Abstract
On the Kamchatka Peninsula, a number of glaciers are covered by thick volcanic debris, which makes their margins difficult to delineate from satellite imagery. Fortunately, high resolution, multi-temporal digital surface models (DSMs) covering the entire peninsula have recently become freely available (i.e., ArcticDEM). We use these DSMs to analyse the dimensions and dynamics of debris-covered glaciers in the northern Kluchevskoy Volcanic Group, central Kamchatka. This approach demonstrates that between 2012 and 2016, some of the region’s glaciers advanced despite regional and local climate warming. These glacial advances are part of a long-term trend, presumed to reflect the role of extensive supraglacial debris in limiting ice ablation, though there is also evidence for local ice melt due to supraglacial lava/debris flows. Glacier surface velocities during the period 2012–2015 were typically 5–140 m yr−1. Velocities for the major outlets of the region’s central icefield were typically higher than for other extensively debris-covered glaciers globally, likely reflecting the influence of ice supply from the high altitude Ushkovsky caldera. In all, we find ArcticDEM useful for analysing debris-covered glaciers in Kamchatka, providing important information on flow dynamics and terminus change that is difficult to derive from satellite imagery.
Highlights
The Kamchatka Peninsula, Eastern Russia, is currently occupied by more than 600 glaciers and about 30 active volcanoes [1,2] (Figure 1A)
The ArcticDEM digital surface models (DSMs) were generated from a variety of high-resolution satellite imagery datasets (WorldView-1, WorldView-2, WorldView-3, and GeoEye-1) [20,21]
Mapping reveals a number of smaller independent glaciers on the N, E, and SE slopes of Klyuchevskoy volcano, that are not connected to the central icefield (Figure 5)
Summary
The Kamchatka Peninsula, Eastern Russia, is currently occupied by more than 600 glaciers and about 30 active volcanoes [1,2] (Figure 1A). Over the 20th and early part of the 21st centuries, most of these glaciers experienced retreat characterised by a reduction in area and overall mass [3,4,5,6]. Glacier retreat between the 1950s and 2000 is thought to reflect rising temperatures and declining precipitation, whereas rapid retreat since 2000 is thought to be solely in response to a peninsula-wide increase in temperatures [6]. Despite this overall retreat pattern, some of the peninsula’s glaciers experienced periods of margin stability and/or advance during the 20th and early 21st centuries [7,8,9,10]. One region of particular interest is the northern Kluchevskoy Volcanic Group (NKVG) (Figure 1A), where, over
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