A glacier inventory for South Tyrol, Italy, based on airborne laser-scanner data

Abstract

AbstractA new approach to glacier inventory, based on airborne laser-scanner data, has been applied to South Tyrol, Italy: it yields highly accurate results with a minimum of human supervision. Earlier inventories, from 1983 and 1997, are used to compare changes in area, volume and equilibrium-line altitude. A reduction of 32% was observed in glacier area from 1983 to 2006. Volume change, derived from the 1997 and 2006 digital elevation models, was –1.037 km3, and an ELA rise of 54 m, to almost 3000 m a.s.l., was calculated for this period. Losses vary widely for individual glaciers, but have accelerated for all South Tyrolean glaciers since the first inventory in 1983.