scholarly journals Assessing the performance of a distributed radiation-temperature melt model on an Arctic glacier using UAV data

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor A. Bash ◽  
Brian J. Moorman

Abstract. Enhanced temperature index (ETI) models of glacier surface melt are commonly used in studies of glacier mass balance and runoff. With limited data available most models are validated based on ablation stakes and data from automatic weather stations (AWS). With the technological advances of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and structure-from-motion (SfM), it is possible to measure glacier surface melt in detail over larger portions of a glacier. In this study, we use melt measured using SfM processing of UAV imagery to assess the performance of an ETI melt model in two-dimensions. Imagery collected over a portion of the ablation zone of Fountain Glacier, NU, on July 21 and 24, 2016 was previously used to determine distributed surface melt. Incoming solar radiation and temperature measured at the AWS, along with albedo derived from UAV imagery, are used as inputs for the model which was used to estimate melt from July 21–24, 2016. Modelled melt agrees with melt measured at the AWS within ±0.010 m. Across the study area the median model error (−0.044 m), calculated as the difference between measured and modelled melt, is within the uncertainty of the measurements. A strong link was found between the model error and glacier surface aspect with higher errors linked to south aspects. The highest errors were also linked to the density of water flow features on the glacier surface. The relation between water flow and model error suggests that energy from surface water flow is contributing significantly to surface melt on Fountain Glacier. Deep surface streams with highly asymmetrical banks are observed on Fountain Glacier, but the processes leading to their formation are missing in the model assessed here. The failure of the model to capture flow-induced melt and to under-estimate melt on south aspects would lead to significant underestimation of surface melt should the model be used to project future change.

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 549-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor A. Bash ◽  
Brian J. Moorman

Abstract. Models of glacier surface melt are commonly used in studies of glacier mass balance and runoff; however, with limited data available, most models are validated based on ablation stakes and data from automatic weather stations (AWSs). The technological advances of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and structure from motion (SfM) have made it possible to measure glacier surface melt in detail over larger portions of a glacier. In this study, we use melt measured using SfM processing of UAV imagery to assess the performance of an energy balance (EB) and enhanced temperature index (ETI) melt model in two dimensions. Imagery collected over a portion of the ablation zone of Fountain Glacier, Nunavut, on 21, 23, and 24 July 2016 was previously used to determine distributed surface melt. An AWS on the glacier provides some measured inputs for both models as well as an additional check on model performance. Modelled incoming solar radiation and albedo derived from UAV imagery are also used as inputs for both models, which were used to estimate melt from 21 to 24 July 2016. Both models estimate total melt at the AWS within 16 % of observations (4 % for ETI). Across the study area the median model error, calculated as the difference between modelled and measured melt (EB = −0.064 m, ETI = −0.050 m), is within the uncertainty of the measurements. The errors in both models were strongly correlated to the density of water flow features on the glacier surface. The relation between water flow and model error suggests that energy from surface water flow contributes significantly to surface melt on Fountain Glacier. Deep surface streams with highly asymmetrical banks are observed on Fountain Glacier, but the processes leading to their formation are missing in the model assessed here. The failure of the model to capture flow-induced melt would lead to significant underestimation of surface melt should the model be used to project future change.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal Egli ◽  
Stuart Lane ◽  
James Irving ◽  
Bruno Belotti

<p>If tongues of temperate Alpine glaciers are subjected to high temperatures their topography may change rapidly due to the effects of differential melt related to aspect and debris cover. Independent of local surface melt, the position of subglacial conduits may have an important influence on ice creep and so on changes in topography at the ice surface. This reflects analyses that suggest that subglacial conduits at glacier margins may not be permanently pressurised; and that creep closure rates are insufficient to close subglacial conduits completely. Rapid climate warming may exacerbate this process, due both to surface-melt driven glacier thinning and over-enlargement of conduits due to high upstream melt rates. Over-enlarged conduits that are not permanently pressurised would lead to the development of structural weaknesses and eventual collapse of the ice surface into the conduits. We hypothesise that this collapse mechanism could represent an important and alternative driver of rapid glacier retreat.</p><p>In this paper we combine: (1) an extensive survey of glacier margin collapse in the Swiss Alps with (2) intensive monitoring of the dynamics of such collapse at the Otemma Glacier in the south-western Swiss Alps. Daily UAV surveys were undertaken at a high spatial resolution and with precise and accurate ground control. These datasets were used to generate surface change information using SfM-MVS photogrammetry. Surfaces of difference showed surface loss that could not be related to ablation alone. Combining them with three-dimensional ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys in the same zone showed that the surface loss was coincident spatially with the positions of sub-glacial conduits, for ice thicknesses between 20 m and 50 m. We show that this form of subglacial conduit collapse is also happening for several other glaciers in the Swiss Alps, and that this mechanism of snout collapse and glacier retreat has become more common than has hitherto been the case. It also leads to temporal patterns of glacier margin retreat that differ from those that might be expected due to glacier mass balance and ice mass flux effects alone.</p>


Author(s):  
Erika Viktória Miszory ◽  
Melinda Járomi ◽  
Annamária Pakai

Abstract Aim The number of Hungarian polio patients can be estimated at approximately 3000. Polio infection is currently affecting people 56–65 years of age. The aim of the study was to reveal the quality of life of patients living with polio virus in Hungary. Subject and methods The quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted in January–April 2017 among polyomyelitis patients living in Hungary. In the non-random, targeted, expert sample selection, the target group was composed of patients infected with poliovirus (N = 268). We have excluded those who refused to sign the consent statement. Our data collection method was an SF-36 questionnaire. Using the IBM SPSS Statistics Version 22 program, descriptive and mathematical statistics (χ2-test) were calculated (p < 0.05). Results The mean age of the members of the examined population is 63.5 years; 68.1% were women and 31.90% were men. The majority of the respondents were infected by the polyovirus in 1956 (11.9%), 1957 (24.3%), and 1959 (19.5%). Polio patients, with the exception of two dimensions (mental health, social operation), on the scale of 100 do not reach the “average” quality of life (physical functioning 23 points, functional role 36 points, emotional role 47 points, body pain 48 points, general health 42 points, vitality 50 points, health change 31 points). Conclusion The quality of life of polio patients is far below the dimensions of physical function, while the difference in mental health compared to healthy people is minimal. It would be important to educate health professionals about the existing disease, to develop an effective rehabilitation method.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Tim Hill ◽  
Christine F. Dow ◽  
Eleanor A. Bash ◽  
Luke Copland

Abstract Glacier surficial melt rates are commonly modelled using surface energy balance (SEB) models, with outputs applied to extend point-based mass-balance measurements to regional scales, assess water resource availability, examine supraglacial hydrology and to investigate the relationship between surface melt and ice dynamics. We present an improved SEB model that addresses the primary limitations of existing models by: (1) deriving high-resolution (30 m) surface albedo from Landsat 8 imagery, (2) calculating shadows cast onto the glacier surface by high-relief topography to model incident shortwave radiation, (3) developing an algorithm to map debris sufficiently thick to insulate the glacier surface and (4) presenting a formulation of the SEB model coupled to a subsurface heat conduction model. We drive the model with 6 years of in situ meteorological data from Kaskawulsh Glacier and Nàłùdäy (Lowell) Glacier in the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, Canada, and validate outputs against in situ measurements. Modelled seasonal melt agrees with observations within 9% across a range of elevations on both glaciers in years with high-quality in situ observations. We recommend applying the model to investigate the impacts of surface melt for individual glaciers when sufficient input data are available.


2021 ◽  
Vol 256 ◽  
pp. 19-43
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Castle ◽  
Jurgen A. Doornik ◽  
David F. Hendry

The Covid-19 pandemic has put forecasting under the spotlight, pitting epidemiological models against extrapolative time-series devices. We have been producing real-time short-term forecasts of confirmed cases and deaths using robust statistical models since 20 March 2020. The forecasts are adaptive to abrupt structural change, a major feature of the pandemic data due to data measurement errors, definitional and testing changes, policy interventions, technological advances and rapidly changing trends. The pandemic has also led to abrupt structural change in macroeconomic outcomes. Using the same methods, we forecast aggregate UK unemployment over the pandemic. The forecasts rapidly adapt to the employment policies implemented when the UK entered the first lockdown. The difference between our statistical and theory based forecasts provides a measure of the effect of furlough policies on stabilising unemployment, establishing useful scenarios had furlough policies not been implemented.


Author(s):  
James Flinders ◽  
John D. Clemens

ABSTRACT:Most natural systems display non-linear dynamic behaviour. This should be true for magma mingling and mixing processes, which may be chaotic. The equations that most nearly represent how a chaotic natural system behaves are insoluble, so modelling involves linearisation. The difference between the solution of the linearised and ‘true’ equation is assumed to be small because the discarded terms are assumed to be unimportant. This may be very misleading because the importance of such terms is both unknown and unknowable. Linearised equations are generally poor descriptors of nature and are incapable of either predicting or retrodicting the evolution of most natural systems. Viewed in two dimensions, the mixing of two or more visually contrasting fluids produces patterns by folding and stretching. This increases the interfacial area and reduces striation thickness. This provides visual analogues of the deterministic chaos within a dynamic magma system, in which an enclave magma is mingling and mixing with a host magma. Here, two initially adjacent enclave blobs may be driven arbitrarily and exponentially far apart, while undergoing independent (and possibly dissimilar) changes in their composition. Examples are given of the wildly different morphologies, chemical characteristics and Nd isotope systematics of microgranitoid enclaves within individual felsic magmas, and it is concluded that these contrasts represent different stages in the temporal evolution of a complex magma system driven by nonlinear dynamics. If this is true, there are major implications for the interpretation of the parts played by enclaves in the genesis and evolution of granitoid magmas.


Author(s):  
Nivedhitha Ajithkumar ◽  
Prabhakar Alok Verma ◽  
Frank B. Osei ◽  
Hari Shankar

1978 ◽  
Vol 43 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1059-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Dickson

A risky choice was created by manipulating two dimensions of risk for 21 managers attending a conference. The first dimension varied risk by altering the difference in expected value between two alternatives of widely differing variance. The second dimension varied the expectancy of achieving a particular outcome. Whereas choice was significantly related to both dimensions of risk, it was not significantly related to estimates of the subjective risk inherent in the choice situation. It appears that subjective risk does not mediate between objective risk and choice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 431-445
Author(s):  
Richard Barnes ◽  
Kerry L. Callaghan ◽  
Andrew D. Wickert

Abstract. Depressions – inwardly draining regions of digital elevation models – present difficulties for terrain analysis and hydrological modeling. Analogous “depressions” also arise in image processing and morphological segmentation, where they may represent noise, features of interest, or both. Here we provide a new data structure – the depression hierarchy – that captures the full topologic and topographic complexity of depressions in a region. We treat depressions as networks in a way that is analogous to surface-water flow paths, in which individual sub-depressions merge together to form meta-depressions in a process that continues until they begin to drain externally. This hierarchy can be used to selectively fill or breach depressions or to accelerate dynamic models of hydrological flow. Complete, well-commented, open-source code and correctness tests are available on GitHub and Zenodo.


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