Studying mountain glacier processes using a staring instrument

Author

Donnellan, A. ; Bills, B. ; Green, J.J. ; Goullioud, Renaud ; Jones, Simon ; Knight, R. ; Underhill, Matthew ; Goguen, Jay ; De Jong, E.M. ; Ansar, Adnan ; Hallet, Bernard ; Thompson, Lachlan ; Scambos, Ted ; Gardner, Alex S. ; Morin, P. ; Ekholm, Jared

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

1-8 March 2014

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

17

Abstract

Mountain glaciers around the globe are retreating rapidly, but the exact mechanisms causing the retreat are not well understood. Is warming of the atmosphere the key driver? What are the roles of changes in surface albedo due to contaminants and snow optical grain size and surface roughness? Improved understanding of the response of mountain glaciers to global and environmental change is key to answering these questions. A staring instrument that provides measurements from multiple viewing and illumination angles enables simultaneous measurement of 3D surface structure, including texture, material characteristics, and albedo. Such measurements make it possible to determine melt due to absorbed solar energy separately from melt due to other sources. The International Space Station (ISS) provides a possible host platform for a staring instrument that could access all tropical and most temperate mountain glaciers. The non-sun-synchronous orbit enables varying solar illumination angles.

Keywords

albedo; glaciology; global warming; grain size; hydrological equipment; melting; snow; 3D surface structure measurement; ISS; International Space Station; atmosphere warming; contaminants; environmental change; material characteristics; mountain glacier; nonsun-synchronous orbit; optical grain size; snow; solar energy absorbption; solar illumination angles; surface albedo; surface roughness; texture; Extraterrestrial measurements; Ice; Lighting; Rough surfaces; Snow; Surface topography; Surface treatment;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace Conference, 2014 IEEE

Conference_Location

Big Sky, MT

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-5582-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AERO.2014.6836284

Filename

6836284