes throughout the year. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Cryosphere and Related Processes)

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31 pages, 33215 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Photogrammetric Monitoring of Rock Glacier Motion Using High-Resolution Cross-Platform Datasets: Formation Age Estimation and Modern Thinning Rates

by Tyler M. Meng, Roberto Aguilar, Michael S. Christoffersen, Eric I. Petersen, Christopher F. Larsen, Joseph S. Levy and John W. Holt

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(19), 4779; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15194779 - 30 Sep 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1587

Abstract

The availability of remote sensing imagery at high spatiotemporal resolutions presents the opportunity to monitor the surface motion of rock glaciers, a key constraint for characterizing the dynamics of their evolution. In this paper, we investigate four North American rock glaciers by automatically measuring their horizontal surface displacement using photogrammetric data acquired with crewed and uncrewed aircraft along with orbital spacecraft over monitoring periods of up to eight years. We estimate vertical surface changes on these rock glaciers with photogrammetrically generated digital elevation models (DEM) and digitized topographic maps. Uncertainty analysis shows that the imagery with the highest resolution and most precise positioning have the best performance when used with the automated change detection algorithm. This investigation produces gridded velocity fields over the entire surface area of each study site, from which we estimate the age of rock glacier formation using along-flow velocity integration. Though the age estimates vary, the ice within the modern extent of these landforms began flowing between 3000 and 7000 years before present, postdating the last glacial maximum. Surface elevation change maps indicate present-day thinning at the lower latitude/higher elevation sites in Wyoming, while the higher latitude/lower elevation sites in Alaska exhibit relatively stable surface elevations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Cryosphere and Related Processes)

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17 pages, 26389 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Surface Displacement of Hurd Rock Glacier from 1956 to 2019 from Historical Aerial Frames and Satellite Imagery (Livingston Island, Antarctic Peninsula)

by Gonçalo Prates and Gonçalo Vieira

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(14), 3685; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15143685 - 24 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1382

Abstract

In the second half of the 20th century, the western Antarctic Peninsula recorded the highest mean annual air temperature rise in the Antarctic. The South Shetland Islands are located about 100 km northwest of the Antarctic Peninsula. The mean annual air temperature at sea level in this Maritime Antarctic region is close to −2 °C and, therefore, very sensitive to permafrost degradation following atmospheric warming. Among geomorphological indicators of permafrost are rock glaciers found below steep slopes as a consequence of permafrost creep, but with surficial movement also generated by solifluction and shallow landslides of rock debris and finer sediments. Rock glacier surface velocity is a new essential climate variable parameter by the Global Climate Observing System, and its historical analysis allows insight into past permafrost behavior. Recovery of 1950s aerial image stereo-pairs and structure-from-motion processing, together with the analysis of QuickBird 2007 and Pleiades 2019 high-resolution satellite imagery, allowed inferring displacements of the Hurd rock glacier using compression ridge-and-furrow morphology analysis over 60 years. Displacements measured on the rock glacier surface from 1956 until 2019 were from 7.5 m to 22.5 m and surface velocity of 12 cm/year to 36 cm/year, measured on orthographic images, with combined deviation root-mean-square of 2.5 m and 2.4 m in easting and northing. The inferred surface velocity also provides a baseline reference to assess today’s displacements. The results show patterns of the Hurd rock glacier displacement velocity, which are analogous to those reported within the last decade, without being possible to assess any displacement acceleration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Cryosphere and Related Processes)

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18 pages, 11898 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Snow Cover and Climate Change and Their Coupling Effects on Runoff in the Keriya River Basin during 2001–2020

by Wei Yan, Yifan Wang, Xiaofei Ma, Minghua Liu, Junhui Yan, Yaogeng Tan and Sutao Liu

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(13), 3435; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15133435 - 6 Jul 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1848

Abstract

As a significant component of the cryosphere, snow cover plays a crucial role in modulating atmospheric circulation and regional hydrological equilibrium. Therefore, studying the dynamics of snow cover and its response to climate change is of great significance for regional water resource management and disaster prevention. In this study, reanalysis climate datasets and a new MODIS snow cover extent product over China were used to analyze the characteristics of climate change and spatiotemporal variations in snow cover in the Keriya River Basin (KRB). Furthermore, the effects of climate factors on snow cover and their coupling effects on runoff were quantitatively evaluated by adopting partial least squares regression (PLSR) method and structural equation modeling (SEM), respectively. Our findings demonstrated the following: (1) Air temperature and precipitation of KRB showed a significant increase at rates of 0.24 °C/decade and 14.21 mm/decade, respectively, while the wind speed did not change significantly. (2) The snow cover frequency (SCF) in the KRB presented the distribution characteristics of “low in the north and high in the south”. The intra-annual variation of snow cover percentage (SCP) of KRB displayed a single peak (in winter), double peaks (in spring and autumn), and stability (SCP > 75%), whose boundary elevations were 4000 m and 6000 m, respectively. The annual, summer, and winter SCP in the KRB declined, while the spring and autumn SCP experienced a trend showing an insignificant increase during the hydrological years of 2001–2020. Additionally, both the annual and seasonal SCF (except autumn) will be further increased in more than 50% of the KRB, according to estimates. (3) Annual and winter SCF were controlled by precipitation, of which the former showed a mainly negative response, while the latter showed a mainly positive response, accounting for 43.1% and 76.16% of the KRB, respectively. Air temperature controlled SCF changes in 45% of regions in spring, summer, and autumn, mainly showing negative effects. Wind speed contributed to SCF changes in the range of 11.23% to 26.54% across annual and seasonal scales. (4) Climate factors and snow cover mainly affect annual runoff through direct influences, and the total effect was as follows: precipitation (0.609) > air temperature (−0.122) > SCP (0.09). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Cryosphere and Related Processes)

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18 pages, 12243 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-Based Structure from Motion Technique for Precise Snow Depth Retrieval—Implication for Optimal Ground Control Point Deployment Strategy

by Song Shu, Ok-Youn Yu, Chris Schoonover, Hongxing Liu and Bo Yang

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(9), 2297; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15092297 - 27 Apr 2023

Viewed by 1713

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based snow depth is mapped as the difference between snow-on and snow-off digital surface models (DSMs), which are derived using the structure from motion (SfM) technique with ground control points (GCPs). In this study, we evaluated the impacts of the quality and deployment of GCPs on the accuracy of snow depth estimates. For 15 GCPs in our study area, we surveyed each of their coordinates using an ordinary global positioning system (GPS) and a differential GPS, producing two sets of GCP measurements (hereinafter, the low-accuracy and high-accuracy sets). The two sets of GCP measurements were then incorporated into SfM processing of UAV images by following two deployment strategies to create snow-off and snow-on DSMs and then to retrieve snow depth. In Strategy A, the same GCP measurements in each set were used to create both the snow-on and snow-off DSMs. In Strategy B, each set of GCP measurements was divided into two sub-groups, one sub-group for creating snow-on DSMs and the other sub-group for snow-off DSMs. The accuracy of snow depth estimates was evaluated in comparison to concurrent in-situ snow depth measurements. The results showed that Strategy A, using both the low-accuracy and high-accuracy sets, generated accurate snow depth estimates, while in Strategy B, only the high-accuracy set could generate reliable snow depth estimates. The results demonstrated that the deployment of GCPs had a significant influence on UAV-based SfM snow depth retrieval. When accurate GCP measurements cannot be guaranteed (e.g., in mountainous regions), Strategy A is the optimal option for producing reliable snow depth estimates. When highly accurate GCP measurements are available (e.g., collected by differential GPS in open space), both deployment strategies can produce accurate snow depth estimates. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Cryosphere and Related Processes)

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13 pages, 14643 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Drone-Based Ground-Penetrating Radar with Manual Transects for Improved Field Surveys of Buried Ice

by Adam R. Tjoelker, Michel Baraër, Eole Valence, Bastien Charonnat, Janie Masse-Dufresne, Bryan G. Mark and Jeffrey M. McKenzie

Remote Sens. 2024, 16(13), 2461; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16132461 - 4 Jul 2024

Viewed by 1338

Abstract

The steep and unstable terrain found on debris-covered glaciers, rock glaciers, talus slopes, moraines and other proglacial features often make terrestrial ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys unsafe or cost-prohibitive. To address these challenges, this research introduces a novel approach for studying buried ice using multi-low-frequency drone-based GPR. Monostatic antennas of 50, 100, and 200 MHz were flown along a transect spanning a debris-covered glacier and an ice–debris complex at Shár Shaw Tagà (Grizzly Creek) in southwest Yukon, Canada. The drone-based results were compared to manual GPR at two locations along the transect. The two manual segments were conducted using the same radar system in a bi-static mode and included common mid-point (CMP) surveys. Overall, the drone-based radar successfully identified buried ice and enabled estimation of ice body thickness. Notably, CMP results confirmed layer characteristics and enabled depths to be measured across the entire drone-based transect. Discrimination of detail across a range of depths was made possible by comparing the three low frequencies, highlighting the possibility of using this method for future investigations of debris thickness in addition to quantifying buried ice. This study confirms the effectiveness of drone-based GPR combined with manual CMP for surveying ice beneath previously inaccessible terrain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Cryosphere and Related Processes)

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