ALBERT

Beschreibung: Glacier complexes in the Manaslu region of Nepal Himalaya have been scarcely studied compared to other areas such as the Khumbu. In a previous study, we showed on the basis of multi-sensor high-resolution satellite imagery (Planet Rapideye, Corona and UAV flights) that clean and debris-covered glaciers experienced only a moderate mean area loss of ~ -0.26 % a〈sup〉-1 〈/sup〉(1970 to 2019), and mean surface lowering of -0.20 ± 0.02 ma〈sup〉-1〈/sup〉 corresponding to a regional geodetic mass balance of -0.17 ± 0.03 m w.e.a〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉(1970 to 2013). While rock glaciers are abundant in this region, they had not been included in the previous work.In this paper, we build on existing work with the aim of explaining the apparent patters of stagnation of glacier systems as well as investigating rock glacier and other ice-debris landforms found in the Manaslu area. We present a complete, updated glacier dataset of tthis area which includes updated outlines of supraglacial debris cover (59 debris-cover tongues covering 10% of the total glacierized area) and rock glaciers (345 glaciers covering ~17 % of the area) mapped based on RapidEye imagery and high-resolution imagery accessible through ESRI basemaps. Based on this, we investigate the geomorphological characteristics of various glacier types including supra-glacial vegetation patterns, supraglacial lakes and ice cliff coverage. We complement this with an analysis of remote sensing-derived surface velocities derived from optical feature tracking and Sentinel-1 radar interferometry to investigate the general evolution, patterns of stagnation as well as rock glacier distribution and characteristics.