Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Glaciology
snowman: an open-source R package for automated 30-m snow and ice cover mapping using the Landsat archive
Published: 2026-03-06
Subjects: Environmental Monitoring, Glaciology, Hydrology, Water Resource Management
Seasonal snow and ice cover are critical components of the cryosphere yet mapping their dynamics at ecologically relevant spatiotemporal scales remains challenging. Here I present snowman, an open-source R package and algorithm for automated mapping of snow and ice cover dynamics at 30-m resolution using Landsat satellite imagery (1982–present). The algorithm combines globally trained [...]
Connectivity between primary and secondary subglacial drainage systems beneath a land-terminating outlet glacier of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Published: 2026-03-05
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The evolution and connectivity of subglacial drainage systems controls basal sliding and therefore modulates ice flow, yet direct observations of these systems remain limited. Here, we investigate hydraulic connectivity and its influence on ice motion at Isunnguata Sermia - a large land-terminating outlet glacier of the Greenland Ice Sheet. We use ‘Cryoegg’ wireless sensors to obtain moulin [...]
PaleoEurope-DEM v1.0: A distributed pipeline for continental-scale paleo-landscape reconstruction from FABDEM-GEBCO fusion and glacial isostatic adjustment
Published: 2026-02-28
Subjects: Geology, Glaciology, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing
Reconstructing paleo-landscapes at high spatial resolution is essential for understanding Quaternary environmental change, yet no open-source, reproducible pipeline currently exists for fusing modern elevation data with glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models at continental scale. We present PaleoEurope-DEM v1.0, a distributed processing pipeline that produces continuous topo-bathymetric [...]
Rethinking grounding-zone basal drag for improved projections of Antarctic ice loss
Published: 2026-02-24
Subjects: Geology, Geomorphology, Glaciology
Ice-stream grounding zones are critical parts of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and we must be able to model how they retreat with confidence. This is because for most of Antarctica, the grounding-zone location determines the flux of ice to the ocean. As such, future grounding-zone locations (as the ice-sheet edge retreats inland) dictate the pattern and rate of ice loss and the associated sea-level [...]
Basal Melt Dominance in Grounding-Line Dynamics: SAR Interferometry Reveals How Ocean Thermal Forcing Outpaces Tidal and Seasonal Controls in Antarctic Ice Shelves
Published: 2026-02-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The grounding line hinge position for the Fimbul Ice Shelf (Antarctic Peninsula) was determined using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometric data from June 2023 through October 2024. The data were used to determine the hinge position over eight different time intervals (i.e., SAR Pairs) at an average spatial resolution of 20 meters. The Fimbul Ice Shelf area of interest (AOI) was defined [...]
Automating glacier facies classification: pan-European dataset and deep learning baseline
Published: 2026-01-27
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Glaciology
Glacier facies play a critical role in understanding the mass balance of glaciers, offering insights into accumulation and melting processes. Large-scale mapping of glacier facies from satellite data is therefore essential for monitoring glacier response to climate change and informing climate policies. In this study, we present the largest glacier facies dataset ever compiled for Europe, [...]
Near-total loss of buttressing stresses observed on Pine Island Ice Shelf, West Antarctica
Published: 2026-01-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ice shelves, the floating extensions of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, provide critical buttressing stresses that resist the seaward flow of ice and help set the position of the grounding line, where the ice goes afloat. As buttressing stresses are diminished by thinning or fracturing and collapse of the ice shelf, glaciers tend to accelerate. Here, we focus on the response of Pine Island Ice Shelf [...]
Large-scale rotational extension triggered basin formation in interior East Antarctica
Published: 2025-12-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Tectonics and Structure
Recent sub-ice topography investigations have imaged with greatly improved detail a set of enigmatic low-elevation V-shaped basins hidden beneath a very large sector of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Here we show that these basins form a semi-continental sized fan shaped physiographic unit which radiates from a pin point near the South Pole and name it the East Antarctic Fan-shaped Basin Province. [...]
Governing the cryosphere beyond political timeframes
Published: 2025-11-26
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Glaciology, Nature and Society Relations, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Sustainability
Cryospheric systems are nearing irreversible thresholds, yet political processes remain misaligned with the long timescales of ice loss. Using COP30 as context, we argue that cryosphere science must inform governance capable of linking near-term decisions with long-term stability in a rapidly changing world.
Glacier processes from seismic recordings on Sørsdal Glacier, East Antarctica
Published: 2025-10-15
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A catalogue of seismic events is produced and analysed for Sørsdal Glacier, East Antarctica. Recordings were made using an irregular array of three broadband and eight short-period seismometers, with approximately 3 km aperture, deployed slightly upstream of the expected grounding line during the 2017-18 austral summer. The broadband sensors were used to construct the event catalogue, and the [...]
Seasonal ice dynamics control the timing of crevasse drainage at a fast-flowing outlet glacier
Published: 2025-10-07
Subjects: Glaciology
Crevasse field drainage transfers at least half of the seasonal runoff from the surface to the bed of the Greenland Ice Sheet, but the patterns of drainage are complex and spatio-temporally heterogenous. To better understand controls on crevasse drainage processes, we use an automated deep learning method to map the seasonal filling and drainage of water-filled crevasses at Sermeq Kujalleq (Store [...]
AI-Powered Flood Risk Assessment for Gilgit-Baltistan Using Multi-Source Satellite Data and Machine Learning
Published: 2025-09-20
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Geography, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Hydrology
Flood disasters are intensifying worldwide due to climate change, with mountainous regions among the most vulnerable yet least studied. This paper presents an AI-powered flood risk assessment framework for Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, a high-mountain region prone to flash floods and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Multi-source satellite datasets—including CHIRPS precipitation, JRC Global [...]
Nonlinear longitudinal stress coupling in glacier and ice sheet flow
Published: 2025-09-18
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Fluid Dynamics, Glaciology, Non-linear Dynamics
The Greenland and Antarctic Ice sheets exhibit high variability in flow speed, over multiple orders of magnitude. Faster flow in ice streams, marine terminating glaciers, and ice shelves is described by the Shallow Shelf/Shelfy-Stream Approximation (SSA), which requires a nonlocal balance between driving stress, friction at the ice-bed interface, and longitudinal/membrane stresses. Nonlocal [...]
Snowdrift and Accumulation on Landfast Ice Around Antarctic Icebergs: Insights from Modeling and Observational Data
Published: 2025-08-29
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Glaciology
Snow cover influences sea ice thermodynamics and mass balance, making its distribution and properties critical to polar research. Grounded icebergs in coastal Antarctica substantially affect surface snow distribution and landfast sea ice patterns, which has received limited scientific attention. To address this gap, this study integrates observational data with numerical snow transport [...]
Surface Expression of Low Basal Friction Upstream of Antarctic Grounding Lines
Published: 2025-08-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ice sheets leave contact with the bed at grounding lines, beyond which floating ice shelves experience no friction at their base. In places where basal friction begins to decrease upstream of the grounding line, ice sheets respond more strongly to climate forcing. However, the spatial extent of zones of low grounding line friction is poorly constrained by observations. Here, we use a steady-state [...]