Glacier retreat at Honku glacier - Part 2


Honku Nup Glacier
 
Honku Nup Glacier
 
 
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Stages of retreat
  
Proceed the same way you did in the previous exercise. Load one date at a time into the viewer, enhance it to a maximum in order to see the outline of the glacier as well as its lake, and digitise the extent of the Hunku Nup Glacier in a new theme, as well as its glacial lake in another. Name the GIS files accordingly.

Calculate the surfaces of the glacier and the lake on each available image. Summarise the results in a table like the one below:
 
 
 
1. Between which stages is the biggest retreat of the glacier?

2. Between which stages is the biggest increase of the glacial lakes?


Now load all the GIS files you created for 1965, 1976, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2003 into '1965_honku.tif'. Using the 'Property' function, give them all different colours, same as you did for the previous exercise.

3. Discuss the advantage/disadvantage of providing such an illustration against a table only.

4. Explain why there are some obvious shifts between the different data sets. Think about the occurring problems when projecting an image onto a map.



 
 
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Last update: 16 April 2013


Monitoring of glaciers in the Himalayas

 •  Introduction (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_Global_EN/SEM3TN0SAKF_0.html)
 •  Glaciers (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_Global_EN/SEM93O0SAKF_0.html)
 •  Investigation area (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_Global_EN/SEM69O0SAKF_0.html)
 •  Khumbu's glaciers (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_Global_EN/SEMJFO0SAKF_0.html)
 •  Imja glacier (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_Global_EN/SEMCHO0SAKF_0.html)

Exercises

 •  Location of the study area, Khumbu Himal (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_Global_EN/SEM3SO0SAKF_0.html)
 •  Development of glacial lakes in the Khumbu Himal (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_Global_EN/SEM1AP0SAKF_0.html)
 •  Glacier retreat at Honku glacier (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_Global_EN/SEM2EP0SAKF_0.html)

Links

 •  Further Reading (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eduspace_Global_EN/SEM9HP0SAKF_0.html)

Eduspace - Software

 •  LEOWorks 3 (http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/LEOWorks3.exe)

Eduspace - Download

 •  glacier_worksheet1.zip (http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/eduspace/glacier_worksheet1.zip)
 •  glacier_worksheet2.zip (http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/eduspace/glacier_worksheet2.zip)
 •  glacier_worksheet3.zip (http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/eduspace/glacier_worksheet3.zip)