Applications of Digital Remote Sensing to Quantify Glacier Change in Glacier and Mount Rainier National Parks

<p>Digital remote sensing and geographic information systems were employed in performing area and volume calculations on glacial landscapes. Characteristics of glaciers from two geographic regions, the Intermountain Region (between the Rocky Mountain and Cascade Ranges) and the Pacific Northwest, were estimated for the years 1985, 2000, and 2015. Glacier National Park was studied for the Intermountain Region whereas Mount Rainier National Park was representative of the glaciers in the Pacific Northwest. Within the thirty year period of the study, the glaciers in Glacier National Park decreased in area by 27.5 percent while those on Mount Rainier only decreased by 5.7 percent. The differences in these percentages can be attributed to the warmer temperatures of the Intermountain Region coupled with lower amounts of snowfall when compared to the Pacific Northwest. Volume loss calculations were also performed, but digital remote sensing and GIS were less successful at estimating this glacial parameter. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science - Environmental Sciences

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Environmental Science

Year dc:date.available

2020

Author dc:creator

• Clark, Brianna

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Daniel Unger
• Dr. Kenneth Farrish
• Dr. I-Kuai Hung

• digital remote sensing
• glacier
• glaciology
• satellite
• volume loss
• geographic information systems
• Databases and Information Systems
• Environmental Monitoring
• Geology
• Natural Resources and Conservation
• Other Computer Sciences
• Other Environmental Sciences
• Sustainability

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/311

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1340