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Short-lived ice speed-up and plume water flow captured by a VTOL UAV give insights into subglacial hydrological system of Bowdoin Glacier

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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:http://hdl.handle.net/2115/79685

Title: Short-lived ice speed-up and plume water flow captured by a VTOL UAV give insights into subglacial hydrological system of Bowdoin Glacier
Authors: Jouvet, Guillaume Browse this author
Weidmann, Yvo Browse this author
Kneib, Marin Browse this author
Detert, Martin Browse this author
Seguinot, Julien Browse this author
Sakakibara, Daiki Browse this author
Sugiyama, Shin Browse this author →KAKEN DB
Keywords: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry
Feature-tracking
Particle Image Velocimetry
Calving glaciers
Meltwater plume
Ice flow
Issue Date: Nov-2018
Publisher: Elsevier
Journal Title: Remote Sensing of Environment
Volume: 217
Start Page: 389
End Page: 399
Publisher DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2018.08.027
Abstract: The subglacial hydrology of tidewater glaciers is a key but poorly understood component of the complex ice ocean system, which affects sea level rise. As it is extremely difficult to access the interior of a glacier, our knowledge relies mostly on the observation of input variables such as air temperature, and output variables such as the ice flow velocities reflecting the englacial water pressure, and the dynamics of plumes reflecting the discharge of meltwater into the ocean. In this study we use a cost-effective Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to monitor the daily movements of Bowdoin Glacier, north-west Greenland, and the dynamics of its main plume. Using Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry and feature-tracking techniques, we obtained 22 high-resolution ortho-images and 19 velocity fields at the calving front for 12 days in July 2016. Our results show a two-day-long speed-up event (up to 170%) caused by an increase in buoyant subglacial forces with a strong spatial variability revealing that enhanced acceleration is an indication of shallow bedrock. Further, we used the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) method to analyze water flow from successive UAV images taken while flying over the main plume of the glacier. We found that PIV successfully captures the area of radially diverging flow of the plume, and provides information on spatial and time variability as no other remote sensing technique can. Most interestingly, the active part of the plume features pulsating water jets at the time scale of seconds, and is 1 to 5 times smaller than its visual footprint defined by the iceberg-free area. Combined with an ice flow model or a non-steady plume model, our approach has the potential to generate a novel set of input data to gather information about the depth of the bedrock, the discharge of meltwater, or the subglacial melting rate of tidewater glaciers.
Type: article (author version)
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2115/79685
Appears in Collections:低温科学研究所 (Institute of Low Temperature Science) > 雑誌発表論文等 (Peer-reviewed Journal Articles, etc)

Submitter: 杉山 慎

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