Glaciological applications with Landsat-7 imagery: Early assessments

Abstract

Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data from Landsat-7 are providing glaciologists with an ever-expanding data set that makes a comprehensive monitoring of the global cryosphere feasible for the first time in history. Examples of ETM+ data illustrate its ability to satisfy major scientific needs in the glaciological subdisciplines of sea-ice, glacier, ice-cap, and ice-sheet research with high-resolution optical satellite imagery. Examples shown include use as proxy ground-truth, positioning glacier termini and snowlines, and determining snow facies boundaries. The additional ETM+ panchromatic band, at a higher spatial resolution of 15 m, improves the spatial accuracy of these applications. The glaciological aspects of the Landsat-7 Long-Term Acquisition Plan are discussed to show how the timing and location of the image acquisitions will generate a cryospheric data set of unprecedented utility for future research.