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Heard Island- Glacier extents mapped from satellite imagery and aerial photography.

Entry ID: heard_glacier_gis

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Summary

Abstract: Abstract from: 'An inventory of present glaciers on Heard Island and their historical variation' by Andrew Ruddell.

Heard Island is a large ice-covered volcanic cone situated in the south Indian Ocean. Its location enables unique climatic information to be obtained from a very remote and predominantly maritime region. Past studies show that while some glaciers have undergone major recession ... since the late 1940s, others, such as large non-calving glaciers, have shown little change in extent. The island is usually cloud covered and this has hampered aerial and ground based surveys. Using SPOT satellite imagery acquired in 1988 and supplemented by aerial photography in 1987 and a digital elevation model derived from 1997 Radarsat imagery, an inventory of glacier extent is provided and this indicates that there are a total of 29 glaciated basins (41 termini), with an area of 257 km2 and an estimated volume of 14.2 km3. The satellite imagery is used to rectify earlier estimates of glacier extent based on aerial photography in 1947 and 1980. Between 1947 and 1988 the glaciated area had decreased by 11% and volume by 12%. Approximately half of this occurred during the 1980s.
A variety of historical records have been compiled and these provide evidence of glacier behaviour since the mid-1800s when they were at their greatest extent during the recorded period. The elevation range of a glacier is a good indication of glacier hypsometry and its sensitivity to mass balance and climate variations. Glaciers such as the Gotley are of large elevation range and high mass turnover. Such glaciers show little sensitivity to climate variations as they lose much of their ice through calving into the sea rather than surface melt. Glaciers of low elevation range such as those on the Laurens Peninsula are especially sensitive to climate change. Glaciers of this type indicate that while minor decadal fluctuations have occurred in the period from at least 1902 to the 1950s, the recession of many glaciers during the past 50 years has been unprecedented. The glacier variations correlate with observed temperature records.
Observations of occasional volcanic eruptions since the 1880s indicate that most activity is related to lava flows from Mawson Peak and fumerole activity on its upper southwestern slope. This activity appears to have had little effect on the Gotley and Lied glaciers.

Related URL

Link: GET DATA

Description: Download page for the data: Heard Island glacier extents

Link: GET DATA

Description: Download page for the Australian Antarctic Data Centre

Link: GET SERVICE

Description: Search the SCAR Feature Catalogue, dataset identifiers and quality information
indicators

Link: VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

Description: Citation reference for this metadata record and dataset

Geographic Coverage

(Click for Interactive Map)

Spatial coordinates

	N: -52.08	S: -53.08	E: 73.55	W: 73.5
Min Altitude: 0 M Max Altitude: 2750 M

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1987-01-01

Stop Date: 1997-12-31

Location Keywords

OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > Heard Island

CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA

GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR

OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > HEARD AND MCDONALD ISLANDS

Science Keywords

CRYOSPHERE > GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS > GLACIERS

CRYOSPHERE > SNOW/ICE > ICE EXTENT

ISO Topic Category

GEOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION

INLAND WATERS

Platform

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS

DEM > Digital Elevation Model

Quality The dataset was derived from a number of aerial photographs by digitising or eyeing in. For more information on data quality check the q info numbers that are linked to the dataset.

The dates provided in temporal coverage are approximate only.

Usually mapped to a Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 43.

Access Constraints Available format type: ArcView shapefile. Stored as geographicals with a projection file.
Access constraint: ArcView shapefiles are available on the web. Conditions apply.

Use Constraints This data set conforms to the PICCCBY Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference at the provided URL when using these data.

Ancillary Keywords

BUTTRESS

GIS

Data Set Progress

COMPLETE

Data Center

Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia

Data Center URL: http://data.aad.gov.au

Data Center Personnel
Name: DATA OFFICER AADC Phone: +61 3 6232 3244 Fax: +61 3 6232 3351 Email: metadata at aad.gov.au Contact Address: Australian Antarctic Division 203 Channel Highway City: Kingston Province or State: Tasmania Postal Code: 7050 Country: Australia