Quantifying heterogeneous monsoonal melt on a debris-covered glacier in Nepal Himalaya using repeat uncrewed aerial system (UAS) photogrammetry

Abstract

The ablation zones of debris-covered glaciers in Himalaya exhibit heterogeneous processes and melt patterns. Although sub-debris melt is measured at ablation stakes, the high variability of debris thickness necessitates distributed melt measurements at the glacier scale. Focusing on Annapurna III Glacier, we used uncrewed aerial system (UAS) photogrammetry to estimate total volume loss and slope-perpendicular glacier melt between May and November 2019 using flow-corrected point clouds. Results indicated the average elevation change was −1.10 ± 0.19 m, while the mean melt was −0.87 m w.e., equating to a mean melt rate of −0.47 cm w.e. d−1. However, the spatial pattern was highly variable due to complex local processes necessitating future study over short intervals. The evaluation of specific areas showed the interplay of debris thickness variability, subseasonal debris redistribution, supraglacial channel reconfiguration and the imprint of relict ice cliffs in leading to contemporary melt rates. Ice cliffs had higher melt distances (mean −3.9 ± 0.19 m) compared to non-cliff areas (mean −0.75 ± 0.19 m) and were the predominant control on the spatial patterns of seasonal melt rates. Crucially, the definition of ice cliff areas from thinning data has a profound impact on derived melt rates and melt enhancement. Our study demonstrates the possibility and utility of deriving fully-distributed slope-perpendicular melt measurements.

Keywords

• Aerial photogrammetry
• debris-covered glacier
• DSM differencing
• glacier mass balance
• Himalaya
• ice cliffs
• point cloud differencing
• structure from motion
• UAS