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

描述冰川对气候变化的响应在全球和地方尺度上都是至关重要的。在全球范围内，测量冰川在大小、形状、分布和流量方面的演变对于准确预测未来全球海平面上升至关重要。在当地，了解冰川变化对于确定这些水库作为下游社区长期资源的可行性是必要的。总之，准确测量和理解推动冰川变化的过程是必要的，可以为决策者提供尽可能最好的信息，以便他们能够就低洼地区未来的基础设施（特别是在选址和成本方面）做出适当的决策，并为面临缺水风险的社区确定最佳行动方案。这项研究计划的长期目标是直接解决这些问题，目标是利用卫星图像提供加拿大冰川变化的国家评估，并确定导致这些变化的重要过程。在未来五年内，该研究计划将承担三个主要目标，以促进这一长期目标。这些目标是：1)利用历史和新的卫星数据提供对加拿大所有地区冰川运动的基线了解（可用于检测变化），2)以新的方式利用现有的卫星图像记录，以便建立冰川流动的季节性，以及3)使用新发布的冰川高度数据集精确测量冰川的大小变化。研究生将为本研究计划的各个方面做出贡献，并将为一个（或多个）确定的目标做出贡献。当学生完成作业时，他们将在图像处理技术、数据管理、批判性思维和沟通技巧方面接受有价值的培训。因此，他们将准备在知识经济中作为环境和物理科学家进入劳动力市场，或继续在学术界学习。总的来说，概述的研究计划对加拿大来说是变革性的，它推动了我们对冰川变化的全国性理解，从过去使用的拼凑方法转变为快速传递给最终用户以授权决策的区域理解系统。具体而言，该研究项目的成果将与加拿大政府合作伙伴（例如加拿大地质调查局）共享，以进一步加强其监测活动，并确保该研究对社会做出实际贡献。最后，本研究确定的冰川过程也可以为其他地方发生的过程提供见解，特别是格陵兰岛和南极洲的大冰盖，它们将是未来全球海平面上升的主要驱动力。

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.