Abstract
The development of remote sensing instruments and methods has revolutionised work practices worldwide, resulting in a new field of research. Remote sensing has significantly expanded the possibilities for detailed research, spanning from biological to urban studies, by constantly imaging the Earth. Numerous photogrammetric campaigns and satellite missions have been increasing the possibilities for conducting research that includes larger areas and time scales while minimising the need for fieldwork. This is particularly useful in polar regions, where fieldwork is complicated by harsh weather conditions, hard-to-reach research areas, polar nights, and the need for high funding and logistical support. Here available algorithms that help to track environmental shifts in the small Arctic catchments, such as changes in ice, snow, vegetation, and water are presented.
References
Allaart L., Schomacker A., Håkansson L.M., Farnsworth W.R., Brynjólfsson S., Grumstad A., Kjellman S.E., 2021. Geomorphology and surficial geology of the Femmilsjøen area, northern Spitsbergen. Geomorphology 382: 107693. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.107693
Błaszkiewicz M., Andrzejewski L., Dudek J., Sobota I., Czarnecki K., 2023. The role of dead ice in transforming glacier forelands under the rapid climate warming of recent decades, Oscar II Land, Svalbard. Land Degradation & Development 34(14): 4328-4345. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.4780
Chandler B.M.P., Lovell H., Boston C.M., Lukas S., Barr I.D., Benediktsson Í.Ö., Benn D.I., Clark C.D., Darvill C.M., Evans D.J.A., Ewertowski M.W., Loibl D., Margold M., Otto J.-C., Roberts D.H., Stokes C.R., Storrar R.D., Stroeven A.P., 2018. Glacial geomorphological mapping: A review of approaches and frameworks for best practice. Earth-Science Reviews 185: 806-846. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.07.015
Dashora A., Lohani B., Malik J.N., 2007. A repository of earth resource information CORONA satellite programme. Current Science 92(7): 926-932.
Dudek J., Pętlicki M., 2023. Unlocking archival maps of the Hornsund fjord area for monitoring glaciers of the Sørkapp Land peninsula, Svalbard. Earth System Science Data 15: 3869-3889. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3869-2023
Dudek J., Wieczorek I., Suwiński M.K., Strzelecki M.C., 2023. Paraglacial transformation and ice-dammed lake dynamics in a high Arctic glacier foreland, Gåsbreen, Svalbard. Land Degradation & Development 34(14): 4252-4271. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.4773
Eiken T., Sund M., 2012. Photogrammetric methods applied to Svalbard glaciers: Accuracies and challenges. Polar Research 31: 18671. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v31i0.18671
Eltner A., Kaiser A., Castillo C., Rock G., Neugirg F., Abellán A., 2016. Image-based surface reconstruction in geomorphometry – merits, limits and developments. Earth Surface Dynamics 4(2): 359-389. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-359-2016
ESA [European Space Agency], 2023. Sentinel online. Online: sentinels.copernicus.eu/web/sentinel/home (accessed 8 November 2023).
Evans D.J.A., Strzelecki M., Milledge D.G., Orton C., 2012. Hørbyebreen polythermal glacial landsystem, Svalbard. Journal of Maps 8(2): 146-156. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2012.680776
Ewertowski M.W., Tomczyk A.M., 2020. Reactivation of temporarily stabilized ice-cored moraines in front of polythermal glaciers: Gravitational mass movements as the most important geomorphological agents for the redistribution of sediments (a case study from Ebbabreen and Ragnarbreen, Svalbard). Geomorphology 350: 106952. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2019.106952
Florath J., Keller S., Abarca-del-Rio R., Hinz S., Staub G., Weinmann M., 2022. Glacier monitoring based on multi-spectral and multi-temporal satellite data: A case study for classification with respect to different snow and ice types. Remote Sensing 14: 845. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14040845
Frauenfelder R., Zgraggen-Oswald S., Huggel C., Kaab A., Haeberli W., Galushkin I., Polkvoy A., 2005. Permafrost distribution assessments in the North-Ossetian Caucasus: First results. Geophysical Research Abstract 7: 01619.
Frohn R.C., Hinkel K.M., Eisner W.R., 2005. Satellite remote sensing classification of thaw lakes and drained thaw lake basins on the North Slope of Alaska. Remote Sensing of Environment 97: 116-126. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2005.04.022
Furmańczyk K., Jania J., 1981. Metody teledetekcji w badaniach polarnych. Czasopismo Geograficzne 52(4): 379-396.
Gao B.-C., 1996. NDWI – A normalized difference water index for remote sensing of vegetation liquid water from space. Remote Sensing of Environment 58: 257-266. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(96)00067-3
Gawlikowski J., Ebel P., Schmitt M., Zhu X.X., 2022. Explaining the effects of clouds on remote sensing scene classification. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 15: 9976-9986. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2022.3221788
Geyman E.C., van Pelt W.J.J., Maloof A.C., Aas H.F., Kohler J., 2022. Historical glacier change on Svalbard predicts doubling of mass loss by 2100. Nature 601: 374-379. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04314-4
Gomez C., Hayakawa Y., Obanawa H., 2015. A study of Japanese landscapes using structure from motion derived DSMs and DEMs based on historical aerial photographs: New opportunities for vegetation monitoring and diachronic geomorphology. Geomorphology 242: 11-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.02.021
Hagolle O., Huc M., Desjardins C., Auer S., Richter R., 2017. MAJA ATBD Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document.
Holben B., Justice C., 1981. An examination of spectral band ratioing to reduce the topographic effect on remotely sensed data. International Journal of Remote Sensing 2(2): 115-133. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01431168108948349
Holmlund E.S., 2021. Aldegondabreen glacier change since 1910 from structure-from-motion photogrammetry of archived terrestrial and aerial photographs: Utility of a historic archive to obtain century-scale Svalbard glacier mass losses. Journal of Glaciology 67(261): 107-116. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2020.89
Hossain A.K.M.A., Chao X., Jia Y., 2010. Development of remote sensing based index for estimating/mapping suspended sediment concentration in river and lake environments. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Ecohydraulics (ISE 2010) 0435, Zaragoza, Spain, 12-16 September 2010: 578-585.
How P., Messerli A., Mätzler E., Santoro M., Wiesmann A., Caduff R., Langley K., Bojesen M.H., Paul F., Kääb A., Carrivick J.L., 2021. Greenland wide inventory of ice marginal lakes using a multi method approach. Scientific Reports 11: 4481. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83509-1
Hugonnet R., McNabb R., Berthier E., Menounos B., Nuth C., Girod L., Farinotti D., Huss M., Dussaillant I., Brun F., Kääb A., 2021. Accelerated global glacier mass loss in the early twenty-first century. Nature 592: 726-731. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03436-z
Iacone B., Allington G.R.H., Engstrom R., 2022. A Methodology for georeferencing and mosaicking corona imagery in semi-arid environments. Remote Sensing 14: 5395. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14215395
Isaksen K., Nordli Ø., Ivanov B., Køltzow M.A.Ø., Aaboe S., Gjelten H.M., Mezghani A., Eastwood S., Førland E., Benestad R.E., Hanssen-Bauer I., Braekkan R., Sviashchennikov P., Demin V., Revina A., Karandasheva T., 2022. Exceptional warming over the Barents area. Scientific Reports 12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13568-5
Johansen B., Tømmervik H., 2014. The relationship between phytomass, NDVI and vegetation communities on Svalbard. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 27(Part A): 20-30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2013.07.001
Kääb A., 2005. Remote sensing of mountain glaciers and permafrost creep. Geographisches Institut der Universität Zürich, Zürich.
Kasprzak M., Łopuch M., Głowacki T., Milczarek W., 2020. Evolution of near-shore outwash fans and permafrost spreading under their surface: A case study from Svalbard. Remote Sensing 12: 482. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12030482
Kavan J., 2020. Early twentieth century evolution of Ferdinand glacier, Svalbard, based on historic photographs and structure-from-motion technique. Geografiska Annaler, Series A: Physical Geography 102(1): 57-67. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/04353676.2020.1715124
Kavan J., Tallentire G.D., Demidionov M., Dudek J., Strzelecki M.C., 2022a. Fifty years of tidewater Glacier surface elevation and retreat dynamics along the south-east coast of Spitsbergen (Svalbard Archipelago). Remote Sensing 14: 354. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14020354
Kavan J., Wieczorek I., Tallentire G.D., Demidionov M., Uher J., Strzelecki M.C., 2022b. Estimating suspended sediment fluxes from the largest Glacial lake in Svalbard to Fjord system using sentinel-2 data: Trebrevatnet case study. Water 14(12): 1840. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/w14121840
Keshri A.K., Shukla A., Gupta R.P., 2009. ASTER ratio indices for supraglacial terrain mapping. International Journal of Remote Sensing 30(2): 519-524. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160802385459
Kokhanovsky A., Lamare M., Danne O., Brockmann C., Dumont M., Picard G., Arnaud L., Favier V., Jourdain B., Le Meur E., Di Mauro B., Aoki T., Niwano M., Rozanov V., Korkin S., Kipfstuhl S., Freitag J., Hoerhold M., Zuhr A., Vladimirova D., Faber A.-K., Steen-Larsen H.C., Wahl S., Andersen J.K., Vandecrux B., van As D., Mankoff K.D., Kern M., Zege E., Box J.E., 2019. Retrieval of snow properties from the Sentinel-3 ocean and land colour instrument. Remote Sensing 11: 2280. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11192280
Lauzon B., Copland L., Van Wychen W., Kochtitzky W., McNabb R., Dahl-Jensen D., 2023. Dynamics throughout a complete surge of Iceberg Glacier on western Axel Heiberg Island, Canadian High Arctic. Journal of Glaciology 69(277): 1333-1350. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.20
Lewkowicz A.G., Duguay C.R., 1999. Detection of permafrost features using spot panchromatic imagery, Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, N.W.T. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing 25(1): 34-44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07038992.1999.10855261
Lønne I., Lyså A., 2005. Deglaciation dynamics following the Little Ice Age on Svalbard: Implications for shaping of landscapes at high latitudes. Geomorphology 72: 300-319. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2005.06.003
Lukas S., Nicholson L.I., Ross F.H., Humlum O., 2005. Formation, meltout processes and landscape alteration of high-Arctic ice-cored moraines – Examples from Nordenskiold Land, central Spitsbergen. Polar Geography 29(3): 157-187. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/789610198
Lyså A., Lønne I., 2001. Moraine development at a small High-Arctic valley glacier: Rieperbreen, Svalbard. Journal of Quaternary Science 16(6): 519-529. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.613
Małecki J., 2022. Recent contrasting behaviour of mountain glaciers across the European High Arctic revealed by ArcticDEM data. The Cryosphere 16: 2067-2082. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2067-2022
Martín-Moreno R., Álvarez F.A., Hagen J.O., 2017. ‘Little Ice Age’ glacier extent and subsequent retreat in Svalbard archipelago. The Holocene 27(9): 1-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683617693904
McFeeters S.K., 1996. The use of the normalized difference water index (NDWI) in the delineation of open water features. International Journal of Remote Sensing 17(7): 1425-1432. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01431169608948714
Midgley N.G., Tonkin T.N., Graham D.J., Cook S.J., 2018. Evolution of high-Arctic glacial landforms during deglaciation. Geomorphology 311: 63-75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.03.027
Morris A., Moholdt G., Gray L., 2020. Spread of Svalbard Glacier mass loss to Barents Sea margins revealed by CryoSat-2. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 125(8): e2019JF005357. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JF005357
Mosbrucker A.R., Major J.J., Spicer K.R., Pitlick J., 2017. Camera system considerations for geomorphic applications of SfM photogrammetry. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 42(6): 969-986. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4066
Nordli Ø., Przybylak R., Ogilvie A.E.J., Isaksen K., 2014. Long-term temperature trends and variability on Spitsbergen: The extended Svalbard Airport temperature series, 1898-2012. Polar Research 33, 21349. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v33.21349
Nordli Ø., Wyszyński P., Gjelten H.M., Isaksen K., Łupikasza E., Niedźwiedź T., Przybylak R., 2020. Revisiting the extended Svalbard Airport monthly temperature series, and the compiled corresponding daily series 1898-2018. Polar Research 39, 3614. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v39.3614
NPI [Norwegian Polar Institute], 2014. Online: www.npolar.no/ (accessed 6 November 2023).
NPI [Norwegian Polar Institute], 2023. Satellittbildemosaikk av Svalbard (Sentinel2, 2020) [Data set].
Nuth C., Kohler J., König M., von Deschwanden A., Hagen J.O., Kääb A., Moholdt G., Pettersson R., 2013. Decadal changes from a multi-temporal glacier inventory of Svalbard. The Cryosphere 7: 1603-1621. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1603-2013
Raghubanshi S., Agrawal R., Rathore B.P., 2023. Enhanced snow cover mapping using object-based classification and normalized difference snow index (NDSI). Earth Science Informatics 16: 2813-2824. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-023-01077-6
Rantanen M., Karpechko A.Y., Lipponen A., Nordling K., Hyvärinen O., Ruosteenoja K., Vihma T., Laaksonen A., 2022. The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the globe since 1979. Communications Earth and Environment 3: 168. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00498-3
Raynolds M.K., Comiso J.C., Walker D.A., Verbyla D., 2008. Relationship between satellite-derived land surface temperatures, arctic vegetation types, and NDVI. Remote Sensing of Environment 112: 1884-1894. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2007.09.008
Schneider S., 1974. Luftbild und Luftbildinterpretation. De Gruyter, Berlin. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110826128
Schomacker A., Kjaer K.H., 2008. Quantification of dead-ice melting in ice-cored moraines at the high-Arctic glacier Holmströmbreen, Svalbard. Boreas 37: 211-225. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2007.00014.x
Schomacker A., 2008. What controls dead-ice melting under different climate conditions? A discussion. Earth-Science Reviews 90: 103-113. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2008.08.003
Schöner M., Schöner W., 1997. Effects of glacier retreat on the outburst of Goësvatnet, southwest Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Journal of Glaciology 43(144): 276-282. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3189/S0022143000003221
Schowengerdt R.A., 1997. Remote sensing. Models and methods for image processing. 2nd edn. Academic Press, Chestnut Hill.
Schuler T.V., Kohler J., Elagina N., Hagen J.O.M., Hodson A.J., Jania J.A., Käbb A.M., Luks B., Małecki J., Moholdt G., Pohjola V.A., Sobota I., Van Pelt W.J.J., 2020. Reconciling Svalbard glacier mass balance. Frontiers in Earth Science 8: 156. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.00156
SCS [Sentinel Custom Scripts], (n.d.). Online: custom-scripts.sentinel-hub.com/ (accessed 6 November 2023).
Serreze M.C., Holland M.M., Stroeve J., 2007. Perspectives of the Arctic’s shrinking ice cover. Science 315(5818): 1533-1536. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1139426
Shahbandeh M., Kaim D., Kozak J., 2023. Using CORONA imagery to study land use and land cover change – a review of applications. Remote Sensing 15: 2793. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15112793
Szczuciński W., Zajączkowski M., Scholten J., 2009. Sediment accumulation rates in subpolar fjords – Impact of post-Little Ice Age glaciers retreat, Billefjorden, Svalbard. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 85(3): 345-356. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2009.08.021
Tonkin T.N., Midgley N.G., Cook S.J., Graham D.J., 2016. Ice-cored moraine degradation mapped and quantified using an unmanned aerial vehicle: A case study from a polythermal glacier in Svalbard. Geomorphology 258: 1-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.12.019
Tucker C.J., 1979. Red and photographic infrared linear combinations for monitor vegetation. Remote Sensing of Environment 8: 127-150. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-4257(79)90013-0
Urbański J.A., 2022. Monitoring and classification of high Arctic lakes in the Svalbard Islands using remote sensing. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 112: 102911. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2022.102911
USGS [United States Geological Survey], 2008. Declassified intelligence satellite photographs. U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2008-3054, Reston, VA, USA.
USGS [United States Geological Survey], 2023. Online: www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions (accessed 8 November 2023).
Ustin S.L., Middleton E.M., 2021. Current and near-term advances in Earth observation for ecological applications. Ecological Processes 10: 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-020-00255-4
Westoby M.J., Brasington J., Glasser N.F., Hambrey M.J., Reynolds J.M., 2012. “Structure-from-Motion” photogrammetry: A low-cost, effective tool for geoscience applications. Geomorphology 179: 300-314. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2012.08.021
Wieczorek I., Strzelecki M.C., Stachnik Ł., Yde J.C., Małecki J., 2023. Post-Little Ice Age glacial lake evolution in Svalbard: Inventory of lake changes and lake types. Journal of Glaciology 69(277): 1449-1465. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.34
Wietrzyk P., Rola K., Osyczka P., Nicia P., Szymański W., Węgrzyn M., 2018. The relationships between soil chemical properties and vegetation succession in the aspect of changes of distance from the glacier forehead and time elapsed after glacier retreat in the Irenebreen foreland (NW Svalbard). Plant Soil 428: 195-211. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3660-3
Wilson E.H., Sader S.A., 2002. Detection of forest harvest type using multiple dates of Landsat TM imagery. Remote Sensing of Environment 80: 385-396. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(01)00318-2
Wołoszyn A., Kasprzak M., 2023. Contemporary landscape transformation in a small Arctic catchment (Bratteggdalen, Svalbard). Polish Polar Research 44(3): 227-248. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24425/ppr.2023.144542
Xu H., 2006. Modification of normalised difference water index (NDWI) to enhance open water features in remotely sensed imagery. International Journal of Remote Sensing 27(14): 3025-3033. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160600589179
Yin M., Wang P., Ni C., Hao W., 2022. Cloud and snow detection of remote sensing images based on improved Unet3+. Scientific Reports 12: 14415. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18812-6
Ziaja W., 2006. Life expansion in Sørkapp Land, Spitsbergen, under the current warming. Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology 5: 187-191. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-006-9102-3
Zmarz A., Karlsen S.R., Kycko M., Korczak-Abshire M., Gołębiowska I., Karsznia I., Chwedorzewska K., 2023. BVLOS UAV missions for vegetation mapping in maritime Antarctic. Frontiers in Environmental Science 11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1154115
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Aleksandra Wołoszyn

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
