Remote Sensing Based Approaches to Enable Process-based Glacier Studies in Canada

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Characterizing how glaciers are responding to climate change is of paramount importance both at global and local scales. Globally, measuring how glaciers evolve in terms of size, shape, distribution, and flow is critical for making accurate projections of future global sea level rise. Locally, understanding glacier change is necessary to determine the viability of these reservoirs as long-term resources for downstream communities. Taken together, accurately measuring and understanding the processes that are driving glacier change is necessary to provide policy-makers with the best information possible so that they can make appropriate decisions related to future infrastructure in low-lying areas (especially in terms of site selection and costs) and determining the best course of action for communities at risk of water scarcity. The long-term objectives of this research program directly address these issues with the goal of using satellite imagery to provide a national assessment of how glaciers in Canada are changing and identify the important processes that are causing these changes. Over the next five years, this research program will undertake three major objectives to contribute to this long-term goal. These objectives are to; 1) use historical and new satellite data to provide a baseline understanding of glacier motion for all regions of Canada (which can be used to detect change), 2) leverage the available record of satellite imagery in new ways such that the seasonality of glacier flow can be established, and 3) use newly released glacier height datasets to accurately measure how the size of glaciers is changing. Graduate students will contribute to all aspects of this research program and will contribute to one (or more) of the identified objectives. As students work on their assignments they will receive valuable in-demand training in image processing techniques, data management, critical thinking, and communication skills. As such, they will be prepared to enter the workforce as environmental and physical scientists in the knowledge-based economy or continue their studies in academia. Overall, the research program outlined is transformative for Canada, pushing our national understanding of glacier change from the patchwork approach that has been used in the past to a system of regional understanding that is rapidly delivered to end-users to empower decision-making. Tangibly, the outcomes of this research program will be shared with Government of Canada partners (e.g., Geological Survey of Canada) to further enable their monitoring activities and ensures that this research makes practical contributions to society. Finally, the glacier processes identified by this research may also provide insights into the processes occurring in other locations, especially the large ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica which will be the primary drivers of global sea level rise going forward.