The new remote-sensing-derived Swiss glacier inventory: I. Methods

A new Swiss glacier inventory is to be compiled from satellite data for the year 2000. The study presented here describes two major tasks: (1) an accuracy assessment of different methods for glacier classification with Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data and a digital elevation model (DEM); (2) the geographical information system (GIS)-based methods for automatic extraction of individual glaciers from classified satellite data and the computation of three-dimensional glacier parameters (such as minimum, maximum and median elevation or slope and orientation) by fusion with a DEM. First results obtained by these methods are presented in Part II of this paper (Kääb and others, 2002). Thresholding of a ratio image from TM4 and TM5 reveals the best-suited glacier map. The computation of glacier parameters in a GIS environment is efficient and suitable for worldwide application. The methods developed contribute to the U.S. Geological Survey-led Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) project which is currently compiling a global inventory of land ice masses within the framework of global glacier monitoring (Haeberli and others, 2000). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3189/172756402781817941 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-63226 Published Version Originally published at: Paul, F; Kääb, A; Maisch, M; Kellenberger, T; Haeberli, W (2002). The new remote-sensing-derived Swiss glacier inventory: I. Methods. Annals of Glaciology, 34(1):355-361. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3189/172756402781817941 The new remote-sensing-derived Swiss glacier inventory: I. Methods Frank Paul, Andreas KÌÌb, Max Maisch,Tobias Kellenberger,WilfriedHaeberli Department of Geography, University of ZÏrich-Irchel, CH-8057 ZÏrich, Switzerland ABSTRACT. A new Swiss glacier inventory is to be compiled from satellite data for the year 2000. The study presented here describes two major tasks: (1) an accuracy assessment of different methods for glacier classificationwith LandsatThematic Mapper (TM) data and a digital elevation model (DEM); (2) the geographical information system (GIS)-based methods for automatic extraction of individual glaciers from classified satellite data and the computation of three-dimensional glacier parameters (such as minimum, maximum and median elevation or slope and orientation) by fusion with a DEM. First results obtained by these methods are presented in Part II of this paper (KÌÌb and others, 2002).Thresholding of a ratio image fromTM4 andTM5 reveals the best-suited glacier map. The computation of glacier parameters in a GIS environment is efficient and suitable for worldwide application. The methods developed contribute to the U.S. Geological Survey-led Global Land IceMeasurements fromSpace (GLIMS) project which is currently compilinga global inventoryof land ice masses within the framework of global glacier monitoring (Haeberli and others, 2000). A new Swiss glacier inventory is to be compiled from satellite data for the year 2000. The study presented here describes two major tasks: (1) an accuracy assessment of different methods for glacier classificationwith LandsatThematic Mapper (TM) data and a digital elevation model (DEM); (2) the geographical information system (GIS)-based methods for automatic extraction of individual glaciers from classified satellite data and the computation of three-dimensional glacier parameters (such as minimum, maximum and median elevation or slope and orientation) by fusion with a DEM. First results obtained by these methods are presented in Part II of this paper (KÌÌb and others, 2002).Thresholding of a ratio image fromTM4 andTM5 reveals the best-suited glacier map. The computation of glacier parameters in a GIS environment is efficient and suitable for worldwide application. The methods developed contribute to the U.S. Geological Survey-led Global Land IceMeasurements fromSpace (GLIMS) project which is currently compilinga global inventoryof land ice masses within the framework of global glacier monitoring (Haeberli and others, 2000).