Video: Scientists working on glaciers in Svalbard
Scientists from Nottingham Trent University are using drone technology to find out how climate change is effecting Arctic glaciers.
The research team have been collecting aerial imagery to measure ice loss from a 125-year-old section of buried glacier ice in Svalbard, a set of Norwegian islands in the Arctic Ocean.
Despite melting away as the climate warms, ice-cored moraines (masses of rock) are preserved in front of the glaciers and can provide an insight into the character of the glacier when it was much larger.
The scientists, who studied a glacier named Austre Lovénbreen, knew that buried ice existed there after earlier identifying it using ground-penetrating radar.
Now they have used a drone to collect almost 2,000 aerial images.
The scientists were also able to create a 3D model of the landscape and compare it against a model of the area produced from archive footage from 2003.
Despite expecting the ice-cored moraine to exhibit signs of rapid change, the scientists found that it appeared more stable than previously thought.
The changes we have observed are quite low
Tony Tobkin is a researcher in the university’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences.
He said: “The changes we have observed are quite low, so the ice may have the potential to be preserved under a thickening blanket of debris.
“A range of environmental factors are also likely to be important, including the topographic setting and micro-climate.
Graphic: Over time the ice will melt and only debris will remain
“There is, however, still much to understand about the dynamics of buried ice and permafrost in the Arctic in relation to climate change.”
Nottingham Trent University scientist Dr Nick Midgley said: “This work highlights how new technologies can aid geoscientific investigations, and allow us to better quantify and understand changes in the environment.”
The drone flights, which each lasted about 15 minutes, were flown about 100m above ground level.
