Glacier melting and altered precipitation patterns influence Arctic freshwater and coastal ecosystems. Arctic rivers are central to Arctic water ecosystems by linking glacier meltwaters and precipitation with the ocean through transport of particulate matter and microorganisms. However, the impact of different water sources on the microbial communities in Arctic rivers and estuaries remains unk...

Runoff in glacierized alpine basins results from the seasonal snow cover and from the glacier melt. Due to high resolution satellite sensors, it is possible to map snow cover and glacier areas in the basin of Massa-Blatten, 196 km2, 1447 4191 m a.s.l. Depletion curves of snow covered areas were derived in six elevation zones. In addition, the date was determined when the glacierice became expos...

Satellite remote sensing is a convenient tool for studying snow and glacier ice, allowing us to conduct research over large and otherwise inaccessible areas. This paper reviews various methods for measuring snow and glacier ice properties with satellite remote sensing. These methods have been improving with the use of new satellite sensors, like the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) during the las...

We mapped six distinct glacial moraines alongside Stocking Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Stocking Glacier is one of several alpine glaciers in the Dry Valleys fringed by multiple cold-based drop moraines. To determine the age of the outermost moraine, we collected 10 boulders of Ferrar Dolerite along the crest of the moraine and analyzed mineral separates of pyroxene for cosmo...

Holocene lateral moraines in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia are commonly composed of multiple drift units related to several glacier advances. In this paper, we document lateral moraine stratigraphy at Lillooet Glacier in the southern Coast Mountains. Five tills, separated by laterally extensive paleosols and layers of large woody debris, were found in three cross-sectional exposures t...

As a typical landform class of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, glacier is widely distributed in alpine terrain. However, field measurement is impossible in those areas because of complex terrain and adverse weather. At first, on the basis of analyzing the features of glacier image spectrum, object shape, spatial relations and environment distribution including terrain and climate, this paper combines ...

Automated glacier mapping from satellite multispectral image data is hampered by debris cover on glacier surfaces. Supraglacial debris exhibits the same spectral properties as lateral and terminal moraines, fluvioglacial deposits, and bedrock outside the glacier margin, and is thus not detectable by means of multispectral classification alone. Based on the observation of low slope angles for de...

A 7000 year-long cirque glacier reconstruction from South Georgia, based on detailed analysis of fine-grained sediments deposited downstream in a bog and a lake, suggests continued presence during most of the Holocene. Glacier activity is inferred from various sedimentary properties including magnetic susceptibility (MS), dry bulk density (DBD), loss-on-ignition (LOI) and geochemical elements (...

Water stored as ice and snow at high elevations is a resource that plays an important role in the hydrologic cycle, particularly in the timing and volume of downstream discharge. Here we use geochemical and isotopic values of water samples to evaluate relative contributions of melting glacier ice and groundwater to discharge in Bhutan. River water samples were collected between 3100 and 4500m i...

With accelerated melting of alpine glaciers, understanding the future state of the cryosphere is critical. Because the observational record of glacier response to climate change is short, palaeo-records of glacier change are needed. Using proglacial lake sediments, which contain continuous and datable records of past glacier activity, we investigate Holocene glacier fluctuations on northeastern...