Using kriging and surface mass balance to reconstruct the geometry of the Hurd glacier (Antarctica) on different dates

• Darlington Mensah ^[1] ; Javier Lapazaran ^[1] ; Jaime Otero ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

     Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

     Madrid, España

     
• Localización: Topografía y cartografía: Revista del Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Ingenieros Técnicos en Topografía, ISSN 0212-9280, Vol. 32, Nº 170, 2016 (Ejemplar dedicado a: XI Congreso Internacional de Geomática y Ciencias de la Tierra. Criosfera y Cambio Climático), págs. 93-94
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • We aim to obtain the glacier bed topography of the Las Palmas lobe of Hurd Glacier in Livingston Island, Antarctica. Its combination with the digital surface model (DSM) for a particular date will generate the whole geometry of the glacier for this particular date. In order to achieve this objective, we use data obtained from different methods, namely ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey for the ice thickness, global navigation satellite system (GNSS) survey for the DSM and stake probing for the surface mass balance.

    Changes in the surface elevation of glacier through time occur as a result of the glacial dynamics and the surface mass balance occurring periodically on the glacier. The surface-elevation change of the Hurd Glacier is estimated based on known DSMs obtained in 2001 and 2011 and also on a time series of the glacier surface mass balance obtained periodically from 2001 to present. The surface-elevation change of a point of interest on the glacier on a particular date between 2001 and 2011 can be estimated by its evolution derived from the surface mass balance, corrected with the surface elevation due to the glacial dynamics at the point of interest, estimated from the adjustment of the DSMs of 2001 and 2011. The surface elevation of the point of interest on the date of interest can then be estimated, knowing its surface elevation on a different date.

    Geospatial interpolation, namely ordinary kriging, is then performed to obtain the surrounding terrain, the surface of the glacier and the ice thickness. We interpolate the ice thickness and then subtract it from the DSM of the glacier; both obtained for the same date, thus obtaining the subglacial bed.