Estimating surface mass balance patterns from unoccupied aerial vehicle measurements in the ablation area of the Morteratsch–Pers glacier complex (Switzerland)

Van Tricht, Lander; Huybrechts, Philippe; Van Breedam, Jonas; Vanhulle, Alexander; Van Oost, Kristof; Zekollari, Harry

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4445-2021

Articles | Volume 15, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4445-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4445-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 9

Research article

|

14 Sep 2021

Research article |

| 14 Sep 2021

Estimating surface mass balance patterns from unoccupied aerial vehicle measurements in the ablation area of the Morteratsch–Pers glacier complex (Switzerland)

Lander Van Tricht, Philippe Huybrechts, Jonas Van Breedam, Alexander Vanhulle, Kristof Van Oost, and Harry Zekollari

Data sets

LanderVT/SMB-from-UAV: SMB from UAV (v2.0) Lander Van Tricht https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5501305

Short summary

We conducted innovative research on the use of drones to determine the surface mass balance (SMB) of two glaciers. Considering appropriate spatial scales, we succeeded in determining the SMB in the ablation area with large accuracy. Consequently, we are convinced that our method and the use of drones to monitor the mass balance of a glacier’s ablation area can be an add-on to stake measurements in order to obtain a broader picture of the heterogeneity of the SMB of glaciers.