CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
Search Results
Author : Clarke, G.; Haber, E.; Anslow, F.; Radic, V.; and Jarosch, A
Date : 2010.
Title : Improved methods for estimating subglacial topography and ice volume applied to glaciers of northwestern North America.
Publication : CMOS-CGU Ottawa 2010. 44th Annual CMOS Congress, 36th Annual Scientific Meeting of CGU, 3rd Joint CMOS-CGU Congress. May 31-June 4, 2010. Ottawa, Ontario.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
The present volume, and thus the potential contribution to sea-level rise, of Earth’s ~160,000 mountain glaciers is largely based on the application of volume–area scaling relationships which cannot yield information about subglacial topography. This is a serious shortcoming because such knowledge is required for computer simulations of the dynamic response of glaciers to climatic change and thus for projecting the local and regional impacts of rapid deglaciation. We have examined a variety of approaches to estimating subglacial topography from surface data. Methods that use only a digital elevation model and ice mask require the least information but are subject to large errors. Two promising new methods that exploit, in different ways, the surface mass balance field have been cast in the framework of geophysical inverse theory. One is based on an assumption of ideal but spatially-varying ice plasticity and the other on a standard Glen-law ice flow rheology. We demonstrate these methods by applying them to glaciated regions of the Yukon and British Columbia.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology