ALBERT

Description: Glacier mass balance models rely on accurate spatial calculation of input data, in particular air temperature. Lower temperatures (the so-called glacier cooling effect), and lower temperature variability (the so-called glacier damping effect) generally occur over glaciers, compared to ambient conditions. These effects, which depend on the geometric characteristics of glaciers and display a high spatial and temporal variability, have been mostly investigated on medium- to large-size glaciers so far, while observations on smaller ice bodies are scarce. Using a dataset from 8 on-glacier and 4 off-glacier weather stations, collected in summer 2010 and 2011, we analyzed the air temperature variability and wind regime over three different glaciers in the Ortles-Cevedale. The magnitude of the cooling effect and the occurrence of katabatic boundary layer (KBL) processes showed remarkable differences among the three ice bodies, suggesting the likely existence of important reinforcing mechanisms during glacier decay and disintegration. None of the methods proposed in the literature for calculating on-glacier temperature from off-glacier data fully reproduced our observations. Among them, the more physically-based procedure of Greuell and Böhm (1998) provided the best overall results where the KBL prevail, but it was not effective elsewhere (i.e. on smaller ice bodies and close to the glacier margins). The accuracy of air temperature estimations strongly impacted the results from a mass balance model which was applied to the three investigated glaciers. Most importantly, even small temperature deviations caused distortions in parameter calibration, thus compromising the model generalizability.

Description: Glacier mass balance models rely on accurate spatial calculation of input data, in particular air temperature. Lower temperatures (the so-called glacier cooling effect) and lower temperature variability (the so-called glacier damping effect) generally occur over glaciers compared to ambient conditions. These effects, which depend on the geometric characteristics of glaciers and display a high spatial and temporal variability, have been mostly investigated on medium to large glaciers so far, while observations on smaller ice bodies (〈 0.5 km2) are scarce. Using a data set from eight on-glacier and four off-glacier weather stations, collected in the summers of 2010 and 2011, we analyzed the air temperature variability and wind regime over three different glaciers in the Ortles–Cevedale. The magnitude of the cooling effect and the occurrence of katabatic boundary layer (KBL) processes showed remarkable differences among the three ice bodies, suggesting the likely existence of important reinforcing mechanisms during glacier decay and fragmentation. The methods proposed by Greuell and Böhm (1998) and Shea and Moore (2010) for calculating on-glacier temperature from off-glacier data did not fully reproduce our observations. Among them, the more physically based procedure of Greuell and Böhm (1998) provided the best overall results where the KBL prevails, but it was not effective elsewhere (i.e., on smaller ice bodies and close to the glacier margins). The accuracy of air temperature estimations strongly impacted the results from a mass balance model which was applied to the three investigated glaciers. Most importantly, even small temperature deviations caused distortions in parameter calibration, thus compromising the model generalizability.

Description: In 2011 four ice cores were extracted from the summit of Alto dell'Ortles (3859 m), the highest glacier of South Tyrol in the Italian Alps. This drilling site is located only 37 km southwest from where the Tyrolean Iceman,  ∼ 5.3 kyrs old, was discovered emerging from the ablating ice field of Tisenjoch (3210 m, near the Italian–Austrian border) in 1991. The excellent preservation of this mummy suggested that the Tyrolean Iceman was continuously embedded in prehistoric ice and that additional ancient ice was likely preserved elsewhere in South Tyrol. Dating of the ice cores from Alto dell'Ortles based on 210Pb, tritium, beta activity and 14C determinations, combined with an empirical model (COPRA), provides evidence for a chronologically ordered ice stratigraphy from the modern glacier surface down to the bottom ice layers with an age of  ∼ 7 kyrs, which confirms the hypothesis. Our results indicate that the drilling site has continuously been glaciated on frozen bedrock since  ∼ 7 kyrs BP. Absence of older ice on the highest glacier of South Tyrol is consistent with the removal of basal ice from bedrock during the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum (6–9 kyrs BP), the warmest interval in the European Alps during the Holocene. Borehole inclinometric measurements of the current glacier flow combined with surface ground penetration radar (GPR) measurements indicate that, due to the sustained atmospheric warming since the 1980s, an acceleration of the glacier Alto dell'Ortles flow has just recently begun. Given the stratigraphic–chronological continuity of the Mt. Ortles cores over millennia, it can be argued that this behaviour has been unprecedented at this location since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum.

Description: Close-range photo-based surface reconstruction from the ground is rapidly emerging as an alternative to lidar (light detection and ranging), which today represents the main survey technique in many fields of geoscience. The recent evolution of photogrammetry, incorporating computer vision algorithms such as Structure from Motion (SfM) and dense image matching such as Multi-View Stereo (MVS), allows the reconstruction of dense 3-D point clouds for the photographed object from a sequence of overlapping images taken with a digital consumer camera. The objective of our work was to test the accuracy of the ground-based SfM-MVS approach in calculating the geodetic mass balance of a 2.1 km2 glacier in the Ortles-Cevedale Group, Eastern Italian Alps. In addition, we investigated the feasibility of using the image-based approach for the detection of the surface displacement rate of a neighbouring active rock glacier. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) data were used as benchmarks to estimate the accuracy of the photogrammetric DTMs and the reliability of the method in this specific application. The glacial and periglacial analyses were performed using both range and image-based surveying techniques, and the results were then compared. The results were encouraging because the SfM-MVS approach enables the reconstruction of high-quality DTMs which provided estimates of glacial and periglacial processes similar to those achievable by ALS. Different resolutions and accuracies were obtained for the glacier and the rock glacier, given the different survey geometries, surface characteristics and areal extents. The analysis of the SfM-MVS DTM quality allowed us to highlight the limitations of the adopted expeditious method in the studied alpine terrain and the potential of this method in the multitemporal study of glacial and periglacial areas.

Description: Photo-based surface reconstruction is rapidly emerging as an alternative survey technique to lidar (light detection and ranging) in many fields of geoscience fostered by the recent development of computer vision algorithms such as structure from motion (SfM) and dense image matching such as multi-view stereo (MVS). The objectives of this work are to test the suitability of the ground-based SfM–MVS approach for calculating the geodetic mass balance of a 2.1 km2 glacier and for detecting the surface displacement of a neighbouring active rock glacier located in the eastern Italian Alps. The photos were acquired in 2013 and 2014 using a digital consumer-grade camera during single-day field surveys. Airborne laser scanning (ALS, otherwise known as airborne lidar) data were used as benchmarks to estimate the accuracy of the photogrammetric digital elevation models (DEMs) and the reliability of the method. The SfM–MVS approach enabled the reconstruction of high-quality DEMs, which provided estimates of glacial and periglacial processes similar to those achievable using ALS. In stable bedrock areas outside the glacier, the mean and the standard deviation of the elevation difference between the SfM–MVS DEM and the ALS DEM was −0.42 ± 1.72 and 0.03 ± 0.74 m in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The overall pattern of elevation loss and gain on the glacier were similar with both methods, ranging between −5.53 and + 3.48 m. In the rock glacier area, the elevation difference between the SfM–MVS DEM and the ALS DEM was 0.02 ± 0.17 m. The SfM–MVS was able to reproduce the patterns and the magnitudes of displacement of the rock glacier observed by the ALS, ranging between 0.00 and 0.48 m per year. The use of natural targets as ground control points, the occurrence of shadowed and low-contrast areas, and in particular the suboptimal camera network geometry imposed by the morphology of the study area were the main factors affecting the accuracy of photogrammetric DEMs negatively. Technical improvements such as using an aerial platform and/or placing artificial targets could significantly improve the results but run the risk of being more demanding in terms of costs and logistics.

Description: Dating of ice cores from temperate non-polar glaciers is challenging and often problematic. However, a proper timescale is essential for a correct interpretation of the proxies measured in the cores. Here, we introduce a new method developed to obtain a sub-seasonal timescale relying on statistically measured similarities between pollen spectra obtained from core samples and daily airborne pollen monitoring samples collected in the same area. This approach was developed on a 10 m core retrieved from the temperate-firn portion of Alto dell'Ortles glacier (Eastern Italian Alps), for which a 5-year annual/seasonal timescale already exists. The aim was to considerably improve this timescale, reaching the highest possible temporal resolution and testing the efficiency and limits of pollen as a chronological tool. A test of the new timescale was performed by comparing our results to the output (date of layer formation) of the mass balance model EISModel, during the period encompassed by the timescale. The correspondence of the results supports the new sub-seasonal timescale based on pollen analysis. This comparison also allows us to draw important conclusions on the post-depositional effects of meltwater percolation on the pollen content of the firn core as well as on the climatic interpretation of the pollen signal.

Description: This work presents results from an original open-source low-cost sensor (LCS) system developed to measure tropospheric O3 in a remote high altitude alpine site. Our study was conducted at the Col Margherita Observatory (2543 m above sea level), in the Italian Eastern Alps. The sensor system mounts three commercial low-cost O3/NO2 sensors that have been calibrated before field deployment against a laboratory standard (Thermo Scientific; 49i-PS), calibrated against the standard reference photometer no. 15 calibration scale of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Intra- and intercomparison between the sensors and a reference instrument (Thermo Scientific; 49c) have been conducted for 7 months from May to December 2018. The sensors required an individual calibration, both in laboratory and in the field. The sensor's dependence on the environmental meteorological variables has been considered and discussed. We showed that it is possible to reduce the bias of one LCS by using the average coefficient values of another LCS working in tandem, suggesting a way forward for the development of remote field calibration techniques. We showed that it is possible reconstruct the environmental ozone concentration during the loss of reference instrument data in situations caused by power outages. The evaluation of the analytical performances of this sensing system provides a limit of detection (LOD) 3.5 ppb and ±8.5 at 95 % confidence. This first implementation of a LCS system in an alpine remote location demonstrated how to obtain valuable data from a low-cost instrument in a remote environment, opening new perspectives for the adoption of low-cost sensor networks in atmospheric sciences.