ESA - Eduspace EN - Global Change - Exercise 5: Measurement of area

Coastal change

Danube Delta change detection Oil spills

Deforestation

Bardia National Park Congo River Basin Kameng-Sonitpur Elephant Reserve Kilimanjaro Rondonia Shillong and Guwahati

Ice

Antarctica 2003 Climate change and glaciers Glacier analysis using radar imagery Glacial retreat in the Alps Glacier Ice Flow Monitoring of glaciers in the Himalayas Remote sensing of ice and snow

Urbanisation

Cairo City of Kathmandu Córdoba Himalayas Kathmandu Valley Lagos

Vegetation

Annapurna Conservation Area Lost in the Andes Ngorongoro Conservation Area Niger Inland Delta Vegetation in South America


Digitising a glacier outline

Exercise 5: Measurement of area

Measure glacier retreat using the Measure Tool.

Compare the area of a glacier system in 1988 and in 2010. Choose a small glacier system that seems easy to outline. Open the Measure Tool for the 1988 image and digitise the glacier outline. Write down the area (surface). Do the same for the same glacier system in the 2010 image.

1. How did the area change in absolute values and in percentage?

Digitising glacier outlines from satellite images is not always easy and clear, and includes uncertainty and errors. Compare your area and area change results with the other students in your class who digitised the same glaciers.

You can also repeat the above procedure several times and average your results. Be aware that larger glacier tongues can be covered with moraine material at the lower end, in the ablation zone.

2. How large are the deviations between the repeat measurements?

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Climate change and glaciers

Introduction Background

Exercises

Worksheet introduction Exercise 1: Inspection of true colour RGB composites Exercise 2: Animation Exercise 3: Band Arithmetic Exercise 4: GIS Exercise 6: Multitemporal analysis Conclusions

Eduspace - Software

LEOWorks 4 (MacOS)LEOWorks 4 (Linux)LEOWorks 4 (Windows)

Eduspace - Download

Andes_images.zip GoogleEarth file