Désirée Treichler

• Paul, Frank; Piermattei, Livia; Treichler, Désirée; Gilbert, Lin; Girod, Luc & Kääb, Andreas [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2022). Three different glacier surges at a spot: What satellites observe and what not. The Cryosphere. ISSN 1994-0416. 16(6), p. 2505–2526. doi: 10.5194/tc-16-2505-2022. Show summary

  In the Karakoram, dozens of glacier surges occurred in the past two decades, making the region one of its global hot spots. Detailed analyses of dense time series from optical and radar satellite images revealed a wide range of surge behaviour in this region: from slow advances longer than a decade at low flow velocities to short, pulse-like advances over one or two years with high velocities. In this study, we present an analysis of three currently surging glaciers in the central Karakoram: North and South Chongtar Glaciers and an unnamed glacier referred to as NN9. All three glaciers flow towards the same region but differ strongly in surge behaviour. A full suite of satellite sensors and digital elevation models (DEMs) from different sources are used to (a) obtain comprehensive information about the evolution of the surges from 2000 to 2021 and (b) to compare and evaluate capabilities and limitations of the different satellite sensors for monitoring relatively small glaciers in steep terrain. A strongly contrasting evolution of advance rates and flow velocities is found, though the elevation change pattern is more similar. For example, South Chongtar Glacier had short-lived advance rates above 10 km y−1, velocities up to 30 m d−1 and surface elevations increased by 200 m. In contrast, the neighbouring and three times smaller North Chongtar Glacier had a slow and near linear increase of advance rates (up to 500 m y−1), flow velocities below 1 m d−1 and elevation increases up to 100 m. The even smaller glacier NN9 changed from a slow advance to a full surge within a year, reaching advance rates higher than 1 km y−1. It seems that, despite a similar climatic setting, different surge mechanisms are at play and a transition from one mechanism to another can occur during a single surge. The sensor inter-comparison revealed a high agreement across sensors for deriving flow velocities, but limitations are found on small and narrow glaciers in steep terrain, in particular for Sentinel-1. All investigated DEMs have the required accuracy to clearly show the volume changes during the surges and elevations from ICESat-2 ATL06 data fit neatly. We conclude that the available satellite data allow for a comprehensive observation of glacier surges from space when combining different sensors to determine the temporal evolution of length, elevation and velocity changes.

• Brun, Fanny; Treichler, Désirée Silvana; Shean, David & Immerzeel, Walter W. (2020). Limited Contribution of Glacier Mass Loss to the Recent Increase in Tibetan Plateau Lake Volume. Frontiers in Earth Science. ISSN 2296-6463. 8. doi: 10.3389/feart.2020.582060. Full text in Research Archive
• Treichler, Désirée Silvana; Kääb, Andreas Max; Salzmann, Nadine & Xu, Chong-Yu (2019). Recent glacier and lake changes in High Mountain Asia and their relation to precipitation changes. The Cryosphere. ISSN 1994-0416. 13(11), p. 2977–3005. doi: 10.5194/tc-13-2977-2019. Full text in Research Archive
• Treichler, Désirée Silvana; Kääb, Andreas; Salzmann, Nadine & Xu, Chong-Yu (2018). High Mountain Asia glacier elevation trends 2003–2008, lake volume changes 1990–2015, and their relation to precipitation changes. The Cryosphere Discussions. ISSN 1994-0432. doi: 10.5194/tc-2018-238.
• Kääb, Andreas; Leinss, Silvan; Gilbert, Adrien; Bühler, Yves; Gascoin, Simon & Evans, Stephen G. [Show all 19 contributors for this article] (2018). Massive collapse of two glaciers in western Tibet in 2016 after surge-like instability. Nature Geoscience. ISSN 1752-0894. 11(2), p. 114–120. doi: 10.1038/s41561-017-0039-7. Full text in Research Archive
• Kraaijenbrink, PDA; Shea, Joseph M.; Litt, Maxime; Steiner, Jakob F.; Treichler, Désirée Silvana & Koch, Inka [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2018). Mapping surface temperatures on a debris-covered glacier with an unmanned aerial vehicle. Frontiers in Earth Science. ISSN 2296-6463. 6. doi: 10.3389/feart.2018.00064. Full text in Research Archive
• Brun, Fanny; Berthier, Etienne; Wagnon, Patrick; Kääb, Andreas & Treichler, Désirée Silvana (2017). A spatially resolved estimate of High Mountain Asia glacier mass balances from 2000 to 2016. Nature Geoscience. ISSN 1752-0894. 10(9), p. 668–673. doi: 10.1038/ngeo2999. Full text in Research Archive
• Treichler, Désirée Silvana & Kääb, Andreas (2017). Snow depth from ICESat laser altimetry - A test study in southern Norway. Remote Sensing of Environment. ISSN 0034-4257. 191, p. 389–401. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.022. Full text in Research Archive
• Treichler, Désirée Silvana & Kääb, Andreas (2016). ICESat laser altimetry over small mountain glaciers. The Cryosphere. ISSN 1994-0416. 10(5), p. 2129–2146. doi: 10.5194/tc-10-2129-2016. Full text in Research Archive
• Kääb, Andreas; Nuth, Christopher; Treichler, Désirée Silvana & Berthier, Etienne (2014). Contending estimates of early 21st century glacier mass balance over the Pamir-Karakoram-Himalaya. The Cryosphere Discussions. ISSN 1994-0432. 8, p. 5857–5874. doi: 10.5194/tcd-8-5857-2014.

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• Treichler, Désirée; Piermattei, Livia; Paul, Frank; Gilbert, Lin; Kääb, Andreas & Libert, Ludivine [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2021). Observing small surging glaciers from space .
• Kääb, Andreas & Treichler, Désirée Silvana (2019). High Mountain Asia glacier changes in the early 21st century.
• Brun, Fanny; Berthier, Etienne; Wagnon, Patrick; Kääb, Andreas & Treichler, Désirée Silvana (2018). A spatially resolved estimate of High Mountain Asia glacier mass balances from 2000 to 2016: changes on debris-covered glaciers and comparison to ICESat and SPOT5-SRTM estimates.
• Treichler, Désirée Silvana; Kääb, Andreas & Brun, Fanny (2018). Recent glacier changes in High Mountain Asia. Response to climate and precipitation changes on the Tibetan Plateau.
• Brun, Fanny; Berthier, Etienne; Wagnon, Patrick; Kääb, Andreas & Treichler, Désirée Silvana (2018). Author Correction: A spatially resolved estimate of High Mountain Asia glacier mass balances from 2000 to 2016. Nature Geoscience. ISSN 1752-0894. doi: 10.1038/s41561-018-0171-z.
• Treichler, Désirée Silvana & Kääb, Andreas (2017). Measuring snow depth with a spaceborne laser.
• Treichler, Désirée Silvana; Kääb, Andreas; Brun, Fanny; Berthier, Etienne & Wagnon, Patrick (2017). DEM differencing for glacier mass balance in HMA.
• Treichler, Désirée Silvana (2017). Remote sensing measurements of cryospheric processes.
• Treichler, Désirée Silvana; Kääb, Andreas; Nuth, Christopher & Berthier, Etienne (2016). HMA's glaciers seen by a space laser - potential and pitfalls of continental-scale remote sensing.
• Treichler, Désirée Silvana; Kääb, Andreas & Melvold, Kjetil (2016). Across spatial scales: Snow depth from satellite and airborne LiDAR combined.
• Treichler, Désirée Silvana; Kääb, Andreas; Salzmann, Nadine & Shea, Joseph (2016). Recent glacier changes in High Mountain Asia: A spatially diverse pattern.
• Kääb, Andreas; Treichler, Désirée Silvana; Girod, Luc Maurice Ramuntcho; Lefeuvre, Pierre-Marie; Schellenberger, Thomas & Altena, Bas [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2016). On the Karakoram anomaly.
• Kääb, Andreas; Treichler, Désirée Silvana; Nuth, Christopher & Berthier, Etienne (2015). Glacier volume change 2003-2008 in the Pamir-Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalaya.
• Kääb, Andreas; Treichler, Désirée Silvana; Nuth, Christopher & Berthier, Etienne (2015). Brief Communication: Contending estimates of 2003-2008 glacier mass balance over the Pamir-Karakoram-Himalaya. The Cryosphere. ISSN 1994-0416. 9(2), p. 557–564. doi: 10.5194/tc-9-557-2015.

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