Controls on Ice Cliff Distribution and Characteristics on Debris-Covered Glaciers

Marin Kneib; Catriona L. Fyffe; Evan S. Miles; Shayna Lindemann; Thomas E. Shaw; Pascal Buri; Michael McCarthy; Boris Ouvry; Andreas Vieli; Yota Sato; Philip D.A. Kraaijenbrink; Chuanxi Zhao; Peter Molnar; Francesca Pellicciotti

doi:10.1029/2022GL102444

Controls on Ice Cliff Distribution and Characteristics on Debris-Covered Glaciers

Marin Kneib^*, Catriona L. Fyffe, Evan S. Miles, Shayna Lindemann, Thomas E. Shaw, Pascal Buri, Michael McCarthy, Boris Ouvry, Andreas Vieli, Yota Sato, Philip D.A. Kraaijenbrink, Chuanxi Zhao, Peter Molnar, Francesca Pellicciotti

^*Corresponding author for this work

Hydrologie

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Ice cliff distribution plays a major role in determining the melt of debris-covered glaciers but its controls are largely unknown. We assembled a data set of 37,537 ice cliffs and determined their characteristics across 86 debris-covered glaciers within High Mountain Asia (HMA). We find that 38.9% of the cliffs are stream-influenced, 19.5% pond-influenced and 19.7% are crevasse-originated. Surface velocity is the main predictor of cliff distribution at both local and glacier scale, indicating its dependence on the dynamic state and hence evolution stage of debris-covered glacier tongues. Supraglacial ponds contribute to maintaining cliffs in areas of thicker debris, but this is only possible if water accumulates at the surface. Overall, total cliff density decreases exponentially with debris thickness as soon as the debris layer reaches a thickness of over 10 cm.

Original language	English
Article number	e2022GL102444
Number of pages	11
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	50
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL102444
Publication status	Published - 28 Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme (grant agreement 772751) and from the Royal Society via a Newton Advanced Fellowship award (NA170325). The majority of the Pléiades stereo‐pairs were provided by Etienne Berthier via the Pléiades Glacier Observatory (PGO) initiative of the French Space Agency (CNES). The remaining images were acquired through the CNES ISIS Programme. We thank the team of the Centre for Research on Glaciers at the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan who enabled our 2021 fieldwork on Kyzylsu Glacier.

Funding Information:
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme (grant agreement 772751) and from the Royal Society via a Newton Advanced Fellowship award (NA170325). The majority of the Pléiades stereo-pairs were provided by Etienne Berthier via the Pléiades Glacier Observatory (PGO) initiative of the French Space Agency (CNES). The remaining images were acquired through the CNES ISIS Programme. We thank the team of the Centre for Research on Glaciers at the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan who enabled our 2021 fieldwork on Kyzylsu Glacier.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023. The Authors.

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme (grant agreement 772751) and from the Royal Society via a Newton Advanced Fellowship award (NA170325). The majority of the Pléiades stereo‐pairs were provided by Etienne Berthier via the Pléiades Glacier Observatory (PGO) initiative of the French Space Agency (CNES). The remaining images were acquired through the CNES ISIS Programme. We thank the team of the Centre for Research on Glaciers at the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan who enabled our 2021 fieldwork on Kyzylsu Glacier. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme (grant agreement 772751) and from the Royal Society via a Newton Advanced Fellowship award (NA170325). The majority of the Pléiades stereo-pairs were provided by Etienne Berthier via the Pléiades Glacier Observatory (PGO) initiative of the French Space Agency (CNES). The remaining images were acquired through the CNES ISIS Programme. We thank the team of the Centre for Research on Glaciers at the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan who enabled our 2021 fieldwork on Kyzylsu Glacier.

Keywords

crevasses
debris-covered glaciers
ice cliff distribution
ice cliffs
remote sensing
supraglacial hydrology

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10.1029/2022GL102444Licence: CC BY

Geophysical Research Letters - 2023 - Kneib - Controls on Ice Cliff Distribution and Characteristics on Debris‐CoveredFinal published version, 7.37 MBLicence: CC BY

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Kneib, M., Fyffe, C. L., Miles, E. S., Lindemann, S., Shaw, T. E., Buri, P., McCarthy, M., Ouvry, B., Vieli, A., Sato, Y., Kraaijenbrink, P. D. A., Zhao, C., Molnar, P., & Pellicciotti, F. (2023). Controls on Ice Cliff Distribution and Characteristics on Debris-Covered Glaciers. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(6), Article e2022GL102444. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL102444

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abstract = "Ice cliff distribution plays a major role in determining the melt of debris-covered glaciers but its controls are largely unknown. We assembled a data set of 37,537 ice cliffs and determined their characteristics across 86 debris-covered glaciers within High Mountain Asia (HMA). We find that 38.9% of the cliffs are stream-influenced, 19.5% pond-influenced and 19.7% are crevasse-originated. Surface velocity is the main predictor of cliff distribution at both local and glacier scale, indicating its dependence on the dynamic state and hence evolution stage of debris-covered glacier tongues. Supraglacial ponds contribute to maintaining cliffs in areas of thicker debris, but this is only possible if water accumulates at the surface. Overall, total cliff density decreases exponentially with debris thickness as soon as the debris layer reaches a thickness of over 10 cm.",

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author = "Marin Kneib and Fyffe, {Catriona L.} and Miles, {Evan S.} and Shayna Lindemann and Shaw, {Thomas E.} and Pascal Buri and Michael McCarthy and Boris Ouvry and Andreas Vieli and Yota Sato and Kraaijenbrink, {Philip D.A.} and Chuanxi Zhao and Peter Molnar and Francesca Pellicciotti",

note = "Funding Information: This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme (grant agreement 772751) and from the Royal Society via a Newton Advanced Fellowship award (NA170325). The majority of the Pl{\'e}iades stereo‐pairs were provided by Etienne Berthier via the Pl{\'e}iades Glacier Observatory (PGO) initiative of the French Space Agency (CNES). The remaining images were acquired through the CNES ISIS Programme. We thank the team of the Centre for Research on Glaciers at the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan who enabled our 2021 fieldwork on Kyzylsu Glacier. Funding Information: This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme (grant agreement 772751) and from the Royal Society via a Newton Advanced Fellowship award (NA170325). The majority of the Pl{\'e}iades stereo-pairs were provided by Etienne Berthier via the Pl{\'e}iades Glacier Observatory (PGO) initiative of the French Space Agency (CNES). The remaining images were acquired through the CNES ISIS Programme. We thank the team of the Centre for Research on Glaciers at the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan who enabled our 2021 fieldwork on Kyzylsu Glacier. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023. The Authors.",

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AU - Kneib, Marin

AU - Fyffe, Catriona L.

AU - Miles, Evan S.

AU - Lindemann, Shayna

AU - Shaw, Thomas E.

AU - Buri, Pascal

AU - McCarthy, Michael

AU - Ouvry, Boris

AU - Vieli, Andreas

AU - Sato, Yota

AU - Kraaijenbrink, Philip D.A.

AU - Zhao, Chuanxi

AU - Molnar, Peter

AU - Pellicciotti, Francesca

N1 - Funding Information: This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme (grant agreement 772751) and from the Royal Society via a Newton Advanced Fellowship award (NA170325). The majority of the Pléiades stereo‐pairs were provided by Etienne Berthier via the Pléiades Glacier Observatory (PGO) initiative of the French Space Agency (CNES). The remaining images were acquired through the CNES ISIS Programme. We thank the team of the Centre for Research on Glaciers at the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan who enabled our 2021 fieldwork on Kyzylsu Glacier. Funding Information: This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme (grant agreement 772751) and from the Royal Society via a Newton Advanced Fellowship award (NA170325). The majority of the Pléiades stereo-pairs were provided by Etienne Berthier via the Pléiades Glacier Observatory (PGO) initiative of the French Space Agency (CNES). The remaining images were acquired through the CNES ISIS Programme. We thank the team of the Centre for Research on Glaciers at the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan who enabled our 2021 fieldwork on Kyzylsu Glacier. Publisher Copyright: © 2023. The Authors.

PY - 2023/3/28

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N2 - Ice cliff distribution plays a major role in determining the melt of debris-covered glaciers but its controls are largely unknown. We assembled a data set of 37,537 ice cliffs and determined their characteristics across 86 debris-covered glaciers within High Mountain Asia (HMA). We find that 38.9% of the cliffs are stream-influenced, 19.5% pond-influenced and 19.7% are crevasse-originated. Surface velocity is the main predictor of cliff distribution at both local and glacier scale, indicating its dependence on the dynamic state and hence evolution stage of debris-covered glacier tongues. Supraglacial ponds contribute to maintaining cliffs in areas of thicker debris, but this is only possible if water accumulates at the surface. Overall, total cliff density decreases exponentially with debris thickness as soon as the debris layer reaches a thickness of over 10 cm.

AB - Ice cliff distribution plays a major role in determining the melt of debris-covered glaciers but its controls are largely unknown. We assembled a data set of 37,537 ice cliffs and determined their characteristics across 86 debris-covered glaciers within High Mountain Asia (HMA). We find that 38.9% of the cliffs are stream-influenced, 19.5% pond-influenced and 19.7% are crevasse-originated. Surface velocity is the main predictor of cliff distribution at both local and glacier scale, indicating its dependence on the dynamic state and hence evolution stage of debris-covered glacier tongues. Supraglacial ponds contribute to maintaining cliffs in areas of thicker debris, but this is only possible if water accumulates at the surface. Overall, total cliff density decreases exponentially with debris thickness as soon as the debris layer reaches a thickness of over 10 cm.

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ER -

Controls on Ice Cliff Distribution and Characteristics on Debris-Covered Glaciers

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Keywords

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