Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions ›› 2019, Vol. 11 ›› Issue (3): 218-225.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1226.2019.00218.

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Glacier mapping based on Chinese high-resolution remote sensing GF-1 satellite and topographic data

LiLi Yan(),Jian Wang   

  1. Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China
  • Received:2019-01-07 Accepted:2019-04-24 Online:2019-06-30 Published:2019-07-01
  • Contact: LiLi Yan E-mail:llyan@lzb.ac.cn

Abstract:

The precise glacier boundary is a fundamental requirement for glacier inventory, the assessment of climate change and water management in remote mountain areas. However, some glaciers in mountain areas are covered by debris. The high spatial resolution images bring opportunities in mapping debris-covered glaciers. To discuss the capability of Chinese GaoFen-1 satellite lacking the short wave infrared band and thermal infrared band in mapping glaciers, this study distinguished supraglacial terrain from surrounding debris by combining GaoFen-1 (GF-1) wide-field-view (WFV) images, the ratio of the thermal infrared imagery and morphometric parameters (DEM and slope) with 30 m resolution. The overall accuracy of 90.94% indicated that this method was effective for mapping supraglacial terrain in mountain areas. Comparing this result with the combination of GF-1 WFV and low-resolution morphometric parameters shows that a high-quality DEM and the thermal infrared band enhanced the accuracy of glacier mapping especially debris-covered ice in steep terrain. The user's and producer's accuracies of glacier area were also improved from 89.67% and 85.95% to 92.83% and 90.34%, respectively. GF data is recommended for mapping heavily debris-covered glaciers and will be combined with SAR data for future studies.

Key words: glacier mapping, GaoFen-1 satellite, high-quality DEM, morphometric parameters, debris-covered glaciers

Figure 1

Location of the study area. GF-1 WFV image with false colour composite of bands 432"

Table 1

Data used in this study"

Sensor Date Spatial resolution
GF-1 WFV 2015.09.01 16 m
Landsat 8 OLI/TIR/PAN 2015.07.08 30 m/100 m/15 m
SRTM 2000.11.02 30 m
CGI-2 2009

Figure 2

Flowchart of glacier mapping based on GF-1 and Landsat 8 satellite"

Table 2

The knowledge rules for glacier mapping"

Types Clean ice Ice tongue
Rules band 1>0.085, DEM>3,761 m Thermal ratio <170 & 3,569 m<DEM<4,179 m, & band 1<0.085 & texture (thermal ratio)<0.0236 & band 2<0.046 and Thermal ratio>170 & 3,601 m<DEM<4,216 m & band 1/band 4>1.33, slope<19 & texture range(band 1)>0.074 & band 2<0.04

Table 3

Overall accuracy and kappa coefficient for glacier mapping"

Overall accuracy Kappa coefficient Glacier area Non-glacier area
User's accuracy Producer's accuracy User's accuracy Producer's accuracy
90.94% 0.81 92.83% 90.34% 88.81% 92.66%

Figure 3

Comparisons of the classification results"

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