scholarly journals The Rofental: a high Alpine research basin (1890 m – 3770 m a.s.l.) in the Ötztal Alps (Austria) with over 150 years of hydro-meteorological and glaciological observations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Strasser ◽  
Thomas Marke ◽  
Ludwig Braun ◽  
Heidi Escher-Vetter ◽  
Irmgard Juen ◽  
...  

Abstract. A comprehensive hydrometeorological and glaciological data set is presented, originating from a multitude of recordings at several intensively operated research sites in the Rofental (1891–3772 m a.s.l., Ötztal Alps, Austria). The data sets are spanning a period of 150 years and hence represent a unique, worldwide unprecedented pool of high mountain observations. Their collection has originally been initiated to support the scientific investigation of the glaciers Hintereis-, Kesselwand- and Vernagtferner. Later, additional measurements of meteorological and hydrological variables have been undertaken; data now comprise records of temperature, relative humidity, short- and longwave radiation, wind speed and direction, air pressure, precipitation and water levels. For the glaciers, annual mass balance, glacier front variation and flow velocities as well as photographic images of the glacier status have been recorded. Since 2001, a series of distributed (airborne and terrestrial) laserscans has been processed. Most recently, a permanent terrestrial laser scanner installed on "Im hintern Eis" (3244 m a.s.l.) enables to continuously observe almost the entire area of Hintereisferner. The data and research undertaken at the sites of investigation enable combined research of atmospheric, cryospheric and hydrological processes in complex terrain, and support the development of several state-of-the art hydroclimatological and glacier mass balance models. The institutions taking part in the Rofental research framework have joined to a cooperation consortium and promote their site in several international research initiatives. In the framework of INARCH, all original research data sets are now provided to the scientific community according to the Creative Commons Attribution License by means of the PANGAEA repository (https://doi.org/doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.876120).

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Strasser ◽  
Thomas Marke ◽  
Ludwig Braun ◽  
Heidi Escher-Vetter ◽  
Irmgard Juen ◽  
...  

Abstract. A comprehensive hydrometeorological and glaciological data set is presented, originating from a multitude of glaciological, meteorological, hydrological and laser scanning recordings at research sites in the Rofental (1891–3772 m a.s.l., Ötztal Alps, Austria). The data sets span a period of 150 years and hence represent a unique time series of rich high-altitude mountain observations. Their collection was originally initiated to support scientific investigation of the glaciers Hintereisferner, Kesselwandferner and Vernagtferner. Annual mass balance, glacier front variation, flow velocities and photographic records of the status of these glaciers were recorded. Later, additional measurements of meteorological and hydrological variables were undertaken, and over time a number of autonomous weather stations and runoff gauges were brought into operation; the available data now comprise records of temperature, relative humidity, short- and longwave radiation, wind speed and direction, air pressure, precipitation, and river water levels. Since 2001, a series of distributed (airborne and terrestrial) laser scans is available, along with associated digital surface models. In 2016 a permanent terrestrial laser scanner was installed on Im hintern Eis (3244 m a.s.l.) to continuously observe almost the entire area of Hintereisferner. The data and research undertaken at the sites of investigation in the Rofental area enable combined research of cryospheric, atmospheric and hydrological processes in complex terrain, and support the development of several state-of-the-art glacier mass balance and hydroclimatological models. The institutions taking part in the Rofental research framework promote their site in several international research initiatives. In INARCH (International Network for Alpine Research Catchment Hydrology, http://words.usask.ca/inarch), all original research data sets are now provided to the scientific community according to the Creative Commons Attribution License by means of the PANGAEA repository (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.876120).


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhiraj Pradhananga ◽  
John W. Pomeroy ◽  
Caroline Aubry-Wake ◽  
D. Scott Munro ◽  
Joseph Shea ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper presents hydrometeorological, glaciological and geospatial data of the Peyto Glacier Research Basin (PGRB) in the Canadian Rockies. Peyto Glacier has been of interest to glaciological and hydrological researchers since the 1960s, when it was chosen as one of five glacier basins in Canada for the study of mass and water balance during the International Hydrological Decade (IHD, 1965–1974). Intensive studies of the glacier and observations of the glacier mass balance continued after the IHD, when the initial seasonal meteorological stations were discontinued, then restarted as continuous stations in the late 1980s. The corresponding hydrometric observations were discontinued in 1977 and restarted in 2013. Data sets presented in this paper include: high resolution, co-registered DEMs derived from original air photos and LiDAR surveys; hourly off-glacier meteorological data recorded from 1987 to present; precipitation data from nearby Bow Summit; and long-term hydrological and glaciological model forcing datasets derived from bias-corrected reanalysis products. These data are crucial for studying climate change and variability in the basin, and to understanding the hydrological responses of the basin to both glacier and climate change. The comprehensive data set for the PGRB is a valuable and exceptionally long-standing testament to the impacts of climate change on the cryosphere in the high mountain environment. The dataset is publicly available from Federated Research Data Repository at https://doi.org/10.20383/101.0259 (Pradhananga et al., 2020).


Author(s):  
J.-F. Hullo

We propose a complete methodology for the fine registration and referencing of kilo-station networks of terrestrial laser scanner data currently used for many valuable purposes such as 3D as-built reconstruction of Building Information Models (BIM) or industrial asbuilt mock-ups. This comprehensive target-based process aims to achieve the global tolerance below a few centimetres across a 3D network including more than 1,000 laser stations spread over 10 floors. This procedure is particularly valuable for 3D networks of indoor congested environments. In situ, the use of terrestrial laser scanners, the layout of the targets and the set-up of a topographic control network should comply with the expert methods specific to surveyors. Using parametric and reduced Gauss-Helmert models, the network is expressed as a set of functional constraints with a related stochastic model. During the post-processing phase inspired by geodesy methods, a robust cost function is minimised. At the scale of such a data set, the complexity of the 3D network is beyond comprehension. The surveyor, even an expert, must be supported, in his analysis, by digital and visual indicators. In addition to the standard indicators used for the adjustment methods, including Baarda’s reliability, we introduce spectral analysis tools of graph theory for identifying different types of errors or a lack of robustness of the system as well as <i>in fine</i> documenting the quality of the registration.


2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (190) ◽  
pp. 292-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Mölg ◽  
Nicolas J. Cullen ◽  
Georg Kaser

AbstractBroadband radiation schemes (parameterizations) are commonly used tools in glacier mass-balance modelling, but their performance at high altitude in the tropics has not been evaluated in detail. Here we take advantage of a high-quality 2 year record of global radiation (G ) and incoming longwave radiation (L ↓) measured on Kersten Glacier, Kilimanjaro, East Africa, at 5873 m a.s.l., to optimize parameterizations of G and L ↓. We show that the two radiation terms can be related by an effective cloud-cover fraction neff , so G or L ↓ can be modelled based on neff derived from measured L ↓ or G, respectively. At neff = 1, G is reduced to 35% of clear-sky G, and L ↓ increases by 45–65% (depending on altitude) relative to clear-sky L ↓. Validation for a 1 year dataset of G and L ↓ obtained at 4850 m on Glaciar Artesonraju, Peruvian Andes, yields a satisfactory performance of the radiation scheme. Whether this performance is acceptable for mass-balance studies of tropical glaciers is explored by applying the data from Glaciar Artesonraju to a physically based mass-balance model, which requires, among others, G and L ↓ as forcing variables. Uncertainties in modelled mass balance introduced by the radiation parameterizations do not exceed those that can be caused by errors in the radiation measurements. Hence, this paper provides a tool for inclusion in spatially distributed mass-balance modelling of tropical glaciers and/or extension of radiation data when only G or L ↓ is measured.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Stocker-Waldhuber ◽  
Andrea Fischer ◽  
Kay Helfricht ◽  
Michael Kuhn

Abstract. Climatic forcing affects glacier mass balance and ice flow dynamics on different time scales, resulting in length changes. Mass Balance and length changes are operationally used for glacier monitoring, whereas only a few time series of glacier dynamics have been recorded. With more than 100 years of measurements of ice flow velocities at stakes and stone lines on Hintereisferner and more than 50 years on Kesselwandferner, annual velocity and glacier fluctuation records have similar lengths. Subseasonal variations of ice flow velocities have been measured on Gepatschferner and Taschachferner for nearly a decade. The ice flow velocities on Hintereisferner and especially on Kesselwandferner show great variations between advancing and retreating periods, with magnitudes increasing from the highest to the lowest stakes, making ice flow records at ablation stakes a very sensitive indicator of glacier state. Since the end of the latest glacier advances from the 1970s to the 1980s, the ice flow velocities have decreased continuously, a strong indicator of the negative mass balances of the glaciers in recent decades. The velocity data sets of the four glaciers are available at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.896741.


2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Machguth ◽  
R. S. Purves ◽  
J. Oerlemans ◽  
M. Hoelzle ◽  
F. Paul

Abstract. By means of Monte Carlo simulations we calculated uncertainty in modelled cumulative mass balance over 400 days at one particular point on the tongue of Morteratsch Glacier, Switzerland, using a glacier energy balance model of intermediate complexity. Before uncertainty assessment, the model was tuned to observed mass balance for the investigated time period and its robustness was tested by comparing observed and modelled mass balance over 11 years, yielding very small deviations. Both systematic and random uncertainties are assigned to twelve input parameters and their respective values estimated from the literature or from available meteorological data sets. The calculated overall uncertainty in the model output is dominated by systematic errors and amounts to 0.7 m w.e. or approximately 10% of total melt over the investigated time span. In order to provide a first order estimate on variability in uncertainty depending on the quality of input data, we conducted a further experiment, calculating overall uncertainty for different levels of uncertainty in measured global radiation and air temperature. Our results show that the output of a well calibrated model is subject to considerable uncertainties, in particular when applied for extrapolation in time and space where systematic errors are likely to be an important issue.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (260) ◽  
pp. 927-937
Author(s):  
Mingyang Lv ◽  
Duncan J. Quincey ◽  
Huadong Guo ◽  
Owen King ◽  
Guang Liu ◽  
...  

AbstractGlaciers in the eastern Pamir have reportedly been gaining mass during recent decades, even though glaciers in most other regions in High Mountain Asia have been in recession. Questions still remain about whether the trend is strengthening or weakening, and how far the positive balances extend into the eastern Pamir. To address these gaps, we use three different digital elevation models to reconstruct glacier surface elevation changes over two periods (2000–09 and 2000–15/16). We characterize the eastern Pamir as a zone of transition from positive to negative mass balance with the boundary lying at the northern end of Kongur Tagh, and find that glaciers situated at higher elevations are those with the most positive balances. Most (67% of 55) glaciers displayed a net mass gain since the 21st century. This led to an increasing regional geodetic glacier mass balance from −0.06 ± 0.16 m w.e. a−1 in 2000–09 to 0.06 ± 0.04 m w.e. a−1 in 2000–15/16. Surge-type glaciers, which are prevalent in the eastern Pamir, showed fluctuations in mass balance on an individual scale during and after surges, but no statistical difference compared to non-surge-type glaciers when aggregated across the region.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Shehata ◽  
Hideki Mizunaga

&lt;p&gt;Long-period magnetotelluric and gravity data were acquired to investigate the US cordillera's crustal structure. The magnetotelluric data are being acquired across the continental USA on a quasi-regular grid of &amp;#8764;70 km spacing as an electromagnetic component of the National Science Foundation EarthScope/USArray Program. International Gravimetreique Bureau compiled gravity Data at high spatial resolution. Due to the difference in data coverage density, the geostatistical joint integration was utilized to map the subsurface structures with adequate resolution. First, a three-dimensional inversion of each data set was applied separately.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The inversion results of both data sets show a similarity of structure for data structuralizing. The individual result of both data sets is resampled at the same locations using the kriging method by considering each inversion model to estimate the coefficient. Then, the Layer Density Correction (LDC) process's enhanced density distribution was applied to MT data's spatial expansion process. Simple Kriging with varying Local Means (SKLM) was applied to the residual analysis and integration. For this purpose, the varying local means of the resistivity were estimated using the corrected gravity data by the Non-Linear Indicator Transform (NLIT), taking into account the spatial correlation. After that, the spatial expansion analysis of MT data obtained sparsely was attempted using the estimated local mean values and SKLM method at the sections where the MT survey was carried out and for the entire area where density distributions exist. This research presents the integration results and the stand-alone inversion results of three-dimensional gravity and magnetotelluric data.&lt;/p&gt;


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Shean ◽  
Shashank Bhushan ◽  
Paul Montesano ◽  
David R. Rounce ◽  
Anthony Arendt ◽  
...  

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