Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Ambinakudige, Shrinidhi

Committee Member

Dash, Padmanava

Committee Member

Meng, Quingmin

Date of Degree

5-17-2014

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Geosciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Geosciences

Abstract

Glaciers in the North Patagonian Ice Fields are temperate glaciers and can be studied to understand the dynamics of climate change. However, the ice field has been neglected in mass balance studies. In this study, multi decadal study of glacial mass balance, glacier retreat and glacial lake expansion in the North Patagonia were studied. Landsat (TM, ETM+ and 8) and ASTER images were used. San Quintin glacier experienced the highest retreat. Demarcation of glacier lakes boundaries indicated an increase in glacial lake area from 13.49 km2 to 65.06 km2 between 1979 and 2013, with an addition of 4 new glacial lakes. Nef glacier recorded the highest mass gain of 9.91 plus or minus 1.96 m.w.e.a.-1 and HPN-4 glacier recorded the highest mass loss of -8.9 plus or minus 1.96 m.w.e.a.-1. However, there is a high uncertainty in the elevation values in the DEM due to the rugged nature of the terrain and presence of the heavy snow cover.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/20603

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