glacierhack2017

Code and notes for the 2017 UW eScience geohackweek GlacierHack project

Objectives

• To learn new skills to work with large raster datasets, specifically high-resolution DEMs
• Learn how to calcluate elevation change, volume change, and geodetic mass balance from DEM time series
• Explore options to integrate DEM time series into Google Earth Engine
• Explore options to implement various processing steps in Google Earth Engine or other cloud-based processing platform

Background material

• Rainier DEM Example from ghw2017 raster tutorial: https://geohackweek.github.io/raster/06-pygeotools_rainier/

Packages

• GDAL
• NumPy
• pygeotools
• demcoreg
• vmap
• Ames Stereo Pipeline (download precompiled binaries here and add bin directory to your PATH)

Sub-projects

Geodetic mass balance

Lead(s): @mattols, @spectorp

Sources of input data:

• High-resolution DEMs derived from stereo imagery
• SRTM 1-arcsec data (30-m)

Feature-tracking and velocity map time series

Lead(s): @willkochtitzky @prajjwalpanday

We will explore vmap tools (wrappers around the Ames Stereo Pipeline correlator) to generate time series of velocity maps.

Sources of input data for velocity maps include:

• High-resolution image data from DigitalGlobe, Planet, LS8, Sentinel, etc.
• High-resolution shaded relief maps derived from 2-m Stereo DEMs (see

Debris thickness modeling

Lead(s): @drounce

Attempt to estimate debris thickness using LS thermal IR imagery, output from an energy balance model, and observed elevation change data

Lagrangian elevation change for mountain glaciers

Lead(s): @dshean

Integrate elevation change and velocity measurements to extract Lagrangian Dh/Dt and local debris thickness change maps for comparison with debris thickness models.

Candidate sites

Let's identify one or more sites with a good, dense time series of DEM/image data. See count maps and indices.

High-mountain Asia

Index of available DEMs: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5c3UTO8DDZwNkktcGtBSXJvQjQ

Pacific NW (Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, Mt Olympus, etc.)

Index of available DEMs: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5c3UTO8DDZwNDFvWkQ0bFdsa0U

Other candidates

• Alaska (using ArcticDEM products)
• Oso landslide, WA
• Greenland outlet glaciers
• SnowEx'17 sites: Grand Mesa and Senator Beck Basin, CO