This document discusses using multitemporal remote sensing to map glacier changes in remote areas. It analyzes historical satellite imagery from KH-4 Corona (1970), KH-7 Gambit (1964-1984), and KH-9 Hexagon (1973-1987) to measure glacier changes since the 1970s. Studies in regions like Everest, Tibet, and the Tien Shan have found significant glacier mass loss and thinning over recent decades. New datasets like Pléiades and TanDEM-X enable more detailed glacier mass balance calculations. While most glaciers are retreating, some are advancing, and more work is needed to better understand glacier changes over both space and time across High Asia.

1. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Multitemporal remote sensing-based
3D mapping of glacier changes in remote areas
Manfred F. Buchroithner, Tino Pieczonka, Nicolai Holzer,
Benjamin Schröter
Technische Universität Dresden, Institut für Kartographie

2. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Introduction
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas
Background
Glacial melt significantly contributes to the water resource.
Lack of long-term measurements of glacier mass budgets
Existing studies are focusing on single glaciers or small catchments only:
- Ak-Shirak (Aizen et al. 2007, GaPC)
- Tomur region (Pieczonka et al. 2013, RSE; Wang et al. 2013, QI)
- Inylchek glacier (Shangguan et al. 2014, TCD)
- Gurla Mandhata (Holzer et. al., submitted to RSE)
- Muztag Ata (Holzer et al., in prep. for TC)
No region-wide geodetic mass balance studies for many regions in High Asia since the
1970s!

3. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Introduction
Corona 1970 Aerial imagery 1984
We have to know the past in order to understand the presence!
Cartosat-1 2007
The cryosphere has changed
tremendously during the last decades
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

4. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Introduction
Elevation difference of all HMA glaciers 2003 – 2009 based on ICESat
 Geodetic assessments to improve spatial and temporal coverage
Gardner et al. (2013), Science
1973 – 2013
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

5. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Introduction
Available data from in-situ measurements (and modelling)
2
3
Mass Budget Data for Tien Shan (Sorg et al. 2012)
4
6
1 5
Pamir
Karakorum
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas
Mass budget data published by
Yao et al. (2012)

6. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Data
Historical satellite imagery
KH-4 Corona, KH-7 Gambit, KH-9 Hexagon
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

7. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Study Region
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

8. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Study Region
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

9. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Study Region
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

10. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Study Region
Tino Pieczonka et al. The suitability of historical optical satellite imagery
for investigations of the cryosphere

11. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Study Region
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

12. Terrestrial camera system, Zhadang Glacier 2010/2011

13. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Data
Data characteristics
KH-4 KH-7 KH-9
First launch 1959 1963 1971
Geometric. res. 1.8-7.6 m 0.6 – 1.2 m 6-9 m
Radiometric res. 8 Bit 8 Bit 8 Bit
Spectral res. Panchromatic Panchromatic Panchromatic
Coverage 15 x 210 –
42 x 580 km
ca. 20 x 150 km 250 x 125 km
Preprocessing Rectification
Georeferencing
Rectification
Georeferencing
Rectification
Georeferencing
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

14. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Forward (FWD)
approx. 60% overlap
Aft (AFT)
Camera KH-4
KH-4 Corona
Initial objectives: Gathering information
about the military strenght of the
former Soviet Union
Panoramic distortion plus motion
Sohn et al. (2002)
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

15. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Results KH-4
Everest Region
DEM Comparison
Cartosat-1 – KH-4B Corona
(2007 – 1970)
Glacier mass loss:
almost 0.6 km³
Glaciers thinning:
0.37±0.27 m a-1
Specific mass balance:
-0.32±0.08 m w.e.a-1
Bolch et al. (2011), The Cryosphere
Pieczonka et al. (2011), ISPRS
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

16. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Camera – KH-7
KH-7 Gambit
Monocamera system
-> random stereoscopic
coverage
KH-7 vs. KH-4:
High resolution 77 inch focal
length (cf. 24 inch KH-4)
telescopic strip camera
system ... large area of
coverage and improved
ground resolution (<1 m vs.
8 m)
18 000 panchromatic and
230 color images acquired
-> only few of them in
stereo
Glacier length changes from 1964 to 2013 at
Gurla Mandhata (Holzer et al., sumitted to RSE)
KH-7 Gambit-1 ortho image of 5 Dec. 1964
vs. Pleiades ortho image of 18 Oct. 2013
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

17. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Camera KH-9
KH-9 Hexagon
Camera design of KH-9 comparable to that of LFC (Surazakov and Aizen, 2009)
-> 23x46 cm frame, 30.5 cm focal length
-> 1058 reseau crosses vs. 45 (LFC), four fiducials vs. 12 (LFC)
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

18. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Preprocessing KH-9
KH-9 Hexagon
Reconstruction of interior image geometry by use of reseau
grid coordinates
Basic assumptions: Cross spacing 1 cm, centre cross
undistorted
Correction of film distortion based on 2nd order polynomial
Distortion vectors from actual
to theoretic reseau grid
coordinates
Bicubic
interpolation/Inpaint
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

19. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
1987-03-24 1987-07-22
Results KH-9
Length Changes 1976-2005 (Nyainqentanglha/Tibet)
Zhadang: 225 ± 45m (~8m/a)
125 ± 45m (~4m/a)
480 ± 45m (~17m/a)
430 ± 45m (~15m/a)
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

20. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Glacier Area Changes
Glacier retreat 1975-2008 3.7±4.8 % with decreasing shrinkage rates west to east.
MB: -0.22 ± 0.17 m w.e./a
MB: -0.52 ± 0.17 m w.e./a
MB: -0.34 ± 0.18 m w.e./a
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

21. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Multitemporal DTM
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

22. Glacier mass budgets
Tomur-Inylchek region
ID Glacier MB
[m w.e.a-1]
Δa a-1
[%]
ΔhDebris a-1
[m a-1]
9 Kaindy -0.28±0.17 -0.14±0.14 -1.25±0.20
11 Tomur -0.57±0.17 -0.02±0.08 -1.50±0.20
12 South In. -0.27±0.17 -0.07±0.05 -0.87±0.20
13 North In. -0.20±0.17 +0.13±0.08 +0.36±0.20
14 Koxkar -0.34±0.18 -0.03±0.08 -0.78±0.21
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

23. Glacier tongue of Kaindy glacier with exposed ice cliffs
Photo: T. Pieczonka, 2012

24. Results KH-9
TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Glacier Volume Change (Tomur Region)
1999 (SRTM3) – 2009 (SPOT5)
1976 (KH-9) – 2009 (SRTM3)
Pieczonka et al. (2013), RSE
Mass budget 1976-2009
-0.35 ± 0.15 m w.e./a
Mass budget 1999-2009
-0.23 ± 0.19 m w.e./a
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

25. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Long-term glacier variations at
Muztag Ata (eastern Pamir) from
1973 – 2013 (Holzer et al, in prep. for TC)
Glaciers shrinkage from
274.3 ± 10.6 km² (1973) to
272.7 ± 1.0 km² in 2013
(-0.02±0.1%a-1) is insignificant.
Mass budgets are almost
balanced from 1973-2013
(-0.01±0.30 m w.e.a-1), but
slightly more negative before
1999 and more positive
afterwards.
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

26. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
High resolution Digital Elevation Models (1m) from Pléiades
stereo imagery at Muztag Ata and Gurla Mandhata (Holzer et al, in prep. for TC)
Hillshade showing the middle
part of the debris covered
Kekesayi Glacier at Muztag Ata
in the east Pamir.

27. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Glacier variations at Gurla Mandhata (Naimona’nyi), Tibet: a multi-sensoral
approach including TanDEM-X, Pléiades and KH-7 Gambit-1
(Holzer et al., sumitted to RSE)
DEM of Pléiades (2013) to SRTM-3 (1999) DEM of TanDEM-X (2012) to SRTM-3 (1999)
Glacier mass balance of Gurla Glacier:
-0,21±0.18 m w.e.a-1 determined from
both Pléiades and TanDEM-X DEMs
relative to SRTM-3
DEM Difference images to SRTM-3 after post-processing for glacier
mass balance calculation and uncertainty assessment

28. Periodic Glacial Lake Outburst Floods threatening the oldest Buddhist monastery
in NW Nepal
(Kropáček et al, in prep. for NHESS)
DEM of Pléiades
(2013) to SRTM-3
(1999)
TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Glacier mass balance
of Halji Glacier from
Pléiades to SRTM-3:
-0.40±0.30 m w.e.a-1

29. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Environmental Sciences>> Institute of Cartography
Conclusions
Conclusions
- Knowledge especially for the last decade significantly improved by using historical
satellite images.
- High potentials of new remote sensing datasets for glaciological studies (e.g.
Pléiades, TanDEM-X)
- Careful co-registration is required in order to determine reliable glacier mass budgets.
- On average, significant glacier mass loss across High Asia since the 1970s, but there
are also advancing/surging glaciers.
- More studies are needed to extend the coverage both in space and especially in time.
Manfred Buchroithner Multitemporal remote sensing-based 3D mapping
of glacier changes in remote areas

30. TU Dresden >> Faculty of Forest, Geo and Hydro Sciences >> Institute of Cartography
Thank you for your attention
Any questions?
manfred.buchroithner@tu-dresden.de