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Glacier mapping in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, tropical Andes, using Sentinel‐2 and Landsat data
Author(s) -
Veettil Bijeesh K
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
singapore journal of tropical geography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1467-9493
pISSN - 0129-7619
DOI - 10.1111/sjtg.12247
Subject(s) - glacier , geology , snow , physical geography , remote sensing , geomorphology , geography
Sentinel‐2 images were used for mapping debris‐free glaciers for the first time in Cordillera Blanca. Landsat‐8 and Sentinel‐2 data were compared for glacier area estimation in 2016, obtaining comparable results. It was observed that normalized difference snow index method for glacier mapping using MSI data is less sensitive to cast shadows and steep terrain compared with Landsat data. Estimated total glacier areas in 1975, 1994, and 2016 were 726 ± 20.3 km 2 , 576.9 ± 15.1 km 2 and 482.8 ± 7.4 km 2 , respectively. Glacier area in 2016 using Landsat was slightly lower (475.7 ± 16.8 km 2 ) compared to the area estimated using MSI data. Observed glacier shrinkage between 1975 and 2016 was 33.5 per cent, which is lower compared to observed glacier area loss in the eastern cordilleras of Peru. Glacier shrinkage was higher at northern and northeastern slopes (47.9 per cent and 48.1 per cent, respectively) compared to the south‐western slopes (11.1 per cent).